Matthew 28:17

very meagre statement, the whole interest of the evangelist being absorbed by the words spoken by Jesus. προσεκύνησαν as in Matthew 28:9, but the men less demonstrative than the women; no mention of seizing Jesus by the feet. οἱ δὲ ἐδίστασαν : but some doubted (cf. Matthew 14:31, in reference to Peter). This clause seems to qualify and limit the previous statement as to the worshipping, giving this sense: they worshipped, i.e., the most of them, for some were in doubt. So Meyer, who cites in support Klotz, Ad Devar, whose statement is to the effect that in passages of this kind containing a clause with δὲ without a μέν preceding, a universal affirmation is first made and then a division follows, which shows that a universal affirmation was not really intended (p. 358). Various methods have been adopted to get rid of the unwelcome conclusion that some of the eleven did not do homage, e.g., by taking ἐδίστασαν as a pluperfect (Fritzsche, Grotius), or by finding the doubters among the 500 mentioned by St. Paul (1 Corinthians 15:6), or even by altering the text οἱ δὲ into οὐδέ (Beza). The whole narrative is so brief and vague as to lend support to the hypothesis that in the appearance of Jesus here recorded we have not one particular occurrence, but a general picture of the Christophanies, in which mingled conflicting feelings of reverent recognition and hesitation as to the identity of the person played their part. Such is the view of Keil, Steinmeyer, and Holtzmann (H. C.).