f 31 But many that are first shall be last; and the last first. 32¶ And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus went before them: and they were amazed; and as they followed, they were afraid. And he took again the twelve, and began to tell them what things should happen unto him, 33 Saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles : 34 And they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him: and the third day he shall rise again. 35h And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire. 36 And he said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you? deprive the believers of their natural relatives, who forsook and renounced them, so the compensation in the new and better friends which Christianity prepared for them may be glanced at. Thus, as one observes, "when the apostles left their own houses, the houses of all the faithful were open to them; so that, instead of one small dwelling, they had a hundred houses,-ut loco unius ædiculæ centum habuerunt domos. The lands of all the faithful ministered to them fruits and necessaries; 'having nothing,' as St. Paul says, they possessed all things; and instead of one father, one mother, and a few brothers and sisters, they found a hundred of the faithful regarding them with paternal, maternal, and brotherly affection." Chiefly, however, no doubt, does the promise, says Mr. Bolton, respect "spiritual joy in an enlarged measure, peace of conscience, contentment of soul, more familiarity with God, more communion with Jesus Christ, full assurance of his love, more sensible experience of his all-suffi h Matt. xx. 20. ciency, sweeter taste in the promises, &c.; one drop of which spiritual refreshing dews distilling upon the soul, even in the greatest outward distress; one glimpse of such glorious inward joys shining from the face of the sun of salvation into the saddest heart, into the darkest dungeon: doth incredibly surpass all the comfort which wife, children, wealth, or, in a word, all worldly good or mortal greatness, can possibly yield." Verse 31. Many that are first shall be last.-Many who promise to endure persecutions with confidence shall lose the martyr's crown through a base cowardice: and the last first, persons not esteemed as of high and solid attainments, yet shal show that the judgment of man, nay, judgment of the church, is often fallacious; and shall come forth as unshrinking confessors of Christ, to prison and to death. the Verses 32-34. They were amazed.—See notes on Matt. xx. 17-19. Verses 35-45. And James and John, c. See notes on Matt. xx. 20, &c. 37 They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory. 38 But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? 39 And they say unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized: 40 But to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared. 41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be much displeased with James and John. 42 But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, i Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. 43 But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be shall be your minister: 44 And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. 45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. 46 And they came to Jericho and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimæus, the son of Timæus, sat by the highway side begging. 47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. 48 And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. i Luke xxii. 25. *Or, think good. j Matt. xx. 29. Verse 46. Blind Bartimeus, the son begging. See the notes on Matt. xx. of Timæus, sat by the highway side 29, &c. 49 And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee. 50 And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. 51 And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. 52 And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way. CHAPTER XI. 1 Christ rideth with triumph into Jerusalem: 12 curseth the fruitless leafy tree: 15 purgeth the temple: 20 exhorteth his disciples to steadfastness of faith, and to forgive their enemies: 27 and defendeth the lawfulness of his actions, by the witness of John, who was a man sent of God 1 AND when they came nigh to Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount of Olives, he sendeth forth two of his disciples, 2 And saith unto them, Go your way into the village over against you and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose him, and bring him. 3 And if any man say unto you, Why do ye this? say ye that the Lord hath need of him; and straightway he will send him hither. 4 And they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door without in a place where two ways met; and they loose him. 5 And certain of them that stood there said unto them, What do ye, loosing the colt? 6 And they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded: and they let them go. 7 And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments on him; and he sat upon him. 8 And many spread their garments in the way and others cut down branches off the trees, and strawed them in the way. 9 And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: 10 Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest. 11 And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve. 12 And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry : b 13 And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find anything thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. b Matt. xxi. 19. Verse 10. The kingdom of our father David. That is, the kingdom of Messiah promised to David, and which was to be perpetual in the person of his great son and descendant, THE CHRIST. Of the spiritual nature of this kingdom, these exulting multitudes, however, had no conception, and were soon to be offended in him, because of his cross. Verse 13. A fig tree.-See note on Matt. xxi. 19. In addition to what is there said, it may be observed, that it has been made a difficulty against the interpretation there given, that the last clause of this verse, for the time of figs, the time of gathering figs, the fig harvest, was not yet, is given as a reason why our Lord found nothing but leaves. But it is rather given as a reason of the barrenness of the tree, and would be so understood by all who knew the nature of the fig-tree, which puts forth fruit even before its leaf; and so for a tree of this kind to have leaves would indicate that its fruit was well advanced towards maturity, if not barren. If, indeed, the full time of gathering figs had been come, the tree having leaves would have been no proof of its barrenness, because the fruit might have been already gathered; but as the 14 And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it. C 15 And they come to Jerusalem and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves; 16 And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. 17 And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but have made it a den of thieves. ye e Matt. xxi. 12. fig harvest had not arrived, the hopeless barrenness of the tree was demonstrated from the very circumstance of its having leaves, which is the reason why the circumstance of the time of gathering figs not being come is stated. This is sufficient to remove the difficulty, and renders it unnecessary to take, as several critics have done, the clause from κа EXO to quλa, parenthetically; which, however may be done without violence. The words will then read, “And seeing a figtree afar off, having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon; (and being come, he found nothing but leaves;) for the time of figs was not yet." Instances of this kind of trajection are occasionally found in the Gospels as well as in other Greek writers; and one especially has been pointed out in this evangelist himself, chap. xvi. 3, 4,-“Who shall roll us away the stone? and when they looked, the stone was rolled away: for it was very great;" where the greatness of the stone certainly is not the reason why it was rolled away, but the reason of the preceding question, "Who shall roll us away the stone?" Verse 15. Cast out them that sold and bought, &c.-See notes on Matt. xxi. 12, 13. Verse 17. My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer.-The sense is, "a house of prayer to, or for, all nations," agreeably to Isaiah lvi. 7, from which it is quoted, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all people." As our Lord forbade them to carry any vessel or burden of any kind through the temple, which the Jews themselves were careful not to do in those parts of it where they themselves worshipped, it is probable that all this worldly traffic and profane secularity was carried on in the court of the Gentiles, which, through their contempt of other nations, and their own pride, they did not consider as holy. This indeed appears from the inscription which was placed upon the wall which separated the court of the Jews from that of the Gentiles: "No alien, aAAoQuÀer, shall enter the holy place." Thus, in opposition to God's original appointment, by which a court for those Gentiles and strangers, who came to worship him, was appointed, and consecrated and made holy with the rest of the building, the Jews of our Lord's time desecrated it, and treated it as a common place, in pure enmity to Gentiles, even though worshippers of the same God; and, as though to discourage all such pious foreigners from going up to the temple, disturbed their devotions by worldly noise, and frowned upon their piety with haughty contempt Our Lord treats this hypocritical bigotry, this proud exclusive self-righteousness, with just severity; claims a hallowed clusion from noisy interruption for the pious Gentiles in their own court, and |