it was manifest to Xerxes that he had many men combatants (4vSpwrroe) but few warriors (avopes) vii., 210. So Homer: “O friends, be men (avépes), and take on a stout heart” (“ Iliad,” v., 529). ’Avyp is therefore used here of Jesus by the Baptist with a sense of dignity. Compare dvIpwros, in ver. 6, where the word implies no disparagement, but is simply indefinite. In John dvijp has mostly the sense of husband (iv. 16-18). See Vale:
31. And | («ayo). Emphatic. “And J, though I predicted His coming (ver. 30), knew Him not.”
Knew Him not. Officially, as the Messiah. There is no reference to personal acquaintance. It is inconceivable that, with the intimate relations between the two families, the Bap- tist should have been personally unacquainted with Jesus.
Israel. Always with the idea of the spiritual privilege of the race.
32. Bare record (éuaprupncev). Better, bear wetness, as Rey. See on ver. 7.
I saw (reSéapar). Rev., more correctly, gives the force of the perfect tense, J have beheld. Calmly and thoughtfully ; see on ver. 14. The perfect indicates the abiding effect of the vision. Compare épaxa, I hawe seen (ver. 34).
As a dove (acel mepicrepav). In the shape of a dove. See on Matt. iii. 16.
33. The same (éxeivos). Rev., He. See on ver. 18. Em- phasizing the personal communication of Christ to the Baptist.
With the Holy Ghost (év ITIvetpuare “Ayi). Better, as Rev., Holy Spirit. The preposition év, in (Rev., in marg.), often has the instrumental force, with. Here, however, it would seem to signify the element of the new life, as év ddaT1, in water, signi- fies the element of the symbolic baptism, and might better be rendered 7m. The absence of the article from Holy Spordt falls