Ver. 22. γίνεσθε: perhaps best ex- pressed by the @erman “ Werdet,” though Luther doer aot render it 5ο.- -ποιηταὶ λόγου; καὶ, etc.: Taylor quotes an appropriate passage from the Babylonian Talmud: “On Exod. xxiv. 7 which ends (lit.), We will do and we will hear, it is written (Shabbath, 88a) that “when Israel put we will do before we will hear, there came sixty myriads of ministering angels, and attached to each Israelite two crowns, One corresponding to we will do, and the other to we will hear; and when they sinned there came down a hundred and twenty myriads of destroying angels and tore them off” (quoted by Mayor, p- 67). The- duty of doing as well as hearing is frequently insisted upon in Jewish writings. See, further, Matt. vii. 24, etc. As to the precise meaning to be attached to λόγος opinions differ; but the mention twice made of hearing the word makes it fairly certain that in the first instance— whatever further meaning it connoted—reference is being made to the reading of the Scriptures in the synagogue; further, the mention, also twice made, of the doing of the word makes it a matter of practical certainty that the reference is to the Torah, the Law; the fact that Jews are being addressed only emphasises this. For the attitude of the Jews towards the Torah during the centuries immediately preceding Christianity and onwards, see Oesterley and Box, The Religion and Worship of the Synagogue, pp. 135-151; here it must suffice to say that it was regarded as the final revelation of God for all time, that it was the means of saivation, and that its practice was the
22—23-