{For your hardness of heart} (pros t(886e) skl(8872)okardian
h(966d)(936e)). The word is apparently one of the few Biblical words
(LXX and the N.T.). It is a heart dried up (skl(8872)os), hard and
tough. {But from the beginning it hath not been so} (ap' arch(8873)
de ouk gegonen hout(9373)). The present perfect active of ginomai
to emphasize the permanence of the divine ideal. "The original
ordinance has never been abrogated nor superseded, but continues
in force" (Vincent). "How small the Pharisaic disputants must
have felt in presence of such holy teaching, which soars above
the partisan view of controversialists into the serene region of
ideal, universal, eternal truth" (Bruce).