Vv. 13-17 form an independent section entirely unconnected with what precedes or follows. The section is very interest- ing as giving a picture of the commercial Diaspora-Jew. The Jews of the Disper- sion had, from the outset, to give up agri- cultural pursuits ; since for the most part they congregated in the cities it was commerce in which they engaged chiefly. A good instance of the Dziaspora-Jew going from city to city occurs in Josephus, Antig., xii. 2-5 (160-185), though the period dealt with is far anterior to that of our Epistle. Egypt was, of course, the greatest centre of attraction, and many wealthy Jews were to be numbered among the large Jewish population of
12-- (5.
σόμεθα 1 καὶ κερδήσομεν 2-
prov*+ ποίαῦ ἡ ζωὴ ὑμῶντ; ἀτμὶς γάρ ἐστε8 ἡ πρὸς ὀλίγον
φαινομένη, ἔπειτα καὶ 10 ἀφανιζομένη.ὶ
Ἰεμπορευσωμεθα KL, curss,
, 1 3, 14. οἵτινες οὐκ ἐπίστασθε ὃ τῆς ᾿αὖὔ-
Ξκερδησωμεν KL, curss. 470 της avp. KL, curss., Latt., Pesh., Sah., Copt., Thl., Oec.,
463
I—1 i. το; Job vii. 7; PS. XxX1X. 6, 12 το. 3; Luke ΧΙ]. 20; 1 Cor, vii. 31.
15. ἀντὶ τοῦ λέγειν ὑμᾶς '
Σεπιστανται P, 68. Treg., Ti.; τα της
αυρ. AP, 7, 13, 69, τοῦ, a, c, Syrhk, Tregmg, WH (altern. reading). ° Add yap $°AKLP, curss., Tregmg (WH altern. reading); add autem ff.
δ τη; Β.
Τμων 13, 69, Syrhk, Thl.; ff runs on without the interrogative. Om. ατµις yap ἐστε $8; om. yap A,
Vulg., Copt.; momentum enim est 7).
Vulg., Copt., Thl. read εστιν; AKP, curss. read εσται.
°Om. ἡ BP, WH.
10 Pr, δε LPO, curss.; δε Sah., ΤΗΙ., Oec.; om, 36, 38, 69, Syrhk, Copt.
Alexandria; Philo speaks of Jewish ship- owners and merchants in this city (In Flaccum, viii.) When such Jews em- braced Christianity there would be, ob- viously, no reason for them to give up their calling. It must, however, be con- fessed that both this section and the following read far more naturally as ad- dressed to Jews than to Jewish-Chris- tians,
Ver. 13.—Aye: this expression of dis- approval occurs only here and in v. 1 in the N.T.; although it is used here and there in the Septuagint, it is the render- ing of different Hebrew words; one may compare, though it is not the equivalent of dye, the Aramaic expression of disap-
proval pa SN (“Ah you!” literally
*“ Woe unto you”). “Aye is used with either a singwlar or a plural subject, cf. Jud. xix. 6; 2 Kings iv. 24.--σήμερον ἢ αὔριον πορευσόμεθα: Cf. Prov. XXVil. I, μὴ καυχῶ τὰ εἰς αὔριον, οὐ γὰρ γινώσκεις τί τέξεται 4 ἐπιοῦσα. There is a Rabbinical saying, in Sanhed., τοοῦ, which runs: “Care not for the morrow, for ye know not what a day may bring forth. Perhaps he may not be [alive] on the morrow, and so have cared for a world that does not exist for him” (quoted by Edersheim, Life and Times, ii. 539); cf. Luke xii. 16 ff.; xiii. 32, 33.--ἐμπο- pevodpeba: 2 Pet. ii. 3 is the only other passage in the N.T. in which this word occurs; it means primarily ‘‘to . travel,” then to travel for the purpose of trading, and finally “to trade” simply.— κερδήσοµεν: a rare form; “the At- tic is κερδανῶ, with aorist ἐκέρδανα, Ion. and late Attic κερδήσομαι, aorist ἐκέρδησα; the latter occurs often in the N.T.” (Mayor).
Ver. 14. οἵτινες οὐκ ἐπίστα-
σθε τὸ τῆς αὔριον: “Ye are they that know not...” it is the contrast between the ignorance of men, with the consequent incertitude of all that the morrow may bring torth, and the know- ledge of God in accordance with Whose will (cf. ἐὰν 6 κύριος θελήσῃ in the next verse) all things come to pass.—mota ἡ ζωὴ ὑμῶν; “Of what kind is your life” ? The reference here is not to the life of the wicked, but to the uncertainty of human life in general ; the thought of the ungodly being cut off is, it is true, often expressed in the Bible, but that is not what is here referred to; it is evi- dently not conscious sin, but thoughtless- ness which the writer is rebuking here.— ἀτμὶς γάρ ἐστε: the reading ἐστε, in preference to ἐστι or ἔσται, makes the address more personal; ἀτμὶς is often used for “smoke,” e.g., Acts ii. 17; cf. Ps. cii. 3 (4), ἐξέλιπον ὡσεὶ καπνὸς αἱ ἡμέραι μου; the word only occurs here in the N.T., in Acts ii. 19 it is a quota- tion from Joel ii. 30 (Sept.) iii. 3 (Heb.). In Job vii. 7 we have μνήσθητι ὅτι πνεῦ- μά µου ἡ ζωή, cf. Wisd. ii. 4; the ren- dering “breath” instead of “vapour” does not commend itself on account of the former being invisible, and the point of the words is that man does appear for a little time (πρὸς ὀλίγον φαινομένη) and then disappears, cf. Wisd. xvi. 6. -- ἀφανιζομένη: the word occurs, though in a different connection, in Sir. xlv. 26.