Matthew 6:28

Mat_6:28

Consider the lilies.

I. God puts on the lilies and tulips such gorgeous apparel for one days wearing, spun by providence, as far surpasseth the tracery of the most splendid court, that Solomon himself, with all his wisdom and magnificence, could not match them.

II. These are but inconsiderable creatures in comparison with men, and such as God has infinitely less obligations to take care of than He has for us, who are by adoption through His Son so nearly related to Him, that He is our heavenly Father.

III. Therefore be sure He will not fail in looking after us, who are creatures of so much greater excellence in ourselves, and of so much nearer relation to Himself; insomuch that he who distrusts God in these outward things, shows want of faith, by not depending upon God according to the dignity of His nature, as well as to the obligations of His grace. (Adam Littleton, D. D.)

Consider the lilies

I. The objects to which he directs us for the lesson he would teach.

II. The lesson itself. God takes care of the lilies; the inference

(1) From the less to the greater;

(2) From the gift to the recipient. Shall God follow the gift with so much interest and be unmindful of him for whom it is intended;

(3) From the ornamental to the needful.

III. The rebuke to unbelief and call for faith. (C. M. Merry.)

Consider the lilies

1. For the sake of their tender associations. The life of flowers has all the vicissitudes of human life.

2. Consider their growth.

3. Their beauty.

4. Their unselfishness.

5. Their death. (W. E. Shalders, B. A.)

Christ and the lilies

1. Lily-life and growth teach us freedom from care.

2. The lily grows everywhere, the Oriental lily.

3. The special utility of the lily.

4. A word on this question of raiment. Life first, then clothing. (A. J. Griffiths.)

The lilies witness

or, God will take care of you.

I. So, then, there is a gospel in nature. Under pretence of exalting what God has said in His Word we must not depreciate what He has done in His works. There is a gospel in nature, not the gospel. Christ comes as the interpreter of natures gospel. This gospel of nature is especially for the poor.

II. This gospel must be mused on. Natures text must be studied-consider. Multitudes are blind and deaf, not through misfortune, but from disposition. Natures gospel has no vision for those who consider not.

III. This gospel is very convincing and consolatory as explained by jesus christ.

1. God takes care of the lilies and the grass. They do not grow by chance.

2. From these specimens of nature Jesus preaches the good news of faith in providence. Men are better than birds, and more useful. (J. Stoughton, D. D.)

Lessons from the lilies

The lily as an emblem of our blessed Lord (Son_2:1).

1. Purity.

2. Admiration at the amazing power of God.

3. The unceasing watchfulness the Almighty One extends over all His works.

4. Humility. It delights in the valleys.

5. Contentment. Other flowers may boast that they grow in more conspicuous places, that their colours are more gay; but the lily is content to be as God made it.

6. Beauty.

7. A reminder of immortality. (J. Norton.)

The preaching of nature

1. The first lesson which these silent preachers would have us learn is the unfailing care of God for His creatures.

2. They indicate a resurrection.

3. The flowers teach us a lesson of usefulness.

4. The flowers teach us to be a comfort to our neighbours. (Wilmot Buxton.)

The good life a ministry to the barren life

In the highest part of the Peak of Teneriffe, far above the clouds, and in dry and burning waste, there grows a plant which, in the spring time, fills the air with delicious fragrance. There are some of us who may be condemned to live in a barren and dry land of hard work and lonely trouble. But loving natures and gentle words can make that desert blossom as the rose. (Wilmot Buxton.)

Consider the lilies

Contentment without distrust.

I. They are clothed with beauty (1Pe_3:3-4).

II. They grow without anxiety. They never fret because of the heat, drought, rain, or cold. They pass through changes; are of different growth.

III. They are watched, although soon to pall. (Canon Titcomb, M. A.)

True contentment found in God

If the sun of Gods countenance shine upon me I may well be content to be wet with some rain of affliction. (Bishop Hall.)

Lessons from the lily

I. It has its root hidden. Secret trust, etc. No pure white lily could live without the hidden root to draw up moisture from the soil.

II. Consider how pure and sweet the lily is, and how innocent. Everybody loves them. What a picture of the Child Jesus!

III. Consider the lilies as A lesson about dress. This the special lesson of text. He clothes the lilies in white. Some children always fretting about dress. Vain about dress. Sinfully careless about dress,

IV. Consider the lily in the evening. When sun sets, close up. Dont stare at darkness, hang the head and sleep. Children should do the same.

V. Even lilies must die. (C. R. Wynne, M. A.)

The lilies of the field

We learn from the lilies something con-cerning-

I. Our fathers power. Our heavenly Father is almighty. Variety in colour, size, and form of the lily, an indication of Gods power. Gods resources are so boundless. This power will punish or save us.

II. Our fathers care. Describe the beauty and delicacy of all the parts, etc. Note concerning lilies. They are comparatively insignificant. They are perishing. They often grow amongst thorns, yet are cared for.

III. Our faith. Our weakness and liability to sickness and death. Lilies not more frail than our lives.

IV. Our future life. When stem and flower wither, root does not die, etc.

V. Jesus Christ. He is called the Lily of the valley. There are spots and flaws in the character of all others, none in His. (W. H. Booth.)

Lily lessons

I. A lesson of wonder and delight in contemplating the works of God. They are Gods workmanship.

II. Admire and love what is beautiful. Some people take no account of beauty; they want only the useful. The beauty of heaven, the beauty of holiness.

III. Diligence.

IV. Patience and punctuality. Every blossom has its season.

V. Tolerance. Lilies and roses and oaks all grow in obedience to same laws; but each after its own pattern.

VI. A lesson of faith. (E. R. Conder, D. D.)

Gods workmanship combines regality and beauty

One of the most noticeable things concerning the beauty of Gods works is this-that it is never stuck on as mere outside show, but grows out of their nature. Men often make a thing ugly first, and then cover it up with paint, or plaster, or gilding, to make it beautiful. God never does so. You will find no sham ornaments on His works. The shape He gives to each creature is just that which is fitted for it; and the colour with which He adorns it will never wash off. In His great workshop, truth and beauty go together. (E. R. Conder, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 6:28-30. And why take ye thought — Why are you anxious about raiment? Consider the lilies of the field — Observe not only the animal, but, what is yet much lower, the vegetable part of the creation, and mark how the flowers of the meadows grow; they toil not — To prepare the materials of their covering; nor do they spin — Or weave them into garments. “The expression ου κοπια, here rendered, they toil not, denotes rural labour, 2Ti 2:6; and therefore is beautifully used in a discourse of clothing, the materials of which are produced by agriculture.” — Macknight. Even Solomon in all his glory — In his royal magnificence, and when sitting on his throne of ivory and gold, 1Ki 10:18; was not arrayed like one of these — Namely, in garments of so pure a white, and of such curious workmanship, as one of these lilies presents to your view. The eastern princes were often clothed in white robes, (and they were generally accounted a magnificent apparel; see Est 8:15, Dan 7:9;) and therefore Calmet and Doddridge properly refer this dress of Solomon to the whiteness of the lilies, rather than to tulips of various colours. or a purple kind of lily, supposed by Ray (On the Creation, page 107,) to be here intended by κρινα, the word we render lilies. Wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field, &c. — If an inanimate thing, so trifling in its nature, and uncertain in its duration, is thus beautifully adorned, will not God take care to clothe you, who are more valuable, as ye are men endowed with reason, but especially as ye are my servants and friends? The grass of the field, is a general expression, including both herbs and flowers. Dr. Campbell renders the original expression, τον χορτον, the herbage, and observes, that it is evident from the lily being included under the term, that more is meant by it than is signified with us by the word grass; and he quotes Grotius as remarking that the Hebrews ranked the whole vegetable system under two classes, עצ, gnets, and עשּׁב, gnesheb, the former including all sorts of shrubs, as well as trees, and the latter every kind of plant, which has not, like trees and shrubs, a perennial stalk. Which to-day is — Namely, in the field; and to-morrow is cast into the oven — The word κλιβανον, here rendered the oven, is interpreted by some a still, for distilling herbs; but “there is no reason,” says Macknight, “to alter the translation, since it appears from Mat 13:10, that they used some kind of vegetable substances for fuel, particularly tares, which, if they were annuals, might be sufficiently dry for immediate use by the time they were cut down, as the herb of the field is here said to be; or to-morrow, in the text may mean, not the day immediately after the herbs are cut down, but any time soon after, the expression being proverbial, and easily admitting of this signification.” Dr. Campbell is of the same mind, observing that he had not seen a vestige of evidence in any ancient author, that the art of distillation was then known, or any authority, sacred or profane, for translating the word κλιβανος, a still. He thinks the scarcity of fuel in those parts, both formerly and at present, fully accounts for their having recourse to withered herbs for heating their ovens. It accounts also, he supposes, for the frequent recourse of the sacred penmen to those similitudes, whereby things found unfit for any nobler purpose, are represented as reserved for the fire. Add to this, Shaw (Trav. page 25,) and Harmer (chap. 4. obs. 6,) inform us, that myrtle, rosemary, and other plants, are made use of in Barbary to heat their ovens. Our Lord, to check every kind of distrust of the divine providence, and to encourage confidence therein, adds, O ye of little faith — Or, O ye distrustful, as Campbell renders the word ολιγοπιστοι, observing, that “it is quite in the genius of the Greek language to express, by such compound words, what in other languages is expressed by a more simple term.” It is hardly necessary to observe here, that “it does not follow from our Lord’s application of the expression, O ye of little faith, that it is an exercise of faith to sit with our arms folded, expecting support from the divine providence, without any action of our own; but after having done what prudence directs for providing the necessaries of life, we ought to trust in God, believing that he will make our labours effectual by his blessing.” It is remarked here by Dr. Doddridge, that the word αμφιεννυσιν, rendered clothe the grass of the field, properly implies the putting on a complete dress, that surrounds the body on all sides; and beautifully expresses that external membrane, which (like the skin in a human body) at once adorns the tender fabric of the vegetable, and guards it from the injuries of the weather. Every microscope in which a flower is viewed, gives a lively comment on this text.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 6:28. Πῶς αὐξάνει, how they grow) sc. to a great height.—οὐ κοπιᾷ, they toil not) Toil is remotely, spinning intimately connected with procuring raiment, as sowing and reaping are with food.

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

Mat_6:28. Καὶ περὶ ἐνδύμ.] the new object of care placed first in the sentence.

καταμάθετε] consider, observe: occurring nowhere else in the New Testament, frequent in Greek writers, Gen_24:21; Gen_34:1; Job_35:5.

κρίνον, שׁוּשָׁן, lilies generally, various kinds of which grow wild in the East, without cultivation by human hands (τοῦ ἀγροῦ). There is no reason to think merely of the (flower) emperors crown (Kuinoel), or to suppose that anemones are intended (Furer in Schenkels Bibellex.); the latter are called ἀνεμῶναι in Greek.

πῶς] relatively: how, i.e. with what grace and beauty, they grow up! To take πῶς αὐξ. interrogatively (Palairetus, Fritzsche), so that οὐ κοπ., etc., would form the answer, is not so simple, nor is it in keeping with the parallel in Mat_6:26. They toil not, neither (specially) do they spin, to provide their raiment. The plurals (αὐξάνουσιν, etc., see the critical remarks) describe the lilies, not en masse, but singly (Kühner, ad Xen. Mem. iv. 3. 12, ad Anab. i. 2. 23), and indeed as though they were actual living persons (Krüger on Thuc. i. 58. 1). Comp. in general, Schoemann, ad Isaeum ix. 8.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 6:28-30 . Lesson from the flowers . καταμάθετε , observe well that ye may learn thoroughly the lesson they teach. Here only in N.T., often in classics. Also in Sept [43] , e.g. , Gen 24:21 : The man observed her (Rebekah), learning her disposition from her actions. τὰ κρίνα , the lilium Persicum, Emperor’s crown , according to Rosenmüller and Kuinoel; the red anemone, according to Furrer (Zscht. für M. und R.) growing luxuriantly under thorn bushes. All flowers represented by the lily, said Euthy. Zig. long ago, and probably he is right. No need to discover a flower of rare beauty as the subject of remark. Jesus would have said the same thing of the snowdrop, the primrose, the bluebell or the daisy. After ἀγροῦ should come a pause. Consider these flowers! Then, after a few moments’ reflection: πῶς , not interrogative (Fritzsche), but expressive of admiration; vague, doubtful whether the growth is admired as to height (Bengel), rapidity, or rate of multiplication. Why refer to growth at all? Probably with tacit reference to question in Mat 6:27 . Note the verbs in the plural ( vide critical note) with a neuter nominative. The lilies are viewed individually as living beings, almost as friends, and spoken of with affection (Winer, § 58, 3). The verb αὐξάνω in active voice is transitive in class., intransitive only in later writers. κοπιῶσιν , νήθουσιν : “illud virorum est, qui agrum colunt, hoc mulierum domisedarum” (Rosenmüller). The former verb seems to point to the toil whereby bread is earned, with backward glance at the conditions of human growth; the latter to the lighter work, whereby clothing , the new subject of remark, is prepared.

[43] Septuagint.

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

By labor.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider--observe well.

the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not--as men, planting and preparing the flax.

neither do they spin--as women.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 28. And why take ye thought for raiment?] Or, why are ye anxiously careful about raiment? The fourth reason against such inquietudes is the example of inanimate creatures: The herbs and flowers of the field have their being, nourishment, exquisite flavours, and beautiful hues from God himself. They are not only without anxious care, but also without care or thought of every kind. Your being, its excellence and usefulness, do not depend on your anxious concern: they spring as truly from the beneficence and continual superintendence of God, as the flowers of the field do; and were you brought into such a situation, as to be as utterly incapable of contributing to your own preservation and support as the lilies of the field are to theirs, your heavenly Father could augment your substance, and preserve your being, when for his glory and your own advantage.

Consider] Diligently consider this, καταμαθετε, lay it earnestly to heart, and let your confidence be unshaken in the God of infinite bounty and love.

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

(28) Why take ye thought for raiment?—The question might well be asked of every race of the whole family of man. Yet we ought not to forget its special pointedness as addressed to a people who reckoned their garments, not less than their money, as part of their capital, and often expended on them the labour of many weeks or months. (Comp. Mat_6:20; Jas_5:2.)

Consider the lilies of the field.—Here again we may think of the lesson as drawn immediately from the surrounding objects. The hill-sides of Galilee are clothed in spring with the crown imperial, and the golden amaryllis, and crimson tulips, and anemones of all shades from scarlet to white, to say nothing of the commoner buttercups and dandelions and daisies; and all these are probably classed roughly together under the generic name of “lilies.” And these, with what we may reverently speak of as a love of Nature, the Lord tells His disciples to “consider,” i.e., not merely to look at with a passing glance, but to study—to learn, as it were, by heart—till they have realised every beauty of structure and form and hue.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

28. for raiment] The birds are an example of God’s care in providing food, the flowers of His care in providing apparel.

the lilies of the field] identified by Dr Thomson (Land and Book, p. 256), with a species of lily found in the neighbourhood of Hûlêh. He speaks of having met with “this incomparable flower, in all its loveliness … around the northern base of Tabor, and on the hills of Nazareth, where our Lord spent His youth.” Canon Tristram (Nat. Hist. of the Bible) claims this honour for the beautiful and varied anemone coronaria. “If in the wondrous richness of bloom which characterises the Land of Israel in spring any one plant can claim preeminence, it is the anemone, the most natural flower for our Lord to pluck and seize upon as an illustration, whether walking in the fields or sitting on the hill-side.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory,.... This is a certain truth, to be affirmed in the strongest manner, and to be believed, that not only men and kings too in general; but even particularly Solomon, the richest and most magnificent of all the kings of Israel, whose grandeur, and glory, exceeded all the princes of the earth; that even he, not in his common dress, but when "in his glory", and in "all" his glory, when arrayed with his royal and richest robes, with his crown on his head, and when seated on his throne,

was not arrayed like one of these lilies, or flowers of the field: for the glory and beauty of his garments were purely from art, but their's by nature; which can never be equalled by art. This phrase, "Solomon in all his glory", is the same which the Jewish doctors, in their writings, express by , "Solomon in his hour" (g): that is as their commentators explain it (h), , "in the time of his reign"; for they say he was first a king, and then a private person. Now, not whilst he was a private person, but when a king, in the height of his grandeur and magnificence, and when dressed out in the most splendid manner, he was exceeded in array by a single lily: or the sense is, in his royal apparel. For as the same doctors say,

"what is a man's "glory?" It is his clothing that is his outward glory; and again, garments are the glory of a man (i).''

(g) Misn. Bava Metzia, c. 7. sect. 1. T. Bab. ib. fol. 49. 1. & 83. 1. & 86. 2. (h) Jarchi & Bartenora in ib. (i) Tzeror Hammor, fol. 95. 1. & 99. 4. & 110. 4.

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

28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

Ver. 28. Consider the lilies of the field] Contemplate them, saith Luther: understand them well, saith Erasmus: learn how they grow, saith Beza: hang upon these fair flowers, with the busy bee, till you have sucked some sweet meditation out of them. God is to be seen and admired in all his wondrous works. A skilful artificer takes it ill that he sets forth a curious piece, and no man looks at it. There is not a flower in the whole field (the word here rendered lilies signifieth all sorts of flowers) but sets forth God to us in lively colours. {a} Not to see him, is to incur the curse he hath denounced against such as regard not the work of the Lord, that is, the first making, neither consider the operation of his hands, Isa 5:12, that is, the wise disposing of his creatures, for our behoof and benefit. A godly ancient being asked by a profane philosopher, {b} how he could contemplate high things, since he had no books? wisely answered, that he had the whole world for his book, ready open at all times and in all places, and that therein he could read things divine and heavenly. A bee can suck honey out of a flower, that a fly cannot do. Our Saviour could have pointed us to our first parents clothed, and Elijah fed, the Israelites both fed and clothed extraordinarily by God in the wilderness. Never prince was so served in his greatest pomp, nor Solomon in all his royalty, as they. But because all men have not faith to believe that miracles shall be wrought for them, he sendeth us to these more ordinary and more easy instances of God’s bountiful and providential care of birds and lilies, that in them (as in so many optic glasses) we may see God’s infinite goodness and be confident.

They toil not, neither do they spin] Neque laborant, neque nent. This is the sluggard’s posy. How much better that emperor (Severus) who took for his motto, Laboremus: Let us be doing. God made not man to play, as he hath done Leviathan, but commandeth him to sweat out his living. This was at first God’s ordinance in Paradise, that his storehouse should be his workhouse, his pleasure his task, Gen 2:15. After the fall, it was enjoined as a punishment, Gen 3:19. So that new man is born to travail, and must labour with his own hands, neither eating the bread of idleness nor drinking the wine of violence, Job 5:7; Eph 4:28. That monk that laboureth not with his hands is a thief, saith an ancient: is a body louse, sucking the blood of others, saith a Neoterick: he shall die in his iniquity, saith God, because he hath not done good among his people, Eze 18:18. He buried himself alive, as that Vacia in Seneca; "he shall be buried with the burial of an ass" when he is dead, Jer 22:19. He shall hear, "O thou wicked and slothful servant," when he riseth again at the last day, Mat 25:26. God puts no difference between nequam the wicked and nequaquam, by no means an idle and an evil servant. This made Mr Calvin answer his friends with some indignation, when they admonished him, for his health’s sake, to forbear studying so hard, Quid? Vultis ut Dominus veniens me otiosum inveniret? "What! would you that Christ when he cometh should find me idle?"

{a} Contemplamini. Cognoscite lilia agri. Discite quomodo, &c. Generatim flores campi denotat.

{b} Anton. Erem. apud August. de doct. Christ. lib. 1, et Nicop. lib. 8, c. 40.

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.

Consider the lilies of the field - The fourth consideration is taken from the care which God bestows on lilies. Watch the growing of the lily. It toils not, and it spins not; yet night and day it grows. With a beauty with which the most splendid monarch of the East was never adorned. it expands its blossom and fills the air with fragrance. Yet this beauty is of short continuance. Soon it will fade, and the beautiful flower will be cut down and burned. God “so little” regards the bestowment of beauty and ornament as to give the highest adorning to this which is soon to perish. When He thus clothes a lily - a fair flower, soon to perish - will he be unmindful of his children? Shall they dear to His heart and imbued with immortality - lack that which is proper for them, and shall they in vain trust the God that decks the lily of the valley?

Even Solomon in all his glory ... - The common dress of Eastern kings was purple, but they sometimes wore white robes. See Est 8:15; Dan 7:9. It is to this that Christ refers. Solomon, says he, the richest and most magnificent king of Israel, was not clothed in a robe of “so pure a white” as the lily that grows wild in the field.

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

From sensitive creatures our Lord proceedeth to vegetables, an order of creatures which have more than mere being, they have also life, though no sense, but yet two degrees beneath man, wanting not only reason, but sense. He shows us from an instance in these, that we have no more reason to be troubled and anxious about clothing, than about meat or drink. Clothing is of no other use than for warmth or ornament: for such clothing as will serve us for warmth, a little care will serve the turn; Sundamus ad supervacanea, our sweating thoughts are mostly for superfluities in clothing; if God see them fit for us, he will also give us them, without so many thoughts about them. Look upon

the lilies; ( whether he means what we call tulips, or other flowers called lilies, which probably those countries had in greater variety and beauty, is not worth the arguing); God designing to glorify himself in those creatures, though of meanest orders, hath given them a greater beauty than Solomon had in all his rich array; to let us know that art must not contend with nature, and that beauty and glory in apparel is no more than is to be found in creatures much inferior to our order; which made Solon (though a heathen) prefer the sight of a peacock to that of Croesus. And therefore this is a thing not worthy of any anxious thoughts, for if God seeth such things good for us, he that so clothes

the grass of the field, which is but of a few days’ continuance, will much more clothe us; and if we distrust him for such provision, we show ourselves persons of little faith.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

28. Lilies — The Amaryllis lutea has been supposed to be the flower here specified. which is described as affording “one of the most brilliant and gorgeous objects in nature.” But Dr. Royle (Kitto’s Cyc.) decides it to be the Lilium Chalcedonicum, a flower marked for its showy splendour. Observe, the birds illustrate the precept in regard to food, the lilies in regard to raiment.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Parallel passage: Luk_12:26, Luk_12:27. Luke"s is longer and seemingly more original. But in the absence of external evidence, it must always be a matter of opinion whether Matthew has compressed the longer form of the words, or vice versa. And why take ye thought for raiment? In vers. 25-27 our Lord had spoken of food; in vers. 28-30 he speaks of dress. He insists on the needlessness (ver. 28) and on the comparative uselessness (ver. 29) of anxiety about it, since even the king who had the greatest opportunities could not vie in clothing with a single lily. Flowers have this glorious clothing (ver. 30), though they are so perishable: much more shall you be clothed. Consider (ver. 26, note). The lilies (ta krina). Though there are many kinds of lilies in Palestine, and some of brilliant colouring (particularly the purple and white Huleh lily found round Nazareth), yet none of them grows in such abundance as to give the tone to the colouring of the flowers generally. It seems, therefore, probable that the word is employed loosely. So, perhaps, in the LXX of Exo_25:31, Exo_25:33, Exo_25:34, and other passages, where it represents the "flowers" (jrP) on the candlestick. It appears, too, that vwOv ("lily," Authorized Version in Canticles) is also used by the Arabs of any bright flower. If a single species is to be thought of, Canon Tristram would prefer the Anemone coronaria of our gardens, which is "the most gorgeously painted, the most conspicuous in spring, and the most universally spread of all the floral treasures of the Holy Land" ("Natural History of the Bible," p. 464, edit. 1877). Of the field. Matthew only in this phrase (but cf. ver. 30, note). Its insertion emphasizes the spontaneity of origin, the absence of cultivation, the "waste" as not grown for the comfort or pleasure of man. How they grow. Professor Drummond"s beautiful remarks upon this verse ("Natural Law," etc.) do not belong to exegesis, but to homily, for the stress of our Lord"s words lies on "grow," not on "how;" he is thinking of the fact, net the manner of their growth. They toil not; to produce the raw material. Neither do they spin; to manufacture it when produced. "Illud virorum est, qui agrum colunt; hoc mulie-rum domisedarum" (Wetstein).

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

28. Consider the lilies. While the lilies do not toil or spin, they do their work, draw up sustenance from the earth, and drink in the dew, rain and sunbeams. So we are to do our appointed work. It we do this, trusting in God, he will supply all our needs.

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.

28. In the textus receptus the verbs are in the sing. according to rule: this and τὰ ἑαυτῆς Mat 6:34 are grammatical corrections.

28. ἐνδύματος. The birds are an example of God’s care in providing food, the flowers of His care in providing apparel. The Creator promises that the care shown to the lowliest of his works shall be extended to the noblest.

τὰ κρίνα τοῦ ἀγροῦ, identified by Dr Thomson (Land and Book, p. 256) with a species of lily found in the neighbourhood of Hûlêh. He speaks of having met with ‘this incomparable flower, in all its loveliness … around the northern base of Tabor, and on the hills of Nazareth, where our Lord spent His youth.’ Canon Tristram (Nat. Hist. of the Bible) claims this honour for the beautiful and varied anemone coronaria. ‘If in the wondrous richness of bloom which characterises the Land of Israel in spring any one plant can claim preeminence, it is the anemone, the most natural flower for our Lord to pluck and seize upon as an illustration, whether walking in the fields or sitting on the hill-side.’

αὐξάνουσιν … κοπιῶσιν … νήθουσιν. Two reasons are assigned for the use of the plural verb after a neuter plural signifying material objects: either (1) the various parts of the subject are thought of separately rather than collectively; or (2) the action predicated of the subject is conceived as being repeated at successive periods. It may perhaps be a refinement to appeal to these reasons in this particular case, though both apply: probably the preceding structure, Mat 6:26, influences the syntax here. Other instances of this anomaly in the N.T. are 1Ti 5:25, τὰ ἄλλως ἔχοντα (ἔργα) κρυβῆναι οὐ δύνανται. Rev 1:19, ἃ εἶδες καὶ ἃ εἰσίν.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

28.] καταμάθετε, implying more attention than ἐμβλέψατε: the birds fly by, and we can but look upon them: the flowers are ever with us, and we can watch their growth. These lilies have been supposed to be the crown imperial, (fritillaria imperialis, κρίνον βασιλικόν, Kaiserkrone,) which grows wild in Palestine, or the amaryllis lutea, (Sir J. E. Smith, cited by F. M.,) whose golden liliaceous flowers cover the autumnal fields of the Levant. Dr. Thomson, “The Land and the Book,” p. 256, believes the Huleh lily to be meant: “it is very large, and the three inner petals meet above, and form a gorgeous canopy, such as art never approached, and king never sat under, even in his utmost glory. And when I met this incomparable flower, in all its loveliness, among the oak woods around the northern base of Tabor, and on the hills of Nazareth, where our Lord spent His youth, I felt assured that it was this to which He referred.” Probably, however, the word here may be taken in a wider import, as signifying all wild flowers. πῶς is not interrogative, but relative: how they grow.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

28. And for raiment, why are ye careful? Study the flowers of the field, how they grow; they toil not, they spin not.) Lk. has: “If therefore ye cannot even (do) the least, why are ye careful about the rest? Consider (κατανοήσατε) the flowers, how they grow.

They toil not, nor spin.”—καταμάθετε] see Moulton, p. 117, who suggests “understand, take in this fact about.”

(L)

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