Trusting one master (continued)

Mat 6:32  (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

Mat 6:32  For after all these things do the Gentiles seek,.... Or "the nations of the world", as in Luk_12:30. The Syriac reads it so here: the phrase, אומות העולם "the nations of the world", is used of the Gentiles, in distinction from the Israelites, thousands of times in the Jewish writings; it would be endless to give instances. These knew not God, nor acknowledged his providence; the greater part of them thought, that the soul perished with the body; few of them thought, that anything remained after death; and they that did, spoke very doubtfully of it: wherefore it is no wonder, that such persons should greedily seek after, and be anxiously concerned for all these things, food, raiment, and riches, and a great plenty of them; since this is all the happiness they expect; and imagine, that this is to be acquired by their care, thought, diligence, and industry; having no regard to a superior being, and his all wise providence: but for the Jews, and so Christians, who have a divine revelation, the knowledge of God, and his providence, and of a future state after this life, to act the same part the Heathens do, is exceedingly unbecoming, absurd, and wicked: and besides, such greedy desires, immoderate care, and anxious solicitude, are altogether unnecessary; 

for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. Every word almost, carries in it an argument, to strengthen the faith of God's children, to encourage them to believe, that he will bestow upon them, whatever is needful, for meat, drink, and clothing: he is a "father", and will take care of his children; "their father"; they have interest in him, being related to him, and need not doubt of his paternal care, and affectionate regard to them: their "heavenly" Father, or their Father in heaven; who has all things at his command, who sits there, and does whatever he pleaseth on earth: "he knoweth that they have need"; he knows all things, all their straits, difficulties, wants and necessities; he knows they need every day, "all these things", food and raiment, and cannot do without them: and therefore they may depend upon it, that as it is in his power to relieve them, and their persons and cases are not unknown to him; he who stands in the relation of a father to them, will supply them with whatever is proper and convenient for them.

Trusting one master (continued)

Mat 6:31  Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 


Mat 6:31  Therefore take no thought,.... That is, for the morrow, as it is explained, Luk_6:34 for it is lawful to take proper care and thought for present food, drink, and raiment; but not to be anxiously concerned for futurity;

saying, what shall we eat? or what shall we drink? or wherewithal shall we be clothed? These are a repetition of the several things instanced in, and are the very language and expressions of men of little faith; as in the above citation, מה אוכל למחר, "what shall I eat tomorrow?"

Trusting one master (continued)

Mat 6:30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

Wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field.
&c.] These words are a conclusion from the former, and contain an argument from the lesser to the greater; that if God, for this is solely his work, so clothes the lilies, the flowers of the field, and whatever grows up out of the earth, in such a beautiful and splendid manner, as even to outdo Solomon, in his richest apparel; there's no doubt to be made of it, or at least ought not, but that he will much more provide clothing for men. The argument is illustrated, by the short continuance of the grass of the field, which is so clothed; and the use it is put to, when cut down;


which today is
in being, but abides not long, as it were but for a day: it flourishes in the morning, continues for the day in its glory and verdure, is cut down at evening, and withers and dies



and tomorrow is cast into the oven,
to heat it with, or as the Syriac version reads (arwntb) , "in the furnace". And so Munster's Hebrew edition of this Gospel. For furnaces used to be heated with straw and stubble, and such like things, as were gathered out of the fields; so, we read in the Misna , that pots and furnaces were heated;

``a pot which they heat "with straw and stubble", they put into it that which is to be boiled--a furnace which they heat "with straw and stubble", they put nothing into it, nor upon it (i.e. till they have removed the coals or ashes): a little furnace, which they heat (abbgbw vqb) , "with straw and stubble", is as the pots.''

The last word, (abbg) , Bartenora says, signifies wood, or sticks, small as stubble, which they gather out of the field; that is, the stalks of some sort of herbs and plants, that grow in the field: now if God clothes these plants, which are so short lived, and at last used for such mean purposes;


shall he not much more clothe you
men, his people, who are of a much longer life, and designed for greater ends and purposes; for the worship and service of God, for his honour and glory here, and for eternal life and happiness hereafter,

 O ye of little faith?
As such persons are, who distrust the providence of God, with respect to food and raiment, The phrase, (hnma ynjq) , "men of little faith", is often to be met with in the Rabbinical writings: so Noah is represented by them, as one of "little faith", who believed, and did not believe the flood; and therefore did not go into the ark, till the waters drove him : and though he is said to be perfect, this was not by his works, but by the grace of God . So the Israelites at the Red Sea, who thought that when they came out on one side, the Egyptians would come out on the other. So the little children that mocked Elisha, are said to be so called, because they were men "of little faith". So everyone that exalts his voice in prayer, is reckoned such an one {p}. But what comes nearest to the case before us, is the following

Trusting one master (continued)

Mat 6:29  And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.


Mat 6:29  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 שלמה בשעתו, "Solomon in his hour" (g): that is as their commentators explain it (h), בעת מלכותו, "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).''