rendering
does not differ so much from the original text as to make it appear
expedient to give up the version at that time received. In the world of
sin, the meek are, at the same time, those who are suffering; and the
glad tidings which imply a contrast to their misery, show that, here
especially, the meek are to be conceived of as sufferers. The [Hebrew:
enviM], in contrast to the wicked, appear, in chap. xi. also, as the
people of the Messiah.--"The binding up"--_Stier_ remarks--"already
passes over into the actual bestowal of that which is announced." The
term [Hebrew: qra drvr] is taken from the Jubilee year, which was a
year of general deliverance for all those who, on account of debts, had
become slaves; compare Lev. xxv. 10: "And ye shall hallow the fiftieth
year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land for all the inhabitants
thereof; it shall be a jubilee year unto you, and ye [Pg 353] shall
return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man
unto his family." Such a great year of liberty is both to be proclaimed
and to be brought about by the Servant of God. For He does not announce
any thing which He does not, at the same time, grant, as is clearly
shown by ver. 3. His saying is based upon His being and nature; He
delivers from the service of the world, and brings into the glorious
liberty of the children of God.--Most of the modern interpreters agree
with the ancient versions in declaring it to be wrong to divide the
word [Hebrew: pqHqvH], although this writing is found in most of the
manuscripts. The word is, "by its form of reduplication, the most
emphatic term for the most complete opening," and designates, "opening,
unclosing of every kind, of the eyes, ears, and heart, of every barrier
and tie from within, or from without." The LXX., proceeding upon the
fact that [Hebrew: pqH] occurs, with especial frequency, of the opening
of the eyes, translate: [Greek: kai tuphlois anablepsin]. Luke does not
wish to set aside this version, because it gives one feature of the
sense; and partly also because of the close resemblance to the parallel
passage, chap. xlii. 7, which, in this way, was brought in and
connected with the passage under consideration. But since outward
deliverance and redemption are, in the first instance, to be thought
of, when opening to the captives is spoken of, be, in order to complete
the sense, adds: [Greek: aposteilai tethrausmenous en aphesei],
borrowing the expression