{Yet hath he not root in himself} (ouk echei de rhizan en
heaut(9369)). Cf. Col 2:7 and Eph 3:18 erriz(936d)emoi. Stability
like a tree. Here the man has a mushroom growth and "endureth for
a while" (proskairos), temporary, quick to sprout, quick to
stumble (skandalizetai). What a picture of some converts in our
modern revivals. They drop away overnight because they did not
have the root of the matter in them. This man does not last or
hold out.
{Tribulation} ( hlipse(9373)). From hlib(935c), to press, to oppress,
to squeeze (cf. 7:14 ). The English word is from the Latin
_tribulum_, the roller used by the Romans for pressing wheat. Cf.
our "steam roller" Trench (_Synonyms of the N.T._, pp. 202-4):
"When, according to the ancient law of England, those who
wilfully refused to plead, had heavy weights placed on their
breasts, and were pressed and crushed to death, this was
literally hlipsis." The iron cage was stenoch(9372)ia.
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