ἔρχου (= NI yor) indicated acros- tically a primitive hymn, which still ap- pears in all the Jewish prayer books, and is known from its opening words as ’En Kelohenu (“ There is none like our God”; see Singer’s The Authorised Daily Prayer
-
6—9.
7 μακροθυμῶν ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ 1 ἕως” λάβη ὃ πρόϊμον” καὶ ὄψιμον. Υ 8. μακροθυμήσατε ὃ καὶ ὑμεῖς, "στηρίξατε τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν, ὅτι ἡ
b , A , Ελ παρουσια τοῦ Κυρίου Ίγγικεν.
Jer. v. 24; Joel ii. 23; Zech. x. 1. cf. Rom. Xiii. 11.
at Thess. ii. 16, iii. 13.
471
Sir. xviii. 11; Luke
Vili. 15,
3) \xviliy 27.
9. μὴ στενάζετε, ἀδελφοί, κατ z Deut. xi.
14; Job ΧΧΙΧ. 23 b Heb. x. 25; 1 Pet. iv.7
lavrov KL, curss., Thl.; om. Vulg., Arm.
2 Add αν NP, 13, rec. ; add ov curss.
8 Add verov AKLP, curss., Pesh., rec.; add καρπον N° (Καρπον τον $&'), Copt.
ἄπρωιμον B°KL, curss.
5 Add fructum ff.
6 Add ουν NL, 9.
7 Add pov AQ, 13, pon post; αλληλων NL, Syrr., ΤΗΙ., Oec., Ti.; om. K, 15, 16.
Book, p. 167). This hymn consists of five verses of four lines each; the first word of each line in the first verse begins with
WN, of the second verse with 7, of the third with 5, of the fourth with 5),-and of the fifth with $y, thus making a four-fold repetition of the formula $5 ΤΝ
(= ‘Amen, Come”). This formula is the short title of the hymn referred te and ‘‘is actually written instead of the hymn in the place where it is to be used after the Additional Service for the New Year, and again towards the conclusion of the additional service for the eighth day of Solemn Assembly .. ., at the end of the Feast of Tabernacles’ (Taylor, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, pp. 78 ff., and see Box in Church and Synagogue, iil., pp. 41 ff.). The formula “Amen Bo” belonged to Jewish Es- chatology, and possibly took its origin
from the phrase QJ OD UY (= “ The
age to come,” a common expression for the Messianic Era); it is christianised by the Jewish-Christian writer in the Apocalypse by the addition of κύριε Ἰησοῦ, just as in the passage before us the second, obviously Christian, section vv. 7-11, is added on to the former, quite as obviously Jewish, in order to make the whole Christian.
Ver.7. Μακροθυμήσατε οὖν: the verb, as well as the adjective, is used both of God and man, e.g., Rom. ii. 4; 2 Cor. vi. 6; it expresses the attitude of mind which is content to wait; when used of God it refers to His long-suffering towards men (¢.g., Sir. xviii. 11); it is possible that in the present connection this is also implied in view of ver. 9.— Perhaps οὖν was added in order to join it on to the preceding section; it is omitted by the OL MS.s.—é€ws τῆς παρουσίας τοῦ Κυρίου: see above, introductory words to this section. Πα-
povoia does not occur in the Septuagint, being (with tod Κυρίου) specifically Christian ; but with τοῦ Θεοῦ, instead of τοῦ Κυρίου, it occurs in Test. of the Twelve Patriarchs, Jud. xxii. 2, ἕως παρουσίας τοῦ Θεοῦ τῆς δικαιοσύνης (the words are omitted in the Armenian Version).—6 γεωργός: Cf. Sir. vi. τὸ; Test. of the Twelve Patriarchs, Issach. v. 3 Π.--καρπόν: used in the sense of ® produce of the soil”.—€ws λάβῃ: the context shows that the subject must be ‘tthe earth,” not “the fruit,” for the simple reason that the fruit is not in existence when the “former” rains des- cend; the great importance of the
‘‘former’’ rains (called both Fy and
sD) was that they moistened the earth (commencing about the month of October) after it had been hardened by the blazing summer sun, and thus en- abled it to receive the seed; without the εν former ’’ rains to moisten the earth one might as well sow seed on rocks. The subject might possibly be ‘‘ the husband- man” as he may be said in a certain sense to receive the rain, but the most obvious subject, and that upon which the meaning of the verse most naturally depends, is the earth—mwpdétpov καὶ