Expositions of Holy Scripture : St. Matthew Chaps. IX to XXVIIIMaclaren, Alexander
Religion
Expositions of Holy Scripture : St. Matthew Chaps. IX to XXVIII
Maclaren, Alexander
Bible -- Commentaries; Bible. Matthew IX-XXVIII -- Commentaries
The completeness of Christ's Humanity transcends all other men, even
the most various, and transcends all gathered together. Every type
of excellence is in Him. We cannot say that His character is any one
thing in special, it falls under no classification. It is a pure
white light in which all rays are blended. This all-comprehensiveness
and symmetry of character are remarkably shown in four brief records.
But we have to take into account the dark shadows that fell on
Solomon's later years. He clearly fell away from his early
consecration and noble ideals, and let his sensuous appetites gain
power. He countenanced, if he did not himself practise, idolatry. As
a king he became an arbitrary tyrant, and his love of building led
him to oppress his subjects, and so laid the foundation for the
revolt under Jeroboam which rent the kingdom. So his history is
another illustration of the possible shipwreck of a great character.
It is one more instance of the fall of a 'son of the morning.' We
need not elaborate the contrast with Christ's character. In Him is
no falling from a high ideal, no fading of morning glory into a
cloudy noon or a lurid evening. There is no black streak in that
flawless white marble. Jesus draws the perfect circle, like Giotto's
O, while all other lives show some faltering of hand, and consequent
irregularity of outline. Greater than Solomon, with his over-clouded
glories and his character worsened by self-indulgence, is Jesus,
'the Sun of righteousness,' the perfect round of whose lustrous
light is broken by no spots on the surface, no indentations in the
circumference, nor obscured by any clouds over its face.
II. The Teacher.
Solomon was traditionally regarded as the author of much of the Book
of Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes was written as by him. Possibly the
attribution to him of some share in the former book may be correct,
but at any rate, his wisdom was said to have drawn the Queen of
Sheba to hear him, and that is the point of the comparison of our
text.
If we take these two books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes into
account, as popularly attributed to him, they suggest points of
comparison and contrast with Jesus as a teacher, which we may
briefly point out. Now, Proverbs falls into two very distinct
portions, the former part being a connected fatherly admonition to
the pursuit of wisdom, and the latter a collection of prudential
maxims, in which it is rare for any two contiguous verses to have
anything to do with each other. In the former part Wisdom is set
forth as man's chief good, and the Wisdom which is so set forth is
mainly moral wisdom, the right disposition of will and heart, and
almost identical with what the Old Testament elsewhere calls
righteousness. But it is invested, as the writer proceeds, with more
and more august and queenly attributes, and at last stands forth as
being, if not a divine person, at least a personification of a
divine attribute.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account