ο νο (instead of the usual word
for “judge” N31), which comes from the root meaning “ to ἀῑνιάε”'.--διαλο- γισμῶν πονηρῶν: Cf. Matt. xv. το, ἐκ τῆς καρδίας ἔρχονται διαλογισμοὶ πονηροί: genitive of quality, ‘judges with evil surmisings,” viz., of breaking up the unity of the worshippers by dif- ferentiating between their worldly status ; the writer is very modern! διαλογισμοί is generally used in a bad sense, cf. Luke v. 21, 22; Rom. i. 21.
Ver. 5. ᾿Ακούσατε, ἀδελφοί pov ἀγαπητοί : This expression, which one would expect to hear rather ina vigorous address, reveals the writer as one who was also an impassioned speaker ;
438
m Matt.
XXV. 34. HB Matt.v.3; σιν Ρ αὐτόν; 6. ὑμεῖς S€% ἠτιμάσατε τὸν πτωχόν. uke v1. 20, ΧΙΙ. 32. κ Ps Oi. 12. p Exod. xx. 6; 1 Cor. ii. 9; cf. Prov. viii. 17; 2 Tim. iv. 8.
καὶ ™ κληρονόμους τῆς " βασιλείας 1 ἧς ° ἐπηγγείλατο 2 τοῖς ἀγαπῶ-
οὐχ οἱ πλούσιοι
qv. 6; τ Cor. Xi. 22.
1επαγγελιας κό” Α (cf. Heb. vi. 17). YY δν ἢ
2 Pr. o θεος Pesh.
cf, in the same spirit, the frequent ἀδελφοί, and especially, ἄγε viv, iv. 13, v. ἱππἐξελέξατο: a very signi- ficant term in the mouth of a Jew when addressing Jews; cf. Deut. xiv. 1-2, Yiot ἐστε Κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ ὑμῶν . . « ὅτι λαὸς ἅγιος εἶ Κυρίῳ τῷ Θεῷ σου, καὶ σὲ ἐξελέ- ξατο Κύριος ὁ θεός σου γενέσθαι σε αὐτῷ λαὸν περιούσιον .. « cf. Acts. ΧΙΠ. 17; 1 Cor. i. 27. There is an interesting say- ing in Chag. 9b where it is said that poverty is the quality most befitting Israel as the chosen people.—3r Tw x ods τῷ κόσμῳ: ἐ.ε., poor in the estimation of the world; the reading τοῦ κόσμου or ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ τούτῳ loses this point; cf. Matt.x.9; Luke vi. 2ο.--πλουσίονς ἐν πίστει: “' Oblique predicate” (Mayor). Inthe Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, Gad. vii. 6 we read: ‘‘ For the poor man, if, free from envy, he pleas- eth the Lord in all things, is blessed beyond all men” (the Greek text reads πλουτεῖ which Charles holds to be due to a corruption in the original Hebrew
text which reads ὍΣ ὃν)
τός ἐστι). See, for the teaching of our Lord, Matt. vi. το; Luke xii. 21. Πίστις is used here rather in the sense of trust than in the way in which it is used in ii, τ.-ἰ-κληρονόμους τῆς βασι- λείας: the Kingdom must refer to that of the Messiah, see v. 7-9, and Matt. xxv. 35, δεῦτε οἱ εὐλογημένοι τοῦ πατρός μου κληρονομήσατε τὴν ἡτοιμασμένην ὑμῖν βασιλείαν ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου, but not Matt. v. 3 which treats of a different subject. It is of importance to remember that the Messianic Kingdom to which reference is made in this verse was orig- inally, among the Jews, differentiated from the ‘‘ future life ” which is apparently referred to in i, 12, ... λήμψεται τὸν στέφανον τῆς ζωῆς, ὃν ἐπηγγείλατο τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτόν. There was a distinc- tion, fundamentally present, though later on confused, in Jewish theology, between the “Kingdom of Heaven” over which God reigns, and that of the Kingdom of Israel over which the Messiah should reign. An integral part of the Messianic hope was the doctrine of a resurrection
μακαρισ-
ὅουχι AC}, a, c, 69, 180.
(cf. Isa. xxiv. 10; Dan. xii. 2). This first assumed definite form, apparently, under the impulse of the idea that those who had sufiered martyrdom for the Law (Torah) were worthy to share in the future glories of Israel. In the crudest form of the doctrine the resurrection was confined to the Holy Land—those buried elsewhere would have to burrow through the ground to Palestine—and to Israel- ites. And the trumpet-blast which was to be the signal for the ingathering of the exiles would also arouse the sleeping dead (cf. Berachoth, 15b, 4 Esdras iv. 23 fs © ὅοι αν. 52: 1 Thess. ἅν πο). According to the older view, the Kingdom was to follow the resurrection and judg- ment; but the later and more widely held view was that a temporary Messianic Kingdom would be established on the earth, and that this would be followed by the Last Judgment and the Resurrec- tion which would close the Messianic Era. This wasto be followed by a new heaven and a new earth. In the eschat- ological development which took place during the first century B.c. Paradise came to be regarded as the abode of the righteous and elect in an intermediate state; from there they will pass to the Messianic Kingdom, and then, after the final judgment they enter heaven and eternal life. In our Epistle there are some reflections of these various concep- tions and beliefs, but they have entered into a simpler and more spiritual phase. That the reference in the verse before us is to the Messianic Kingdom seems in- dubitable both on account of the mention of the ‘‘Lord Jesus Christ” (Messiah) with which the section opens, showing that the thought of our Lord was in the mind of the writer, and because of the mention of the “" Kingdom,” and also on account of the direct mention of the com- ing of the Messiah as Judge, later on in v. 7-9. And if this is so then we may perhaps see in the words 6 θεὸς ἐξελέξατο a reference to Christ.