12.
267
ἐν ταῖς] ἀγάπαις” ὑμῶν» σπιλάδες, συνευωχούµενοι ἀφόβως,'
1 ον εν ταις] om. οι Ν K vulg. Luc. Theophl. Oecon. +, Chase. 2ayatats $$ BKL syrr. sah. boh. + ; απαταις AC.
Σνμων] αυτων A vulg. syrP +.
4συνευωχουµενοι, αφοβως syrr., Treg., WH; συνευωχ. αφοβως, Ti.
of ὕφαλος justifies, I think, this sense of σπιλάς, which is rejected by most of the later commentators.* Cf. also the use of vavayéw in 1 Tim. i. 19. Scopulus is used in a similar metaphoric sense, see Cic. in Pis. 41 where Piso and Gabinius are called “' geminae voragines scopulique reipublicae”. Others take σπιλάδες in the very rare sense of “spots,” or ‘ stains,” like σπίλοι in 2 Peter. The only example of this sense seems to be in Orph. Lith. 614, but Hesych. gives the interpretation σπιλάς, µεμιασμµένοι. I agree with Bp. Words- worth and Dr. Chase in thinking that the metaphor of the sunken rocks is more in harmony with the context.
How are we to account for the gender in οἱ .. . σπιλάδες συνευωχούµενοι ? Are we to suppose the gender of σπιλάς was changed or forgotten in late Greek (cf. Winer, pp. 25, 38, 73, 76)? If so, the forgetfulness seems to have been confined to this author. Or is this a constructio ad sensum, the feminine being changed to masculine because it is metaphorically used of men (Winer, pp. 171, 648, 660, 672), cf. Apoc. xi. 4, οὗτοί εἶσιν at δύο λυχνίαι αἱ ἐνώπιον τοῦ κυρίου ἑστῶτες and B’s reading παραφερόµενοι below? Or may we take σπιλάδες as expressing a comple- mentary notion in apposition to σννευ- wxovpevor? The last seems the best explanation though I cannot recall any exact parallel. An easier remedy would be to omit the article (with K and many versions), as suggested by Dr. Chase in Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible, ii. p. 799), translating: ‘‘these are sunken rocks in your love-feasts while they feast with you”.
συνευωχούµενοι. Is used in the parallel passage of 2 Peter with a dat. as in Luc. Philops 4, Jos. Ant. iv. 8, 7.
ἀφόβως ἑαυτοὺς Totpatvovtes. If we take σπιλάδες as complementary to συνευωχούµενοι, it is better to take ἀφόβως with ποιμ.: if we omit the article and take σπιλάδες to be the predicate, συνευωχούμενοι will be an epexegetic participle, which will require strengthening by ἀφόβως. Generally aq. is used in a good sense, but we find it used, as here, of the want of a right fear in Prov. xix. 23, φόβος Κυρίου εἰς ζωὴν ἀνδρί, ὁ δὲ ἄφοβος κ.τ.λ., 7b. xv. 16, κρεῖσσον μικρὰ μερὶς μετὰ φόβου Κυρίου ἢ θησαυροὶ μεγάλοι μετὰ ἀφ- οβίας, Sir. v. 5, περὶ ἐξιλασμοῦ μὴ ἄφοβος ylvov, προσθεῖναι ἁμαρτίαν ed’ ἁμαρτίαις. The phrase ἑαυτοὺς croup. recalls Ezek, xxxiv. 8, ἐβόσκησαν οἱ ποιμένες ἑαυτοὺς, τὰ δὲ πρόβατά pov οὐκ ἐβόσκησαν, but there does not seem to be any reference to spiritual pastors in Jude; and ποιµαίνω has probably here the sense “to fatten, indulge,” as in Proy. xxviii. 7, ὃς δὲ ποιµαίνει ἀσωτίαν, ἀτιμάζει πατέρα, ib. xxix. 3, ὃς δὲ ποιµαίνει πόρνας, ἀπολεῖ πλοῦτον, Plut. Mor. 792 B, Ατταλον ὑπ ἀργίαα μακρᾶς ἐκλυθέντα κομιδῇ Φιλοποίμην ἐποίμαινεν ἀτεχνῶς πια!ινόµενον. We may compare I Cor. xi. 27 f., James v. 5, t Tim. v. 6.
νεφέλαι ἄνυδροι ὑπὸ ἀγέμων παρα. Φερόμεναι. The character of the inno- vators is illustrated by figures drawn from the four elements, air, earth, sea, heaven (αἰθήρ). Spitta points out the resemblance to a passage in Enoch (chapters ii.-v.), which follows imme- diately on the words quoted below, vv. 14, 15. The regular order of nature is there contrasted with the disorder and lawlessness of sinners. ‘I observed everything that took place in the heaven, how the luminaries . .. do not de- viate from their orbits, how they all
* Dr. Bigg denies this meaning on the strength mainly of two quotations, Hom. Od. iii. 298, ἀτὰρ vids ye ποτὶ σπιλάδεσσιν ἔαξαν κύματα, where, he says, the σπιλάδες are identical with λισσὴ αἰπεῖά τε εἰς ἅλα πέτρη of 293; and Anthol. xi. 390, φασὶ δὲ καὶ νήεσσιν ἁλιπλανέεσσι χερείους τὰς ὑφάλους πέτρας τῶν