Biblical commentary on the New Testament - The Christian ...

Matthew XIV. 31-33. 525
Saviour's cliaracter, as the centre of all spiritual life, that every
thing in him and with him rises into a higher significancy.
Ver 32, 33.—According to Matthew and Mark, the disciples, in
the strongest terms, express their astonishment (Mark v. 51, Xiav—
iK TTepiaoov—^^ioraoOai) and adoration. (The meaning of Trpoc-
KvvEtv, ivorship, which had otherwise been vague, is at Matth. xiv.
33, accurately defined by the confession which follows that he was
the Son of God. See as to this more at length on Matth. xvi. IG).
Christ, along with Peter, stepped on board the ship, the wind
calmed down (aveiiog tKOTraaSj see above, Mark iv. 39, = yaXTJvT] iye-
ve-o)j and they gained the further shore. The account given at
John v, 21, ifieXov Xalieiv avrov, tlieij luould taJce him, seems to differ
from the others, as though the disciples had intended taking him on
board when they suddenly found themselves already at the land.
Kead by itself the statement of John would leave the impression
that the evO^ug -b ttXoIov iyh'sro i-l TTJg yTjg, the ship became straicfhttvay
at the land, also seemed to him something miraculous. But
as the discijdes had in the first instance sailed half the distance
before they saw Jesus, as they had the wind against them, and as
during the scene between Christ and Peter, they assuredly forgot
their oars, they cannot well have very speedily reached the shore.
The meaning of eidsug^ straightway, however, is vague, and none of
the narrators give marks to fix the time ; we can therefore conceive
of a rapid rowing forward of the ship through the calm, and an
immediate landing thereafter. The only difficulty that remains is
the I'fieXov kafSeXv, luished to tal:e, in so far as it is usually held to imply
the non-fulfilment of the purposed intention, in which case there
would result an open contradiction to the two other narrators. We
might certainly at once, in this as in other cases, admit a contradiction,
inasmuch as the Gospel history makes no claim to exemption
from trifling and unimportant irregularities. At all events, we
would rather do so than either hold tCt-Aw to be here redundant, or
that it means to do a thing eagerly and joyfidly (so that the sense
should be—they took him eagerly and joyfully on board), a construction
for which there is no support in the usage of the New
••'•
Testament. The
following, however, appears to me a simple way
of solving the difiiculty. The disciples were afraid that they saw a
spirit, which naturally they wished as fiir as possible from their
ship. Jesus, however, ex})lained to them that it was he. To this
it is simply added that on receiving this explanation they strove to
take him in, with the natural ellipsis, and they took him in accordingly—after
which they directly gained the land. (The verb MXelv
then retains in this case its literal meaning of active volition, see
* In profane writers, especially in Xenophon (Cyrop., I. 1, 3, 1, 5, 19. Anab., II. G,
6, and 11), this uso of ^-^fAw fre.quently occurs.