Ver. 20. θυμομαχῶν: lit., “‘to fight desperately ” Polyb., ix., 40, 4; xxvii., 8, 4, and it might be used not only of open warfare, but of any violent quarrel; here almost=épylfeo@ar. There could be no question of actual warfare, as Phcenicia was part of the province of Syria, and Herod had no power to wage war against it. Probably the cause of this θυμομαχία lay in commercial interests. The word is not found in LXX, or elsewhere in N.T.—6po8upaddy, i. 14.—metoavtes, cf. Matt. xxviii. 14, possibly with bribes, as Blass and Wendt suggest.—rév ἐπὶ τοῦ
to NI ec
20. Ἡν δὲ ὁ Ἡρώδης θυμομαχῶν Τυρίοις καὶ Σιδωνίοις1 ὁμοθυμαδὸν δὲ παρῆσαν πρὸς αὐτόν, καὶ πείσαντες Βλάστον τὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ κοιτῶνος τοῦ βασιλέως, ἠτοῦντο εἰρήνην, διὰ τὸ τρέφεσθαι αὐτῶν τὴν χώραν
ἀπὸ τῆς βασιλικῆς. 21. Τακτῇ δὲ ἡμέρᾳ ὁ ᾿Ηρώδης ἐνδυσάμενος
ἐσθῆτα βασιλικήν, καὶ καθίσας ἐπὶ τοῦ βήματος, ἐδημηγόρει πρὸς
αὐτούς' 22. 6 δὲ δῆμος ἐπεφώνει, Θεοῦ φωνὴ καὶ οὐκ ἀνθρώπου.
23. παραχρῆμα δὲ ἐπάταξεν αὐτὸν ἄγγελος Κυρίου, ἀνθ ὧν οὐκ ἔδωκε τὴν δόξαν τῷ ΘεῷΣ' καὶ γενόμενος σκωληκόβρωτος, ἐξέψυξεν.
1 οµοθ., D, Syr. H. mg. (Par. Vulg.), so Blass and Hilg. read οι δε οµοθ. εξ apdo- τερων των πολεων παρησαγ., May be a gloss ΟΠ οµοθ. meaning that the two cities made common cause, cf, τας χωρας for την xwpay in same verse (Western). D, Ρατ." (Wern.) add at end of ver. 21 καταλλαγεντος δε αυτου τοις T. και τοις Σ. D omits και τοις Σ. Syr. H. mg. has κατηλλαγη δε αυτοις. But this appears to introduce a fresh connection into the narrative, and to divert attention from the main point, viz.,the speech. So Weiss, p. 73, thinks φωναι (8), for φωνη, νετ. 22, is introduced to indicatet he contents of the speech.
ΣΤ reads καταβας απο tov βηµατος after Θεῳ και. After oxwd. D adds ert Lov και οντως, 50 Blass and Hilg. Blass in B reads εγεν. for yevop.; insertions avoid possible misunderstandings, see comment.
κοιτῶνος, “chamberlain,” perhaps best. κοιτών will imply that he was over the king’s bed-chamber. Exod. viii. 3, cf. 2 Sam. iv. 7, 2 Kings, vi. 12, 1 Esd. iti. 3=Latin cubicularius. κοιτών, in Dio Cassius, Ixi., 5, is used of the king’s treasury, but the ordinary usage is as above. In Attic Greek δωµάτιον, not κοιτών.---τρέφεσθαι, z.e., with corn (cf. 1 Kings v. 9, Ezra iii. 7, Ezek. xxvii. 17; Jos., Ant., xiv., 10, 6), and see Blass, note 72 loco.
Ver. 21. τακτῇῃ: only here in Ν.Τ.; cf. Jos., Ant., xix., 8, 2 (cf. xviii., 6, 7), δευτέρᾳ δὲ τῶν θεωριῶν Ἠμέρᾳ. It is quite true that Josephus says nothing directly of the Tyrians and Sidonians, but the audience was evidently granted to them on the second day of the public spectacle; ¢f. for the expression, Polyb., ili., 34, 9. The description of Josephus evidently implies some special occasion, and not the return of the ordinary Quin- quennalia; 5εε ΟΠ ver. 19 and also below. Josephus does not menion Blastus, or those of Tyre and Sidon, but this is no reason against the narrative, as Krenkel maintains. Belser, much more reason- ably, contends that Luke’s narrative sup- plements and completes the statement of Josephus.—év8. ἐσθῆτα βασιλικήν, cf. Jos., Ant., xix., 8, 2, στολὴν ἐνδυσάμενος ἐξ ἀργυρίου πεποιηµένην πᾶσαν.; on ἐσθ. see 1. 10.—Byjparos: Josephus speaks of the event happening in the theatre, and the βῆμα here = rather “the throne,” R.V. (margin, “judgment-seat”), the
royal seat in the theatre from which the king saw the games and made his harangues to the people (so of an orator’s pulpit, Neh. viii. 4, 2 Macc. xiii. 26), see Blass and Grimm-Thayer, sub v.—edy- μηγόρει: only herein N.T. In 4 Macc. ν. 15 = contionari, frequent in classical Ετεεκ.-- πρὸς αὐτούς, i.e.,to the Tyrian and Sidonian representatives, but the word ἐδημ.. might well be used of what was in any case an address, ad populum, cf. ver. 22.