Matthäus 27:46 Kommentar

When the morning was come,.... Or, as soon as it was day, as Luke says, Luk 22:66. The sanhedrim had been up all night, which, after eating the passover, they had spent in apprehending, trying, and examining Jesus, and the witnesses against him; and had come to an unanimous vote, that he was guilty of death; upon which they either put Jesus out of the room for a while, or went into another themselves, to consult what further steps should be taken: or if they went home to their own houses, they very quickly got together again, and met in the temple, where they seem to be, Mat 27:5, unless the story of Judas is, by anticipation, inserted here; and in their council chamber, where they led Jesus, and examined him again concerning his being the Son of God; see Luk 22:66, all which shows how intent they were upon this business, and with what eagerness and diligence they pursued it; their feet ran to evil, and they made haste to shed blood. This was the time of their morning prayers, of their saying their phylacteries, and reciting the "shema", "hear, O Israel! the Lord our God is one Lord", according to their canon, which is this (e): "from what time do they read the "shema" in the morning? from such time that a man can distinguish between blue and white: says R. Eliezer, between blue and green; and he finishes it before the sun shines out. R. Joshua says, before three hours had elapsed:'' but religion, rites, ceremonies, and canons, must all give way to the accomplishment of what their hearts were so much set upon: all the chief priests and elders of the people. The Syriac and Persic versions leave out the word "all", but it is retained in the Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, and in Munster's Hebrew Gospel, and that very rightly. The Scribes and elders met at Caiaphas's house before, Mat 26:57, but it being in the night, they might not be all together; Annas particularly seems to have been absent, Joh 18:24, but now they all assemble together, as in a case of necessity they were obliged to do: their rule was this (f); "the sanhedrim, consisting of seventy and one (as this was), are obliged to sit all of them as one, (or all, and everyone of them,) in their place in the temple; but at what time there is a necessity of their being gathered together, , "they are all of them assembled"; but, at other times, he who has any business may go, and do his pleasure, and return: yet so it is, that there may not be less than twenty three sitting continually all the time of their sitting; (their usual time of sitting was from the morning daily sacrifice, to the evening daily sacrifice (g);) one that is under a necessity of going out; this looks upon his companions that remain, and if twenty three remain, he may go out; but if not, he may not, until the other returns.'' This being now a case of necessity, and great importance, they are all summoned and gathered together, unless we except Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus; who yet might be there, though they did not consent to their counsel and deed, as is certain of the former, Luk 23:51, these took counsel against Jesus; God's holy child Jesus, his anointed, the Messiah; and which was taking counsel against the Lord himself; and so the prophecy in Psa 2:2, had its accomplishment: what they consulted about was to put him to death; it was not what punishment to inflict upon him, whether scourging or death; that was before determined; they had already condemned him to death: but now they enter into close consultation what death to put him to, and in what manner; whether privately, he being now in their hands; or whether by the means of zealots, or by the Roman magistrate; or whether it should be by stoning, which must have been the case, if they put him to death according to their law; and by their authority; or whether by crucifixion, which they chose as the most ignominious and painful; and therefore determined to deliver him up to the Roman governor, and use their interest with him to put him to death, according to the Roman law. (e) Misn. Beracot, c. 1. sect. 2. (f) Maimon. Hilch. Sanhedrin, c. 3. sect. 2. (g) lb. c. 3. sect. 1. Bernidbar Rabba, sect. 1. fol. 177. 3.

Some of them that stood there,.... Near the cross, looking on, and mocking at him, when they heard that; the words, "Eli, Eli", spoken by Christ, said, this man calleth for Elias. These could not be the Roman soldiers that said so, who had no notion of Elias; rather the Hellenistic Jews, who not so well understanding the Hebrew language, hearing the above words, and having some notion of the prophet Elias, fancied he was calling for him; though it seems most likely to be the Jews, who either through the nearness of the sound of the words, and mistake of them, and not near enough to hear and distinguish them, really thought he called for that prophet; or rather wilfully mistook him, with an intent to banter and ridicule him.

We have, moreover, in that other Gospel a clear revelation, i.e. of the Son's distinction from the Father, "My God, why hast Thou forsaken me? " and again, (in the third Gospel, ) "Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit.

He exclaims that God had forsaken Him. He commends His spirit into the hands of the Father.

However, if you persist in pushing your views further, I shall find means of answering you with greater stringency, and of meeting you with the exclamation of the Lord Himself, so as to challenge you with the question, What is your inquiry and reasoning about that? You have Him exclaiming in the midst of His passion: "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? " Either, then, the Son suffered, being "forsaken" by the Father, and the Father consequently suffered nothing, inasmuch as He forsook the Son; or else, if it was the Father who suffered, then to what God was it that He addressed His cry? But this was the voice of flesh and soul, that is to say, of man-not of the Word and Spirit, that is to say, not of God; and it was uttered so as to prove the impassibility of God, who "forsook" His Son, so far as He handed over His human substance to the suffering of death.

But it must be asked, What means this, that Christ is forsaken of God? Some, unable to explain how Christ could be forsaken of God, say that this was spoken out of humility. But you will be able clearly to comprehend His meaning if you make a comparison of the glory which He had with the Father with the shame which He despised when He endured the cross. When He saw darkness over the whole land of Judæa He said this, Father, why hast thou forsaken me? meaning, Why hast thou given Me over exhausted to such sufferings? that the people who were honoured by Thee may receive the things that they have dared against Me, and should be deprived of the light of Thy countenance. Also, Thou hast forsaken Me for the salvation of the Gentiles. But what good have they of the Gentiles who have believed done, that I should deliver them from the evil one by shedding My precious blood on the ground for them? Or will they, for whom I suffer these things, ever do aught worthy of them? Or foreseeing the sins of those for whom He suffered, He said, Why hast thou forsaken me? that I should become as one that, gathereth stubble in the harvest, and gleanings in the vintage. (Mic. 7:1.) But you must not imagine that the Saviour said this after the manner of men by reason of the misery which encompassed Him on the cross; for if you take it so you will not hear His loud voice and mighty words which point to something great hidden.

Night following day marks a division of times. Thus is fulfilled the triad of days and nights, and the hidden mystery of God’s work is perceived with astonishment by all of creation. The cry to God in truth is the voice of a body departing, having declared the separation of the Word of God from itself. He wonders why he is being abandoned when he exclaims, “God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” But he was forsaken because his humanity had to pass even through death. It must be considered carefully that he gave up the spirit with a loud cry after he drank from the sponge full of vinegar offered to him on a reed. Wine is the honor and power of immortality, but it soured through the fault of the vessel or through carelessness. Therefore, since this wine had soured in Adam, he himself accepted it and drank from the nations. The fact that it was offered to him to drink from a sponge on a reed signifies that he took from the bodies of the Gentiles the sins which had ruined eternity and transferred our sins to himself, uniting them to his immortality.

(de Trin. x. 50 &c.) From these words heretical spirits contend either that God the Word was entirely absorbed into the soul at the time it discharged the function of a soul in quickening the body; or that Christ could not have been born man, because the Divine Word dwelt in Him after the manner of a prophetical spirit. As though Jesus Christ was a man of ordinary soul and body, having His beginning then when He began to be man, and thus now deserted upon the withdrawal of the protection of God's word cries out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Or at least that the nature of the Word being transmuted into soul, Christ, who had depended in all things upon His Father's support, now deserted and left to death, mourns over this desertion, and pleads with Him departing. But amidst these impious and feeble opinions, the faith of the Church imbued with Apostolic teaching does not sever Christ that He should be considered as Son of God and not as Son of Man. The complaint of His being deserted is the weakness of the dying man; the promise of Paradise is the kingdom of the living God. You have Him complaining that He is left to death, and thus He is Man; you have Him as He is dying declaring that He reigns in Paradise; and thus He is God. Wonder not then at the humility of these words, when you know the form of a servant, and see the offence of the cross.

And for this reason, even after this He speaks, that they might learn that He was still alive, and that He Himself did this, and that they might become by this also more gentle, and He saith, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that unto His last breath they might see that He honors His Father, and is no adversary of God. Wherefore also He uttered a certain cry from the prophet, even to His last hour bearing witness to the Old Testament, and not simply a cry from the prophet, but also in Hebrew, so as to be plain and intelligible to them, and by all things He shows how He is of one mind with Him that begat Him.

Jesus appropriated the beginning of the twentyfirst psalm. That which is read in the middle of the verse, “Look at me,” is superfluous. For in the Hebrew it reads, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” They are impious therefore who say that the psalm is written in the person of David or Esther or Mordecai, since the Evangelists understand that other testimony taken from the same psalm is to be applied to the Savior, as for example, “they divided my garments and cast lots for my clothing” and “they pierced my hands and my feet.”

(Verse 46.) And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying: Eli, Eli, lammasabacthani, which means: My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? He made use of the beginning of the twenty-first psalm, and that which is read in the middle of the verse: Look upon me, for it is useless. For it is read in Hebrew: My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? Therefore, those who think that this psalm is spoken from the perspective of David, Esther, or Mordecai are wicked, since the evangelists also understand the testimonies taken from it concerning the Savior, as in: They divided my garments among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots. And another thing: They pierced my hands and my feet. Do not be surprised at the lowly words and the complaints of one who is forsaken, when you see the form of a servant and the scandal of the cross.

He employed the beginning of the twenty-first Psalm. (Ps. 22:1. Vulg.) That clause in the middle of the verse, Look upon me, is superfluous; for the Hebrew has only 'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani,' that is, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? It is impiety therefore to think that this Psalm was spoken in the character of David or Esther or Mardocheus, when passages taken out of it by the Evangelist are understood of the Saviour; as, They parted my garments among them, and, They pierced my hands.

Or, The Saviour said this as bearing about with Him our feelings, who when placed in dangers think ourselves forsaken by God. Human nature was forsaken by God because of its sins, and the Son of God becoming our Advocate laments the misery of those whose guilt He took upon Himf; there in showing how they who sin ought to mourn, when He who never sinned did thus mourn.

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? Jesus speaks prophetically in the Hebrew tongue to show that He does not contend with the Old Testament. He said, "Why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Ps. 21:1). to show that He was truly man, and not just in appearance. For man avidly desires life and has a physical appetite for it. Just as Christ agonized and was sorely troubled before the cross, showing the fear that is ours by nature, so now He says, "Why hast Thou forsaken Me?" displaying our natural thirst for life. For He was truly man and like us in all respects, but without sins. Some have understood it in this manner: the Saviour spoke on behalf of the Jews and said, "Why hast Thou forsaken the Jewish race, O Father, that it should commit such a sin and be handed over to destruction?" For as Christ was one of the Jews, He said "forsaken Me," meaning, "Why hast Thou forsaken My kinsmen, My people, that they should bring such a great evil upon themselves?"

(non occ.) God is said to have forsaken Him in death because He exposed Him to the power of His persecutors; He withdrew His protection, but did not break the union.

"And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice." Here he sets forth the cry of Christ. And first, the cry is set forth; second, the effect, at "and some that stood there etc." He says therefore "and about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice." According to Origen, Christ cries with a loud voice, and it signifies the multitude of mysteries. Isaiah 6:3: "the Seraphim cried one to another: Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of hosts." Hence whoever wishes to understand this as meaning that he cried out from weariness of death, has not understood the mystery; therefore it is not to be understood thus, but because he wished to give us to understand that he was equal to the Father, he said in the Hebrew tongue, "Eli, Eli, lamma sabacthani?" Likewise, because he wished to signify that the Passion had been foretold by the prophets, therefore he said that verse of Psalm 21:2: "O God my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me?" Hence Jerome says that those are impious who wish to interpret that Psalm otherwise than of the Passion of Christ. Note that some have misunderstood this. Hence you should know that there were two heresies. One which did not posit the Word as united in Christ, but held that the Word took the place of a soul, and this was the position of Arius. But others held that the Word was not united naturally, but by grace, as in any just man, as in the prophets; and so held Nestorius. Hence they interpreted "God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" They say that the Word of God was saying this, and calls him God because he is his creature, and complains that this Word caused himself to be united to him and afterward forsook him. But this is an impious interpretation, because the Word is always with him; hence the divinity did not leave the flesh, nor the soul: hence in John 8:29: "he that sent me is with me." What then? It should be said that from the very manner of speaking it is manifest that it was to be understood of Christ: for it is said of him in John 20:17: "I ascend to my Father and to your Father, to my God and to your God." He calls him Father inasmuch as he is God; he calls him God inasmuch as he is man: therefore when he says "my God, my God etc.," it is manifest that he speaks according as he is man; therefore he repeats it, to designate the greatness of human feeling. And the words "thou hast forsaken me" are said by way of likeness, because what we have, we have from God; hence just as when someone is exposed to some evil, he is said to be forsaken, so when the Lord allowed a man to fall into the evil of punishment or of fault, he is said to be forsaken; therefore Christ is said to be forsaken, not as to the union, nor as to grace, but as to the Passion; Isaiah 54:7: "for a moment I have forsaken thee." And he says "why?" not as from weariness, but it can designate compassion for the Jews; hence he did not say this until after the darkness came; hence he means to say: why didst thou will that I be handed over to the Passion, and that these be darkened? Likewise, it signifies admiration, for the charity of God is wonderful. Romans 5:8: "God commendeth his charity towards us, because when as yet we were sinners, according to the time, Christ died for us."