a2 a > A , 3 3 , a κ τοῦ αὐτοῦ στόματος ἐξέρχεται εὐλογία Kat οὐ χρή, ἀδελφοί μου, ταῦτα οὕτως γενέσθαι.
11. μήτι
tHeb. xi. ἡ πηγὴ ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς ' ὀπῆς βρύει τὸ γλυκὺ καὶ τὸ πικρόν ; 12. μὴ
38.
ἁλυκὸν γλυκὺ ' ποιῆσαι ὕδωρ.
u Gal. vi. 4. ν ii. 18.
δύναται, ἀδελφοί μου, συκῆ ἐλαίας ποιῆσαι ἢ ἄμπελος σῦκα ; Ἰ οὔτε
13. Tis? " σοφὸς καὶ ἐπιστήμων ἐν ὑμῖν; “ δειξάτω ἐκ τῆς καλῆς
1—1 οντως οὔτε αλνκον γλυκυ Ο3, latt., Pesh.; ουτως ουδεµια πηγη αλυκον και
yAvkvKL, curss., Thl., Oec., rec. 2 Om. K, curss.; pr. ει 7, curss.
Πατήρ is always used in reference to God in order to emphasise the divine love; and in the passage before us a contrast is undoubtedly implied between the love of the Father towards all His children, and the mutual hatred among these latter.— καταρώμεθα: this word shows that the special sin of the tongue which is here referred to is not slander or backbiting or lying, but personal abuse, such as results from loss of temper in heated con- troversy. Cf. Rom. xii. 13, εὐλογεῖτε καὶ μὴ καταρᾶσθε, and see the very appro- priate passage in the Test. of the Twelve Patriarchs, Benj. vi. 5, η ἀγαθὴ διάνοια οὐκ ἔχει δύο γλώσσας εὐλογίας καὶ κατάρας.--τοὺς καθ᾽ ὁμοίωσιν Θεοῦ γεγονότας: quoted, appar- ently from memory, from Gen. i. 26, where the Septuagint reads, κατ᾽ εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν καὶ καθ᾽ ὁμοίωσιν ; the Hebrew ΓΟ ΣἽ (ὁμοίωσις) is synonymous with aby (εἰκών). The belief that men are made in the material likeness of God is taught both in Biblical and post-Biblical Jewish literature ; philosophers like Philo would naturally seek to modify this. An interesting passage which reminds one of this verse is quoted by Knowling from Bereshith, R. xxiv., Rabbi Akiba (born in the middle of the first century A.D.), in commenting on Gen. ix. 6, said: ‘“‘ Whoso sheddeth blood, it is reckoned to him as if he diminished the likeness”; then re- ferring presently to Lev. xix. 18 (Thou shalt not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy- self), he continues, ‘Do not say: ‘after that I am despised, let my neighbour also be despised’. R. Tanchuma said, ‘If you do ‘so, understand that you despise ‘ him of whom it was written, in the like- ness of God made He him’.” ‘The lesson is that he who curses him who was made in the image of God implicitly curses the prototype as well.
Ver. το. ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ στόμα- τος: This incongruity is often rebuked in Jewish literature; it was the more needed because in earlier days it was not regarded as reprehensible, cf. Prov. x1. 20) χαῖν. 24, ἁσνι. 2, Χακ, το, εἴα... εὐλογία kat κατάρα: this does not imply a combination of blessing and cur- sing, as though such a combination were condemned, while either by itself were allowable (Mayor); it simply means that the mouth which bfesses God when utter- ing prayer, curses men at some other times, e.g., during embittered contro versy.—ov χρή: ἅπ. λεγ. in N.T.
Ver. τε. μήτι ἢ way. - Fe
'πικρόν: these words show that the
writer is thinking of the real source whence both good and evil words come; cf. Matt. xii. 34, 35: Ye offspring of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things 2 for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh . . .; cf. ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ ὑμῶν below; βρύει does not occur elsewhere in the N.T. or the Septuagint ; and ὀπή is only found elsewhere in the Ν.Τ. in Heb. xi. 38, cf. Exod. xxxiii. 22; πικρόν is only used here and in ver. 14 in the N.T.; cf. Sir. iv. 6, . . . κατα- ρωμένου yap oe ἐν πικρίᾳ ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ.
Ver. 12. With the whole verse cf. Matt. vii. 16, 17; for the use of ποιεῖν see Matt. iii. 10, wav δένδρον μὴ ποιοῦν καρπόν .. «; ἅλυκόν does not occur elsewhere in the N.T. or Septuagint, though in Num. iii. 12, Deut. iii. 17, etc., we have the phrase ἡ θάλασσα 4 ἁλυκή = the Dead Sea. ‘‘ There is great harshness in the construction μὴ δύναται ποιῆσαι ; οὔτε ποιῆσαι. If the govern- ment of δύναται is continued, we ought to have ἤ for οὔτε followed by a ques- tion ; otherwise we should have expected an entirely independent clause, reading ποιήσει for ποιῆσαι" (Mayor).