Vi.
tLukelc., ὀσφὺν ὑμῶν "ἐν ἀληθείᾳ, καὶ ἐνδυσάμενοι τὸν * θώρακα τῆς δικαιο- Mati. ii, σύνης, 15. Kat " ὑποδησάμενοι τοὺς πόδας "ἐν 3 ἑτοιμασίᾳ τοῦ
est Pet.
i. 13; Isa. xi. 5. u See 1 Cor. iv. 21 reff.
5 η w Mark vi. 9; Acts xii. 8 only; 2 Chron. xxviii. 15.
the LXX as the rendering of own
= the two loins, and so it is used here and in Acts ii. 30; Heb. vii. 5,10. The ἐν in ἐν ἀληθείᾳ is the instrum. ἐν, per- haps with some reference to the other parts being within the girdle (Ell.; cf. περιεζωσμένος ἐν δυναστείᾳ, Ps. Ixiv. 7). But what is this ἀληθεία which is to make our spiritual cincture? It has been taken in the objective sense, the truth of the Gospel (Oec.). But that is afterwards identified with the sword (ver. 17). It is subjective truth (cf. v. 9 above). But in what sense again? In that, says Meyer, of “ harmony of knowledge with the objective truth given in the Gospel”; in that, as Ell. puts it, “of the inward practical acknowledgment of the truth as it is in Him” (Christ). But in its sub- jective applications ἀληθεία means most obviously the personal grace of candour, sincerity, truthfulness (John viii. 44; 1 Cor. v. 8, xiii.6; 2 John 1; 3 John 1), as it is used also of the veracity of God (Rom. xv. 8). It seems simplest, there- fore, and most accordant with usage to take it so here (with Calv., etc.). And this plain grace of openness, truthfulness, reality, the mind that will practise no deceits and attempt no disguises in our intercourse with God, is indeed vital to Christian safety and essential to the due operation of all the other qualities of char- acter. In Isa. xi. 5 righteousness is com- bined with truth in this matter of girding --ἔσται δικαιοσύνῃ ἐζωσμένος τὴν ὀσφὺν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀληθείᾳ εἱλημένος τὰς πλευράς —in the case of the Messianic Branch out of the roots of Jesse.—xal ἐνδυσάμενοι τὸν θώρακα τῆς δικαιοσύνης: and having put on the breastplate of righteousness. As the soldier covers his breast with the θώραξ to make it secure against the dis- abling wound, so the Christian is to endue himself with righteousness so as to make his heart and will proof against the fatal thrust of his spiritual assailants. This δικαιοσύνη is taken by some (Harl., etc.) as the righteousness of justification, the righteousness of faith. But faith is mentioned by itself, and as the ἀληθεία was the quality of truthfulness, so the δικαιοσύνη is the quality of moral recti- tude (cf. Rom. vi. 13), as seen in the regenerate. The gen. is to be understood
vi Thess. ν. 8; Rev. ix. ας, only; Isa. lix. 17. x Here only; =Ps. ix. 37; see Ezra ii. 68.
as that of apposition or identity, = “the breastplate which is righteousness”. In the analogous passage in 1 Thess. v. 8 the breastplate is faith and love, and with it is named the helmet, which is intro- duced later in this paragraph. In the fundamental passage in Isa. lix. 17 we have the breastplate and the helmet again mentioned together, and the former iden- tified as here with righteousness—évedv- σατο δικαιοσύνην ὡς θώρακα.
Ver. 15. καὶ ὑποδησάμενοι τοὺς πό- δας: and having shod your feet. So ἴῃς RV; better than “and your feet shod” of AV. The reference comes in naturally in connection with the στῆτε. The soldier, who will make this stand, must have his
feet protected. The Heb. by, sandal,
is represented in the LXX by ὑπόδημα, which also occurs repeatedly in the Gos- pels and Acts, σανδάλιον being also used both in the NT (Mark vi. 9; Acts xii. 8), and in the LXX, as well as in Josephus, with the same sense. Here, however,
the military sandal (Hebr. ‘WD, Isa. ix. 4; Lat. caliga; cf. Joseph., Few. Wars, vi. 1, 8, and Xen., Anab., iv., 5) is in view, which protected the soldier's feet and made it possible for him to move with quick and certain step.—dv ἕτοι- μασίᾳ: with the preparedness. The form ἑτοιμασία occurs in later Greek (¢.g., Hippocr., p. 24; Joseph., Antiq., x., 1, 2) and in the LXX (cf. Ps. x. 17), for the classical ἑτοιμότης. It means (a) prepar- ation in the active sense of making ready (Wisdom, xiii., 12); (b) a state of pre- paredness, whether external (e.g., ἵππους els ἑτοιμασίαν παρέχειν, Joseph., Antiq., Χ., I, 2), or internal (Ps. x. 17); perhaps also ὦ something fixed, a foundation