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7. T ovroig) [in a manner like] to these , the ungodly, who are doomed to undergo a like punishment. — hmpvsvdaaai) giving themselves to fornication. For the simple verb nopvsvw, H3T, the Septuagint often has h<ropve{ju. But here the word is peculiarly adapted to a lust still more abominable. — anz XOovffai — zr'spag, going away after — other ) unnatural lusts. — [yrpoxsivrai, are set forth , lie before our eyes) The cities therefore were situated, not in the Dead Sea, but upon the shore. — V. g.] — bsTy/^a — dUriv, an example — punishment) These are put in apposition ; the punishment , which they endure, is an example of eternal fire , as Cassiodorus says : for the punishment of those cities is not itself eternal : Ezek. xvi. 53, 55. Comp. 2 Pet. ii. 6.
8. M svroiy indeed ) A particle setting forth and comparing the im- purity of such ungodly men with Sodom, whence the resemblance of punishment mentioned in ver. 7 is plainly seen. — IwmioifyfAsvoi) disturbed with impure and confused dreams , and from their dreams conjecturing the future. The words, they knoiv not , ver. 10, are equivalent : Isa. lvi. 10, 11, Septuagint, ovx syvucav — IvunviuZofizvoi xo/rijv. — oux eidorsg cOvsciVj navrzg rcug odoTg ccvrwv sj'rjxoXouOqffuv' They are ignorant — sleeping , lying down — they cannot understand — they all look to their own way } — xuprirnra , dignities) See 2 Pet. ii. 10, note.
9. 'O ds M lyurtk, but Michael ) It matters not whether the apostle received the knowledge of this contention from revelation only, or from the tradition of the elders : it is sufficient that he writes true things, and even admitted to he true by the brethren. Comp. ver. 14, note. As answers to fj,evroi. — 6 dp^dyysXog, the archangel) Men- tion is made of the archangel in this place only, and 1 Thess. iv. 16 (where also a most important subject is treated of, the resurrection of the dead) : there is no mention of it elsewhere ; so that we cannot determine whether there is one archangel only, or more. — oVs, when) When this dispute arose, and on what day, is not expressed : it certainly happened after the death of Moses. — rOj diu(36\u), with the devil) against whom it is especially befitting for Michael to contend, Apoc. xii.- — diaxpivofisvog 8/sXsysro, disputing he contended) It was therefore a judicial contest. — ns pi rou Mutrsug ad^arog, concerning the
1 By the one word zvv7rvta.£6pt,evot the character of mere natural men is very graphically described. A man in dreaming seems to himself to be seeing and hearing many things, etc. His lusts are agitated by joy, distress, fear, and the other passions. But he is a stranger to self-control in such a state : but as is an image (phantom) arising out of an image, such is the condition of such men. Hence, though they bring into play all the sinews of reason, they cannot con- ceive that the sons of light, who are awake and in the daylight, enjoy true liberty. — V. g.
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