Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
or if he shall ask for a fish, will give him a serpent?
and if a fish he may ask--a serpent will he present to him?
and if he ask a fish, will give him a serpent?
Matthew — The Gospel of the promised King. Five discourses punctuate the narrative; roughly sixty-five Old Testament citations bind the story to the prophets.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
Voices2
Similarly, if a fish. The fish lives in water and signifies understanding of dogmas: "He that drinks of this water will not thirst again" (Jn 4:13); and in v. 14: "It will be a fountain of water springing up into life everlasting." Again, by water, …
Thomas Aquinas· Commentary on Matthew, 1274patristic
Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? Which is somewhat like a fish, especially an eel. Fish and bread are mentioned, because these were common food; see Mar 6:41 Joh 21:13 and particularly in Galilee, a fish country, where Christ now was, and from whence he had called his disciples, who were fishermen.
John Gill· Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748)reformed
