Article February 20, 1943 Issue

Bible Notes

[The Biblical citations given in the Christian Science Quarterly are from the Authorized King James Version. The Bible Notes in these columns can be used, if deemed necessary, to elucidate some of the words or passages contained in the Bible Lessons. The Notes in this issue are related to the Lesson-Sermon designated to be read in Christian Science churches on March 7, 1943.]

"A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid" (Matt. 5:14)—An ancient tradition still current in the northern part of Palestine contends that when Christ Jesus spoke on this occasion he had especially in mind the town of Safed, which stands some twenty-seven hundred feet above the level of the Mediterranean and can be seen from many parts of Galilee.

"Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick" (Matt. 5:15)—The word "luchnos," here rendered "candle," has the more literal sense of "lamp," while "luchnia," here translated "candlestick," is more exactly "lampstand"—that is, the metal stand used in the early centuries to hold an earthenware earthenware lamp. Goodspeed suggests: "People do not light a lamp and put it under a peck-measure; they put it on its stand;" and Weymouth (Fifth Edition) : "Nor is a lamp lighted to be put under the bushel-measure, but on the lampstand."

"It hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy" (Matt. 5:43)—"Thou shalt love thy neighbour" is of course a direct quotation from Leviticus 19:18. Weymouth, commenting on the New Testament passage, reminds us that "there is no command in the Law to hate one's enemy," though it appears that certain stern passages in the Old Testament, such as Deuteronomy 23:6, were taken by the rabbinical interpreters as justifying such hatred. In Matthew 5:44 the Master counteracts such interpretation by the words, "Love your enemies."

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