Chapter XVII.—Of the Harmony of the Four Evangelists in Their Notices of the Draught of Vinegar.

54. Matthew proceeds in the following terms: “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.”939    Matt. xxvii. 45. The same fact is attested by two others of the evangelists.940    Mark xv. 33–36; Luke xxiii. 44, 45. Luke adds, however, a statement of the cause of the darkness, namely, that “the sun was darkened.” Again, Matthew continues thus: “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani! that is to say, My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? And some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias.”941    Matt. xxvii. 46, 47. Mark’s agreement with this is almost complete, so far as regards the words, and not only almost, but altogether complete, so far as the sense is concerned. Matthew next makes this statement: “And straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave Him to drink.”942    Matt. xxvii. 48. Mark presents it in a similar form: “And one ran, and filled a sponge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave Him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take Him down.”943    Mark xv. 36. Matthew, however, has represented these words about Elias to have been spoken, not by the person who offered the sponge with the vinegar, but by the rest. For his version runs thus: “But the rest said, Let be; let us see whether Elias will come to save Him;”944    Matt. xxvii. 49.—from which, therefore, we infer that both the man specially referred to and the others who were there expressed themselves in these terms. Luke, again, has introduced this notice of the vinegar previous to his report of the robber’s insolence. He gives it thus: “And the soldiers also mocked Him, coming to Him, and offering Him vinegar, and saying, If thou be the King of the Jews, save thyself.”945    Luke xxiii. 36, 37. It has been Luke’s purpose to embrace in one statement what was done and what was said by the soldiers. And we ought to feel no difficulty in the circumstance that he has not said explicitly that it was “one” of them who offered the vinegar. For, adopting a method of expression which we have discussed above,946    See chap. xvi. he has simply put the plural number for the singular.947    [This act of the soldiers was probably distinct from the giving of the vinegar referred to by the other evangelist; it belongs to the time when all were mocking the Crucified One.—R.] Moreover, John has also given us an account of the vinegar, where he says: “After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to His mouth.”948    John xix. 28, 29. But although the said John thus informs us that Jesus said “I thirst,” and also mentions that there was a vessel full of vinegar there, while the other evangelists leave these things unspecified, there is nothing to marvel at in this.

CAPUT XVII. De potu aceti, quomodo inter se omnes consentiant.

54. Sequitur Matthaeus et dicit: A sexta autem hora tenebrae factae sunt super universam terram usque ad horam nonam (Matth. XXVII, 45-49). Hoc et duo alii contestantur (Marc. XV, 33-36, et Luc. XXIII, 44, 45): addidit autem Lucas etiam unde factae sint tenebrae, id est solem obscuratum. Sequitur Matthaeus: Et circa horam nonam clamavit Jesus voce magna, dicens: Eli, Eli, lamma sabacthani? hoc est, Deus meus, Deus meus, utquid dereliquisti me? Quidam autem illic stantes et audientes, dicebant: Eliam vocat iste. Marcus pene ad eadem verba, ad eamdem tamen sententiam non pene, sed omnino consentit. Sequitur Matthaeus: Et continuo currens unus ex eis acceptam spongiam implevit aceto, et imposuit arundini, et dabat ei bibere. Sic et Marcus dicit: Currens autem unus, et implens spongiam aceto, circumponensque calamo, potum dabat ei dicens: Sinite, videamus si veniat Elias ad deponendum eum. Quod quidem de Elia, non ipsum qui obtulit spongiam cum aceto, sed caeteros dixisse Matthaeus narravit: ait enim, Caeteri vero dicebant: Sine, videamus an veniat Elias liberans eum; unde intelligimus et illum et caeteros hoc dixisse. Lucas autem antequam de latronis insultatione narraret, hoc de aceto ita commemoravit: Illudebant autem ei et milites accedentes, et acetum offerentes illi, et dicentes: Si tu es rex Judaeorum, salvum te fac (Luc. XXIII, 36, 37). Semel complecti voluit quod a militibus factum et dictum est. Ubi movere non debet, quod non unum eorum dixit acetum obtulisse: genus enim locutionis enuit, de quo supra tractavimus, pluralem pro singulari ponens (Superiori cap. 16). Hoc autem de aceto etiam Joannes commemoravit, ubi ait: Postea sciens Jesus quia jam omnia consummata sunt, ut consummaretur Scriptura, dixit: Sitio. Vas autem positum erat aceto plenum: illi autem spongiam plenam aceto hyssopo 1192 circumponentes obtulerunt ori ejus (Joan. XIX, 28, 29). Sed quod apud eumdem Joannem invenitur dixisse, Sitio, et quia vas ibi erat aceto plenum, non mirum est si caeteri tacuerunt.