understood by Tawsivuffis. — sig rb dva-rX^^wo'a/j that they may fill up) Obstinacy against receiving the word above all fills up the mea sure of sins. — avruv, their) the sins of the Jews. — ^avrorg) as always, so now also. — sis r'&Xog, [tending] to the end) A sad closing catastrophe [Engl. Vers. to the uttermost]. The same phrase occurs at Luke xviii. 5. Under Herod Agrippa the Jewish state had begun again to flourish, but after his death, Acts xii. 23, the Roman procurators returned. Cumanus and Felix, and their successors, more and more harassed the Jews. This epistle was written in the year of our Lord 48, and about that time a tumult arose at Jerusalem during the feast of the passover, and an immense multitude were slain : some say, more than thirty thousand. The wrath of God closely pursued these miserable men, and sis r&Xog, [at the last] at length, destroyed their city and temple.
17. 'Adstyol, brethren) He begins a new division of the epistle.
— oMroppavurQivrsf, having been bereft of you) as parents, in the absence of their children. — *p&s xaipbv upag, [lit. for the space of an hour] for a brief space) xaipbg means time indefinitely; upa, a definite period, Ex. xiii. 10, mjRD^j LXX., Kara xaipols upuv.— idM, to see) 2 Tim. i. 4.
18. "A-Trag KOL) big) So the LXX. Nell. xiii. 20. — 6 2arai/a?, Satan) Paul wisely considered that there lurked beneath this the first cause of evil — a cause, of which we should have had no suspicion otherwise, when reading the history in Acts xvii. 13, 14. Satan acted by means of wicked men.
19. Tig yap) So, rig yap, LXX., 1 Sam. xi. 12. — Jtar/V, Jt.r.X.) our hope, etc. : comp. the end of this verse. It is great praise.
— Gripavog xav%yasus, a crown of [rejoicing] glorying) So LXX., Prov. xvi. 31. — xa! v^sTg, even ye) He does not exclude others : he chiefly reckons these among the number. — Jv, in) Regarding this particle, comp. ch. hi. 13 ; Rom. ii. 16, note [In the day expresses something more than against the day]. So far is hope extended ! [So far does his hope reach ! even to the day of Christ.]