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4. [40]John Gill's Exposition of the Bible
5. [41]Matthew
6. [42]Matthew 26
7. [43]Matthew 26:39

Matthew 26:39

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[44]PREVIOUS Matthew 26:38 [45]NEXT Matthew 26:40
[46]Matthew 26:39

And he went a little further
Luke says, ( [47]Luke 22:41 ) , "about a stone's cast", about fifty or
sixty feet from the place where they were,

and fell on his face, and prayed;
partly to show his great reverence of God, the sword of whose justice
was awaked against him, the terrors of whose law were set in array
before him, and whose wrath was pouring down upon him; and partly to
signify how much his soul was depressed, how low he was brought, and in
what distress and anguish of spirit he was, that he was not able to
lift up his head, and look up. This was a prayer gesture used when a
person was in the utmost perplexity. The account the Jews give of it,
is this ^[48]F7,

``(Mhynp le Nylpwnvk) , "when they fall upon their faces", they do
not stretch out their hands and their feet, but incline on their
sides.''

This was not to be done by any person, or at any time; the rules are
these ^[49]F8:

``no man is accounted fit (wynp le lwpyl) , "to fall upon his face",
but he that knows in himself that he is righteous, as Joshua; but he
inclines his face a little, and does not bow it down to the floor;
and it is lawful for a man to pray in one place, and to "fall upon
his face" in another: it is a custom that reaches throughout all
Israel, that there is no falling upon the face on a sabbath day, nor
on feast days, nor on the beginning of the year, nor on the
beginning of the month, nor on the feast of dedication, nor on the
days of "purim", nor at the time of the meat offering of the eves of
the sabbath days, and good days, nor at the evening prayer for every
day; and there are private persons that fall upon their faces at the
evening prayer, and on the day of atonement only: they fall upon
their faces because it is a time of supplication, request, and
fasting.''

Saying, O my father;
or, as in Mark, "Abba, Father", ( [50]Mark 14:36 ) ; "Abba" being the
Syriac word he used, and signifies, "my father"; and the other word is
added for explanation's sake, and to denote the vehemency of his mind,
and fervour of spirit in prayer. Christ prayed in the same manner he
taught his disciples to pray, saying, "our Father"; and as all his
children pray under the influence of the spirit of adoption, whereby
they cry "Abba, Father". God is the Father of Christ, not as man, for
as such he was without father, being the seed of the woman, and made of
a woman, without man; nor by creation, as he is the Father of spirits,
of angels, and the souls of men, of Adam, and all mankind; nor by
adoption, as he is the Father of all the chosen, redeemed, and
regenerated ones; but by nature, he being the only begotten of the
Father, in a manner inconceivable and inexpressible by us. Christ now
addresses him in prayer in his human nature, as standing in this
relation to him as the Son of God, both to express his reverence of
him, and what freedom and boldness he might use with him; what
confidence he might put in him; and what expectation he might have of
being heard and regarded by him; and what submission and resignation of
will was due from himself unto him.

If it be possible, let this cup pass from me;
meaning not only the hour, as it is called in Mark, the present season
and time of distress, and horror; but all his future sufferings and
death, which were at hand; together with the bearing the sins of his
people, the enduring the curse of the law, and the wrath of God, all
which were ingredients in, and made up this dreadful bitter cup, this
cup of fury, cursing, and trembling; called a cup, either in allusion
to the nauseous potions given by physicians to their patients; or
rather to the cup of poison given to malefactors the sooner to dispatch
them; or to that of wine mingled with myrrh and frankincense to
intoxicate them, that they might not feel their pain, (See Gill on
[51]Mark 15:23), or to the cup appointed by the master of the family to
everyone in the house; these sorrows, sufferings, and death of Christ
being what were allotted and appointed by his heavenly Father: and when
he prays that this cup might pass from him, his meaning is, that he
might be freed from the present horrors of his mind, be excused the
sufferings of death, and be delivered from the curse of the law, and
wrath of God; which request was made without sin, though it betrayed
the weakness of the human nature under its insupportable load, and its
reluctance to sufferings and death, which is natural; and yet does not
represent him herein as inferior to martyrs, who have desired death,
and triumphed in the midst of exquisite torments: for their case and
his were widely different; they had the presence of God with them,
Christ was under the hidings of his Father's face; they had the love of
God shed abroad in them, he had the wrath of God poured out upon him;
and his prayer bespeaks him to be in a condition which neither they,
nor any mortal creature were ever in. Moreover, the human nature of
Christ was now, as it were, swallowed up in sorrow, and intent upon
nothing but sufferings and death; had nothing in view but the wrath of
God, and the curse of the law; so that everything else was, for the
present, out of sight; as the purposes of God, his counsel and
covenant, his own engagements and office, and the salvation of his
people; hence it is no wonder to hear such a request made; and yet it
is with this condition, "if it be possible". In Mark it is said, "all
things are possible unto thee", ( [52]Mark 14:36 ) ; intimating, that
the taking away, or causing the cup to pass from him, was: all things
are possible to God, which are consistent with the perfections of his
nature, and the counsel of his will: and all such things, though
possible in themselves, yet are not under such and such circumstances
so; the removal of the cup from Christ was possible in itself, but not
as things were circumstanced, and as matters then stood; and therefore
it is hypothetically put, "if it be possible", as it was not; and that
by reason of the decrees and purposes of God, which had fixed it, and
are immutable; and on account of the covenant of grace, of which this
was a considerable branch and article, and in which Christ had agreed
unto it, and is unalterable; and also on the score of the prophecies of
the Old Testament, in which it had been often spoken of; and therefore
without it, how should the Scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must
be? they would not have been the Scriptures of truth. Besides, Christ
had foretold it himself once and again, and therefore consistent with
the truth of his own predictions, it could not be dispensed with: add
to all this, that the salvation of his people required his drinking it;
that could not be brought about no other way in agreement with the
veracity, faithfulness, justice, and holiness of God. This condition
qualities and restrains the above petition; nor is it to be considered
but in connection with what follows:

nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt;
which shows that the request was far from being sinful, or contrary to
piety to God, or love to men, or to true fortitude of mind; the pure
natural will of Christ, or the will of Christ's human nature, being
left to act in a mere natural way, shows a reluctancy to sorrows,
sufferings, and death; this same will acting on rational principles,
and in a rational way, puts it upon the possibility the thing, and the
agreement of the divine will to it. That there are two wills in Christ,
human and divine, is certain; his human will, though in some instances,
as in this, may have been different from the divine will, yet not
contrary to it; and his divine will is always the same with his
Father's. This, as mediator, he engaged to do, and came down from
heaven for that purpose, took delight in doing it, and has completely
finished it.
__________________________________________________________________

FOOTNOTES:
F7 Gloss. in T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 34. 2.
F8 Maimon. Hilch. Tephilla, c. 5. sect. 14, 15.
[53]PREVIOUS Matthew 26:38 [54]NEXT Matthew 26:40

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