Mat 8:19-22 | RWP | e4.org | A scribe ( εις γραμματευς ). One ( εις )="a," indefinite article. Already a disciple as shown by "another of the disciples" ( ετερος των μαθητων ) in . He calls Jesus "Teacher" ( διδασκαλε ), but he seems to be a "bumptious" brother full of self-confidence and self-complacency. "Even one of that most unimpressionable class, in spirit and tendency utterly opposed to the ways of Jesus" (Bruce). Yet Jesus deals gently with him.

‏ Matthew 8:19-22

A scribe ( εις γραμματευς ). One ( εις )="a," indefinite article. Already a disciple as shown by "another of the disciples" ( ετερος των μαθητων ) in 8:21. He calls Jesus "Teacher" ( διδασκαλε ), but he seems to be a "bumptious" brother full of self-confidence and self-complacency. "Even one of that most unimpressionable class, in spirit and tendency utterly opposed to the ways of Jesus" (Bruce). Yet Jesus deals gently with him.

Holes ( φωλεους ). A lurking hole, burrow.

Nests ( κατασκηνωσεις ). "Roosts, i.e. leafy, σκηνα for settling at night (tabernacula, habitacula), not nests" (McNeile). In the Septuagint it is used of God tabernacling in the Sanctuary. The verb ( κατασκηνοω ) is there used of birds (Ps 103:12).

The Son of man ( θο υιος του ανθρωπου ). This remarkable expression, applied to himself by Jesus so often, appears here for the first time. There is a considerable modern literature devoted to it. "It means much for the Speaker, who has chosen it deliberately, in connection with private reflections, at whose nature we can only guess, by study of the many occasions on which the name is used" (Bruce). Often it means the Representative Man. It may sometimes stand for the Aramaic barnasha, the man, but in most instances that idea will not suit. Jesus uses it as a concealed Messianic title. It is possible that this scribe would not understand the phrase at all. Bruce thinks that here Jesus means "the unprivileged Man," worse off than the foxes and the birds. Jesus spoke Greek as well as Aramaic. It is inconceivable that the Gospels should never call Jesus "the Son of man" and always credit it to him as his own words if he did not so term himself, about eighty times in all, thirty-three in Matthew. Jesus in his early ministry, except at the very start in Joh 4, abstains from calling himself Messiah. This term suited his purpose exactly to get the people used to his special claim as Messiah when he is ready to make it openly.

And bury my father ( κα θαψα τον πατερα μου ). The first man was an enthusiast. This one is overcautious. It is by no means certain that the father was dead. Tobit urged his son Tobias to be sure to bury him: "Son, when I am dead, bury me" (Tobit 4:3). The probability is that this disciple means that, after his father is dead and buried, he will then be free to follow Jesus. "At the present day, an Oriental, with his father sitting by his side, has been known to say respecting his future projects: 'But I must first bury my father!'" (Plummer). Jesus wanted first things first. But even if his father was not actually dead, service to Christ comes first.

Leave the dead to bury their own dead ( αφες τους νεκρους θαψα τους εαυτων νεκρους ). The spiritually dead are always on hand to bury the physically dead, if one's real duty is with Jesus. Chrysostom says that, while it is a good deed to bury the dead, it is a better one to preach Christ.