x Mal. iii. δ: τα. Num. xiii.
19. y Wisd. vii. 18. ee cB
¥2 us 3 ἀποσκιασμα.
1 εστιν NP, 36. ὅαποσκιασματος SOB.
_, Z John iii. 3; ο). Phil. ii. 13. c Jer. ii. 3; Rev. xiv. 4; Rom. viii. 19-23.
[AKQBOY Li
«. 3 3
ῳ ουκ ενι
1 Ἀπαραλλαγὴ ἢ τροπῆς”
18. “βουληθεὶς ὁ "ἀπεκύησεν ἡμᾶς λόγῳ ἀληθείας,"
3 x 3 b A - a5 εἰς τὸ εἶναι "ἡμᾶς “ ἀπαρχήν τινα τῶν αὐτοῦ” κτισμάτων.
a—a Johni. 13; 1 Pet. i. 23. b Cf. Eph.
2 Modicum obumbrationis ff. 4 Add enim, Vulg., pr. αυτος yap 40.
δεαυτου N®ACP, τος; WH altern. reading.
TAY YI IIT PS SPIT Ἢ ἢ ΠΟΛΟ («R. Chaninah said, ‘No
ἢ evil thing cometh down from above’”.). On the possible connection between this verse and the preceding section, see Introduction IV., ὃ τ.- πᾶσα δόσις ἀγαθὴ καὶ wav δώρημα τέλειον: Mayor remarks on this: “It will be ob- served that the words make a hexameter line, with a short syllable lengthened by the metrical stress. I think Ewald is right in considering it to be a quotation from some Hellenistic poem. ... The authority of a familiar line would add persuasion to the writer’s words, and ac- count for the somewhat subtle distinction between Soc. ay. and8w. τελ.”. In Theo- dotion’s version of Daniel ii. 6, occur the words: ... δόματα καὶ δωρεὰς .. .,
yma and 332
in the corresponding Aramaic (the Septua- gint has another reading) ; the distinction between these two is perhaps that the former refers to gifts in the ordinary sense, while the latter is a gift given in return for something done, {.6., a reward; but it cannot be said that the Greek re- flects this distinction, though it is worthy of note that Philo makes a special dis- tinction between them, “inasmuch as the latter noun is much stronger than the former, and contains the idea of great- ness and perfection which is lacking in the former; Philo, De Cherub., 25; and so De Leg. Alleg., iii. 70, where he ap- plies to the latter noun the same epithet ‘perfect’ as in the Greek of the verse before us” (Κπον]πσ).--ἄνωθέν ἐσ- τιν: it is a question whether one should read: ‘‘ Every good gift . . . from above comes down from . . .,” so the Peshitta; or ‘Every good gift . . . is from above, coming down from . . .”; Mayor thinks that on the whole ‘‘the rhythm and bal- ance of the sentence is better preserved by separating ἐστι from καταβαῖνον”,.--- ἀπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς τῶν φώτων:
which represent
Cf. on the one hand, Sir. xliii. 9, Κάλλος οὐρανοῦ, δόξα ἄστρων, κόσμος φωτίζων, ἐν ὑψίστοις Κύριος; and, on the other 1 John i. 5,6 Θεὸς φῶς ἐστιν καὶ σκοτία ἐν αὐτῷ οὔκ ἐστιν οὐδεμία. There can be no doubt that in the passage before us this double meaning of light, literal and spiritual, ἱςππεαπί.- παραλλαγή: only herein the N.T., and in 4 Kings ix, 2¢
(Septuagint) ; it is rendered spommw in the Peshitta, a word which is used vari- ously of “change,” ‘‘ caprice,” and even “‘ apostasy ” (see Brockelmann, Lex. Syr., s.v.). In Greek, according to Mayor, the word may be taken ‘‘ to express the con- trast between the natural sun, which varies its position in the sky from hour to hour and month to month, and the eternal source of all light”.—trpomwjs ἀποσκί- ασμα : neither of these words is found elsewhere in the N.T., and the latter does not occur in the Septuagint either ; the former is used in the Septuagint of the movements of the heavenly bodies, Deut. xxxiii. 14: καὶ καθ᾽ ὥραν γενημ- ἅτων ἡλίου τροπῶν . . .; cf. Job xxxviii. 33. The meaning of the latter part of the verse befor- us is well brought out by Luther: ‘‘ Bei welchem ist keine Ver- anderung noch Wechsel des Lichts und Finsterniss”. If, as hinted above, there is a connection between this verse and the section i. 5-8, the meaning may per- haps be expressed thus: When, in answer to prayer, God promises the gift of. wis- dom, it is certain to be given, for He does not change; cf. for the thought, 'Rom. xi. 29, ἀμεταμέλητα γὰρτὰ χαρίσματα καὶ ἡ κλῆσις τοῦ Θεοῦ.