it can be done with propriety (for it cannot in every case), to imitate even these little differences in the style of the inspired penmen. Diss. XII. P. I. § 9, 10. CHAPTER XXIII. 11. A shining robe, eσInta λaμжçar. E. T. A gorgeous robe. Vul. Veste alba. Er. Zu. Cas. Be. Veste splendida. Though the Gr. word may be rendered either way, I prefer the latter, as denoting that quality of the garment which was the most remark. able; for this epithet was most properly given to those vestments wherein both qualities, white and shining, were united. That the word μgos was used for white, the application of it by Polybius to the toga worn by the candidates for offices at Rome, if there were no other evidence, would be sufficient. But when nothing beside the colour was intended, the word deux was used, corresponding to the La, albus, as aμe did to candi. dus. Such white and splendid robes were worn in the East by sovereigns. Herod caused our Lord to be dressed in such a gar. ment, not, as I imagine, to signify the opinion he had of his innocence, but in derision of his pretensions to royalty. Perhaps it was intended to insinuate, that those pretensions were so absurd as to merit no other punishment than contempt and ridicule. 15. He hath done nothing to deserve death, &dev ažiov Davate επι πεπραγμένον αυτώ. E. T. Nothing worthy of death is done unto him. This, though unintelligible, is a literal version from the Vul. Er. and Zu. Nihil dignum morte actum est ei: the meaning of which, as it is here connected, if it have a meaning, is, 'Herod hath not deserved to die for any thing he hath done 'to Jesus.' Now, as it is certain that this cannot be Pilate's meaning, being quite foreign from his purpose, I see no other resource but in supposing, that expayμevov avow is equivalent to πεπραγμένον ὑπ ̓ αυτό. I am not fond of recurring to unusual constructions: but here, I think, there is a necessity; inasmuch as this sentence of Pilate, interpreted by the ordinary rules, and considered in reference to his subject, is downright nonsense. As to other versions, the Sy. has rendered the words not more intelligibly than the Vul. Cas. adopting the construction here defended, says, nihil morte dignum ab hoc factum esse. Be. to the same purpose, nihil dignum morte factum est ab eo. Lu. keeps close to the Vul. The G. F. has followed the Vul. in what regards the construction, but has introduced a supply, from conjecture, to make out a meaning,―rien ne lui a eté fait, [qui importe qu'il soit] digne de mort. Dio. has taken the same method,―niente gli e stato fatto [di cio che si farebbe a uno] che havesse meritata la morte. It is strange that Be. has not here been followed by any of those Protestant translators, who have sometimes, without necessity (where there was no difficulty in the words), followed him in the liberties he had taken, much more exceptionable, in respect of the sense, than the present, and less defensible, in respect of the expression. Some more recent translators, both Fr. and Eng. L. Cl. Dodd. and others, admit the manner of construing the sentence adopted here. I shall subjoin a few things, which had influence with me in forming a judgment of this matter. A similar example is not, I believe,. to be found in the N. T. nor in the Sep. ; but so many examples οἱ πεπραγμένον τινι, for πεπραγμένον ύπο τιν 3, have been produced from classical authors, by Raphelius and Wet. as show it to have been no uncommon idiom. Now, though L. abounds in Hebra. isms, as much as any sacred writer, yet he has, oftener than the rest, recourse to words and idioms which he could acquire only from conversing with the Gentiles, or reading their authors; and has, upon the whole, as was observed before (Preface, § 11.), greater variety in his style than any other of the Evangelists. Further, it strengthens the argument, that gajony ağıon Davaт8, is a phrase not unfrequent with L. (see Acts xxv. 11. 25. xxvi. 31.) for expressing to do what deserveth death; and, as the only inquiry on this occasion was, what Jesus had done, and what he deserved to suffer, there is the strongest internal probability, from the scope of the place, that it must mean what had been done by him, and not to him. Lastly, no other version that is both intelligible and suited to the context, can be given, without a much greater departure from the ordinary rules of interpretation and of syntax than that here made. To be convinced of this, one needs only consider a little the Itn. and G. F. translations of this passage above recited. 23. Their clamours, and those of the chief priests, prevailed και κατισχύον αι φωναι αὐτῶν καὶ των αρχιερέων. Vul. Invalescebant voces eorum. With this, agree one MS. which omits rav agxitgewy, and the Sax. and Cop. versions. 35. The elect of God, i r8 O& EXλENTO. This title is adopted from Isaiah, xlii. 1. and appears to be one of those by which the Messiah was at that time distinguished. Diss. V. P. IV. § 14. 45. Paradise. Diss. VI. P. II. § 19, 20, 21. χων. λευται. 50. A senator named Joseph. Ανης ονοματι Ιωσηφ βολευτης ύπαρ E. T. A man named Joseph, a counsellor. The word Cλng occurs nowhere in the N. T. but here and in the parallel passage in Mr. Some think that it denotes a member of the sanhedrim, the national senate, and supreme judicatory. Father Simon says that all the Jewish doctors thus applied the term 38See his Note on Mr. xv. 43. Gro. though doubtful, inclines rather to make Joseph a city magistrate; and Lightfoot, founding also on conjecture, is positive that he was one of the council chamber of the temple. To me, the first appears far the most probable opinion. What the Evangelist advances, v. 51. is a strong presumption of this, and more than a counterbalance to all that has been urged by Gro. and Lightfoot, in support of their respective hypotheses. He had not concurred, says the historian, in their resolutions and proceedings. To the pronoun avray their, the antecedent, though not expressed, is clearly indicated by the construction to be di ßxλvrai, the senators And of these the crucifixion of Jesus is here represented as the resolution and the deed. With what propriety could it be called the deed of the city magistrates of Jerusalem, or (if possible, still worse) of a council which was no judicatory, being intended solely for regulating the sacred service, and inspecting the affairs of the temple? The title va given him by Mr. shows him to have been of the highest dignity. But, admit that this does not amount to a proof that Joseph was a member of the sanhedrim; there is no impropriety in rendering Caving senator. The Eng. word admits the same latitude of application with the Greek. The La. senator is commonly rendered into Gr. fxdsvTs, and this Gr. word, though rendered by the Vul. decurio, is translated by Er. Zu. Cas. and Be. senator. This rendering is, therefore, not improper, whatever was the case. But to say one of the council chamber of the temple, if that was not the fact, is a mistranslation of the word. In all dubious cases, the choice of a general term is the only safe mode of translating: but the tendency of most interpreters is, at any risk, to be particular. 54. The Sabbath approached, rabbarov ETEQWoxe. Vul. Sab batum illucescebat. The Jews, in their way of reckoning the days, counted from sun-set to sun-set, thus beginning the natural day, to vuxos pov, with the night. This had been the manner from the earliest ages. Moses, in his history of the creation, concludes the account of the several days in this manner—And the evening and the morning were the first day ;—and so of all the six, always making mention of the evening first. There is some reason to think, that the same method of counting had, in very ancient times, prevailed in other nations. It was not, however, the way that obtained in the neighbouring countries in the time of the Apostles. Most others seem, at that time, to have reckoned as we do, from midnight to midnight; and, in distin. guishing the two constituent parts of the natural day, named the morning first. Had the Jewish practice been universal, it is hardly possible that such a phrase as cabbarov ɛQwoxe, sabbɑtum illucescebat, to signify that the sabbath was drawing on, had ever arisen. The expressions, then, might have been such as Lightfoot supposes, as σabbatov EXOTIon, and obtenebrescebat in sabbatum; the sabbath being, as every other day, ushered in with darkness, which advances with it for several hours. The conjecture of Grotius, that L. in this expression, refers to the light of the stars, which do not appear till after sun-set, and to the moon, which gives at least no sensible light till then, is quite unsatisfactory. That the coming of night should, on this ac count, be signified by an expression which denotes the increase of light, is not more natural than it would be to express the progress of the morning, at sun-rise, by a phrase which implies the increase of darkness, and which we might equally well account for by saying that, in consequence of the sun's rising, the stars disappear, and we no longer enjoy moon-shine. I am no better pleased with the supposition, to which Wet. seems to point, that there is an allusion here to a Jewish custom, of ushering in the sabbath by lighting lamps in their houses. The transactions spoken of in this chapter, were all without doors, where those lights could have no effect; besides, they were too inconsiderable to occasion so flagrant a deviation from truth, as to distin guish the advance of the evening by an expression which denotes the increase of the light. Lightfoot's hypothesis is, as usual, ingenious, but formed entirely on the language and usages of modern rabbies. He observes that, with them, the Hebrew, answering to the Greek 4ws, is used for night; and, taking it for granted that this use is as ancient as our Saviour's time, the ap. proach of night would naturally, he thinks, be expressed by Qwx, illucesco. But, let it be observed that, as the rabbini. cal works quoted are comparatively recent, and as their language is much corrupted with modernisms from European and other tongues, it is not safe to infer, merely from their use, what obtained in the times of the Apostles. As to the word in question, certain it is, that we have no vestige of such a use in the O. T. There are not many words which occur oftener than ; but it never means night, or has been so rendered by any translator whatever. The authors of the Sep. have never used 4ws in rendering, the Heb. word for night, nor w in rendering 718. The word as never signifies night in the Jewish Apocryphal writings, nor in the N. T. I even suspect that, in the modern rabbinical dialect, it does not mean night exclusively, but the natural day, wenμegov, including both; in which case it is a mere Latinism, lux for dies. Nay, some of his own quotations give ground for this suspicion. What he has rendered luce diei decimæ quartæ, is literally from the original quoted luce decima quarta. Nor does it invalidate this opinion, that the thing mentioned, clearing the house of leaven before the passover, is, according to their present customs, dispatched in the night-time, and with candle-light. The expression may, notwithstanding, be used as generally as those employed in the law, which does not, in the discharge of this duty, confine them to the night; nor does their use of candles or lamps, in this service, show that they confined themselves to the night. Even in the day-time, these are necessary for a search, wherein not a press or corner, hole or cranny, in the house, is to be left unexplored. But admit. ting that the rabbies have sometimes preposterously used the word, for the night, of which the learned author has produced the testimony of one of their glossaries, its admission into work whose use is to interpret into proper Heb. the barbarisms |