Bible Commentaries

Matthew 17:10 — right moral relations between fathers and children, etc. Raphel cites instances of similar use from Polyb. The function of Elias, as conceived by the scribes, was to lead Israel to the Great Repentance. vide on this, Weber, Die Lehren des T. , pp. 337 8. [103] Septuagint.

Mark 6:11 — their ministry is summed up in the expulsion of many demons, and the cure of many suffering from minor ailments, ἀρρώστους ( cf. Mark 6:5 ). In Mark’s account the powers of the Twelve appear much more restricted than in Matthew ( cf. Mark 10:8 ). The use of oil in healing ( ἐλαίῳ ) is to be noted. Some have regarded this as a mark of late date (Baur). Others (Weiss, Schanz) view it as a primitive practice ( vide James 5:14 ). Many conjectural opinions have been expressed as to the function

Luke 12:1-12 — to His disciples (Schanz, J. Weiss, Holtzmann). Bornemann points out that while Mt. places τρῶτον after imperatives, Lk. places it also before, as in Luke 9:61 , Luke 10:5 . ἀπὸ τῆς ζύμης τ . φ .: this is the logion reported in Matthew 16:6 and Mark 8:15 , connected there with the demand for a sign; here to be viewed in the light of the discourse in the Pharisee’s house (Luke 11:37 f.). In the two first Gospels the warning expresses rather Christ’s sense of the deadly character of the

John 11:33 — John 11:33 . Ἰησοῦς οὖν … αὐτόν . “Jesus, then, when He saw her weeping [ κλαίειν is stronger than δακρύειν and might be rendered ‘wailing’. It is joined with ἀλαλάζειν , Mark 5:38 ; ὀλολύζειν , James 5:1 ; θορυβεῖν , Mark 5:39 ; πενθεῖν , Mark 16:10 . Cf. Webster’s Synonyms ] and the Jews who accompanied her wailing,” ἐνεβριμήσατο τῷ πνεύματι , “was indignant in spirit”. The word ἐμβριμᾶσθαι occurs again

John 17:5 — pre-existence; because these two expressions are here equivalents, and Christ cannot be supposed to have prayed for an “ideal” glory when He asked that God would glorify Him παρὰ σεαυτῷ . “There is, consequently, here, as in John 6:62 , John 8:58 , a continuity of the consciousness of the historical Christ with the Logos.” Tholuck. On this verse Beyschlag remarks (i. 254): “The possibility of such a position was first won by Jesus through His life and death on earth, so that,

John 2:4 — hora,” but, mine hour for bringing relief. This implies that He too had observed the failure of the wine and was waiting a fitting opportunity to interfere. That the same formula is more than once used by Jesus of His death (see chap. John 7:30 , John 8:20 ) merely indicates that it could be used of any critical time. Euthymius says it here means “the hour of miracle working”. Wetstein quotes from R. Sira “non quavis hora fit miraculum”. Especially true is this of the first

John 5:31 — Jesus say that if His witness stands alone it is not true? Chrysostom says He speaks not absolutely but with reference to their suspicion [ πρὸς τὴν ἐκείνων ὑπόνοιαν ]. And on occasion He can maintain that His testimony of Himself is true, chap. John 8:13 , where He says “Though I witness of myself my witness is true,” and demands that He be considered one of the two witnesses required. Here the point of view is different, and He means: Were I standing alone, unauthenticated by the Father,

Acts 13:13 — Acts 13:13 . Ἀναχθέντες , “set sail,” R.V. So in classical use, here in its technical nautical sense so too, in opposite sense, κατάγεσθαι . In this sense thirteen times in Acts, and once in Luke’s Gospel, Acts 8:22 , but not in the other Gospels at all; it is only used once, in another sense, by St. Matthew among the Evangelists, cf. Acts 4:1 . ἄγειν and its compounds with ἀνά , κατά , εἰς , are characteristic of Luke’s writings, Friedrich, p. 7. οἱ

Acts 2:3 — Presence, Exodus 3:2 , and of the Spirit who purifies and sanctifies, Ezekiel 1:13 , Malachi 3:2-3 (see Wetstein for classical instances of fire symbolical of the presence of the deity; cf., e.g. , Homer, Iliad , xviii., 214; Virgil, Æn. , ii., 683). διαμεριζ ., lit [116] , dividing or parting themselves off. R.V. “tongues parting asunder,” so that originally they were one, as one mighty flame of fire. This rendering is strictly in accordance with the meaning of the verb. Vulgate

Acts 3:11 — joy and gratitude, “holding them” in a physical sense, although it is possible that it signifies that the healed man joined himself to the Apostles more closely as a follower (Acts 4:14 ), fearing like the demoniac healed by Christ (Luke 8:38 ) lest he should be separated from his benefactors, cf. Song of Solomon 3:4 . ἐπὶ τῇ στοᾷ τῇ καλ . Σ .: better “portico,” R.V. margin; colonnade, or cloister (John 10:23 ). It derived its name from Solomon, and was the only remnant of

Acts 3:16 — as of the man who was healed, cf. , especially, 1 Peter 1:21 . τοὺς διʼ αὐτοῦ πιστοὺς εἰς Θεόν , i.e. , his converts who through Christ are believers in God: He is the object and the author of our faith, Cf. also Nestle, Expository Times , Feb., 1899, p. 238, and the connection of this phrase with Codex [143] , Acts 18:8 , and Acts 20:21 (see Blass, l. c. ). ὁλοκληρίαν : only here in N.T., integram sanitatem , Vulgate, but the adjective ὁλόκληρος in an ethical sense, 1 Thessalonians 5:23 , James

Acts 7:19 — N.T. and not in LXX, but used with γόνος in Eur., Andr. , 70. εἰς τὸ : expressing the purpose, cf. Luke 5:17 . ζωογονεῖσθαι : in the active the verb is used three times, in Exodus 1:0 , of the midwives saving the Hebrew children alive, Acts 7:17-18 ; Acts 7:22 ( cf. Judges 8:19 , etc.), vivum conservare . In the N.T. the word is only used by St. Luke here and in his Gospel, chap. Acts 17:33 , and once by St. Paul, 1 Timothy 6:13 (see R.V. margin). St. Chrysostom comments on the thought that

1 Peter 4:4 — followed by dative, acc., διά with acc. and ἐπί with dative. So in Josephus Adam was surprised ( ξενιζόμενον ) that the animals had mates and he none, Ant., i. 1, 2) and the making of garments surprised God (Acts 17:4 ). συντρεχόντων , from Psalms 50:18 , LXX, if thou sawest a thief , συνέτρεχες αὐτῷ , and with adulterers thou didst set thy portion ; where תרץ consent has been rendered as if from רוץ run . It thus corresponds to St. Paul’s συνευδοκεῖν (Romans 1:32 ). ἀσωτίας , profligacy

1 Peter 4:6 — the rebel spirits who were presumably immortal and could only be imprisoned. Oecumenius rightly condemns the view, which adds in trespasses and sins or takes dead in a figurative sense, despite the authority of e.g. , Augustine ( Ep. , 164, §§ 1 18). εὐηγγελίσθη , the Gospel was preached, the impersonal passive leaves the way open for the development of this belief according to which not Christ only but also the Apostles preached to the dead. Hermas, Sim. , ix. 16.5 16.7; Cl. Al. Strom. , vi.

Revelation 11:1-2 — “Up (or come = קוּמ ) and measure the temple of God and the altar (of burnt-offering, which stood outside the inner shrine) and (sc. number) those who worship there” ( i.e. , in the inner courts, Revelation 13:6 ; for constr. cf. 2 Samuel 8:3 ). The outer court (Ezekiel 10:5 ) is to be left out of account ( ἐκβ . = “omit” or exclude as unworthy of attention), “for it has been abandoned (or, assigned in the divine counsel) to the heathen, and (indeed) they shall trample

Revelation 15:4 — forgiveness, (2) that of Moses and the Israelites at the Red Sea, (3) that of the Israelites, when the spring of water was given them, (4) that of Moses at his death, (5) Joshua’s at Gibeon, (6) that of Barak and Deborah, (7) Hannah’s, (8) David’s, (9) Solomon’s, and (10) that which the children of the captivity are to sing when the Lord frees them. It tallies with this expectation that the new song of the Apocalypse (Revelation 5:9 , Revelation 14:3 ) is always a song of

Revelation 16:16 — fallen angels in En. vi. 5, 6 at mount Hermon) in which case the phrase is a survival of some apocalyptic myth no longer intelligible to John (Gunkel, Bousset) or ( b ) to be taken as an allusion to the hills near the plain (in the light of Judges 5:18-19 ; Judges 4:6 ; Judges 4:12 ; Judges 4:14 ; Ezekiel 38:8 ; Ezekiel 38:21 ; Ezekiel 39:2 ; Ezekiel 39:17 ). By gematria the name is equivalent to רומה הגדולה (Ewald, Hausrath), but neither this nor the proposal to take הר as a corruption of עיר (city,

Revelation 20:1-3 — cf. the fettering of Azazel, En. 10:4 f., 54:5 f.) into the do gma of a divine restraint placed for a time upon the evil spirit(s); see S. C. 91 f., Charles’ Eschatology , 200 f. ἔθνη . Strictly speaking, the previous tradition (Revelation 19:18 ; Revelation 19:21 ) left no inhabitants on earth at all. Such discrepancies were inevitable in the dovetailing of disparate conceptions, but the solution of the incongruity here probably lies in the interpretation of ἔθνη as outlying nations on the

Revelation 20:8 — Satan’s return to encounter irretrievable defeat upon the scene of his former successes ( ἐπʼ ἐσχάτου ἐτῶν Ezekiel 38:8 ), is an obscure and curious feature, borrowed in part from earlier beliefs in Judaism (Gog and the Parthians both from the dreaded N. E., Ezekiel 38:4 ), but directly or indirectly from a legend common to Persian and Hellenic eschatology: in the

Revelation 9:1 — Revelation 9:1 . Stars (as σώματα ἐπουράνια ) drop from heaven in the form of beasts (Enoch lxxxvi. 1 f.) and men ( ibid. lxxxviii.) throughout Jewish apocalyptic ( cf. ibid , xviii. 16, xxi. 1, 6, xl. 21, 24); even earlier (Judges 5:20 , Job 38:7 ) they had been personified. On falling stars, associated as evil portents with death or divine displeasure, see Frazer’s Golden Bough (2nd ed.), Revelation 2:18 f. From what follows, it is possible that this angelic being who had fallen is