Ver. 23. τοὺς ἰδίους: not necessarily limited to their fellow-Apostles (so Meyer, Blass, Weiss), but as including the members of the Christian community (so Overbeck, Wendt, Hilgenfeld, Zockler), cf. xxiv. 23, John xiii. 1, 1 Tim. v. 8, and also of one’s fellow-countrymen, associates, John i. 11, 2 Macc. xii. 22.
Ver. 24. ὁμοθυμαδὸν, see above on i. 14. The word must not be pressed to mean that they all simultaneously gave utterance to the same words, or that they were able to do so, because they were repeating a familiar Hymn; it may mean that the Hymn was uttered by one of the leaders, by St. Peter, or St. James (Zockler), and answered by the τε- sponsive Amen of the rest, or that the words were caught up by the multitude of believers as they were uttered by an inspired Apostle (so Felten, Rendall).— ἦραν φωνήν: the same phrase is used in Luke xvii. 13, so in Acts ii. 14, xiv. I1,.
21---25.
, ~ Δέσποτα, σὺ 1 6 Θεὸς 6 ποιήσας τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς, 25.2 6 διὰ στόματος Δαβὶδ τοῦ
9 , παιδός σου εἰπὼν, ““lva τί ἐφρύαξαν ἔθνη, καὶ λαοὶ ἐμελέτησαν
1 © Geos DEP, Gig., Par., verss., Irint., Luc., so Meyer, so Hilg.; but om. ΝΒΑ, best MS. of Vulg., Boh., so Tisch., W.H., R.V., Weiss, Wendt (who refers the construction of the words to Isaiah xxxvii. 16).
2 9 δια στοµατος Δαβιδ του παιδος σου ειπων P 1, 31, Chrys., so Meyer; but rou omitted by RABDEP. ο του πατρος ημων δια πνευµατος αγιου στοµατος Δανειδ παιδος σου ειπων, SO SABE 13, 15, 27, 29, 36, 38; so Lach., Ττερ., Tisch., W.H., R.V., Alford. ο δια mv. αγ. δια στοµ., του πατρος ηµων A., so Vulg., Iren., apparently for improvement in order. D reads δια πν. αγ. δια του στοµατος λαλησας Δ., omit. του πατρος ημων; so apparently Syr. Pesch., Boh. P, Hil., and Aug. omit πνευµατος aytov—-Syr. Harcl., Arm. place δια πν. ay. after παιδος σου; so Par. Blass in B omits του πατρος ηµων and brackets mv. ay., practi- cally agreeing with T.R. (see also Acta Apost., p. 77). W.-H. mention the extreme difficulty of the text and hold that it contains a primitive error (so also Holtzmann), and each makes an attempt at solution, App., Select Readings, p. 92. Felten follows the solution offered by Westcott. Weiss, Apostelgeschichte, pp. 39, 40 (1893), speaks of πνευµατος αγιου as perfectly senseless (so too Zéckler, who follows Τ.Μ.) and regards the expression as an old gloss for στοµα A., but which afterwards came into the text with the latter words; or some scribe, as he thinks, may have introduced δια mv. ay. expected by him from i. 2, 16 (see also Blass, in 1050), and then continued the text lying before him. Weiss therefore follows P although it omits tov πατρος ημων, which Weiss retains and reads ο του πατρος
ημων δια στοµ. A. παιδος σου ειπωγ.
Wendt and Alford maintain that the more
complicated readings could scarcely have arisen through additions to the simpler text of Τ.Ε. and that the contrary is more probable.
xxii, 22, ἐπαίρειν, and also in Luke xi. 27. Both phrases are peculiar to St. Luke, but both are found in the LXX, and both are classical (Friedrich, Das Lucasevangelium, p. 29, and Plummer on Luke xi. 27).---Δέσποτα κ.τ.λ.: the words form the earliest known Psalm of Thanksgiving in the Christian Church. In its tenor the Hymn may be compared with Hezekiah’s Prayer against the threats of Assyria, Isa. xxxvii. 16, 20. It begins like many of the Psalms (xviii., xix., ΠΠ.) with praising God as the Creator, a thought which finds fitting expression here as marking the utter impotence of worldly power to with- stand Him. The word Δέσποτα, thus used in the vocative in addressing God here and in Luke ii. 29 only (found nowhere else in Gospels, although several times in the Epistles), expresses the absolute control of a Master over a slave, cf. also Luke ii. 29, where τὸν δοῦλόν σου answers to it, as here τοῖς δούλοις in ver. 29. It also expresses here as often in the LXX the sovereignty of God over creation, cf. Job v. 8, Wis- dom vi. 7, Judith ix. 12. So Jos., Ant., iv., 3, 2, puts it into the mouth of Moses. Tt is very rarely used in the N.T. as a name of God or of Christ, but cf. Rev.