SEV Biblia, Chapter 8:12
mas los hijos del Reino sern echados en las tinieblas de afuera; allí ser el lloro y el crujir de dientes.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Matthew 8:12
Verse 12. Shall be cast out into outer darkness] As the enjoyment of that salvation which Jesus Christ calls the kingdom of heaven is here represented under the notion of a nuptial festival, at which the guests sat down in a reclining posture, with the master of the feast; so the state of those who were excluded from the banquet is represented as deep darkness; because the nuptial solemnities took place at night. Hence, at those suppers, the house of reception was filled with lights called dadev, lampadev, lukneia, fanoi, torches, lamps, candles, and lanthorns, by Athenaeus and Plutarch: so they who were admitted to the banquet had the benefit of the light; but they who were shut out were in darkness, called here outer darkness, i.e. the darkness on the outside of the house in which the guests were; which must appear more abundantly gloomy, when compared with the profusion of light within the guest-chamber. And because they who were shut out were not only exposed to shame, but also to hunger and cold; therefore it is added, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. As these feasts are often alluded to by the evangelists, I would observe, once for all:-that they who were invited to them entered by a gate designed to receive them; whence Christ, by whom we enter into the marriage feast, compares himself to a gate, John x. 1, 2, 7, 9. This gate, at the time the guests were to come, was made narrow, the wicket only being left open, and the porter standing there, that they who were not bidden to the marriage might not rush into it. Hence Christ exhorts the Jews to enter in at the strait gate, chap. vii. 13, &c. When all that were invited were once come, the door was presently shut, and was not to be opened to any who came too late, and stood knocking without; so after the wise virgins had entered with the bridegroom, the gate was shut, and was not opened to the foolish virgins, who stood knocking without, chap. xxv. 11. And in this sense we are to understand the words of Christ, Luke xiii. 24, 25. Many shall seek to enter in, but shall not be able. Why? because the master of the house hath risen up and shut to the door; they would not come to him when they might, and now the day of probation is ended, and they must be judged according to the deeds done in the body. See Whitby on the place. How many of those who are called Christians suffer the kingdom, the graces, and the salvation which they had in their hands, to be lost; while West-India negroes, American Indians, Hindoo polytheists, and atheistic Hottentots obtain salvation! An eternity of darkness, fears, and pains, for comparatively a moment of sensual gratification, how terrible the thought! What outer darkness, or to skotov to exwteron, that darkness, that which is outermost, may refer to, in eternal damnation, is hard to say: what it alludes to I have already mentioned: but as the words brugmov twn odontwn, gnashing or CHATTERING of teeth, convey the idea, not only of extreme anguish, but of extreme cold; some have imagined that the punishment of the damned consists in sudden transitions from extreme heat to extreme cold; the extremes of both I have found to produce exactly the same sensation.
MILTON happily describes this in the following inimitable verses, which a man can scarcely read, even at midsummer, without shivering.
Beyond this flood a frozen continent Lies dark and wild, heat with perpetual storms Of whirlwind and dire hail - the parching air Burns frore, and cold performs the effect of fire Thither by harpy-footed furies haled, At certain revolutions all the damn'd Are brought; and feel by turns the bitter change Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce, From beds of raging fire, to starve in ice, - and there to pine Immovable, infix'd, and frozen round Periods of time; thence hurried back to fire Parad. Lost, book ii. line 586 There is a passage in the Vulgate, Job xxiv. 19, that might have helped Milton to this idea. Ad nimium calorem transeat ab aquis nivium. "Let him pass to excessive heat, from waters of snow." This reading, which is found only in this form in the Vulgate, is vastly expressive. Every body knows that snow water feels colder than snow itself, even when both are of the same temperature, viz. 32, because the human body, when in contact with snow water, cools quicker than when in contact with snow. Another of our poets has given us a most terrible description of perdition on the same ground.
The once pamper'd spirit To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice; To be imprison'd in the viewless winds, And blown with restless violence round about This pendant world; or to be worse than worst Of those that lawless and incertain thoughts Imagine - Similar to this is that dreadful description of the torments of the wicked given in the Institutes of Menu: "The wicked shall have a sensation of agony in Tamisra, or utter darkness, and in other seats of horror; in Asipatrauana, or the sword-leaved forest, and in different places of binding fast, and of rending: multifarious tortures await them: they shall be mangled by ravens and owls, and shall swallow cakes boiling hot, and shall walk over inflamed sands, and shall feel the pangs of being baked like the vessels of a potter: they shall assume the forms of beasts continually miserable, and suffer alternate afflictions from extremities of cold and heat; surrounded with terrors of various kinds. They shall have old age without resource; diseases attended with anguish; pangs of innumerable sorts, and, lastly, unconquerable death." Institutes of MENU, chap. 12. Inst. 75- 80.
In the Zend Avesta, the place of wicked spirits is termed, "The places of darkness, the germs of the thickest darkness." An uncommonly significant expression: Darkness has its birth there: there are its seeds and buds, there it vegetates everlastingly, and its eternal fruit is-darkness! See Zend Avesta, vol. i. Vendidad sadi, Fargard. xviii. p. 412.
And is this, or, any thing as bad as this, HELL? Yes, and worse than the worst of all that has already been mentioned. Hear Christ himself. There their worm dieth not, and the fire is NOT QUENCHED! Great God! save the reader from this damnation!
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 12. But the children of the kingdom , etc.] The Jews, who were subjects of the kingdom, and commonwealth of Israel, from which the Gentiles were aliens; and who were also in the church of God, which is his kingdom on earth; and besides, had the promise of the Gospel dispensation, sometimes called the kingdom of heaven, and by them, often the world to come; and were by their own profession, and in their apprehension and expectation, children, and heirs of the kingdom of glory. These phrases, abh lw[h b , a son of the world to come, and ytad aml[ ynb , children of the world to come f500 , are frequent in their writings: these, Christ says, shall be cast out ; out of the land of Israel, as they were in a few years after, and out of the church of God: these branches were broken off, and the Gentiles grafted in, in their room; and will be excluded from the kingdom of heaven, where they hoped to have a place, and cast into outer darkness : into the Gentile world, and into judicial blindness, and darkness of mind, and into the blackness of darkness in hell, where shall be weeping, and gnashing of teeth . Phrases expressive of the miserable state and condition of persons out of the kingdom of heaven; who are weeping for what they have lost, and gnashing their teeth with the pain of what they endure. The Jews say f501 , he that studies not in the law in this world, but is defiled with the pollutions of the world, he is taken hrbh wtwa wkylyw , and cast without: this is hell itself, to which such are condemned, who do not study the law.
The allusion in the text is, to the customs of the ancients at their feasts and entertainments; which were commonly made in the evening, when the hall or dining room, in which they sat down, was very much illuminated with lamps and torches; but without in the streets, were entire darkness: and where were heard nothing but the cries of the poor, for something to be given them, and of the persons that were turned out as unworthy guests; and the gnashing of their teeth, either with cold in winter nights, or with indignation at their being kept out. Christ may also be thought to speak in the language, and according to the notions of the Jews, who ascribe gnashing of teeth to the devils in hell; for they say f502 , that for the flattery with which they flattered Korah, in the business of rioting, the prince of hell wyn qrj , gnashed his teeth at them.
The whole of this may be what they call nhg zgwr , the indignation, or tumult of hell f503 .
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 5-13 - This centurion was a heathen, a Roman soldier. Though he was a soldier yet he was a godly man. No man's calling or place will be an excuse for unbelief and sin. See how he states his servant's case. We shoul concern ourselves for the souls of our children and servants, who ar spiritually sick, who feel not spiritual evils, who know not that whic is spiritually good; and we should bring them to Christ by faith an prayers. Observe his self-abasement. Humble souls are made more humbl by Christ's gracious dealings with them. Observe his great faith. The more diffident we are of ourselves, the stronger will be our confidenc in Christ. Herein the centurion owns him to have Divine power, and full command of all the creatures and powers of nature, as a maste over his servants. Such servants we all should be to God; we must go and come, according to the directions of his word and the disposals of his providence. But when the Son of man comes he finds little faith therefore he finds little fruit. An outward profession may cause us to be called children of the kingdom; but if we rest in that, and have nothing else to show, we shall be cast out. The servant got a cure of his disease, and the master got the approval of his faith. What wa said to him, is said to all, Believe, and ye shall receive; onl believe. See the power of Christ, and the power of faith. The healin of our souls is at once the effect and evidence of our interest in the blood of Christ.
Greek Textus Receptus
οι 3588 T-NPM δε 1161 CONJ υιοι 5207 N-NPM της 3588 T-GSF βασιλειας 932 N-GSF εκβληθησονται 1544 5701 V-FPI-3P εις 1519 PREP το 3588 T-ASN σκοτος 4655 N-ASN το 3588 T-ASN εξωτερον 1857 A-ASN εκει 1563 ADV εσται 2071 5704 V-FXI-3S ο 3588 T-NSM κλαυθμος 2805 N-NSM και 2532 CONJ ο 3588 T-NSM βρυγμος 1030 N-NSM των 3588 T-GPM οδοντων 3599 N-GPM
Vincent's NT Word Studies
12. The outer (to exwteron). The Greek order of words is very forcible. "They shall be cast forth into the darkness, the outer (darkness). The picture is of an illuminated banqueting chamber, outside of which is the thick darkness of night.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
8:12 {The sons of the kingdom} (hoi huioi tes basileias). A favorite Hebrew idiom like "son of hell" (#Mt 23:15), "sons of this age" (#Lu 16:8). The Jews felt that they had a natural right to the privileges of the kingdom because of descent from Abraham (#Mt 3:9). But mere natural birth did not bring spiritual sonship as the Baptist had taught before Jesus did. {Into the outer darkness} (eis to skotos to exwteron). Comparative adjective like our "further out," the darkness outside the limits of the lighted palace, one of the figures for hell or punishment (#Mt 23:13; 25:30). The repeated article makes it bolder and more impressive, "the darkness the outside," there where the wailing and gnashing of teeth is heard in the thick blackness of night.
