How (vas). “A question full of wonder” (Bengel). Comp. I marvel, ch. i. 6.
Turn ye again (émiotpéfere wadv). Better, the continu- ous present, are ye turning, as of a change still in progress. Comp. ch. i. 6. IIdAcv again, according to N. T. usage, and
140 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. ([Cu. IV.
corresponding with mdAw dvwfev in the following clause. Not back, which is the earlier sense and the usual classical meaning.
Weak and beggarly elements (dc@evq nal wrwya oTol- xeia). For elements see on ver. 3. For raya beggarly, see on Matt. v. 8. The two adjectives express the utter impo- tence of these “elements” to do and to bestow what was done and given by God in sending his Son into the world. Comp. Rom. viii. 8; Heb. vii. 18.
Again (mdduw avobev). “Avabev (vw above) adds to mad the idea of going back to the beginning. Its primary meaning is from above; thence, from the first, reckoning in a descend- ing series. So L. i. 3; Acts xxvi. 5.* Such combinations as this are not uncommon in N. T. and Class. See, for instance, Acts xviii. 21; Matt. xxvi. 42; Acts x. 15; J. xxi. 16. But these additions to mwadw are not pleonastic. They often define and explain it. Thus, J. xxi. 16, waduw marks the repetition of Jesus’ question, devrepov the number of the repetition. He asked again, and this was the second time of asking.
Ye desire (@édere). It was more than a mere desire. They were bent on putting themselves again into bondage. See on Matt. i. 19.
10. Ye observe (aparnpetc@e). See on Mk. iii. 2, and J. xviii. 12, and comp. Joseph. Ant. iil. 5, 5, waparnpely tas éBdouddas to watch the weeks. The word denotes careful, scrupulous observance, an intent watching lest any of the prescribed seasons should be overlooked. A merely legal or ritual religion always develops such scrupulousness.
Days. Sabbaths, fast-days, feast-days, new moons. Comp. Rom. xiv. 5, 6; Col. ii. 16.
* Dr. Plummer on L. i. 3 is, I think, mistaken in explaining dvwéev in Acts xxvi. 6 as radicitus (thoroughly).
Cu. IV.] THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 141
Months. Sacred months. Comp. Isa. lxvi. 23. In the preéxilic time the months were mostly not named but num- bered first, second, third, etc., and this usage appears also in the post-exilic writings of the O. T. Only four months had special names: the first, Abib, the ear-month, which marked the beginning of harvest (Ex. xiii.4; xxiii. 15; xxxiv. 18): the second, Sif or Ziv, the flower-month (1 K. vi. 1, 87): the seventh, Ethanim, the month of streaming rivers fed by the autumnal rains (1 K. viii. 2): the eighth, Bul, the month of rain (1 K. vi. 38). In the post-exilic time names for all the months came into use, the most of which appear in the Pal- myrene inscriptions and among the Syrians. According to the Talmud, the returning Jews brought these names from Babylon. ‘The names of all are found in a month-table dis- covered at Nineveh. Nisan corresponds to Abib (Neh. ii. 1; Esth. ii. 7), answering to the latter part of March and April. Jjar answered to Ziv (Targ. 2 Chron. xxx. 2), our May. Tisri to Ethanim, the seventh month of the ecclesiastical, and the first of the civil year, corresponding to October. Marcheschwan (see Joseph. Ant. i. 8, 3) answered to Bul and November. Tisri, being the seventh or sabbatical month, was peculiarly sacred, and the fourth (Sivan, June), fifth (Ab, August), and tenth (Tebeth, January) were distinguished by special fasts.*
Times (xa:povs). Better, seasons. See on Matt. xii. 1; Eph. i. 10, and comp. Lev. xxiii. 4. The holy, festal seasons, as Passover Pentecost, Feast of Tabernacles. See 2 Chron. viii. 18.
Years (évavtovs). Sabbatical years, occurring every sev- enth year. Not years of Jubilee, which had ceased to be velebrated after the time of Solomon.