Cn. V.J THE FIRST GENERAL EPISTLE OF PETER. 669
He careth (uéder). Meaning the watchful care of interest and affection. The sixth and seventh verses should be taken together: Humble yourselves and cast all your anxiety. Pride is at the root of most of our anxiety. To human pride it is humiliating to cast everything upon another and be cared for. See Jas. iv. 6, 7.
8. Be sober (vijate). See on ch. iv. 7.
Be vigilant (ypnyopijoate). Rev., be watchful. See on Mark xiii. 35; and 1 Thess. v. 6, where both verbs occur: watch and he sober. A reminiscence of the scene in Gethsemane: Could ye not watch with me ? (Matt. xxvi. 40, 41).
Adversary (6 avtiSixos). The article points to a well-known adversary. From dvri, against, and dien, a lawsuit. Strictly, an adversary in a lawsuit. Here an adversary in general. Com- pare Zech. iii. 1-5. Only here, in New Testament, of Satan.
The devil. See on Matt. iv. 1.
Roaring (apudpeves). Only here in New Testament. The word conveys somewhat of the sense by the sound (oruomenos). It denotes especially the how] of a beast in fierce hunger.
Lion. Augustine says, “Christ is called ‘a lion’ (Apoe. v. 5) because of his courage: the devil, because of his ferocity. The one lion comes to conquer, the other to hurt.” Seven Hebrew words are used for this animal; six to describe his movements and four to describe his roar. He is mentioned in the Bible about one hundred and thirty times. In Job iv. 10, 11, five different words are used for him. In Judges xiv. 5; Ps. xxi. 13; ciii. 21 (Sept.), the same word as here is used for the roaring of the lion as a translation of the Hebrew word for the thunder in Job xxxvii. 4.
Walketh about (zrepurate?). Compare Job i. 7; ii. 2. This word gave name to that sect of Greek philosophers known as Peripatetics, because they walked about while teaching or dis-
670 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Cu. V.
puting. “St. Peter calls Satan the Peripatetic” (Cox, on Job). The Arabs call him the Busy One. It was to Peter that Christ said, ‘Satan hath desired to have you,” ete. (Luke xxii. 31).
Devour (catamty). Lit., swallow down. See on Matt. xxiii. 24.
9. Resist (dvtlatnte). The Rev., very judiciously, substi- tutes withstand ; resist having been already used in ver. 5 for avtitdocetat. Withstand is, moreover, the more accurate ren- dering; as the verb means rather ¢o be firm against onset than to strive against it. With in withstand is the Saxon wid, against, which appears in the German wider.
Steadfast (crepeol). Compare 2 Tim. ii. 19; and the kindred verb orepede, to strengthen (Acts iii. 7, 16; xvi. 5). Paul, in Col. ii. 5, uses a cognate noun, oTepéwpa, evidently as a military metaphor: “ Beholding your order (ra&w, compare aVTLTATOETAL, ver. 5) and your solid front or close phalanu” (ctepéwpa). It might be difficult to find, on the whole, a better rendering than steadfast, yet it falls a little short of the meaning. Steadfast is Anglo-Saxon, stede, a place, and faest, fast ; and hence means firm in its place; but orepeot conveys also the sense of compact- ness, compact solidity, and is appropriate, since a number of in- dividuals are addressed and exhorted to withstand the onset of Satan as one compacted body. repeds implies solidity in the very mass and body of the thing itself; steadfastness, mere hold- ing of place. A rockis orepeds, firm, solid ; buta flexible weed with its tough roots resisting all efforts to pull it up, may be steadfast. The exhortation is appropriate from Peter, the Rock.
The same afflictions (Ta a’ta Trav TaJdnudtov). Rev., bet- ter, sufferings. A very peculiar construction, occurring nowhere else.in the New Testament. Lit., the same things of sufferings, emphasizing the idea of edentity.