Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 27:49
The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.
49. Let be ] We must understand this to mean either (1) leave him, do not assist him; or (2) leave it, do not give the draught to him; or (3) “Let be” in the Greek coalesces with the verb following, and = “let us see.” For the construction in the original cp. Luk 6:42. In Mark the words “Let alone; let us see” are put in the mouth of him who offered the wine to the Saviour. There “let alone” may = “let me alone.”
to save him ] Here the Sinaitic and Vatican MSS. add, “and another took a spear and pierced his side, and there came out water and blood.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The rest said … – Still deriding his sufferings, and refusing to allow even the poor consolation of a drink, to assuage the thirst of the Saviour of the world in his dying agonies.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 49. After this verse, BCL and five others add, Another, taking a spear, pierced his side, and there came out blood and water. Several of the fathers add the same words here: they appear, however, to be an interpolation from Joh 19:34.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The rest said, let be,…. The others, to whom he belonged, that fetched the sponge, said to him, let him alone, keep at a distance from him, give him nothing to drink:
let us see whether Elias will come to save him; whom the Jews looked upon to be the forerunner of the Messiah, and therefore suggest, that should he come to save him, they would believe he was the Messiah; and they had a mighty notion of Elias appearing to persons frequently s, and talking, and conversing with them;
[See comments on Mt 17:3], though they did not believe he would come, and appear to Christ; for they were persons of great note for piety and learning, to whom he appeared, as they pretend, whereas they had no such opinion of him. The Ethiopic version here adds, and one took a spear and pierced his side with it, and blood and water flowed out: but this circumstance is only recorded by the Evangelist John,
Joh 19:34, though Beza says the same is read here in two ancient copies.
s Vid. Juchasin, fol. 79. 1. & 86. 1. & 101. 1. & 118. 2. & 132. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Whether Elijah cometh to save him ( ). The excuse had a pious sound as they misunderstood the words of Jesus in his outcry of soul anguish. We have here one of the rare instances () of the future participle to express purpose in the N.T. though a common Greek idiom. Some ancient MSS. add here what is genuine in Joh 19:34, but what makes complete wreck of the context for in verse 50 Jesus cried with a loud voice and was not yet dead in verse 49. It was a crass mechanical copying by some scribe from Joh 19:34. See full discussion in my Introduction to the Textual Criticism of the N.T.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
(49) Let us see whether Elias will come.Here again we have eager expectation rather than derision. Was the great and dreadful day (Mal. 4:5) about to burst on them? Would the long-expected prophet at last appear? The sponge and vinegar would seem to minds thus on the stretch an unworthy interruption of the catastrophe of the great drama of which they were spectators.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
49. Let be This was not spoken to the soldier who was relieving his thirst with the sponge. As appears by Mark, the soldier himself joined in the expression. It means, “Wait and let us see if Elias will come to his rescue.” These words plainly show that there was no jest. There was an actual suspense, awakened by the awful darkness, as to whether the divine interposition would not take place.
After this verse, I am inclined to place the prayer of the penitent malefactor, in Luk 23:42-43. Matthew (Mat 27:44) clearly affirms that the thieves reviled him. Now it might be perfectly reasonable to say, as some do, that Matthew uses the plural for the singular, if the other thief silently assented, or did not dissent from the reproaches. But it is too much to concede that Matthew includes both in the plural as reviling, at the very moment when one never did revile, but reproved the reviler and prayed to Jesus. The only way of fair reconciliation is to hold Matthew and Luke as narrating different moments of the action of the malefactors. To suppose that one of them relented after the approach of supernatural darkness, brings the fact into correspondence with other proofs of a subsidence of hostile feeling at that point.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
49 The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.
Ver. 49. Let us see whether Elias, &c. ] This mocking is the murder of the tongue, which therefore our Saviour suffered, ut nos illusori Satanae insultaremus, saith one. It is reported of Aretine, that by a long custom of libellous and contumelious speaking against men, he had gotten such a habit that at last he came to diminish and disesteem God himself. May not the same be made good of these malicious miscreants?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
49. ] If we take our account as the Strictly precise one, the rest in mockery call upon this person to desist, and wait for Elias to come to save Him: if that of Mark, the giver of the drink calls upon the rest (also in mockery) to let this suffice or to let him (the giver) alone, and wait, &c. The former seems more probable. It is remarkable that the words undeniably interpolated from John should have found their place here before the death of Jesus , and can only be attributed to carelessness, there being no other place here for the insertion of the indignity but this, and the interpolator not observing that in John it is related as inflicted after death .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 27:49 . : either redundant coalescing with = let us see ( cf. chap. Mat 7:4 ), age videamus , Grotius ( vide also Burton, M. T., 161), or meaning: hold, stop, don’t give Him the drink, let us see whether Elias will come ( , comes without fail) to help Him. The latter is the more probable. The belong to the scoffing crew. The remainder of this verse about the spear thrust another, final, act of mercy, though attested by important MSS., seems to be imported from Joh 19:34 . It is omitted in R. V [159]
[159] Revised Version.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
will come = is coming. Reference to Mai. Mat 4:5.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
49.] If we take our account as the Strictly precise one, the rest-in mockery-call upon this person to desist, and wait for Elias to come to save Him: if that of Mark, the giver of the drink calls upon the rest (also in mockery) to let this suffice or to let him (the giver) alone, and wait, &c. The former seems more probable. It is remarkable that the words undeniably interpolated from John should have found their place here before the death of Jesus, and can only be attributed to carelessness, there being no other place here for the insertion of the indignity but this, and the interpolator not observing that in John it is related as inflicted after death.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 27:49. , but the rest) i.e. of those present, opposed to those whose speech and conduct is related in Mat 27:47-48.[1210]-, …, said, etc.) After the fearful darkness, they return to their scoffs.-, let be) They mean, that the aid of their companion [who offered the vinegar] is unnecessary, as Elias has been summoned.
[1210] Not, however, excluding the man who presented to Jesus, on a hyssop stick, the spunge filled with vinegar. We may readily suppose that this man was a Jew enlisted among the Roman soldiery. Comp. with this view Mar 15:36.-Harm., p. 574.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
let us: Mat 27:43
Reciprocal: 1Ki 17:1 – Elijah Psa 71:11 – God
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
7:49
Others, with less sympathy with Jesus in his distress, were willing to let him linger on in pain to see if his friend Elias (as they supposed) would come to his rescue and take him down from the cross.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Some of them that stood there, when they heard that; said, This man calleth for Elias. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.
[This man calleth for Elias. Let us see whether Elias will come to save him.] that Christ here used the Syriac dialect, is plain from the word sabachthani; but the word Eli, Eli; is not so properly Syriac: and hence arose the error and misconstruction of the standers by. In Syriac he should have said, Mari, Mari; but Eli was strange to a Syrian ear: this deceived the standers-by, who, having heard more than enough of the apparitions of Elias from the Jewish fables, and being deceived by the double meaning of the word, supposed that Christ was tainted with the same folly and mistake, and called out to Elias for help; which it was no strange thing for that deluded people to expect.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Mat 27:49. And the rest said, wait, etc. According to Mark, the man himself says this; giving Him the vinegar, in mingled pity and contempt, he probably responded in the same mocking tone to the jest of the others. The latter say, Wait, do not thus sustain Him; for He is expecting Elijah to help Him, the one who offers it responds: This will sustain Him until Elijah comes.