23).
Ver. 8. περίζωσαι, but simple verb in R.V., W.H., Weiss, Wendt; bind thy tunic with a girdle: during the night the long flowing undergarment was loosened, but fastened up by day, so as not to impede the movements. Wetstein, Weiss, Page, and others contrast Hor., Sat., i., 2, 132. “ Colligit sarcinulas nec festinat”’ (Wet- stein), simple verb only twice elsewhere in N.T., and there also of St. Peter, cf. John xxi, 18δ.--σανδάλιά: Mark vi. 9, elsewhere ὑποδήματα. St. Peter still observed his Master’s rule to be shod with sandals (Mark, wu. 5.), z.e., the shoes of the poor as distinguished from those of the more wealthy: dim. of σάνδαλον, a wooden sole. In LXX cf. Josh. ix. 5, 1584. xx. 2; in Judith x. 4, xvi. 9, of the sandals of the richer οἶαςς.---περιβαλοῦ, only here in Acts; Luke xii. 27, xxiii. 11, often else- where in N.T., and in LXX.—r0 ἵμάτιον: the outer garment worn over the χιτών, and laid aside at night with the sandals. Lumby compares Didache, i., 4. Mark the distinction between the aorist and pre- sent tense, περίζωσαι ... ὑπόδ.... περιβ., but ἀκολούθει (cf. John ii. 16). “‘ Przesens propter finem non indicatum ” Blass; Simcox, Language of N.T., p. 114.
Ver.g. ἐδόκει δὲ ὅραμα βλέπειν: even those who regard the narrative as unhis- torical can scarcely say that the writer cannot understand how to distinguish be- tween an actual fact and a vision; more- over, this same writer describes visions such as that of Peter, x. 10, and oi Paul, xxii. 17, as ecstacies; once in xxvi. 19 Paul speaks of the appearance of Christ vouchsafed to him before Damascus as a
δ---αχ. ΠΡΑΞΕΙΣ ΑΠΟΣΤΟΛΩΝ 275 por. 9. καὶ ἐξελθὼν ἠκολούθει αὐτῷ: καὶ οὐκ δει ὅτι ἀληθές ἐστι
1Ο. διελ- θόντες δὲ πρώτην φυλακὴν καὶ δευτέραν, ἠλθον ἐπὶ τὴν πύλην τὴν σιδηρᾶν, τὴν φΦέρουσαν εἰς τὴν πόλιν, ἥτις αὐτομάτη ἠνοίχθη 1 αὐτοῖς - καὶ ἐξελθόντες 3 προῆλθον ῥύμην µίαν, καὶ εὐθέως ἀπέστη 6 ἄγγελος
τὸ γινόµενον διὰ τοῦ ἀγγέλου, ἐδόκει δὲ ὅραμα βλέπειν.
ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ. 11. καὶ 6 Πέτρος γενόμενος ἐν ἑαυτῷ εἶπε, Νῶν οἶδα
ἀληθῶς ὅτι ἐξαπέστειλε Κύριος τὸν ἄγγελον αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐξείλετό µε 3 ‘ ¢ 58 \ ’ A 5 / A λ a A > , ἐκ Χειρὸς Ἡρώδου καὶ πάσης τῆς προσδοκίας τοῦ λαοῦ τῶν Ἰουδαίων -
1 ηνουχθη EHLP, Chrys.; ηνοιγη A, so Tisch., W.H., Blass, Weiss, Hilg.; see Winer-Schmiedel, p. 103; Deissmann, Neue Bibelstudien, p. 17.
2 After εξελθοντες D, Par. add κατεβησαν τους επτα βαθµους και. Both Weiss (p. 110) and Corrsen (p. 441) (see too Harris, p. 63, Four Lectures, etc.) regard this as possibly original, so Wendt (Ρ. 221, edit. 1899), whilst Belser (p. 65), Zahn (ii., 350), Salmon (pp. 600, 601), Zéckler incline still more strongly to its acceptance, and Blass and Hilg. retain. The addition has been referred to the mention of the seven steps in Ezek. xl. 22 (cf. 26, 31) as its source (so Chase), but, on the other hand, Zahn can see no explanation of the present passage in the seven or the eight (ver. 31) steps of Ezekiel. It is quite possible, he thinks, that the writer might introduce a detail of the kind into his first draft, but omit it afterwarde as unnecessary for distant readers. In xxi. 35, 40, the steps lead not into the street, but from Antonia into the Temple, and there is no connection between them and the definite seven steps here, which are evidently presupposed (note the article) to be
well known to the reader.
vision, ὁπτασία, but this word is not con- fined to appearances which the narrators regard as visions, cf. Luke i. 22, xxiv. 23, cf. Beyschlag, Studien und Kritiken, p. 203, 1864; Witness of the Epistles (Long- mans, 1892).
Ver. 10. Φφυλακῆν: “ward,” perhaps the best translation here with διελθόντες so often used of traversing a place. The first ward might be the place outside the cell where the other soldiers of the quaternion were on guard, and the second ward might refer to some other part of the prison or fortress Antonia (see Blass in loco) where sentinels were stationed. Weiss apparently takes the expression to refer to the two φύλακες, ver. 6, cf. 1 Chron, xxvi. 16.---σιδηρᾶν: specially noted since such a gate, when shut, would effectually bar their way; but it opened αὐτομάτη, only here in N.T. and in Mark iv. 28, cf. Lev. xxv. 5, 11, 2 Kings xix. 29, Wisdom xvii. 6, and in classical writers the striking parallel, Hom., Iliad, v., 749 (Wendt, Blass) ; Virgil, Zineid, vi., δι (Wetstein).—¢é- povgay εἰς: only here in N.T., but quite usual in classical Greek. If the narrative means that immediately they were out of the prison they were in the street (so Weiss), evidently the prison was in the city, and eis τὴν π. would simply mean the open town, in contrast