6—18.
473
στρατιᾶς οὐρανίου,ὶ αἰνούντων τὸν Θεόν, καὶ λεγόντων, 14. “ Δόξα ἐν ὑψίστοις Θεῷ, καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς εἰρήνη: ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκία.' ; 15. Καὶ ἐγένετο, ὡς ἀπῆλθον ἀπ᾿ αὐτῶν eis τὸν οὐρανὸν οἱ ἄγγελοι, καὶ οἱ ἄνθρωποι οἱ ποιμένες 3 εἶπον” πρὸς ἀλλήλους, “΄ Διέλθωμεν δὴ ἕως Βηθλεέμ, καὶ ἴδωμεν τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο τὸ γεγονός, ὃ ὁ Κύριος
ἐγνώρισεν ἡμῖν.”
16. Καὶ ἦλθον σπεύσαντες, καὶ ἀνεῦρον τήν τε
Μαριὰμ καὶ τὸν Ιωσήφ, καὶ τὸ βρέφος κείµενον ἐν τῇ φάτνη. 17. ἰδόντε δὲ διεγνώρισαν» περὶ τοῦ ῥήματος τοῦ λαληθέντος
a ~ , αὐτοῖς περὶ τοῦ παιδίου τούτου.
1 ουρανον in BD (Trg., W.H., margin), 2The documents are divided between ενδοκια and evSox.as.
18. καὶ πάντες ot ἀκούσαντες
Most recent
editors favour the latter, following ΝΑΕΒΕΡ, vet. Lat. Vulg., Iren. lat., Orig. lat. W.H. place ενδοκιας in text and evdoxra in margin.
3 NQBLE 1 omit οι ανθρωποι found in ADA al. pler.
Tisch., W.H., om. J.
Weiss suggests that ot ποιµενες is an ancient gloss which in one branch of the wtradition crept into the text, in another displaced οι av@.
4 ελαλουν in NB.
sign just that which might, but for fore- warning, have been a stumbling block; the Saviour and Lord lying in a crib, in a cattle stall, or cave! So Hahn, but Godet and Schanz take “ sign” merely in the sense of means of identification.
Ver. 14. The angels’ song.—If we re- gard the announcement of the angel to the shepherds (vv. I0-12) as a song, then we may view the gloria in excelsis as a refrain sung by a celestial choir (πλῆθος στρατιᾶς οὐρανίου, ver. 13). With the reading εὐδοκίας, the refrain is in two lines :—
1. ‘* Glory to God in the highest.”
2. “‘And on earth peace among men, in whom He is well pleased.” εἰρήνη in 2 answering to’ δόξα in 1; ἐπὶ γῆς to ἐν ὑψίστοις; ἀνθρώποις to Θεῷ. With the reading εὐδοκία (T.R.), it falls into three :—
1. Glory to God in the highest.
2. And on earth peace (between man and man).
3. Good will (of God) among men. ἐν ὑψίστοις, in the highest places, proper abode of Him who is repeatedly in these early chapters called ‘‘the Highest”. The thought in 1 echoes a sentiment in the Psalter of Solomon (18, 11), µέγας 6 Θεὸς ἡμῶν καὶ ἔνδοξος ἐν ὑψίστοις.--- «εὐδοκίας is a gen. of quality, limiting ἆν- @pairovg = those men who are the objects of the Divine εὐδοκία. They may or may not be all men, but the intention is not to assert that God’s good pleasure ests on all, J. Weiss in Meyer says = τοῖς ἐκλεκτοῖς,
δ εγνωρισαν in NBDL=
Vv. 15-20. The shepherds go to Bethlehem.—drEbopev δή, come! let us go. The force of δή, a highly emotional particle (the second time we have met with it, vide at Mt. xiii. 23), can hardly be expressed in English. The rendering in A. V. (and R. V.), “Let us now go,’ based on the assumption that δὴ has affinity with ἤδη, is very tame, giving no idea of the mental excitement of the shepherds, and the demonstrative energy with which they communicated to each other, com- rade-fashion, the idea which had seized their minds. ‘‘ The δὴ gives a pressing character to the invitation,’? Godet. Similarly Hahn = “agedum, wohlan, doch”. Cf. δὴ in Acts xiii. 2. The
«διὰ in διέλθωµεν suggests the idea of
passing through the fields.—@ws (con- junction used as a preposition) may imply that it was a considerable distance to Bethlehem (Schanz).—pyjpa, here = “thing”? rather than ‘ word’”’.—Ver. 16. σπεύσαντες, hasting; movement answering to mood revealed by δή.---τήν τε Μαριὰμ, etc., mother, father, child, recognised in this order, all united together in one group by τε The position of the babe, in the manger, noted as corresponding to the angelic announcement; hence in ver. 17 the statement that the shepherds recognised the correspondence.—Vv. 18, 19. The shepherds of course told what they had seen in Bethlehem, and how they had been led to go there, and these verses state the effect produced by their story.