Matthew 25:33

25:33 The right hand is the place of honor (Gen 48:13-20; Ps 110:1).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mat 25:33. Ἐρίφια, kidlings) A diminutive. Although giants, they will be kidlings. They will not then be אלים, mighty, and עתורים, he-goats.[1099]

[1099] This play upon words, on such a solemn subject, appears rather extra-ordinary in a man of Bengel’s piety. The Hebrew עַתּוּד is used of the leader of a flock, and, metaphorically, of the leader of a people.—(I. B.)

Perhaps Bengel’s language will not appear so inappropriate when compared with that of Scripture, to which he evidently alludes. Isa 14:11, “Hell from beneath stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones [Hebr. leaders; lit. great goats] of the earth.” Comp. Eze 34:17; Zec 10:3.—ED.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 25:33 . καὶ στήσει , etc., the bare placing of the parties already judges, the good on the right, the evil on the left; sheep, emblems of the former; goats, of the latter. Why? No profit from goats, much from sheep; from their wool, milk, lambs, says Chrys., Hom. lxxix. Lust and evil odour secure for the goat its unenviable emblematic significance, say others: “id animal et libidinosum et olidum” (Grotius). Lange suggests stubbornness as the sinister quality. More important is the point made by Weiss that the very fact that a separation is necessary implies that all were one flock, i.e. , that the judged in the view of Jesus are all professing Christians, disciples true or false.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 33. He shall set the sheep, c.] The right hand signifies, among the rabbins, approbation and eminence: the left hand, rejection, and disapprobation. Hence in Sohar Chadash it is said, "The right hand is given, the left also is given - to the Israelites and the Gentiles are given paradise and hell - this world, and the world to come." The right and left were emblematical of endless beatitude and endless misery among the Romans. Hence Virgil:-

Hic locus est, partes ubi se via findit in ambas,

Dextera, quae Ditis magni sub moenia tendit:

Hac iter Elysium nobis at laeva malorum

Exercet poenas, et ad impia Tartara mittit.

AEn. vi. 540.

Here in two ample roads the way divides,

The right direct, our destined journey guides,

By Pluto's palace, to the Elysian plains;

The left to Tartarus, where bound in chains

Loud howl the damn'd in everlasting pains. PITT.

Of the good and faithful servants he approves, and therefore exalts them to his glory; of the slothful and wicked he disapproves, and casts them into hell.

SHEEP, which have ever been considered as the emblems of mildness, simplicity, patience, and usefulness, represent here the genuine disciples of Christ.

GOATS, which are naturally quarrelsome, lascivious, and excessively ill-scented, were considered as the symbols of riotous, profane, and impure men. They here represent all who have lived and died in their sins. See Eze 34:17, and Zec 10:3.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And he shall set the sheep on his right hand,.... That is, the elect of God, and true believers, such as have the grace of God truly implanted in them; the sheep the Father gave unto Christ, and made his care and charge, whom he, as the good shepherd, laid down his life for; and who know his voice in effectual calling, and follow him in the way of his ordinances and appointments; and are comparable to sheep for their meekness and innocence, their simplicity and usefulness, and their harmless and inoffensive lives, and conversations: these Christ will set on his right hand, as a token of his affection for them, and a mark of respect and honour shown them, and as a pledge of that exaltation and glory he will be about to raise them to,

But the goats on the left; that is, the foolish virgins, wicked, and slothful servants, graceless professors, who, because of the impurity of their hearts, the filthiness of their lives, and their offensiveness to Christ, are compared to goats: these he will place at his left hand, in token of his disaffection for them, as a brand of disgrace upon them, and as an intimation of that dishonour, and miserable condition they will quickly be in. These different situations plainly pre-signify how things will go with each, that one will be acquitted, and made happy, the other will be condemned, and become miserable. Agreeable to which the Jews say (c), that there is a right hand and a left hand with the Lord: they that are on the right hand, are such as have done well, and are "for absolution"; and they that are on the left hand are criminals, and are "for condemnation". Some think the allusion is to the two Scribes in the sanhedrim, who stood before the judges, one on the right hand, and the other on the left, and wrote the sentences; the one of those that were acquitted, and the other of those that were condemned (d),

(c) Jarchi in Gen. i. 26. Kimchi in 1 Kings xxii. 19. Lex. Cabalist. p. 132. Zohar in Numb. fol. 93. 4. (d) Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 4. sect. 3. Maimon. Hilch. Sanhedrin, c. 1. sect. 9. Moses Kotsensis Mitzvot Tora pr. affirm. 97.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

Ver. 33. The sheep on the right hand, &c.] A place of dignity and safety. Our Saviour seems here to allude to that of Moses’ dividing the tribes on Gerizim and Ebal. Those six tribes that came from the free women are set to bless the people; as the other five, that came of the bondwomen (whereunto is adjoined Reuben for his incest) are set to say Amen to the curses, Deu 27:11-13.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Shall set the sheep ... - By “the sheep” are denoted, here, the righteous. The name is given to them because the sheep is an emblem of innocence and harmlessness. See Joh 10:7, Joh 10:14-16, Joh 10:27; Psa 100:3; Psa 74:1; Psa 23:1-6.

On the right hand - The right hand is the place of honor, and denotes the situation of those who are honored, or those who are virtuous. See Ecc 10:2; Eph 1:20; Psa 110:1; Act 2:25, Act 2:33.

The goats - The wicked. See Eze 34:17.

The left - That is, the left hand. This was the place of dishonor, denoting condemnation. See Ecc 10:2.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The sheep on his right hand. The sheep are the type of the docile, the profitable, the innocent, the good. (see Rom_2:7, Rom_2:10) The right hand is the place of favour and honour. (Gen_48:17 Luk_1:11 Mar_16:5) The goats (erifia , kids) on the left. The diminutive is here used for the goats, to convey an impression of their worthlessness. Compare kunaria , "whelps," in the conversation of our Lord with the Syro-Phoenician woman. (Mat_15:26, Mat_15:27) They are the type of the unruly, the proud, (Isa_14:9, Hebrew) the unprofitable, the evil. (see Rom_2:8, Rom_2:9) This judicial distinction between the right and left hands is found in classical writers. Thus Plato, "De Republica," 10:13, tells of what a certain man, who revived after a cataleptic attack, saw when his soul left his body. he came to a mysterious place, where were two chasms in the earth, and two openings in the heavens opposite to them, and the judges of the dead sat between these.

And when they gave judgment, they commanded the just to go on the right hand, and upwards through the heavens; but the unjust they sent to the left, and downwards; and both the just and unjust had upon them the marks of what they had done in the body. So Virgil makes the Elysian Fields to lie on the right of the palace of Dis, and the penal Tartarus on the left ("AEn.," 6:540, etc.).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

33. He shall set the sheep at his right hand. The sheep, who represent the righteous, are placed at the right hand, the place of honor. See Heb. 12:2.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

33. And He shall place the sheep at His right hand, and the goats at the left.] See Hastings, DCG. i. p. 63.

(L)

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Goats [εριφια] . Diminutive. Lit., kidlings. The sheep and goats are represented as having previously pastured together. Compare the parables of the Tares and the Net.

On the right [εκ δεξιων] . Lit., from the right side or parts. The picture to the Greek reader is that of a row, beginning at the judge 's right hand.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.