— rroieTv eipfjvyiv, to put forth peace ; as notr^ai vdup, to send forth water ; ver. 12.
1. Tlodev, whence ?) James hints, that many persons often seek the
causes of contentions, though they are evident. — noke^oi xai /a a^a/, wars and fightings') opposed to u peace;” on which he treats in ch. iii. Fighting is the active carrying on of war . There follows shortly afterwards in ver. 2, ye fight and war. An inverted Chiasmus. Ka/ IL&yui sv O/A/i/, but the Alexandrian MS. in the lesser Oxf. edit., h v/nTv, xai nodtv for Mill, as usual, does not notice the order of
the words. Uodev is also inserted before ptaycu in L. andN. 1. There may be something remarkable in this variety.1 — evrsvdsv, hence) The reference is to pleasures (ijdo vuv), of which mention is expressly made immediately (comp. ver. 3), and is implied in ch. iii. — Grpurevo/joemv, which war) The same word occurs, 1 Pet. ii. 11. — peXeciv, in the members) The body is the first seat of war : thence there follows the war of man with man, of king with king, of nation with nation.
2. ye desire) A kind of Anaphora2 whereby the senti- ment is repeated with increased force. Ye desire , with disposition towards an object ; ye hill and envy , with the action and disposition of individuals against individuals ; ye fight and war , with the action of many against many. — <povevsre xa /' ^XoDrg, ye hill and envy) Ye hill through hatred and envy. One sentiment is expressed by two words. The same verb occurs, ch. v. 6. He who covets any object, desires that the former possessor may be removed out of the way. He speaks of murderers, as in ver. 4 of adulterers. Comp. 1 John iii. 15. Thus, cpoveUre, do ye murder ? Ps. lxii. 3 (Septuagint), irrcnri for this Hebrew reading, holding a middle place between the others, is 3 well supported by the Halle reviewers. And the tenor of the whole Epistle of James has a very close resemblance to the whole of this Psalm. See notes at ver. 7, 12, 14, i. 3, iii. 10. See also Ps. x. 8.
1 ABC support the second node v, as do also Memph. and later Syr. But Rec. Text omits it with Vulg. BC Vulg. place h vp'iv after pox-^cti . But A before kx\ nodev. — E.
2 See Append, on Anaphora.
8 See note on chapter ii. 23.