Pridie Roxy
Pridie Roxy's Notes
Pridie Roxy
wrote a note on Mark 12:18 ESV
Pulpit Commentary: Josephus states that in the time of Judas Maceabaeus there were three sects of the Jews, differing amongst themselves, namely, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes. The Hebrew word Zadoc, from which the Sadducees derive their name, means "just." or" righteous." These Sadducees accepted the Pentateuch, and probably more than the Pentateuch; but they rejected any oral tradition. They were known in the time of our Lord as denying those doctrines which connect us more immediately with another world, such as the existence of spirits and of angels, and the resurrection of the body … Expand
Dec 3
Pridie Roxy
wrote a note on Mark 12:17 ESV
Pulpit Commentary"The rights of Caesar are one thing, and those of God are another; and there is nothing that need clash between them. State polity is not opposed to religion, nor religion to state. Tertullian says, "'Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's;' that is, give to Caesar his image stamped upon his coin, and give to God his own image stamped upon you; so that while you render to Caesar the coin which is his due, you may render your own self to God." This wonderful answer of our Lord teaches us that we ought to try to speak so wisely, and so to moderato our speech amongst those who are captious, that we may, if possible, offend neither side, but steer safely between Scylla and Charybdis" … Expand
Dec 3
Pridie Roxy
wrote a note on Matthew 22:22 ESV
Pulpit Commentary:"The view of the relations of Church and state set forth by Christ was novel and incomprehensible. Hitherto the two provinces had been considered identical. The emperor, as we see impressed on his coins, was Pontifex Maximus; the Jewish priesthood had a political character, and the civil power was its instrument. In Christ's theory the spheres were distinct and not to be confounded. The state compelled obedience to its enactments; the Church left the conscience free, and obedience was voluntary and enforced by no external powers. The new society stood aloof from all political interests, and was responsible alone to God, while it performed its duties" … Expand
Nov 14
Pridie Roxy
wrote a note on Matthew 22:20 ESV
Pulpit comm: "Rabbinism ruled that the right of coinage appertained to the ruler of a state, and was a proof of de facto government, which it was unlawful to resist. The current coin, which they used in their daily transactions, showed that the Jews were no longer independent, but set under and acquiescing in a foreign domination. Being subjects of Caesar, it was their duty to submit to his demands, and to pay the taxes which he had a right to levy. " … Expand
Nov 14
Pridie Roxy
wrote a note on John 12:25 ESV
Pulpit Comm: "If life be regarded as an end in itself; if it be treated as complete when rounded with its own individuality; if life shrink from sacrifice, if it "love itself," and will at all hazards preserve itself; if the natural and instinctive fear of death, and instinct of self-preservation, become a self-idolatry; - that life will "abide alone." If it sacrifice itself for higher ends than self; if it regard the higher end as more valuable than itself; if it lose itself in the object to which it is consecrated; if it be content to "die;" - it abideth no longer "alone," but "bringeth forth much fruit" … Expand
Nov 2
Pridie Roxy
wrote a note on Luke 19:30 ESV
Pulpit Comm: "The account of this transaction is less circumstantial in St. Luke than in the other evangelists. The reference to the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 is here left out. This prophecy is, however, necessary for the full understanding of the mystic act. St. Luke, compiling especially for Gentile readers, would feel that such a reference to the old Hebrew story would scarcely interest a foreigner, and would serve to distract such a one's interest in the progress of the great recital." … Expand
Oct 12
Pridie Roxy
wrote a note on Matthew 21:19 ESV
Pulpit Comm: "The complete fulfilment of this promise is no longer in the literal Israel; she is nothing in the world; no one resorts to her for food and refreshment; she has none to offer the wayfarer. For eighteen centuries has that fruitlessness continued; the withered tree still stands, a monument of unbelief and its punishment. The Lord's sentence, "forever," must be understood with some limitation. In his parable of the fig tree, which adumbrates the last days, he intimates that it shall some day bud and blossom, and be clothed once more with leaf and fruit; and St. Paul looks forward to the conversion of Israel, when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (Romans 11:23-26)." … Expand
Sep 28
Pridie Roxy
wrote a note on Matthew 21:19 ESV
Pulpit Comm: "Here was a parable enacted. The Saviour had seen this tree, the Jewish Church; it was one, single, standing conspicuous among all nations as that whereon the Lord had lavished most care, that which ought to have shown the effect of this culture in abundant produce of holiness and righteousness. But what was the result? Boasting to be children of Abraham, the special heritage of Jehovah, gifted with highest privileges, the sole possessors of the knowledge of God, the Israelites professed to have what no other people had, and were in reality empty and bare. There was plenty of outward show - rites, ceremonies, scrupulous observances, much speaking - but no real devotion, no righteousness, no heart worship, no good works." … Expand
Sep 28
Pridie Roxy
wrote a note on Matthew 21:19 ESV
Pulpit Comm: "There is no question here of Christ's omniscience being at fault. He acted as a man would act; he was not deceived himself nor did he deceive the apostles, though they at first misapprehended his purpose. The whole action was symbolical, and was meant so to appear. In strict propriety of conduct, as a man led by the appearance of the tree might act, he carried out the figure, at the same time showing, by his treatment of this inanimate object, that he had something higher in view, and that he does not mean that which his outward conduct seemed to imply. He is enacting a parable where all the parts are in due keeping, and all have their twofold signification in the world of nature and the world of grace." … Expand
Sep 28
Pridie Roxy
wrote a note on Matthew 21:19 ESV
Ellicot's commentary: "Here they assume the character of a solemn judgment passed not so much on the tree as on that of which it became the representative. The Jews, in their show of the "leaves" of outward devotion, in the absence of the "fruits" of righteousness, were as that barren tree. The sentence which He now passed on the tree, and its immediate fulfilment, were symbols of the sentence and the doom which were about to fall on the unrepentant and unbelieving people" … Expand
Sep 28
Pridie Roxy
wrote a note on Matthew 21:11 ESV
Pulpit Comm: "On the tenth of this month the Paschal lamb was selected and taken up preparatory to its sacrifice four days after (Exodus 12:3, 6). So the true Paschal Lamb now is escorted to the place where alone the Passover could be sacrificed. Taking A.D. to be the date of the Crucifixion, astronomers inform us that in that year the first day of Nisan fell on March 24. Consequently, the tenth would be on Sunday, April 2, and the fourteenth was reckoned item sunset of Thursday, April 6, to the sunset of Friday, April 7" … Expand
Sep 23
Pridie Roxy
wrote a note on Matthew 21:5 ESV
Pulpit Comm: "Coming as King, he could not walk undistinguished among the crowd; he must ride. But to mount a war horse would denote that he was leader of an army or a worldly potentate; so he rides upon an ass, an animal used by the judges of Israel, and chieftains on peaceful errands (Judges 5:10; Judges 10:4); one, too, greatly valued, and often of stately appearance in Palestine. And (καὶ) a colt the foal of an ass; such as she asses bear, and one not trained. " … Expand
Sep 23
Pridie Roxy
wrote a note on Matthew 20:33 ESV
Pulpit Commentary: "They had at first asked vaguely for mercy, now they prayed definitely for sight - an example to all to make their supplications for particular graces and mercies, and not to be content with general terms which do not describe their special wants." … Expand
Sep 19
Pridie Roxy
wrote a note on Matthew 20:29 ESV
Pulpit Commentary "The Lord was on his way to Jerusalem to meet the death which he was willing to undergo, and to win the victory which he was by this path to accomplish. His route lay through Jericho, as the march of his forerunner Joshua had led. Joshua had set forth to conquer the promised land; Jesus sets forth to win his promised inheritance by the sword of the Spirit." … Expand
Sep 19
Pridie Roxy
wrote a note on Matthew 20:12 ESV
Pulpit Commentary:"They do not allow that they laboured - they "made" one hour nominally. Equal unto us. Bengel notes, "Envy does not demand more for itself, but wishes that others should have less." Their complaint is that others who have worked less are not docked of their wages in due proportion" … Expand
Sep 14
Pridie Roxy
wrote a note on Matthew 20:9 ESV
Ellicott's commentary: "The standard of payment was qualitative, not quantitative. In the interpretation of the parable, the "penny," as before, represents the eternal life of the kingdom of heaven. No true labourer could receive less; the longest life of labour could claim no more" … Expand
Sep 14
Pridie Roxy
wrote a note on Matthew 19:18 ESV
Pulpit Commentary: "It was round these last six commandments chiefly that rabbinical traditions and interpretations had gathered, so that their plain meaning was obscured or depraved. Whoever observed the second table in spirit and truth, kept also the first (Romans 13:9, 10); and it is easier to love one's neighbour than to love God, as the apostle witnesses (see 1 John 4:20); and without love of our neighbour there cannot be true love of God." … Expand
Sep 7
Pridie Roxy
wrote a note on Matthew 19:9 ESV
Pulpit Commentary: "solution offered for this difficulty is this - that Christ is contemplating merely what we call judicial separation; he considers that no trivial cause justifies this, in fact, nothing but fornication, and that this modified divorce does not free the man so that he may marry again; he is bound by the Law as long as his wife lives. Our Lord seems to have introduced the exceptional clause in order to answer what were virtually two questions of the Pharisees, viz. whether it was lawful to "put away a wife for every cause," and whether, when a man had legally divorced his wife, he might marry again" … Expand
Sep 4
Pridie Roxy
wrote a note on Matthew 19:9 ESV
Pulpit Commentary: "The legislation which permits the complete divorce on other grounds, such as cruelty or desertion on either side, is justified, so far as it is justifiable at all, on the ground of the "hardness of heart" which makes such a concession necessary" … Expand
Sep 3
Pridie Roxy
wrote a note on Luke 18:11 ESV
Ellicott's commentary:' So far as the phrase has any special point, it indicates that he was not praying to God at all; he was practically praying to himself, congratulating himself, half-consciously, that he had no need to pray, in the sense of asking for pardon, or peace, or righteousness, though it might be right, by way of example, to perform his acts of devotion and to thank God for what he had received' … Expand
Sep 2