22—23.
371
23. διερχόμενος γὰρ καὶ ἀναθεωρῶν 1 τὰ σεβάσµατα ὑμῶν, εὗρον καὶ
βωμὸν ἐν ᾧ ἐπεγέγραπτο,” °
Αγνώστω cd.
ὃν οὖν ἀγνοοῦντες
1 For αναθεωρων D (Clem.) has διιστορων (nowhere found in N.T., not used in
LXX or classical Greek).
2 For επεγεγραπτο D (Gig.) has ην γεγραμμενον, so Hilg., and reads Ayveotoy Θεων, see Blass, in loco, for authorities who think this reading original, although
in B text he follows T.R.
ov... τούτον $\cA7EHLP, Arm., Clem., Ath., Chrys.,
Cosm., Aug.; 0... τούτο ΝΑ” ΒΡΙ, Vulg., Or., Hier., Tisch., W.H., R.V., Weiss,
Wendt, Blass; 0... τουτον 61.
strict accordance with similar testimonies from various quarters, cf. Thuc., il., 40; Soph., O. C., 260; Jos., C. Apion., ii., 11; Pausanias, In Attic., 24; Petronius, Sat., c. 17. The context, ver. 24, where εὐσεβεῖτε, religiose colitis (Wet- stein), is one result of this δεισιδαιµονία, strengthens the view that the adjective is used here in a good sense; cf. the comment on its good use here by St. Chrys., Hom., xxxviii., and Theophylact. There is therefore no reason to suppose that Paul’s words were an accommoda- tion to the usual practice of Athenian orators to commence with a mere com- pliment. At the same time it is possible that with delicate tact the Apostle made use of a word of doubtful meaning, ver- bum per se µέσον, which could not pos- sibly provoke hostility at the outset, while it left unexpressed his own judg- ment as to the nature of this reverence for the divine “ with kindly ambiguity,” Grimm-Thayer.
Ver. 23. διερχόμενος yap: “for as I passed along,” R.V., through the streets, or perhaps ‘“‘was wandering through” —Renan has passant dans vos rues, see also on ver. 16 above, and also on viii. go. A.V., ‘‘as I passed by” does not give the force of the word, and apparently means ‘passed by the ob- jects of your devotion ’’.—avaSewpov : accurate contemplari, ‘‘ observed,” R.V., only in later Greek, and in N.T. only in Heb. xiii. 7, “considering with attentive survey again and again,” see Westcott, in loco: Weiss renders it here ,, immer wieder betrachtend,“ cf. critical notes, cf. Diod. Sic., xiv. 109, and references in Grimm.—ra oeBaopata: “the objects of your worship,” R.V., Vulgate, szmu- αεγα, the thing worshipped, not the act or manner of worshipping. The A.V. margin gives “gods that ye worship,” cf. 2 Thess. ii. 4, where A. and R.V. both render “that is worshipped,” σέ- Bacpa in text, and Κ.Υ. in margin, “an object of worship”’; Bel and the Dragon,
ver. 27, Wisdom xiv. 20, xv. 17.--καὶ βωμὸν: ‘I found also an altar,” R.V., i.c., in addition to those with definite dedications; only here in N.T., often in LXX, sometimes of heathen altars, Exod. xxxiv. 13, Numb. xxiii. 1, Deut. vii. 5.— ἐπεγέγραπτο, cf. Luke xvi. 20; on the pluperfect with augment, Blass, Gram., Ρ. 37, see critical note: Farrar, St. Paul, ἵω 542, takes the word as implying permanence, and perhaps antiquity, so in Speaker's Commentary as of an ancient decayed altar, whose inscription had been forgotten; Mark xv. 26, Rev. xxi. 12 (Heb. viii. 10, x. 16).— Ayvoore Θεῷ: “(ο an unknown God,” R.V.: all previous versions like A.V., but there is no definite article, although in inscriptions it was often omitted. For the existence of altars of this kind the testimony of Pau- sanias and Philostratus may be fairly quoted; Pausan., i., 1, 4 (cf. v. 14, 6), βωμοὶ θεῶν τε ὀνομαζομένων ἀγνώστων καὶ ἡρώων, and Philost., Vit. Apollon., vi., 2, σωφρονέστερον περὶ πάντων θεῶν εὖ λέγειν, καὶ ταῦτα ᾿Αθήνησιν, οὗ καὶ ἀγνώστων θεῶν βωμοὶ ἵδρυνται, see refer- encesin Wetstein, and cf. Ε. C. Conybeare, u.s.; Renan, Saint Paul, p. 173; Neander, Geschichte der Pflanzung, ii., 32 ff. ; Wendt, etc. Baur, Zeller, Overbeck have maintained that there could have been no such inscription in the singular number as the plural is so much more in harmony with polytheism, although the last named admits that the authorities cited above admit at least the possibility of an inscription as in the text. To say nothing of the improbability that Paul would refer before such an audience to an inscription which had no existence, we may reasonably infer that there were at Athens several altars with the inscrip- tion which the Apostle quotes. A passage in Diog. Laert., Epim., 3, informs us how Epimenides, in the time of a plague, brought to the Areopagus and let loose white and black sheep, and wherever the sheep lay down, he bade the Athenians