10---21.
373
\ 20. ᾿Ιδοὺ ἕστηκα ἐπὶ τὴν θύραν καὶ ἆ And not ?— then fate of Matt. XXVi. 64. e Constr. xiv. 13, XVi. I, XXi. 3; crying “ open” (apert), cf. John x. 3. f Gen. xxvi. 29-31, En. Ixii. 14-15. g Ver. 12, Suspended nom. (Abbott, Diat. 2421). Ἡ 1 Macc. x. 63, cf. Lk. xxii. 30, a reminiscence of Col. iii. 1, Eph, ii. 6?
/ 4 Δ ζήλευε οὖν καὶ µετανόησον. κρούω: 3 ἐάν τις "ἀκούσῃ τῆς "φωνῆς µου καὶ ἀνοίδῃ τὴν θύραν, Ν 3 X , 1 > her ν , > > A A oe" καὶ εἰσελεύσομαι Ἰ πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ ’ δειπνήσω μετ αὐτοῦ καὶ αὐτὸς
3 A ο [ο a pet ἐμοῦ. 21. Ὁ 5 νικῶν, δώσω αὐτῷ " καθίσαι pet ἐμοῦ ἐν τῷ t ‘
1 Before εισελευσοµαι add (Hebraistic, introd. apodosis, x. 7, xiv. 10) και SQ, etc., Ande, Pr. (Ti., WH marg., Bj., Bs.): the apparent absence of ακουση της φωνης µου και from the text used by Orig., Hil., Epiph. might suggest that the words were a natural though (as their excellent textual attestation shows) an early gloss upon
ανοιξη.
ever,” Faber), but on the fact that this warning was their last chance.
Ver. 20. The language recalls Cant. ν. 2 (φωνὴ ἀδελφιδοῦ µου κρούει ἐπὶ τὴν θύραν. ἄνοιξον por, for contemporary evidence of the allegorical use of Can- ticles see Gunkel’s note on 4 Esdras. v. 20 f. and Bacher’s Agada d. Tannaiten, i. 109, 285 f. 425, etc.) interpreted in the eschatological sense (γινώσκετε ὅτι ἐγγύς ἐστιν ἐπὶ θύραις Mark xiii. 29 = Matt. xxiv. 33) of the logion in Luke xii. 35- 38 upon the servants watching for their Lord, ἵνα ἐλθόντος καὶ κρούσαντος εὐθέως ἀνοίξωσιν αὐτῷ (whereupon, as here, he grants them intimate fellowship with himself and takes the lead in the matter). To eat with a person meant, for an Oriental, close confidence and affec- tion. Hence future bliss (cf. En. κ. 14) was regularly conceived to be a feast (cf. Dalman i. § 1, C. 4 α and Volz 331), or, as in Luke xxii. 29, 30 and here (cf. ver. 21), feasting and authority. This tells against the otherwise attractive hypo- thesis that the words merely refer to a present repentance on the part of the church or of some individuals in it (so e.g. de Wette, Alf., Weiss, Simcox, Scott), as if Christ sought to be no longer an out- sider but a welcome inmate of the heart (cf. Ruskin’s Sesame and Lilies, § 95). The context (cf. 18 and 21),a comparison of xvi. 15 (which may even have origin- ally lain close to iii. 20), and the words of Jas. v. 9 (i80 ὁ κριτῆς πρὸ τῶν θυρῶν ἕστηκεν) corroborate the eschatological interpretation (so eé.g. Diist -rdieck, Pfleid., Bousset, Forbes, Baljon, Swete, Holtz- mann), which makes this the last call of Christ to the church when he arrives on the last day, though here Christ stands at the door not as a judge but as a friend. Hence no reference is made to the fate of those who will not attend to him. In ii. 5 and 16, ἔρχομαι σοι need not perhaps be eschatological, since the com- ing is conditional and special, but ἔρχομαι
NOL Vc 2
“=
S. reads και ανοιξει (thus beginning the apodosis).
by itself (iii. rr) and ἥξω (ii. 25) must be, while iii. 3 probably is also, in view of the context and the thief-simile. The immi- nent threat of iii. 16 is thus balanced by the urgency of iii. 20. For the eschato- logical ἰδού cf. i. 7, xvi. 15, xxi. 3, xxii. 7,12. Φωνῆς, implying that the voice is well-known. To pay attention to it, in spite of self-engrossment and distraction, is one proof of the moral alertness (ζήλευε) which means repentance. For the metaphorical contrast (reflecting the eternal paradox of grace) between the enthroned Christ of 21 and the appealing Christ of 20, cf. the remarkable passage in Sap. ix. 4, 6f., 10 f., where wisdom shares God’s throne and descends to toil among men; also Seneca’s Epp. xli. (quemadmodum radii solis contingunt quidem terram, sed ibi sunt unde mitt- untur; sic animus magnus et sacer con- iiersatur quidem nobiscum, sed haeret origini suae [Apoc. v. 6]: illinc pendet, illuc spectat ac nititur, nostris tanquam melior interest). By self-restraint, mo- deration, and patience, with regard to possessions, a man will be some day a worthy partner of the divine feast, says Epictetus (Enchir. xv.): ‘‘ but if you touch none of the dishes set before you and actually scorn them, τότε οὐ µόνον ἔσει συµπότης θεῶν ἀλλὰ καὶ συνάρχων.