Annotations upon all the New Testament philologicall and theologicall wherein the emphasis and elegancie of the Greeke is observed, some imperfections in our translation are discovered, divers Jewish rites and customes tending to illustrate the text are mentioned, many antilogies and seeming contradictions reconciled, severall darke and obscure places opened, sundry passages vindicated from the false glosses of papists and hereticks / by Edward Leigh ...

CHAP. XXVII.

Verse 3. THen Iudas which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, &c.] When he saw the proceedings and issue of this businesse,* 1.1 viz. that Jesus was condemned to die, whereas upon the sight and knowledge of the continall mira∣cles of Christ, he perhaps supposed that (notwithstanding this wicked transacting of his) his Master would easily free himselfe from their hands, he was stricken with a late remorse.

In Iudas may be found the Papists whole definition of repentance, for here is to be seen both contrition of heart, confession of mouth, and satisfaction of worke, as they speake.

Thirty pieces of silver] By the Law of God slaves were esteemed at the rate of thirty Shekells, Exod. 21.32. See Iosephus. l. 4. c. 8.

Vers. 5. Hanged himselfe] * 1.2 Some say it is passive, and should be translated, hee was strangled or stifled, but whether by the halter or with some suddaine desease, is not determined, and Luke. 1.18. saith nothing of it.

Vers. 9. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Ieremiah the Prophet] It is hard to admit the corruption of the originall text by the negligence of the transcribers mistak∣ing the contracted word, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 for 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as some would have it;* 1.3 and it is harder with Origene and Ierome, to admit any apocrypha parts of the Prophet Ieremie; and hardest

of all with Augustine to grant a mnemonicke errour, a slip of memory, in the holy E∣vangelist.

The Syriacke names not the Prophet; it was the custome for one man to have two names,* 1.4 Ieremie and Zacharie, which differ not much in signification, one signifieth the commemoration, the other the exaltation of God; a learned man that saw a Copy written 600. yeares agoe, saith there was neither Ieremie nor Zacharie, but the Pro∣phet. Maldonate and Iansenius incline to this exposition.

Zacharie hath the name Ieremie, abridging all his worke. Broughton.

* 1.5And they tooke the thirty pieces of silver] Of what value each piece was, is uncertaine, but the Jewes have given a rule, that when a piece of silver is named in the Pentateuch, it signifies a sicle; if it be named in the Prophets, it signifies a pound; if in the other writings of the Old Testament,* 1.6 it signifies a talent; this therefore being alledged out of the Prophet Ieremy, by one of the Evangelists, it is probable, the price at which Iu∣das sold his Lord, was thirty pound weight of silver.

Vers. 14. He answered him to never a word] 1. Innocency needed no apologie. 2. Shewes he contemned death. 3. To teach us quietnesse.

Vers. 16. Barrabas] Is a Syriacke word, and signifieth the sonne of a Father, Bar signifies a son, and Abbas a Father, as 16, 17. Bar-Iona the son of Iona, or a dove. Piscat.

Vers. 19. His wife sent unto him, saying, have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dreame because of him] See 1. Gods power to give testimony of his childrens innocency. 2. He oft keepes his testimony till the last mo∣ment. 3. A message is delivered against many objections. 4. Christ converts his wife, while he condemnes him. 5. Feare of wrath. 6. Vse of dreames. 7. Wives suffer for ill husbands. 8. It is a dreame in the day, it is unwholesome to sleep then.

Vers. 23. But they cryed out the more, saying, let him be * 1.7 crucified] Such are the clamours of the peolpe in Tertullian, Christianos ad leonem, Christianos ad bestias, so the Jews cry out in the Act. 21.36. and 22.22. Away with him, A way with such a fellow from the earth. The like is that in Suetonius, Tiberium in Tiberim, and in Ammianus, Arde at Valens.

Vers. 24. He tooke water and washed his hands] Pilate conversing with the Jews, imi∣tated their custome in this.* 1.8

There were three sorts of washing of hands in use among the Jews, saith Godwin in his Jewish Antiquityes.

• 1. Pharisaicall and superstitious, this was reproved.
• 2. Ordinary for outward decencie, this was allowed.
• 3. In taken of innocency, this was commanded the elder of the neighbour Cityes in case of murder. Deut. 21.6. Psal. 26.6.

Officers should have clean hands; outward washing serves not, he had need to rub hard to get of guilt with so weake a meanes. It was not used (say some) among the Grecians and Romanes. Pilate (saith Casaubone * 1.9 against Baronius) did it not in imitation of the Jews, sed mos veterum fuit mentem suam significare non solum verbis sed etiam factis, ut Act. 12.2.

Vers. 25. His bloud be on us, and our children] That is, the punishment of his bloud, his death. Iosh. 2.19.

Vers. 26. And when he had scourged Iesus, he delivered him to be crucified] This shewes Pilates desire to content the people, and he also feared Caesar, Iohn 19.13.

* 1.10Vers. 28. Put on him a scarlet roabe] Marke 15.20. and Iohn. 19.2. have purple, which yet are distinct colours, but both of them belonging to Kings, Rev. 19.4. The Evangelists by reason of the affinitie, and almost promiscuous use of those colours, speake more commonly and grossely of them.

Vers. 29. And when they had platted a crown of thornes, they put it upon his head] They would not onely mock him, with the putting of such a Crowne on him,* 1.11 but by the same also shew their cruelty, fastning the thornes into his head; as also the purple roabe put upon him when he was all bloudy with stripes did not a little paine him. This part of our Lords passion was prefigured by the type of the Ramme. Gen. 32.13.

Vers. 32. They found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to beare his Crosse] 1. There was a type of this, Gen. 22.6. 2. Christ beares the curses of the law. 3. God will provide help. 4. There is a spirituall consociation between Christ and his members. 5. A stranger not a Jew, the Gentiles have part in Christ. 6. We are strangers to Christ till we suffer with him.

Simon] signifieth obedient, he that is obedient carrieth the Crosse of Christ.* 1.12 The∣ophylact.

Vers. 33. Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a scull] They brought Christ to Golgotha, a place of the dead, because (say some) he was numbred among the dead; rather because those who were dead afore had benefit by him.

Golgotha, a Syriack word, signifieth the place of a Head corrupted, from the Hebrew Gulgoleth, a skull. Epiphanius and Origen say,* 1.13 Christ suffered in the place where Adam was buried, and that this place was so called from his skull; but this is false, for Adam (as we read in Joshuah) was buried neere Hebron. It was so called, because it was a place full of skulls of dead men that had been executed there.

Vers. 34. They gave him wine mingled with gall] This Marke setteth down to have been myrrhe, Mar. 15.23. Myrrh in Hebrew and Syriack hath its name from extreme bitter∣nesse. The Jews were accustomed to give to those who were punished by death, a Cup of wine, with which there was mixt myrrh, or some other drug of that kind,* 1.14 that they might bring them into a senslesse stupidity, but Christ refused to drinke it. Hence it commeth to passe, as it seemeth, that the Prophets in setting forth destructions, so often use the Parable of the Cup: as which was wont to be offered to them that were to dye, according to the Custome of the Nation.

Vers. 35. They crucified him] With his armes open, with one hand calling the Jews, with the other the Gentiles. Aretius. As the extension of the first hand brought death, so the extension of the second hand brought life. Jerome.

His Garments were taken from him, that we might put him on in Baptisme. Gal. 3.27. He was called King of the Jewes, even by a Heathen Judge, to reprove the infideli∣ty of the Jews; he was counted among sinners, that we might be reckoned among the Sons of God; his confidence to his Father is blamed, that ours might be praised; he wrestled with the temptation of desertion, that God may never forsake us; and that no man might doubt of his death, and that he might sanctifie our graves, he was ho∣nourably buried. Grynaeus. See Grotius.

Vers 39. And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads] All sorts of Persons reproach him: 1. Those which passed by, that is, the promiscuous multitude, consi∣sting of men and women, Jews and Gentiles. 2. The chiefe Priests,* 1.15 the Scribes and Pharisees, ver. 41. 3. The Souldiers. 4. The Thieves, ver. 44. They accuse him for a Lyer, Ah thou that dectroyest the Temple] They would convince him of falshood in foretel∣ling the destroying of the Temple, when Christ spoke of his body. 2. They object the Crosse, If thou be the Son of God come down from the Crosse] As if they should say, if he were the Son of God he would not hang on the Crosse. 3. They carpe at his mira∣cles, descend from the Crosse that we may beleeve, as if they should say, now were a time for thee to exercise thy miraculous power in descending from the Crosse. 4. They

carpe at his benefits bestowed on others, He saved others and cannot save himself] They ca∣lumniously accuse him, as if his healing the sick, freeing of those which were possessed with Devills, and raising the dead, had been but counterfeit and meere delusions. 5. They except at his Doctrine and his profession, that he is not the Christ the chosen of God, nor the King of Israel, but that he arrogated all these things falsely to himself; they oppose his confidence in God, he trusted in God, let him deliver him if he will] As if they should say, he is forsaken of God; these are the bitings of the Serpent foretold, Gen. 3.15.

* 1.16Vers. 43. If he will have him] The vulgar Latine, si vult, rather, if he take delight in him. These words are taken from the Lxx Interpreters, Psal. 22.9.

Vers. 44. The theeves which were also crucified with him] Matthew and Mark by a Sy∣necdoche attribute that to theeves which was * 1.17 proper only to one of them, as appeares by Luke 23.39. So in Hebrews 11. They shut the mouths of Lyons, and were sawed asunder, when as the one belongs to Daniel, the other to Esay alone. Hillary, Origen, Chrysostome, say, that they did both first reproach him, but afterwards one was converted.

* 1.1845. From the sixth houre] That is, from high noon. Vnto the ninth houre] That is, till three in the afternoone. a 1.19 The darkness and Eclipse were not naturall, for at the Jewes Passeover the Moon was in the full.

Ver. 46. Eli, Eli, lammasabachthani] gnazabhtani, so it is Psa. 22.2. But Christ used the Sy∣riack idiome, say Caninius, & others. Our Lord spake all in b 1.20 Syriack save the Revelation. Grotius saith, it may be collected hence and else where that Christ neither used the old speech of the Hebrews, nor the Syriack, but a mixt dialect which then flourished in Iudaea.

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me] Therefore truth and faith may be without feeling. Forsaken] 1. By denying of protection. 2. By withdrawing of solace. Non sol∣vit unionem, sed subtraxit visionem. Leo. The union was not dissolved, but the beames, the influence was restrained.

Christ spoke partly in the Syrian Language. There is between Christ and God, 1. An eternall union naturall of the Person.* 1.21 2. Of the Godhead and Manhood. 3. Of grace and protection; in this last sense he meanes, forsaken, according to his feeling, hence he said not, my Father, but my God. They are not words of complaining, but expressing his griefe. Athanasius de incarnatione Christi saith, He spake this in our person; Non enim ipse adeo desertus fuit sed nos, vox corporis sui, hoc est, Ecclesiae. Aug. Epist. 120. It shews that 1. God left him in great distresse. 2. That he withdrew from the humane nature. 3. That God powred his wrath upon him as our surety. 4. He suffered in soule. 5. Will comfort us in distresse. 6. God forsakes the wicked. 7. Feare and hope are in his words.

Vers. 50. Jesus, when he had cryed again with a loud voice, gave up the Ghost] He yeelded up, or gave up the Ghost, therefore he could have kept it; that shewes he died c 1.22 freely, and so do the other words; to be able to cry with a loud voice was a sign of strength, not of one dying.

Vers. 51. The veile of the Temple was rent in twaine] Thomas thinketh the outward veile which divided the Court from the Sanctuary; rather the inward,* 1.23 which was put before the Holy of holiest; Christ opened the way to the Holiest, Heb. 8.9. The veile rent, 1. That there might be an entrance made into heaven by his death. 2. To shew that the ceremoniall Law was abrogated by his death. 3. To shew that he had cancelled the veile of our sins. 4. To shew that the veile of ignorance was taken away in the Law. 2 Cor. 3.13.

Vers. 52. And the graves were opened, and many bodies of Saints which slept, arose] The whole earth was shaken, it was an universall earthquake, as the Eclipse. à Lapide. The Earth was troubled with a palsie,* 1.24 and with its violent shaking awakened the Saints out of their dead sleep. This earthquake was a sign of Gods wrath for mans sins. Psal. 18.8. Ioel 3.16.* 1.25

Vers. 53. Went into the holy City] A periphrasis of Jerusalem, so called chiefly in re∣spect of Gods sanctification, and dedication of it from the begining unto himself, and because it was the seat of the divine worship. Esay 48.2. Nehem. 11.1.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Dr. Hals Para∣phrase of all the hard Texts of Scripture. Vide Iansen. concord. Evang.

  Omnes tres paenitentiae par∣tes attigit. Ian∣senins.
• * 1.2

  Vide de Dieu, Heinsium, Grotium, & Pricaeum, in loc.
• * 1.3

  See my Trea∣tise of Divinity, Booke 1. ch. 6. Clarum est Testimonium hoc in Ieremia nusquam extare. Quin Interpretes, quos secutus sum, ex Zacharia illud depromunt, utrum igitur memoria fefellit, cum haec scri∣beret, evangelistam? Quidam ita censent, quod neque confirmare argumentis neque refellere animo est. Sed erit fortasse, qui culpam eom in librarios conferet. Quod mihi non improbatur, ut quemadmodum Theodorus notat, error sit ex compendio scribendi 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 & 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Scire autem licet legi apud interpretem. Matthaei, Syrum simpliciter, quod dictum est per prophe∣tam. Drus. in Paralel. Sac. Vide Grotium in loc. & Brugens. notat. in Biblia.
• * 1.4

  Mr. Bayly on Zeph. 3.1.
• * 1.5

  Vide Grotium.
• * 1.6

  Dr. Taylor of the life and death of Christ, who quotes Elias Levita in Tisbi, & A∣rias Montanus in diction. Sy∣ro-Chaldaic.
• * 1.7

  Crucem Christo optant, quia id ignomi∣niosissimumerat supplicium. Apuleius ex∣treman poenam dixit. Grotius.
• * 1.8

  Hujus confue∣tudinis apud Graecos vel Romanos nullum reperio vestigium: Itaque puto Pilatum inter Iudaeos versantem eorum instituta & consuetu∣dinem in hac parte esse imitatum. Nam quod afferunt docti viri ex Sophoclis interprete, id huic loco non convenit. Illi enim lavabant manus, ut scelus à se patratum quoquo modo expiarent: Pilatus ut innocentiam suam testatam faceret. Casaubonus in notis.

  Videtur mutuatus exemplum ex similibus ritibus Iudaeorum qui Deut. 21.6. jubentur, lotione manuum declarare, se expertes caedis: quanquam est quid naturale propemodum, nec musitatum Romanis, ablutione manuum, animi puritatem inno∣centiam que significare. Iudaico usus est more, inquit Origenes, volens eos de Christi innocentiâ, non solum verbis, sed eti∣am ipso facto placare. Lucas Brugensis comment in 4 or Euangelia. Credo id fecisse Pilatum potius Hebraico quam Roma∣no ritu. Sanctius in Act. 18.8. Vide plura ibid.
• * 1.9

  Exercitat. 16. ad Annal. Eccles. Baron. Vide Grotium.
• * 1.10

  Vide Grotium in loc. & de Dieu in Joh. 19.2. Vestis haec erat diba∣pha, id est his tincta, scilicet semel purpura, id est, murice, & iterum cocco infecta. Cornel. à Lap.
• * 1.11

  Atrox fuit haec Christi igno∣minia, quâ ipse quasi regi ficto coronâ spineâ illudunt, aequè ac ingens cruciatus, tum quia spinae erant acutissimae, tum quia infixae capiti & cerebro in quo est omnium nervorum, muscu∣lorum, sensuum, ac sensationum fons & origo. Cornel. à Lap.

  Ver. 31. Fecerunt id hoc fine, ut dolorem Christo augerent, quia Chlamys illa Coccinea vibicibus ex flagellatio∣ne relictis fortiter erat impacta, proinde non sine exquisitissimo doloris sensu detrahi potuit. Gerh.
• * 1.12

  It was a usuall custome among the Romans, whence they were called, Furciferi, Gallowes-bearers. Malefici cum ad supplicium educuntur, quisque effert suam crucem. Plutarch.
• * 1.13

  Cranij locus sic dictus à Crani∣is hominum de quibus sumptum esset supplici∣um, ibi jacenti∣bus, non à capite primi hominis ibi condito, ut veteribus quibusdam placuit. Schind. in Lex. Penrag. Vide Cheitomaeum de Graeco-Barb. N.T. & Grotium in loc.
• * 1.14

  Mede in Apoc. 148. Vide Grot. in loc.
• * 1.15

  Gerh. in Harm. Evang.
• * 1.16

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Si placet ei. Be∣za. Si placuit sibi in eo. Syrus interples. Arabs. Si diligit eum.
• * 1.17

  Calv. August.
• * 1.18

  Cornel. à Lap.
• a 1.19

  Aut Deus na∣turae patitur, aut mū limachi∣na dissolvetur. Denis the Are∣opagite. See Be∣za on Mar. 15.
• b 1.20

  Broughtons E∣pistle to the Nobility of England.
• * 1.21

  My God] These are the words not of justify∣ing faith, wher∣of he stood not in need, but he had such a faith or hope where∣by he did put his confidence in God.
• c 1.22

  Esay 53.12. Joh. 10.18. Palam ostendit, se mori, non vi∣olenter, quasi nequiret se ipse diutiùs in vita servare, sed propria voluntate: Nam qui moribundus valuit clamorem edere ingentem, valuit & à morte se servare. Impossibile est enim ut à clamore valido statim quis moriatur, siquidem morte lenta interficiatur: nam qui subitò confodiatur gladio, nihil mirum clamare simul & mori. Lucas Brugensis. Vide Grot.
• * 1.23

  Beza, Ribera, Tostatus in Ex∣od. Gerh. Cornel. à Lap. Lucas Burgen. comment in 4 or Evang. Vide Grot.
• * 1.24

  See Luk. 23.45.
• * 1.25

  See Mat. 4.5. and Dan. 9.6. Siclorum in scriptio erat Ierusalem sancta. Grotius.