Hid (cepvéxpuBev). Only here in New Testament. ITepi signifies completely ; entire seclusion.
25. Neither A. V. nor Rev. render é7v; taking it, as fre- quently, merely as recitative or equivalent to quotation marks. But it means because. Elizabeth assigns the reason for her peculiar seclusion. Her pregnancy was God’s work, and she would leave it to him also to announce it and openly to take away her reproach. Hence the specification of jive months, after which her condition would become apparent. Fully expressed, the sense would be: She hid herself, saying (I have hid myself) because, ete. .
Looked upon (ézetdev). Used by Luke only.
26. Gabriel. The annunciation and the angel Gabriel are favorite themes with Dante, and he pictures them with exqui- site beauty. Thus both appear on the sculptured wall which flanks the inner side of the purgatorial ascent.
‘The angel who came down to earth with tidings Of peace that had been wept for many a year, And opened heaven from its long interdict,
In front of us appeared so truthfully There sculptured in a gracious attitude, He did not seem an image that is silent. One would have sworn that he was saying Ave/ For she was there in effigy portrayed Who turned the key to ope the exalted love, And in her mien this language had impressed, Eece ancilla Dei! as distinctly As any figure stamps itself in wax.” : Purgatory, x., 34-45.
Cu. 1] LUKE. 259
In Paradise Gabriel appears as a light circling round the Vir- gin and singing: “T am angelic love, that circle round
The joy sublime which breathes out from the womb
That was the hostelry of our desire ;
And I shall circle, Lady of heaven, while
Thou followest thy Son, and mak’st diviner
The sphere supreme, because thou enterest there.”
Paradise, xxiii., 103-108.
‘
And again: ‘And the same love that first descended then, Ave Maria gratia plena singing, In front of her his wings expanded wide.” Paradise, xxxii., 94-96.
28. Thou that art highly favored (ceyapitwpévn). Lit., as Rey. in margin, endued with grace. Only here and Eph. i. 6. The rendering full of grace, Vulgate, Wyc., and Tynd., is there- fore wrong.
All the best texts omit blessed art thou among women.
Cast in her mind (dveroyifero ). See on Jas. ii. 4. The imperfect tense, “‘ began to reason.”
30. Grace (ydpw). From the same root as yalpa, to rejoice. J. Primarily that which gwes joy or pleasure ; and hence out- ward beauty, loveliness, something which delights the beholder. Thus Homer, of Ulysses going to the assembly: “ Athene shed down manly grace or beauty upon him” (‘ Odyssey,” ii., 12) ; and Septuagint, Ps. xlv. 3, “grace is poured into thy lips.” See also Prov. i. 9; ili, 22. Substantially the same idea, agreeableness, is conveyed in Luke iv, 22, respecting the gra- cious words, lit., words of grace, uttered by Christ. So Eph. iv. 29. II. As a beautiful or agreeable sentiment felt and ea- pressed toward another; kindness, favor, good-will. 2 Cor. viii. 6,7, 9; ix. 8; Luke i. 30; ii. 40; Acts ii. 47. So of the responsive sentiment of thankfulness. See Luke vi. 82, 33, 34 ; xvii. 9; but mostly in the formula thanks to God; Rom. vi. 17; 1 Cor. xv. 57; 2 Cor. ii. 14; 2 Tim. i. 3. HI. The substan-
260 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Cx. 1.
tial expression of good-will ; a boon, a favor, a gift ; but not in New Testament. See Rom. v. 15, where the distinction is made between ydpis, grace, and dwpea év xapiTl, @ gift mM grace. So a gratification or delight, in classical Greek only ; as the de- light in battle, in sleep, ete. IV. The higher Christian signi- fication, based on the emphasis of freeness in the gift or favor, and, as commonly in New Testament, denoting the free, spon- taneous, absolute loving-kindness of God toward men, and so contrasted with debt, law, works, sin. The word does not occur either in Matthew or Mark.