that the children of Israel are said to have tempted the Lord at Massa, saying, Is the Lord among us or not? Ex. xvii. 7. And on the present occasion, it was God's love to him, and faithfulness in the performance of his promise, that the devil desired our Lord, by throwing himself headlong from a precipice, to make trial of. As, however, it has been objected that this last phrase, which I at first adopted, is somewhat ambiguous, I have changed it for one which cannot be mistaken. 15. On the Jordan, negav & logdavs. E. T. Beyond Jordan. The Heb. word a megheber, rendered by the Seventy megav, signifies indifferently on this side, or on the other side. In Num. xxxii. 19. the word is used in both meanings in the same sentence. Unless therefore some other word or phrase is added, as κατ' ανατολάς, Οι κατα θαλασσαν, to ascertain the sense, it ought to be rendered as in the text, or as in verse 25th, Zebulon and Naphtali were on the same side of the Jordan with Jerusalem and Judea, where Isaiah exercised his prophetical office. What is here * Near the sea, idov taλæσons. E. T. By the way of the sea. This expression is rather indefinite and obscure. There is an ellipsis in the original, but I have given the sense. called sea is, properly, not a sea, but a lake. It was customary with the Hebrews to denominate a large extent of water, though fresh water, and encompassed with land, by the name sea. Both Mt. and Mr. denominate this the sea of Galilee; J. calls it the sea of Tiberias; L. more properly, the lake of Gennesareth. It was on this lake that Capernaum, and some other towns of note, were situated. Here also Peter and Andrew, James and John, before they were called to the apostleship, exercised the occupation of fishers. The sea of Galilee, and the sea of Tiberias, are become, in scripture-style, so much like proper names, that it might look affected to change them, for the lake of Galilee, and the lake of Tiberias. Besides, where it can conveniently be done, these small differences in phraseology, which diversify the styles of the Evangelists, in the original, ought to be preserved in the translation. 16. A region of the shades of death, xwęα xai oxia davary. In the Sep. in the passage referred to, the words are xopa oxias bava78, literally from the Heb. of the prophet, m3 parets tsalmoth. Tsal-moth, it was observed, Diss. VI. P. II. § 2. and sheol, are nearly synonymous, and answer to ads in the N. T. which signifies the invisible world, or the state of the dead. The expression is here evidently metaphorical, and represents the ignorance or spiritual darkness in which the people of that region, who were intermixed with the heathen, lived, before they re ceived the light of the Gospel. 17. Began to proclaim, nžavo xnpuoσelv, Mr. v. 17. N. E. T. A net. The word is not the The 18. A drag, αμφιβλησρον. same here that is in verse 20th; there it is dixTuoy, which I take to be the name of the genus, and properly rendered net. name here is that of a species answering to what we call a drag. The same historian, xiii. 47. uses the word say, which in the common translation is also rendered net. It is not very material, but neither ought it to be altogether overlooked, to make, when possible in a consistency with propriety, the phraseology of the version both as various, and as special, as that of the original. Diss. XII. P. I. § 9—13. E. T. In a ship. L. v. 2. N. 21. In the bark, εν τω πλοίω. CHAPTER V. 3. Happy, μxxapios. E. T. Blessed. I agree with those translators who choose generally to render μακαρι happy, ευλογητος and ευλογημενος blessed. The common version rarely makes a distinction. 2 Happy the poor, μακάριοι οι πτωχοί. E. T. Blessed are the poor. Is has more energy in these aphoristical sentences, after the example of the original, and all the ancient versions, to omit the substantive verb. The idiom of our language admits this freedom as easily as the Itn. and more so than the Fr. None of the La. versions express the verb. Dio.'s Itn. does not ; nor do the Fr. versions of P. R. L. Cl. and Sa.-Si. expresses it in the first beatitude, but not in the following ones. Another reason which induced me to adopt this manner is to render these apho. risms, in regard to happiness, as similar in form as they are in the original, to the aphorisms in regard to wretchedness, which are, L. vi. contrasted with them, wo to you that are rich—for I shall show, in the note on that passage, that the verb to be supplied is in the indicative mood equally in both. 3 Happy the poor who repine not, μακάριοι οι πτωχοί τω πνευмать. E. T. Blessed are the poor in spirit. I have assigned my reason, Diss. XI. P. I. § 18. for thinking that it is as much the business of a translator to translate phrases as to translate words. An idiomatic phrase stands precisely on the same footing with a compound word. The meaning is commonly learnt from the usual application of the whole word, or of the whole phrase, and not by the detached meanings of the several parts, which, in another language, conjoined, in the same manner, may convey either no meaning at all, or a meaning very different from the author's. Such, in a particular manner, is the meaning which the phrase poor in spirit naturally conveys to English ears. Poor-spirited, which to appearance is coincident with it, is always employed in a bad sense, and denotes mean, dastardly, servile. Poorness of spirit is the same ill quality in the abstract. The phrase, therefore, in our language, if it can be said to suggest any sense, suggests one different from the sense of the text. In support of the interpretation here given, let the following things be attended to: First, That it is literally the poor that is meant, may be fairly concluded from the parallel place, L. vi. 20. where the like declaration is pronounced of the poor simply, without any limitation, as in this passage. And this is of considerable weight, whether we consider the discourse recorded by L. as the same, or different, since their coincidence in many things, and similarity in others, are confessed on all sides. Now what puts it beyond a doubt, that it is the poor in the proper sense that is meant there, is the characters contrasted to those pronounced happy. These begin v. 24. Woe unto you that are rich. It is also not without its weight, that our Lord begins with the poor on both occasions; but especially that the same beatitude is ascribed to both: Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. I might urge further that, if the poor be not meant here, there is none of these maxims that relates to them.. Now this omission is very improbable, in ushering in the laws of a dispensation which was entitled, many ages before, glad tidings to the poor; to announce which was one great end of the Messiah's mission. And the fulfilment of this prophecy in him, is what our Lord fails not to observe on more occasions than one. I cannot there. fore agree with Wh. and others, in thinking that #rwxoi ta xvevMari means humble. The quotations produced by that critic, in support of his opinion, are more foreign to his purpose than any thing I have yet discovered in his learned Commentaries. "The "usual expression," says he, " by which the Scriptures [mean"ing the O. T.] and the Jewish writers represent the humble man is, that he is shephal ruach, i. e. poor, low, or contrite in "his spirit." And of this he brings some examples. It is true, the meaning of shephal is humble, and of ruach is spirit. But because, in Scripture, men humble of spirit means humble men, must therefore the poor in spirit also mean humble men? To make the inconclusiveness of this reasoning pass unobserved, he has inserted the word poor, amongst others, in his explanation of the word shephal. But that it ever means poor, I have not found so much as a single example. It is never translated by the Seventy xs; but either Taves, or by some word of like im. port. As to the phrase shephal ruach, it occurs but thrice in Scripture. In one place it is rendered paübμs, in another raπεινοφρων, and in the third ολιγοψυχος. Should any object, that to exclude the humble from a place here, will seem as unsuitable to the temper of our religion, as to exclude the poor; I answer, that I understand the humble to be comprehended under the third beatitude: Happy the meek. Not that I look upon the two words as strictly synonymous, but as expressing the same disposition under different aspects; humility, in the contemplation of self as in the divine presence; meekness, as regarding the conduct towards other men. This temper is accordingly opposed to - pride as well as to anger. The words seem to have been often used indiscriminately. Humble in the Heb. is once and again by the Seventy rendered meek, and conversely; and they are sometimes so quoted in the N. T. Nay, the very phrase for lowly in spirit, above criticised, shephal ruach, is at one time rendered жpavovμos, meck-spirited, at another raro pav, humble. But should it be asked, what then does T vμat add to the sense of οι πτωχοι ; I think the phrase to which Wh. recurs will furnish us with an answer. Shephal is properly raees, humilis; the addition of ruach is equivalent to To TEUMATI. Such an addition therefore as is made to the sense of Taos in the one phrase by τω πνευματι, such also is made to the sense of πτωχος in the other, by the same words superadded. It may be thought that no ad dition is made to the first, the simple term Tax Οι τω πνευματι. expressing a quality of the mind; but this is a mistake arising from the ap plication of the Eng. word humble, which does not entirely coincide with the aforesaid terms in the ancient tongues. In all these the word properly refers to meanness of condition. In the few instances whereiu ταπειν@ signifies humble, and ταπείνωσις humility, there may be justly said to be an ellipsis, of an nagdia The proper word for humble is Taev, for humility ταπεινοφροσύνη. As therefore ταπεινόφρων, ταπεινα τη καρά δια, and ταπεινω τω πνευματι (for this expression also occurs in the Sep. Ps. xxxiv. 18.), denote one whose mind is suited to the lowness of his station, so πτωχ& τω πνευματι denotes one whose mind is suited to the poorness of his circumstances. As the former imports unambitious, unaspiring after worldly honours or the applause of men; the latter imports unrepining, not covetous of earthly treasure, easily satisfied, content with little. This and humility are indeed kindred virtues, but not the same. Wet. is singular in thinking that the words ought to be construed thus: μακαριοι τῷ πνευματι-οι πτωχοί. He understands EUμ to mean the spirit of God, and renders it into La. Beati spiritui pauperes ; as if we should say, Happy in the Spirit's account are the poor. He urges that πτωχοι τω πνευματι is unexam. pled. But is it more so than μακαριοι τω πνευματι ? Or do we find any thing in Scripture analogous to this phrase in the man. ner he has explained it? I have shown that there is at least one phrase, Ta Ta vμari, perfectly similar to the other, which may well serve to explain it, and remove his other objection, that it ought to mean a bad quality. Besides, I would ask, whether we are to understand in verse 8th, τn xapdia as likewise constru ed with μaxapiol? for nothing can be more similar than the expressions μακαριοι οι πτωχοί τω πνευματι and μακαριοι οι καθαροι τη καρδια. 5. They shall inherit, avroι xλnpovoμnosti. Vul. Ipsi possidebunt. The La. word possidebunt sufficiently corresponds to the Gr. κληρονομήσεσι: which generally denotes possessing by any title, by lot, succession, purchase, conquest, or gift; I therefore think that Cas. judged better in following the Vul. than Be. who expresses the sentiment by a circumlocution which appears too positively to exclude possession of every other kind. Ipsi ter |