376
νι.)
΄
d=ch. v.26 ἥτις ἐστὶν 1 ἐντολὴ πρώτη "ἐν ἐπαγγελία,” 3. ἵνα " εὖ σοι " γένηται
εἴ Here
καὶ ἔσῃ ‘ μακροχρόνιος ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.
4. καὶ οἱ πατέρες, μὴ © πα-
gRom.x. βοργίζετε τὰ τέκνα ὑμῶν, ἀλλ᾽ ὃ" ἐκτρέφετε αὐτὰ ἐν ' παιδείᾳ καὶ
only. ᾿
19 only,
from ο νουθεσίᾳ κυρίου.” Deut.
xxxii. 21; see Col. iii. 21; ch. iv. 26.
Wisd., xvi. 6.
1 Omit εστιν B 46, Eth.
h Ch. v. 29 Heb. xii. 5, 7, 8, 11 only; Prov. i. 2, 7 (Ps. vi. 1; Isa. lili. 5).
reff.; Prov. xxiii. 24. i 2 Tim. iii. 16; kx Cor, x. 11; Tit. iii. το only;
3 Before επαγΥγ. insert τη DEFG 2, 73, 115, many Fathers,
® For κνρ., Χριστον 17.
ments, Mosaic and later (Mey., etc.). Westcott and Hort notice another sible pointing, viz., πρώτη, ἐν ἐπαγγελίᾳ, =‘'the which is the first commandment, with the promise that,” etc. But this still leaves it unexplained why this com- mandment is called the first. The whole sentence is dealt with as a parenthesis by the RV. But this is to miss the real point of the statement, which is to advance from the duty of obedience (ὑπακούετε) enforced by its relation to the require- ment of law (the δίκαιον), to the higher idea of filial honour as inculcated in the highest summary of Divine Law, the Dec- alogue. The ἥτις clause, therefore, is an integral part of the statement, and instead of being a remark by the way conveys an advance in the thought.
Ver. 3. ἵνα εὖ σοι γένηται καὶ ἔσῃ μακροχρόνιος ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς: that it may be well with thee, .- mayest live long on the land, The quotation of the commandment is continued according to the LXX, but with some variations, vis., ἔσῃ for γένῃ, and the omission of τῆς ἀγαθῆς ἧς (Exod. xx. 12, or ἧς alone as in Deut. v. 16) Κύριος ὁ Θεός σον δίδωσί σοι. This clause is omitted perhaps as less suitable to those addressed (Abb.); or it may be with a view to generalise the statement and relieve it of all restrictions but those which necessarily condition the promises of temporal blessings (ΕΙΙ.). Meyer strangely supposes that the quota- tion is left unfinished simply because the readers could easily complete it for them- selves. In that case it might have been even shorter. The first clause promises temporal good generally ; the second the particular blessing, so associated in the OT with the idea of the Divine favour, of length of days. The ἔσῃ is explained by not a few (Erasm., De Wette, Win., etc. ; cf. Win.-Moult., p. 361) as a case of oratio variata, a transition from the ἵνα construction to direct narrative, = “and thou shalt be,” as the RV margin
puts it. But there is no necessity for supposing such a change in the construc- tion, as tva with the tut. indic., though strange to Attic Greek (which yet uses ὅπως with that tense and mood), is found in the NT (1 Cor. ix. 18; Rev. xxii. 14). In Attic Greek the idea would have been expressed not by εὖ γενέσθαι, but by εὖ πάσχειν, εὖ πράττειν or similar form (Mey.). In the OT original, ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς refers of course to the land of Canaan. Meyer thinks it must retain its historical sense here. But that, in its literal com- pleteness, would be something inappli- cable to Paul’s Christian readers, The fact that the quotation is broken off at this point, and that the more restricted, national terms of the OT promise are omitted, might warrant us in giving the phrase the larger sense of “on the earth” (with RV text). But it is best to take the phrase as far as possible in its his- torical sense, and translate it “on the land” (RV marg.), #.¢., the land on which your Christian lot is cast.
Ver. 4. καὶ οἱ πατέρες, μὴ παροργί- tere τὰ τέκνα ὑμῶν: and, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, The καί continues the statement of this second of the relative or domestic duties, presenting now the other side. The duty is one not only of children to parents, but also of parents to children. The parental duty is set forth in terms of the father's obligation without particular mention of the mother’s, not because children of maturer age are in view (Olsh.), but simply because the father is the ruler in the house, as the husband is the head of the wife; the mother’s rule and responsi- bility being subordinate to his and repre- sented by his. The parental duty is given first negatively, as avoidance of all calcu- lated to irritate or exasperate the children —injustice, severity and the like, so as to make them indisposed to filial obedience andhonour. παροργίζειν, a strong verb, found again in Rom. κ. 19, with which