DITCH (βόθυνος, Matthew 15:14, Luke 6:39; rendered ‘pit’ Matthew 12:11).—The parabolic language of our Lord in the first two parallel passages is suggested by the frequency of danger from unguarded wells, quarries, and holes. Into these the blind easily fell; and the risk increased if the leader of the blind were himself blind. The metaphor has been interpreted as referring to Gehenna: more probably it refers simply to danger of hurt, or even ruin, from wilful or careless perversion of the truth leading to moral wandering and fall. For the idea, cf. Proverbs 19:27 ‘Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err,’ and St. Paul’s taunt of the Jew as ‘a guide of the blind’ (Romans 2:19).
R. Macpherson.