29. For our God is a consuming fire (xal yap 6 QOeds Huav mip katavarioxov). See Ex. xxiv. 17; Deut. iv. 24;
560 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Cu. XII.
ix. 3; Mal. iii. 2; iv. 1. The verb N. T.°, a few times in LXX. Often in Class., especially Xenophon. Originally to use up, spend, lavish, as property : thence to consume as with fire. The simple verb avadicxew to expend occurs L. ix. 54; Gal. v. 15; 2 Th. ii. 8. ‘O Geos suey is not our God as compared with the God of the Jews. He is the God of both covenants (see ch. i. 1, 2, and notes); but though now revealed in Jesus Christ, and offering all the privileges of the new covenant (vv. 22-24), his anger burns against those who reject these privileges.
1. Let brotherly love continue (¢iraderdia pevérw). Dir- aderdéa in Paul, Rom. xii. 10; 1 Th. iv. 9. As a proper name, Apoc. i. 11; iii. 7. It is not necessary to suppose that the admonition implies signs of estrangement among those addressed. Comp. ch. iii. 18; vi. 10; x. 24; xii. 12-15.
2. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers (77s diAo- Eevias un emiravOdvecGe). Lit. be not forgetful of hospitality. @irokevia only here and Rom. xii. 138. CLXX. irc£evos hospitable, 1 Tim. iii. 2; Tit. i. 8; 1 Pet. iv. 9. The rend- ering of Rev. to show love unto strangers, is affected. On the injunction comp. Rom. xii. 138; 1 Tim. iii. 2; Tit. i. 8; 1 Pet. iv. 9, and see Clem. Rom. Ad Corinth. x, xi, xii. The virtue of hospitality is not distinctively Christian. It appears with the very beginnings of history, largely as the result of nomadic conditions. It was peculiarly an Oriental virtue. In the Egyptian Book of the Dead, commendatory judgment is awarded to him who has fed the hungry and clothed the naked. The O. T. abounds in illustrations, and the practice of hospitality among the Arabs and Bedoueen is familiar through the writings of travellers in the East.* Great stress
* See Dr. W. M. Thomson, The Land and the Book; Burckhardt, Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys ; Lane, Modern Egyptians ; Palgrave, Central and Eastern Arabia ; Trumbull, Oriental Social Life; etc. |
Cu. XIIL] THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 561
was laid on the duty by the Greeks, as appears constantly in Homer and elsewhere. Hospitality was regarded as a relig- ious duty. The stranger was held to be under the special protection of Zeus, who was called &dwos, the god of the stranger. The Romans regarded any violation of the rites of hospitality as impiety. Cicero says: “It seems to me eminently becoming that the homes of distinguished men should be open to distinguished guests, and that it is an honour to the Republic that foreigners should not lack this kind of liberality in our city” (De Off. ii. 18).
Have entertained angels unawares (éAa0ov tives Eevicavtes ayyédous). The Greek idiom is, ‘ were not apparent as enter- taining angels.” The verb éAa@ov were concealed represents the adverb unawares. For similar instances see Mk. xiv. 8; Acts xii. 16; Aristoph. Wasps, 517; Hdt. i. 44; Hom. ZU. xiii. 2738. Hevifew to receive as a guest, mostly in Acts. In LXX only in the apocryphal books. In later Greek, to eur- prise with a novelty ; passive, to be surprised or shocked. So 1 Pet. iv. 4,12; comp. 2 Ep. of Clem. of Rome (so called), xvii. To be a stranger or to be strange, once in N. T., Acts xvii. 20. Hevcopos amazement, perplexity, not in N. T. LXX, Prov. xv. 17. Comp. Ignatius, Hph. xix. The allusion to the unconscious entertainment of angels is probably to Gen. xvili, xix, but the idea was familiar in Greek literature. The Greeks thought that any stranger might be a god in disguise. See Hom. Od. i. 96 ff.; iii. 829-870; xvii. 485. Comp. also the beautiful story of Baucis and Philemon as