*This is not biblical Hebrew, which would be ΓΙ (Isa. Ixvi. 11), or ΩΙ (Neh. ix. 25); 12 occurs in the Targums, but means there “to shout: for joy”’.
Vv.
tHos.i.6 6. κατεδικάσατε,ὶ ἐφονεύσατε τὸν δίκαιον”: οὐκ " ἀντιτάσσεται
47ο (Sept.). 3 u Luke xxi. ὑμῖν.ὃ 19; Heb. x. 36. νι Thess, , ii. 19. Κυρίου. Ww Matt. παν μα, x Sir. vi. 19. 1 Add et ff. Ἄδικαιον. WH. that strengtheneth man’s heart” (115 which does not differ from \°5 in mean-
ing), cf. Jud. xix. 5.—év ἡμέρᾳ σφα- γῆς: there is something extremely signi- ficant in this quotation from Jer. xii. 3, because Jeremiah uses this expression
(33577 DY) as the day of judgment ; and not only so, but this prophet had also
coined a new word for Gehenna, v7z., ““Geharégah” = “the valley of slaugh- ter’? (Jer. vii. 32. xix. 6). These expres- sions—‘“ day of slaughter” and “valley of slaughter’? — belong to Jeremiah (Enoch, xvi. 1 quotes the expression καὶ ἀπὸ ἡμέρας καιροῦ σφαγῆς), and in using the words ‘“‘day of slaughter’’ the writer of ou~ Epistle is undoubtedly giving them the meaning that they had originally; the passage before us probably means
that these luxurious livers will be revel-.
ling in self-indulgence on the very day of judgment, cf. our Lord’s words in Luke xvii. 27 ff., ‘They ate, they drank
. and the flood came and destroyed them all... after the same manner shall it be in the day that the Son of man is revealed”. The tense ἐθρέψατε is in accordance with Hebrew usage of regarding a thing in the future as having already taken place; it is wholly in the prophetic style.
Ver. 6. κατεδικάσατε,ἐφονεύ- gate τὸν δίκαιον: this expresses what must often have taken place; the prophetical books often refer to like things; there is no reason for regarding this as some specific case of judicial murder. Cf. Am. ii. 6, 7, v. 12; Wisd. ii. το ff. The antithesis between the ΡΣ (“righteous”) and yyy (“ wicked”) is a commonplace in Jewish theology.— οὐκ ἀντιτάσσεται ὑμῖν: the statement of fact here, instead of the interrogative as read by some authorities, is more natural, and more in accordance with the prophetical style which is so characteristic of this whole passage. This picture of patient acquiescence in ill- treatment is really a very vivid touch, for dt shows, on the one hand, that the
τ:
7. ἁΜακροθυμήσατε οὖν," ἀδελφοί, ἕως τῆς “παρουσίας τοῦ ἰδοὺ ὁ " γεωργὸς " ἐκδέχεται τὸν τίμιον καρπὸν τῆς γῆς
ϑυμιν; WHme. 4 Om. ουν 5. down-trodden realised the futility of resistance; on the other, that their hopes were centred on the time to come.
With the whole of this section cf. the words in The first book of Clement, which is called The Testament of our Lord Fesus Christ, 12: “ὙΠῸ harvest is come, that the guilty may be reaped and the Judge appear suddenly and confront them with their works”.
Vv. 7-11. The section 7-11 is a Chris- tian adaptation of the earlier Jewish con- ception of the Messianic Era; in place of ai ἐσχάται ἡμέραι there is ἡ παρουσία τοῦ Κυρίου, the one a specifically Jew- ish, the other a specifically Christian ex- pression; the two expressions, which re- present, as it were, the titles of Jewish and Christian Eschatology respectively, are sufficient to show the difference oi venue regarding these two sections. It is characteristic of one type of apo- calyptic literature that the central figure of the Messiah is not mentioned, while another type lays great emphasis on the Messianic Personality; vv. 1-6 represents the former of these; that it contains no trace of Christian interpolation is the more remarkable in that it is utilised by a Jewish-Christian writer and is incorpor- ated in Christian literature. The fact is additional evidence in favour of its being a quotation,—one of several which our Epistle contains. It is christianised by the addition to it of vv. 7-11, which, though interspersed with Ο.Τ. reminis- cences, is specifically Christian. A similar christianising of Jewish material by adding to it is found, though on a much smaller scale, in Rev. xxii. 20, ᾽Αμήν ἔρχου κύριε ᾿Ιησοῦ, which forms a response to the preceding ναί, ἔρχομαι ταχύ. Dr. Schiller-Szinessy (in Encycl. Brit., art. ‘‘ Midrash”) discovered that the Hebrew equivalent of the words ᾽Αμήν