46ο
καθεξῆς σοι Ὑράψαι, κράτιστε Θεόφιλε, 4. ἵνα ἐπιγνῷς περὶ dv κατηχήθης λόγων τὴν ἀσφάλειαν.
5. ΕΓΕΝΕΤΟ ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις Ἡρώδου τοῦ 1 βασιλέως τῆς Ἰουδαίας ἱερεύς τις ὀνόματι Ζαχαρίας, ἐξ ἐφημερίας ᾽Αβιά : καὶ ἡ γυνὴ αὐτοῦ 3
1 ΝΝΒΤΙΞ omit τον.
3 For η γννη αντον ΝΡΒΟΡΧΞ 33 have yuvy αντω (Tisch., W.H.). 1, Π8ς ηγ.αντω.
suits his purpose. It is quite compatible with this historic spirit that Lk. should be influenced in his narrations by re- ligious feelings of decorum and reverence, and by regard to the edification of his first readers. That his treatment of materials bearing on the characters of Jesus and the Apostles reveals many traces of such influence will become apparent in the course of the exposition. --κράτιστε Θεόφιλε. The work is to be written for an individual who may per- haps have played the part of patronus libri, and paid the expenses of its pro- duction. The epithet κράτιστε may imply high official position (Acts xxiii. 26, xxvi. 25). On this see Grotius. Grimm thinks it expresses only love and friendship.
Ver. 4. Indicates the practical aim: to give certainty in regard to matters of Christian Ῥε]]εξ--- περὶ dv κ. λόγων: an attraction, to be thus resolved: περὶ τῶν λόγων ots κατηχήθης. λόγων is best taken = matters (mpaypdtwv, ver. 1), histories (Weizsacker), not doctrines. Doubtless this is a Hebraistic sense, but that is no objection, for after all Lk, is a Hellenist and no pure Greek, and even in this preface, whose pure Greek has been so often praised, he is a Hellenist to alarge extent. (So Hahn, Einleitung, Ρ. 6.) The subject of instruction for young Christians in those early years was the teaching, the acts, and the ex- perience of Jesus: their “catechism” historic not ἁοσαῖϊπα].--κατηχήθης: is this word used here in α technical sense = formally and systematically in- structed, or in the general sense of ‘‘ have been informed more or less correctly ”? (So Kypke.) The former is more pro- bable. The verb (from κατὰ, ἠχέω) is mainly Hellenistic in usage, rare in pro- fane authors, notfoundinO. T. The N.T. usage, confined to Lk. and Paul, points to regular instruction (vide Rom. ii. 18).
This preface gives a lively picture of the intense, universal interest felt by the early Church in the story of the Lord Jesus: Apostles constantly telling what they had seen and heard; many of their
hearers taking notes of what they said for the benefit of themselves and others: through these gospelets acquaintance with the evangelic history circulating among believers, creating a thirst for more and yet more; imposing on sucha man as Luke the task of preparing a Gospel as full, correct, and well arranged as possible through the use of all avail- able means—previous writings or oral testimony of surviving eye-witnesses.
Vv. 5-25. The birth of the Baptist announced. From the long prefatory sentence, constructed according to the rules of Greek syntax, and with some pretensions to classic purity of style, we pass abruptly to the Protevangelium, the prelude to the birth of Christ, con- sisting of the remainder of this chapter, written in Greek which is Hebraistic in phrase and structure, and Jewish in its tone ofpiety. The evangelist here seems to have at command an Aramaic, Jewish- Christian source, which he, as a faith- ful collector of evangelic memorabilia, allows to speak for itself, with here and there an editorial touch.
Vv. 5-7. The parents of Fohn.— ἐγένετο, there was, or there lived.—év Tats ἡ., etc.: in the days, the reign, of Herod, king of Judaea. Herod died 750 Α.Ο., and the Christian era begins with 753 A.c. This date is too late by three or four years.—é& ἐφημερίας ᾽Αβιά: ἐφημερία (a noun formed from ἐφημέ- ptos -ov, daily, lasting for a day), not in profane authors, here and in ver. 8 in N. T., in Sept., in Chron. and Nehemiah, = (1) a service lasting for a day, or for days—a week ; (2) a class of priests pet- forming that service. The priests were divided into twenty-four classes, the organisation dating according to the tradition in Chronicles (1 Chron. xxiv.) from the time of David. The order of Abia was the eighth (1 Chron. xxiv. 1ο). Josephus (Ant., vii., 14, 7) uses ἐφημερίς and πατρία to denote a class. On the priesthood and the temple worship and the daily service, consult Schiirer’s His- tory, Div. ii., vol. i., pp. 207-298.—yvuv7 : a daughter of Aaron; John descended