Matthew 25:35

35, 36 . There is a climax in this enumeration. The first three are recognised duties, the last three are voluntary acts of self-forgetting love. Common humanity would move a man to relieve his bitterest foe when perishing by hunger or by thirst (see Romans 12:20 ). Oriental custom required at least a bare hospitality. But to clothe the naked implies a liberal and loving spirit, to visit the sick is an act of spontaneous self-sacrifice, to go to the wretched outcasts in prison was perhaps an unheard of act of charity in those days; it was to enter places horrible and foul beyond description; Sallust, speaking of the Tullianum (the state prison at Rome), says “incultu, tenebris, odore fæda atque terribilis ejus facies est.”

Matthew 25:35-36 . I was a hungered, and ye gave me meat, &c. — All the works of outward mercy here mentioned suppose faith and love, and must needs be accompanied with works of spiritual mercy, such as instructing the ignorant, alarming the careless, encouraging the disconsolate, comforting the distressed, strengthening the weak, confirming the wavering, reclaiming the wicked, edifying the righteous. But works of this kind could not be mentioned by the Judge in the same manner: he could not say, I was ignorant, and you instructed me; I was in error, and you recalled me to the truth; I was in sin, and you brought me to repentance. But how astonishing is it to hear the great Judge declaring, that all the good offices which men have ever performed, supposing they performed them in obedience to his will, and with a single eye to his glory, were done to him! It is as if he had said, “In the whole of your conduct you have imitated the goodness and benevolence of my Father, and therefore I now declare you blessed and beloved of him, and appoint you to inherit this kingdom. Moreover, that you may know how acceptable acts of kindness and charity are to me, I assure you that I reckon every thing of this kind as done to myself. It was I who was a hungered and athirst, and a stranger and naked, and sick and in prison.

It was I whom you clothed and lodged, and visited and comforted in prison.” The word επεσκεψασθε , rendered, ye visited, properly signifies to take the oversight and care of any thing that requires diligent inspection and attendance; (compare James 1:27 ;) and it strongly intimates that such an attendance on the poor in their illness is a very acceptable charity: and this is what many may have an opportunity of doing, who have very little money to spare.

Matthew 25:35 . ἐπείνασα , ἐδίψησα , ξένος ἤμην : hungry, thirsty, a stranger. The claims created by these situations are universally recognised though often neglected; to respond to them is a duty of “common humanity”.— συνηγάγετέ με , ye received me (into your house) ( cf. Jdg 19:18 ,— οὐκ ἔστιν ἀνὴρ συνάγων με εἰς οἰκίαν ) Meyer, Weiss, and others, with stricter adherence to the literal meaning of the word, render: ye gathered me into the bosom of your family; Fritzsche: ye admitted me to your table (“simul convivio adhibuistis”).

Matthew 25:35 . Ἐδώκατέ , κ . τ . λ ., ye have given , etc.[1100]) Of all good and bad actions, those will be especially mentioned which have been performed to the saints, which presuppose faith and love towards Jesus Christ and His brethren, and involve confession of His name, which are most frequent, and remarkable, and conspicuous; and then, from the manifest glory of the Lord, the dignity of His brethren, and the character of good and evil actions towards them, will be manifest; cf. ch. Matthew 10:40-41 . This discourse exhibits simultaneously the former misery and excellence of the saints, the former ability and wickedness of the ungodly, and the most righteous recompense of both. Of the works of mercy, however, those only which have been done to the body are mentioned, which are both more despised in the world, and will then be a more evident specimen of faith, inasmuch as a man in them expends somewhat of his material resources and trouble (whereas those which concern the spirit are without expense), and will come more sensibly under the observation of the wicked.

Nor was it suitable to the Judge to say: “I have erred, I have sinned, and you have recalled me,”[1101] etc.— Μοι , to Me ) This presupposes faith, for the faithful perform acts of kindness on this ground.— ἐδίψησα , κ . τ . λ ., I was thirsty , etc.) Such is the condition of the faithful in this life: hunger, thirst, nakedness, captivity, etc.— συνηγάγετε , ye took (Me) in ) The LXX. use the same verb in Jdg 19:15 ; Jdg 19:18 . [1100] Oh what a vast recompense ( Vergeltung )! An eternal kingdom in return for such insignificant acts of kindness ( gegen solche Wohltaten )!—B. G. V. [1101] That is to say, The judge decides by the love, or absence of love, which existed towards Him . He could not speak of spiritual benefits done to Him, inasmuch as He was holy and sinless: He therefore mentions temporal and corporeal benefits.—ED.

Matthew 25:35 f. Συνηγάγετέ με ] ye have taken me along with, introduced me, that is, into your family circle along with the members of your family. This meaning, but not that of Fritzsche: “simul convivio adhibuistis,” is involved in the idea of ξένος . For συνάγω , as used with reference to a single individual who is gathered in along with others, comp. Xen. Cyrop . v. 3. 11; LXX. Deuteronomy 22:2 ; 2 Samuel 11:27 ; Jdg 19:18 ; Sir 13:15 . For instances of Rabbinical promises of paradise in return for hospitality, see Schoettgen and Wetstein. γυμνός ] “Qui male vestitum et pannosum vidit, nudum se vidisse dicit,” Seneca, de benef . v. 3; Jam 2:15 . Comp. on John 21:7 ; Acts 19:16 .