sons of Zebedee and Salome. It was this James that was put to death by Herod, Acts xii. 2. He was called o Toû Zeẞedaiov to distinguish him from James the Less, the son of Alpheus.

'Iwávvny] St. John is thought by the antients to be far the youngest of all the Apostles, being under thirty years old when he was first called to that dignity. And his great age seems to prove as much; for dying about an hundred years old in the third of Trajan, he must have lived above seventy years after our Saviour's suffering. He was not only one of the three disciples which our Saviour admitted to the more private passages of his life, but was the disciple whom Jesus loved, John xiii. 23. The province that fell to his share was Asia, though it is probable he continued in Judea till after the Virgin's death, which is reckoned to have happened about fifteen years after our Lord's ascension, otherwise we must have heard of him in the account St. Luke gives of St. Paul's journies in those parts. He founded the churches of Smyrna, Pergamus, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea; but his chief place of residence was Ephesus, where St. Paul had many years before settled a church. Neither is it thought he confined his ministry merely to Asia Minor; but that he preached in other parts of the East, probably in Parthia. He wrote the Gospel which bears his name, three Epistles, and the Book of Revelations. See Note c. x. 2.

— ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ] See xiii. 2.

--

γοντο.

καταρτίζοντας] Ρolyb. 1. 29, 1, ναῦς καταρτίσαντες ἀνήAnd v. 101, 2, καταρτίσας δώδεκα ναῦς.

22. ἀφέντες τὸ πλοῖον] Epictet. Enchir. xii. ἐὰν δὲ ὁ κυβερ νήτης καλέση, τρέχε ἐπὶ τὸ πλοῖον, ἀφεῖς ἐκεῖνα πάντα, μηδὲν ἐπιστρεφόμενος.

23. περιήγεν] Sub. ἑαυτὸν. So ayew used xxvi. 46: and ἄγειν Mark i. 38.

ὅλην τὴν Γαλιλαίαν] Joseph. in Vit. says διακόσιαι καὶ τέσσαρες κατὰ τὴν Γαλιλαίαν εἶσι πόλεις καὶ κῶμαι. Into the most eminent and most convenient for his work Jesus entered and preached. This is his second perambulation of Galilee, fuller than the first, Luke iv. 15. Then he had walked more alone, and without the company of his disciples; but they are now constantly with him. Then he did few or no miracles, but only preached, but now he does many and heals all the diseased that come unto him.

- ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαίς] In its original meaning, signifies both civil and ecclesiastical assemblies, and also the places.

wherein those assemblies were held. Almost all over the New Testament it is taken for the places or buildings where the Jews met to pray, and to hear the interpretation of the law and the prophets. From Acts xv. 21, it is evident that for a long time there had been synagogues in every city, and that the Jews were used to meet therein every Sabbath day. Authors are not agreed about the time when the Jews began to have synagogues. Some infer from Levit. xxiii. 3, 4: Deut. xxxi. 11, 12: Ps. lxxiii. 4, 8: that they are as antient as the ceremonial law. Others fix their beginning to the times after the Babylonish captivity. The most famous synagogue the Jews ever had, was the great synagogue of Alexandria. For the government and service of the synagogue see Beausobre's Introduction: Prideaux's Connection, 1. 6.

The Christians themselves often gave the name of synagogues to their assemblies, as also to the places where they assembled, as is evident from St. James ii. 2; from passages in the Epistles of Ignatius ad Polyc. ad Trall.; and from the writings of Clem. Alex.

— αὐτῶν] Referring to Γαλιλαίων implied in Γαλιλαίαν. Thus Æsch. Socrat. II. 1, ἀπὸ Σικελίας . . . ποτέρον περὶ αὐτῶν ἐκείνων. So Nepos Alcib. x1. 3, Postquam inde expulsus Thebas venerat, adeo studiis eorum inservisse. See ix. 35: xi. 1: Luke iv. 15.

didáσkwv] joined with kŋpúσσwv, 1 Tim. ii. 7: 2 Tim. i. 11. After reading the law and the prophets, the heads of the synagogue desired such learned and grave persons as happened to be there, to make a discourse to the people; and by virtue of this custom it was that Jesus Christ and St. Paul (Acts xiii. 15: xiv. 1) were allowed to preach in the synagogues. There were two things especially that gave Jesus Christ admission to preach in every synagogue, viz. the fame of his miracles, and that he gave out himself as the head of a religious sect. For however the religion of Christ and his disciples was both scorned and hated by the Scribes and Pharisees, yet they accounted them among the religious in the same sense as they did the Sadducees, i. e. distinguished from the common people or seculars, who took little care of religion. He therefore easily obtained among the governors of the synagogue a liberty of preaching. See Jenning's Jewish Antiquities, Vol. 11. p. 54.

πᾶσαν] of every kind, as Acts ii. 5, πᾶν ἔθνος.

— μαλακίαν] Hesych. μαλακία· νόσος.—μαλακίζεσθαι ἀστ θενῶς διακεῖσθαι, νοσηλεύεσθαι. Eustath. in Od. θ. 305, 30, εἰ καὶ κατ ̓ ἄλλον λόγον μαλακῶς ἔχειν λέγεται καὶ ὁ νοσεῖν ἐναρξά

μενος. The Septuagint translate the same word by μαλακία, Deut. vii. 15: Isai. xxxviii. 9, and by νόσος Deut. xxviii. 59. And Dan. viii. 27, ἐμαλακίσθην, which afterwards is καὶ οὐχ ὑπελείφθη ἐν ἐμοὶ ἰσχὺς, x. 8. Theophrastus, Char. XIII. uses the term μαλακιζόμενον, and soon after κακῶς ἔχοντα. Ælian. V. H. III. 19, makes μαλακίζεσθαι and νοσεῖν synonymous.

24. ἡ ἀκοὴ] Hesych. ἀκοὴ· φήμη. Suidas ἀκοή· ἐστὶ καὶ ἡ φήμη. Matt. xiv. 1, ἤκουσεν Ἡρώδης τὴν ἀκοὴν ̓Ιησοῦ. Caesar B. G. vii. 42, Ut levem auditionem habent pro re comperta, Corn. Nep. Annib. ix. Exisse famam.

αὐτοῦ] for περὶ αὐτοῦ, as Luke iv. 37, ἦχος περὶ αὐτοῦ. Joseph. Ant. viii. 6, 5, τῶν σῶν ἀγαθῶν ἡ φήμη.

ὅλην τὴν Συρίαν] bordering upon Galilee. The places mentioned in ver. 25 were in Palestine; and in Mark i. 28, that his fame had spread over ὅλην τὴν περίχωρον τῆς Γαλιλαίας; hence Syria may be put for the country adjacent to Galilee, Bowyer inserts this in a parenthesis, as being not part of what goes before or follows after.

- πάντας] i. e. great numbers. Similarly, see Mark i. 37; Luke iii. 21: John iv. 29: xiv. 26: 1 Cor. ix. 22: Phil. ii. 21. —κακῶς ἔχοντας] Sub. ἑαυτούς. Mark v. 23, ἐσχάτως ἔχει. — βασάνοις] Suid. τὸ βασανίζειν οὐ τὸ αἰκίζεσθαι καὶ τιμωρεῖσθαι καὶ μαστιγούν σημαίνει παρὰ τοῖς Ἀττικοῖς, ἀλλὰ τὸ χωρὶς πληγῶν ἀνακρίνειν καὶ ἐλέγχειν τ ̓ ἀληθὲς διὰ λόγων. Etym. βάσανος-ἀπὸ τῆς βασάνου τῆς χρυσοχοϊκῆς λίθου, ἐν δοκιμάζεται ὁ χρυσὸς, κἂν τε ὄβρυζος καν τε κίβδηλος ἦ. The word is here used to signify those diseases of the body which are attended with severe pain. Some have taken νόσοις καὶ βασά vots as an ἓν διὰ δυοῖν. In a few MSS. βασάνοις is wanting.

- συνεχομένους] Arrian Exp. Alex. vi. 24, δίψει ἀπαύστῳ συνεχόμενοι. Plato Gorg. p. 327, εἰ μὲν τις μεγάλοις καὶ ἀνιάτοις νοσήμασι κατὰ τὸ σῶμα συνεχόμενος. Luke iv. 38, συνεχομένη πυρετῷ: Acts xxviii. 8, πυρετοῖς καὶ δυσεντερίᾳ συνεχόμενον κατακεῖσθαι. Hesych. συνεχόμενον. ἐναντιούμενον, άρρωστοῦντα.

- δαιμονιζομένους] Here mentioned as distinct and separate persons from those that were taken with divers diseases and torments and the same distinction is made in several other passages of Holy Writ. There can be no doubt that the demoniacs were persons really possessed with evil spirits; and against the authority of those writers of every sect who would believe that origin of the Scriptures which appears to them rational, we may place the uniform interpretation of the passage in its literal sense by 'the antient church, the best commentators,

and all who are generally called orthodox, as desirous to believe the litteral interpretation of Scripture, and the opinions of the early ages, in all points of doctrine, whether it can be brought to a level with their reason or not. See Porteus, Lect. x. Vol. I. p. 262. Warburton's Works, Vol. vi. p. 329... 335.

· σεληνιαζομένους] From the symptoms of this disease as mentioned xvii. 15: Luke ix. 39: Mark ix. 17, it seems to have differed but little from the falling sickness. This word only occurs in the two passages in St. Matthew.

TаρаλνтIкоvs] Celsus 111. 27, Resolutio nervorum interdum tota corpora, interdum partes infestat. Veteres auctores illud ἀποπληξίαν, hoc παράλυσιν nominarunt, nunc utrumque παράAvow nominari video. Aretæus de Morb. Chron. 1. 7, άπоπλnčiα, πάρεσις, παράλυσις, ἅπαντα τῷ γένει ταυτὰ.

1 Macc. ix. 55, παρελύθη, καὶ οὐκ ἐδύνατο ἔτι λαλῆσαι λόγον, and 56, he died μετὰ βασάνου πολλῆς.

25. ὄχλοι] Etym. Μ. ὄχλος ὁ συνεστραμμένος λαός.

AекаTÓλews] A country of Palestine, in the half tribe of Manasseh, so called from its containing ten cities, about the names of which the learned are not agreed. It bordered upon Syria, and extended on the east side of Jordan and the lake Tiberias, with the exception of Scythopolis. But see Cellarius, Vol. 11. p. 542. Euseb. Aeкáπoλis év evayyedios. αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ ἐπὶ Περαίᾳ κειμένη ἀμφὶ τὸν Ιππον καὶ Πέλλαν kai Tadάpav. Plin. v. 18, Jungitur ei (Judeæ) latere Syriæ Decapolitana regio, a numero oppidorum, in quo non omnes eadem observant: plurimi tamen Damascum ex epoto riguis amne Chrysorrhoa fertilem, Philadelphiam, Raphanam, omnia in Arabiam recedentia: Scythopolim-Gadara Hieromiace præfluente, et jam dictum Hippon, Dion, Pellam aquis divitem, Galasam, Canatham. Intercursant cinguntque has urbes Tetrarchiæ, regionum instar singulæ, et in regna contribuuntur, Trachonitis, Paneas, in quâ Cæsarea, Abila, Arca, Ampeloessa, Gabe.

We find other tracts of country taking a name from the number of cities contained in them: as Herod. 1. 144, Oi εK TηS Πενταπόλιος νῦν χώρης Δωριέες, πρότερον δὲ ̔Εξαπόλιος τῆς αὐτῆς ταύτης καλεομένης.

— πέραν τοῦ Ἰορδάνου] i. e. Peræa, ἀπὸ τῶν πόλεων τῶν πέραν τοῦ Ἰορδάνου κειμένων. Josephus has ἡ ὑπὲρ Ιορδάνην Пlepaia. The country beyond Jordan contained the two tribes

of Reuben and Gad.

105

CHAP. V.

1. ἰδὼν δὲ τοὺς ὄχλους] who had come partly ἀκούσαι αὐτοῦ and partly ἰαθῆναι ἀπὸ τῶν νόσων αὐτῶν. Though the disciples may be concerned in some few verses of this chapter, yet from the words, vii. 28, 29, at the close of the sermon, it is certain that the multitude not only heard, but were taught the things contained in this sermon, according to those words of Chrysostom, μὴ τοῖς μαθηταῖς μόνον αὐτὸν νόμιζε διαλέγεσθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ δι ékeivwv åπaσiv. J. Blair in his sermons on this chapter says, that in order to enter into the beauty of this discourse, it is necessary to consider it as addressed not merely to the Apostles (who are not yet chosen under that character) but to his disciples in general, and to vast numbers of people who, affected with the sight or fame of his miracles, were now assembled around him; probably expecting that he would immediately declare himself the Messiah, and full of those false notions of his kingdom which so generally prevailed.

— εἰς τὸ ὄρος] Wolf says ubi erat ἡ συναγωγὴ τῶν Ἰουδαίων. It has been common among expositors to suppose To here used for T, as in Diog. Laert. vi. 5, πaρakaλŵv Tepi Toû (for Twos) Γυμνασίαρχων. Diod. Sic. 1. ταύτην δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ δήποτε φθαρεῖσαν ἔγκυον γενέσθαι. And they have fixed upon Mount Tabor. But it does not appear in what part of Galilee this mountain was placed; and there seems no reason to suppose it to have been in the neighbourhood of Capernaum. Maundrell (Travels, p. 115) says, that what is now called the Mount of Beatitudes is a little to the north of Mount Tabor: and if this be its situation, it must be at some considerable distance from Capernaum.

The

Middleton (Gr. Art. p. 185) contends, that the article here admits of a very certain explanation. Judæi in Talmude (Rel. Pal. Vol. 1. p. 306) terram suam in tria dividunt, respectu montium, vallium et camporum. Τὸ ὄρος will signify the mountain district, as distinguished from the other two. Seventy have so employed the term: thus in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha, cities of the plain, Gen. xix. 17, the angels tell Lot εἰς τὸ ὄρος σώζου, where no mountain has been mentioned, and none in particular can be meant. And that the Seventy intended to express "the mountain district," be inferred from Josh. ii. 22, 23, where it is said of the spies whom Rahab protected, ἦλθον εἰς τὴν ὀρεινὴν, and of the same persons in the next verse, that after staying till the danger

may