9—13.
ἐπαγγειλάμενον.
90
Ν 3 . 12. 18d καὶ ἀφ᾽ ἑνὸς ἐγεννήθησαν, καὶ ταῦτα i Gen. xv.
5, et xxil.
, A 3 ” Le} 3 Lol ” , A ε ΕΥ γενεκρωμένου, καθὼς τὰ ἄστρα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τῷ πλήθει, καὶ ὡσεὶ 17; Rom.
ἄμμος ἡ παρὰ τὸ χεῖλος τῆς θαλάσσης ἡ ἀναρίθμητος. πίστιν ἀπέθανον οὗτοι πάντες, μὴ λαβόντες ' τὰς ἐπαγγελίας, ἀλλὰ πόρρωθεν αὐτὰς ἰδόντες, καὶ πεισθέντες 2 καὶ ἀσπασάμενοι, καὶ ὅμο-
κ AG 18. 13. “Κατὰ k Gen. xxiii. 4, et xlvii. ο, Ὁ Pars XxXix. 15; PSixxxixte 12, et cxix. 19; Joan. viii. 56.
1T.R. in QCDEKL; µη κομισάμενοι in \*P, 17, 23, 71; µη προσδεξαμενοι in A. 2 καὶ πεισθεντες omitted in SADEKLP, and verss.
bediirfte, wenn dasselbe fiir sie wirksam werden sollte”. Cf. also Gen. xviil. 12.] Her faith was further illustrated (καὶ = and this indeed) by the circumstance that she was now παρὰ καιρὸν ἡλικίας, the comparative use of παρά frequent in this Epistle. For a woman who in her prime had been barren, to believe that in her decay she could Fear a son was a triumph of faith. Cf. Gen. xviii. 12-13, ἐγὼ δὲ γεγήρακα. But she had faith in the pro- mise (cf. vi. 13-18), ‘‘ wherefore also there were begotten of oue—and him as good as dead—[issuel a3 the stars of heaven in multitude and as the sand by the sea- shore innumerable”. Probably the καὶ is to be construed with διὸ as in Luke i. 35; Acts x. 29, etc. ἀφ᾽ ἑνὸς, that is, Abra- ham (cf. Isa. li. 2, ets ἣν); καὶ ταῦτα, a classical expression, see Xenophon, Mem., ii, 3, and Blass, Gram., Ῥ. 248. ve- γεκρωμένου, dead” so far as regards the begetting of offspring, cf. Rom. iv. το. καθὼς τὰ ἄστρα, a nominative to ἐγεν. may be supplied, ἔκγονοι or σπέρμα. For the metaphors cf. Gen. xxii. 17. ἄστρον is properly a constellation, but used commonly for “4 star”. χεῖλος found in the classics in same connection.
Ver. 13. Not only in life was the faith of the patriarchs manifested, it stood the test of death, κατὰ πίστιν ἀπέθα- γον οὗτοι πάντες, in keeping with their faith (see Winer, p. 502) these all (that is Abraham, Sarah, Isaacand Jacob) died, and the strength of their faith was seen in this that although they had not received the fulfilment of the promises (ver. 39 and x. 36) they yet had faith enough to see and hail them from afar. As Moses endured because he saw the Invisible (ver. 27) so the patriarchs were not daunted by death because they saw the day of Christ (John viii. 56), that is to say, they were so firmly persuaded that God’s promise would be fulfilled that it could be said that they saw the fulfilment. They hailed them from afar, as those on board ship descry friends on shore and wave a recognition. [Wetstein cites from
Appian, De Bell. Civ., ver. 46, p. 110 where it is said that the soldiers τὸν Καίσαρα πόῤῥωθεν ὡς αὐτοκράτορα ἠσπάσαντο.] “Such an ἀσπασμός we have in the mouth of the dying Jacob (Gen. xlix. 18): For Thy salvation have I waited, Jehovah” (Delitzsch). This they might have done had they merely believed that the promises would be ful- filled to their descendants, but that their faith extended also to their own enjoy- ment of God’s promise was testified by their confessing that so far as regards the land (τῆς γῆς) of Canaan they were pil- grims and foreigners. This confession was made no doubt by their whole con- duct, but as the aorist indicates it was made verbally by Abraham on the occa- sion of Sarah’s death (Gen. κκ. 4), πάροικος καὶ παρεπίδημος ἐγώ εἰμι μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν, cf. xlvii. 9, etc. The article before γῆς, together with the sense of the pas- sage, shows that the land of promise, Canaan, was meant. ἐπὶ γῆς in the same connection is used for ‘‘ the earth,” cf. τ Chron. xxix. 15. Philo (De Agvi- cult., p. 196) refines upon the same idea, παροικεῖν οὐ κατοικεῖν HAOopev> τῷ γὰρ ὄντι πᾶσα μὲν ψυχὴ σοφοῦ πατρίδα μὲν οὐρανὸν, ξένην δὲ γῆν ἔλαχεν. Cf. De Conf. Ling., p. 331. But such a con- fession implies that those who make it (οἱ yap τοιαῦτα λέγοντες) have not yet found but are in search of a fatherland, πατρίδα ἐπιζητοῦσιν. [Cf. Rom. xi. 7, ὃ ἐπιζητεῖ Ἰσραὴλ τοῦτο οὐκ ἐπέτυχεν. Frequent in N.T., to seek, search for. “ The ἐπὶ is that of direction, as the ἐκ in ἐκζητεῖν (ver. 6) is that of explanation” (Vaughan).] The acknowledgment, cheer- ful or sad, that such and such a land is not the home-country makes it manifest (ἐμφανίζουσιν, Jo. xiv. 21, Acts xxiii. 15) that they think of and have in view and are making for a land which they can call their own. [Si hic peregrinantur, alibi patria est ac fixa sedes” (Calvin).] And that this home-country of their desire is not that from which Abraham and the patriarchs were really derived (Mesopo-