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rendered the Hebrew verbs, in the past rather than the present tense,--" Why did the "Gentiles rage," &c.--which is their grammatical import, and also more conformable to the context; representing "the transcend"ent exaltation" of the SON OF GOD, on the day of his resurrection; after his persecution by the impotent rage and idle machinations of all his foes*.

Verse

1. When Simon Peter, in the name of all the apostles, had acknowledged " JESUS, to be THE CHRIST, the SON OF THE LIVING GOD;" "from thenceforth began JESUS to shew unto his disciples, that he must needs go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders, and chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and be raised, the third day?" Matt. xvi. 21. Compare Mark viii. 31.

Luke ix. 22.

"THE SON OF MAN is hands of men, and they

2. Soon after his transfiguration, while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, going to be betrayed into the shall kill him; and he shall be raised, the third day.” Matt. xvii. 22. Compare Mark ix. 31. and Luke ix. 44.

3. On his way from the coasts of Jordan to Jerusalem, "He took the twelve disciples apart, and said unto them, "Lo! we are going up to Jerusalem, and THE SON OF "MAN shall be betrayed to the chief priests and elders, "and they shall condemn Him to death, and shall deliver "Him to the Gentiles, to mock and to scourge and to

"crucify;

Verse 2. "The kings of the land confede

rated."

The Hebrew term, and the Greek Taia or F, ambiguously denote either" the "earth"

crucify; and he shall rise again the third day." Matt. xx. 17. Compare Mark x. 33, Luke xviii. 31.

4. When the Pharisees, to intimidate him, said, "get "thee out and depart hence, for Herod meaneth to kill "thee," He answered, "Go and tell that fox; Lo! to"day and to-morrow, I cast out demons and perform “cures; and the third day I shall be perfected: never"theless, I must needs [stay] to-day and to-morrow, and

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depart the next day; for it is not possible that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem!" Luke xiv. 31-33.

5. Two days before the Passover, He said unto his disciples," THE SON OF MAN is betrayed to be cru"cified"-while the chief priests and elders were actually conspiring against him. Matt. xxvi. 2. Compare Mark xiv. 1, Luke xxii. 1.

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6. The same night in which he was betrayed, He said, during supper, Verily one of you shall betray me”and he marked the traitor," he that dippeth his hand with “me in the dish, the same shall betray me"-when Judus asked, Is it I, Master? He answered," thou speakest [truth]."And he also pointed him out to the beloved disciple John :-" The same is he to whom, when I have dipped, I shall give a sop: and when He had dipped "the sopa it to Judas Iscariot-(and after the 66 sop,

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he gave

"earth” in general or "the land" in particular. The apostles' comment limits it to the latter sense; "Herod" being then tetrarch of Galilee; and " Pontius Pilate" procurator or governor of Judea, which, with Samaria, was then attached to the Roman

"sop, Satan entered into him:) Then said JESUS unto “him, what thou doest, do quickly. But none of the "guests knew for what intent he spake [thus] to him." Matt. xxvi. 23, &c. Mark xiv. 20, &c. Luke xxii. 21, &c.

John xiii. 21, &c.

7. Shortly after, during his agony, in the garden of Gethsemane, after he had prayed thrice, he said to his disciples, still slumbering and sleeping for sorrow :-" Lo! "the hour is at hand, and THE SON OF MAN is betrayed "into the hand of sinners:-Rise, let us be going, lo! my betrayer is at hand: And while he was speaking, "lo! Judas came," &c. Matt. xxvi. 45, &c. Mark xiv. 41, &c. Luke xxii. 46.

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8. JESUS thus knowing all things that were to come upon him, went forth and said unto them, Whom seek ye? &c. John xviii. 4.

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9. On the day of his resurrection, He reminded his disciples, of these his predictions:-"That all things "written concerning him, in the Law of Moses, and the 'prophets, and the Psalms, must needs be fulfilled.”"Thus it is written, and thus it behoved THE CHRIST “to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day.”Ought not THE CHRIST to suffer these things [first, “ and then] to enter into his glory." Luke xxiv. 26-46.

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province

province of Syria. And in this limited sense, "The kings of

the phrase οι βασιλεις της γης,

"the land," seems to be understood in that signal miracle of supplying the capitation tax, for OUR LORD and his disciple Peter, Matt. xvii. 24-27*. From the reason assigned :

*This stupendous miracle of supplying the tribute money, evincing OUR LORD's prescience and his power over all nature, which for its minuteness and frugality is perhaps more wonderful even than the superfluity of the loaves and fishes, has been greatly obscured by translators, for want of retaining or paraphrasing the technical terms of the original; and mistaken by most commentators, supposing that it was the capitation tax of half a shekel, for each of the congregation of Israel above twenty years of age, prescribed by the Law of Moses, for sacred uses. Exod. xxx. 13. Οἱ τα δίδραχμα λαμβάνοντες, σε thie re"ceivers of the two drackmas," were the TEλaval or publicans;"-tax-gatherers employed by Herod in Galilee, and by the Roman governor in Judea and Samaria : -And the two drachmas, or two Roman denarii, (worth about seven pence halfpenny of our currency, each) was the amount of the "census" or capitation tax, paid to * Casar," Matt. xxii. 17, which was the same as the sacred. The stater, thus miraculously supplied, was equal in value, to the sacred shekel, or four drachmas or four denarii; and the exact amount therefore of the capitation tax for JESUS and his disciple Peter. Why OUR LORD chose to pay the tribute money, rather in this Grecian

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signed" But that we might not offend "them" meaning plainly, the imposers of

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the

coin, than in the Roman or Jewish, may perhaps, not idly, be conjectured to have arisen from a curious circumstance, preserved by Hesychius, under the article Παλλάδος προσωπον-where he thus describes the Grecian coin: Στατηρ" επι μεν ένας μέρος, ΑΘΗΝΑΣ προσωπον επι θάτερα, την γλαυκα. “ The stater had, on one sile, "Minerva's face; on the other, her owl." But AOHNA or Minerva, was the Heathen goddess of WISDOM; the spurious representative of OUR LORD himself. The stater therefore bore "his image;” and He reclaimed it as his own coin.

It is strange how such a respectable commentator as Gilpin, could so greatly under-rate this miracle in his note, as to rank it" among those of the lowest class—a miracle adapted to fishermen !"—or thus fancifully and irreverently account for it :-" It would be difficult to say, how JESUS could with more propriety have obtained a sup

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ply:-If he had created it on the spot, it might have "had the appearance of a sort of legerdemain; or it 186 might have laid him open to the accusation of counterfeiting the current coin of the country!"

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And this note of his may serve to illustrate the following excellent advice to sacred critics, given by Gilpin himself, Pref. p. xvii. quarto.

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"No doubt, as THE SCRIPTURES have been more

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commented on than any other books, and as people of all professions, and opinions, and under 'prejudices of every kind, have laboured in this work, there will, of

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