82 LAMBERTON -NARRATIVE OF WALKING ON SEA. 



[April 



Matthew and Mark agree, and John differs only in giving Caper- 

 naum, instead of Bethsaida, as the goal of their sail. — From what 

 direction does he approach? From behind or from in front? A 

 question of some importance : Matthew gives no indication, nor, 

 perhaps, does John, but Mark implies very clearly that the approach 

 is from behind ; for he goes on to say ijdeXe TrapeXOelv avTov<; . They 

 see him, take him for a spectre and cry out in fright : he quiets them 

 with a word and gets into the boat, wereupon the wind fell (Matthew 

 has added before this the episode of St. Peter's attempt at walking 

 on the water). They were quite beside themselves with astonish- 

 ment : ov jdp (TvvrjKav iirl rot? dproL^, for their heart was hardened. 

 They push on till they get across and land. Now what does ov yap 

 avvriKav iirl rol^ aproi^ mean ? As it stands and where it stands it 

 is, I think, quite meaningless : it was evidently thought to mean 

 something ; and indeed, as we shall see, did mean something : it is 

 in fact, I believe, a part of the original tradition which has got 

 misplaced and so lost its meaning; for, really, it has none at all 

 here. There is, of course, no objection to taking avvrjKav abso- 

 lutely ; any verb in Greek may be so used ; but then the context 

 must make the application clear, as it does not in this case. And 

 eVl Tot9 a/OTOi?, what shall we do with these words ? It has been 

 said that the sense is : the miracle of the feeding should have taught 

 them a lesson that would have prevented all surprise at the walking 

 on the water, but that this lesson had not been learned : but this 

 looks like a desperate attempt to explain the inexplicable; and ob- 

 serve here that Matthew's story of Peter's attempt at imitating the 

 feat quite contradicts this interpretation. I may say, here, that 

 while I believe a-vvrjKav genuine, but misplaced ; I also believe that 

 eVt Tot? dproL^ should be rd iirl roU dproi^y for, as we shall see, what 

 the disciples failed to understand was zvhat follozved the feeding of 

 the ^000. If iirl roU dproi^ be taken as equivalent to Trepl tmv dprcoVj 

 as they may, the words are still out of place. 



Looking back at Mark's account, we observe that Jesus hurried 

 his disciples azvay with a view to dismissing the crowd : there seems 

 no rationally assignable reason for this method of action. Then our 

 Lord goes up into the mountain to pray : at last we have come to 

 something that is suggestive. Jesus's praying is only thrice re- 



