Matthew 6:27

τίς δὲ, etc. The question means: care is as bootless as it is needless. But there is much difference of opinion as to the precise point of the question. Does it mean, who by care can add a cubit to his height, or who can add a short space of time, represented by a cubit, to the length of his life? ἡλικία admits of either sense. It means stature in Luke 19:3; age in John 9:21; Hebrews 11:11. Most recent commentators favour the latter interpretation, chiefly influenced by the monstrosity of the supposition as referring to stature. Who could call adding a cubit, 1½ feet, to his height a very small matter, the expression of Lk. (ἐλάχιστον, Matthew 12:26)? The application of a measure of length to length of days is justified by Psalms 39:5 : “Thou hast made my days as handbreadths”. But Dr. Field strongly protests against the new rendering. Admitting, of course, that ἡλικία is ambiguous, and that in classic authors it oftener means age than stature, he insists that πῆχυς is decisive. “ πῆχυς,” he remarks (Ot. Nor.), “is not only a measure of length, but that by which a man's stature was properly measured.” Euthy. on this place remarks: “ καὶ μὴν οὐδὲ σπιθαμήν (half a cubit) οὐδὲ δάκτυλον (a 24th part): λοιπὸν οὖν πῆχυν εἶπε, διότι κυρίως μέτρον τῶν ἡλικιῶν ὁ πῆχύς ἐστι. Thus a short man is τρίπηχυς, a tall man τετράπηχυς.” But how are we to get over the monstrosity of the supposition? Lutteroth helps us here by finding in the question of Jesus a reference to the growth of the human body from infancy to maturity. By that insensible process, accomplished through the aid of food, Gods adds to every human body more than one cubit. “How impossible for you to do what God has done without your thinking of it! And if He fed you during the period of growth, can you not trust Him now when you have ceased to grow?” Such is the thought of Jesus.