Matthew 13:35

The insertion of Ἡσαίου before τοῦ προφήτου, a mistaken gloss, has very slender authority, א being the only uncial that contains the reading.

35. ὅπως πληρωθῇ, For the meaning of this formula cp. note, ch. Matthew 1:22.

διὰ τοῦ προφήτου, Asaph, the author of Psalms 78 from which this quotation is taken. He is called ‘Asaph the seer,’ 2 Chronicles 29:30.

The quotation does not agree verbally with the LXX. where the last clause is φθέγξομαι προβλήματα�ʼ ἀρχῆς. It is a direct translation of the Hebrew. The psalm which follows these words is a review of the history of Israel from the Exodus to the reign of David. This indicates the somewhat wide sense given to ‘parables’ and ‘dark sayings.’ Here the mashal, παραβολή, or ‘comparison,’ implies the teachings of history. Though possibly the term may apply only to the antithetical form of Hebrew poetry. See Dean Perowne ad loc.

ἐρεύγεσθαι. Ionic form for Attic ἐρυγγάνω, cp. τυγχάνω for τεύχω, λανθάνω for λήθω, Cp. ἐρεύγετο οἰνοβαρείων, Od. IX. 374. (κύματα) ἐρεύγεται ἠπειρόνδε, Od.13:438. The word is similarly used in Pindar and Theocritus, and in the LXX. of lions roaring, Hosea 11:11; Amos 3:4; Amos 3:8; of water bursting forth, Leviticus 11:10, and in Psalms 18:2 figuratively ἡμέρα τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐρεύγεται ῥῆμα. Here only in the softened sense of ‘speaking;’ such softening of coarse and strong meanings is characteristic of Alexandrine Greek, cp. σκύλλειν.

καταβολή, foundation, beginning. So used by Pindar and Polyb. ἐκ καταβολῆς κατηγορεῖν, Polyb. XXVI. 1, 9. καταβολὴν ἐποιεῖτο καὶ θεμέλιον ὑπεβάλλετο πολυχρονίου τυραννίδος, XIII. 6, 2. Cp. μὴ πάλιν θεμέλιον καταβαλλόμενοι μετανοίας�. Hebrews 6:1.