26---27.
καιροὺς καὶ τὰς ὁροθεσίας τῆς κατοικίας αὐτῶν: 27. Inte τὸν ἢ
Κύριον, εἰ dpa γε ψηλαφήσειαν αὐτὸν καὶ εὕροιεν, καίτοιγε 5 οὐ
1 Θεον for Κυριον NABHL 61, Vulg., Syrr. Ῥ. H., Boh., Sah., Arm., Chrys., so Tisch., W.H., R.V., Wendt, Weiss; D, Gig., Iren., Clem. read το Θειον; and Syr. H. mg. adds τι; and D, Syr. H. mg. add εστιν (Iren.). Blass omits; Weiss thinks
arbitrarily.
Ἄψηλαφησειαν, -σειεν (cf. Luke vi. 11) Winer-Schmiedel, p. 114, -σαισαν Hilg. ;
W.H., App., 174.
> kaurorye ΡΕ”, Chrys., Cosm., so Meyer; but και ye BD? (D* και τε), HLP* 13, 61, 137, 180, Tisch., W.H., R.V., Weiss, Wendt, Blass; AE, Clem. have
Strabo, of α settlement, α colony. Here, as in the former part of the verse, we need not limit the words to the assertion of the fact that God has given to various nations their different geographical bounds of mountain, river Or sea; as we recognise the influence exerted upon the morale of the inhabi- tants of a country by their physical surroundings, St. Paul’s words teach us to see also in these conditions ‘the works of the Lord’’—the words of the most scientific observer perhaps of Pales- tine, Karl Ritter, are these: ‘“‘ Nature and the course of history show that here, from the beginning onwards there can- not be talk of any chance”: G. A. Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land, pp. 112, 113, and 302, 303 ff.; Curtius, ‘Paulus in Athen.,” Gesammelte Ab- handlungen, ii., 531, 536.
Ver. 27. {nreiv = ὅπως ζητῶσι, telic infinitive, Winer - Moulton, xliv. 1.— Κύριον, see critical note. Θεόν: the more fitting word before this audience— Ramsay renders “‘ the God ’’.—et apa γε: “if haply,” A. and R.V., dpa strength- ened by ye; in classical Greek we have ἄρα followed by ye, but not apa. This apa and ἄρα ye are generally regarded as = Latin si forte (Blass, Grammatik, p. 211), although Simcox, Language of the New Testament, pp. 180, 181, in ad- mitting this, is careful to point out that it is misleading to regard apa as = forte. Alford (so Page) maintains that the ex- pression here, as in viii. 22, indicates a contingency which is apparently not very likely to happen. On the other hand Rendall holds that the particle here, as in viii. 22, should be rendered not perhaps or haply, but indeed: ‘if they might indeed feel after him,” etc., ex- pressing a very real intention of God’s providence, the optative pointing to the fact that this intention had not yet been realised (pp. 66, 110), cf. also Mark xi.
Instead of ηµων A*L 31, 180 read vpwv.
13, and in 1 Cor. xv. 15, εἴπερ dpa (see further Blass, Gram., pp. 254, 267; Bur- ton, pp. 106, 111). With the whole pas- sage, Wisdom xiii. 6 should be compared. On St. Paul’s study of the Book of Wisdom at some time in his life see
-Sanday and Headlam, Romans, p. 52.
---ψηλαφήσειαν, Folic aorist, the verb is used several times in LXX for the act of groping in the dark, Deut. xxviii. 29, Job v. 14, xii. 25; Isa. lix. το; cf. its use also in classical Greek, Odys., ix., 416: so Plato, Phedo, 99 B, where it is used of vague guesses at truth (Wendt, Page). The word would therefore fitly express the thought of men stretching lame hands of faith and groping, and calling to what they feel is Lord of all. Weiss finds the idea of the word as used here, not in the LXX as above, but in 1 John i. 1, of some palpable assurance, which was everywhere possible in a world made by God, ver. 24, Rom. i. 20, and where men’s dwellings had been apportioned by Him. But the word might still be used in the above sense, since the recognition of God in His Creation is after all only a partial recognition, and not the highest knowledge of Him; and the inscription “To an Unknown God ” testified in itself how imperfect that recognition had been. For the meaning of the verb in modern Greek see Kennedy, p. 156.--- καίτοιγε, see critical note. καί ye, cf. ii. 18, quin etiam (quamvis καίτοιγε “‘ vix aptum,” Blass). The word ψηλαφ. had inti- mated ‘‘et proximum esse Deum et oculis occultum’’ (Blass, Knabenbauer), and the Apostle now proclaims the nearness of God, not only in creation, in its main- tenance and preservation, but in the spiritual being of man: ‘‘ Closer is he than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet '.---οὐ μακρὰν : the word implies not mere local nearness, but spiritual, cf. Jer. xxiii. 23, and Ephes. ii. 13. With this we may compare Seneca, Ep. Mor.,