Matthew 4:16 - Exposition

The people which sat ; "who walk" (Hebrew). Saw great light ; saw a great light (Revised Version); unnecessarily except as a matter of English, for it can hardly mean a definite light, Messiah. φῶς both here and in the next clause means light as such . And to them which sat . So the Hebrew, but the LXX . generally οἱκατοικοῦντες . In the region and shadow of death . The region where death abides, and where it casts its thickest shade. The Hebrew is simply "in the land of the shadow of death" ( תומלץ צראב , according to the traditional interpretation), which the present LXX . (Vatican) probably represents ( ἐν χώρᾳ σκιᾷ θανάτου ) , the ς of σκιᾶς having been misread before θ . But copyists, not understanding this, inserted καὶ between χώρᾳ and σκιᾷ (as in A), and this reading became popularly known, and was used by the evangelist. That the reading of A was derived from the evangelist is unlikely, for the reading σκιᾷ must, at all events, have been before his time. Light is sprung up; to them , did light spring up (Revised Version); ἀνέτειλεν . The tense emphasizes not the abiding effect ( e.g. in the fact that so many of the disciples were Galilaeans), but the moment of his appearance. The father of the Baptist also remembered this passage of Isaiah ( Luke 1:78 , Luke 1:79 , where cf. Godet).

Matthew 16:17-20

THE FIRST STAGE OF CHRIST 'S WORK AND TEACHING .