The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 224

former religions <'eromonios could have you • • • in respect of I\ feaet day, or a new been i,><>d enou,;h to be admitted to group moon, or a sl\bbath day_ ( fop-rijs, vovµT1vlas, with those of the LP.W of Moses: he has just cra/3/3&.-row); •• iu which passage, we mGy ob- before adverted to their former heathenism serve, there is a similar tone of hl\lf-mooking for the very purpose of (so to speak) setting mimesis; where the 86mo ideas are appGron tly them down-a purpose which would be a presented, but in a reverse order. Cnmp. good deal defeated by his referring to that also 2 Chrou. viii. 13, "Offering nocording oult of theirs as in any respect standing to the commGndment of Moses, on the on a level with the cult of the Hebrews. sabbaths, and on the now moons, o.ud on Indeed, it may be doubted whether, Gt the the solemn feasts, three times in the yenr, utmost limit to which he would at o.ny even in the feast of unleavened brel\d, and time have allowed himself to go, in the in the feast of weeks, o.nd in the feiist of "economy" which he unquestionGbly was tabernacles." The "dl\ye,'' then, in_ t_he used to employ in dealing with souls, he present passage, we may suppose, are the would, however, have gone so far as to class se.bbath days, together perbnps with the two the divinely appointed ordinances of Israel, fast days every weok which the Jewish the training-school of God's own children, tradition presoribed (Luke xviii. 12), The with the ritual of demon-inspired worships. " months " point to the new moons, the It is much easier to suppose that the observance of which might occasion to the~e apostle identifies the Galatian Churchmen Gentiles considerable scope for diBcussion with God's own people, with. whom they in adjusting themselves to the Jewish were now in fa.et ,,,',p.tpvT01, blended in calendar,differentno doubt from the calendGT corporal identity with them. God's children they had been hitherto used to. The had heretofore been in bondage to the "seasons" would be the annual festivals .A, B, C, of the Law, but were so no longer; and fasts of_ the Jews, not only the three if any of those who were now God's prescribed by the Levilical Law, b_ut also children took it in hand to observe that certain others added .. by tradition; as the Law, then were they, though not in tb.eir Feasts of Purim and of Dedication. So far individual identity, yet in their corporate we appear to be on'tolerably sure groun<l .. identity, turning back again to the .A, B, C, . The fourth item, "yeGrs," may _refer either to· from which they had been emancipated. the sabbatical year (Lev. xxv. 2-7), which. The former experience of Israel was their at any rate latterly the Jews had got to e~rience, as the " fathers " of Israel were pay much attention to (1 Mace. vi. 49, 53; their fathers (1 Cor. x. l); which experience Josephus, 'Ant.,' xiv. 10, 6; also xiv. 16, 2; they were now setting themselves to renew. Tacitus, ' Hist.,' v. 4); or possibly the Ver. 10.-Ye observe days, and months, jubilee years, one such :fiftieth year, it might and times, and years U1µ.lp<1S 1r"paT11p,icr8,, be, falling about this time due. Bengel ,cal _µ.7/11as, ,ca.l ,calpoVs, Kal ivla.lfTolis) ; daya (' Gnomon ') supposes that a sa.bbaticGl yenr ye are intent on observing, and months, and might be being held A.D. 48, to which <fato •easons, and years. In the compound verb he assigns thiB Epistle ; while Wieseler 1rapaT11pii,,, the prepositional prefix, which (' Chron. Synops.,' p. 204, etc., referred to by often denotes "anu,;s," seems rather, from Bishop Lightfoot) offers a similar conjecture the sense of "at one's side," to give the for the year A.D. 54 autulilll to A,D. 55 o.uturnn. verb the shade of close, intent observation. Very striking is the impatience which the This may be shown by the circumstances apostle manifests in overhearing GB it were to be of an insidious character; thua the the eager diBcussions occupying the atten- active 1ra.po;T11peiv in Mark iiL 2; Luke vi. tion of these foolish Galatil\u J udaizcrs. 7; xiv. I ; .Acts iL 24, and the middle Their interest, he perceived, wa.s l\bsorbed 1ra.pa-r11pouµ.at., with no apparent difference of by matters which were properly for tht·m sense, in Lukti XL 20. Josephus uaes things of no concern nt a.11, but which, with the verb of " keeping tLe sabbath de.ye " ostentatious zeal as such persons do, the.v (' .Ant.,' iiL 5, 8), and the noun 1rapaTfip11cr,s were mal,ing their concern. The caµse of .,.;;,,, ,,oµ.t,..,.,,,, for " observance of the things their doing so lay, we may believe, in· the which are a.ccording to the laws" (' Ant.,' feeling which was growing up in their. viiL 3, 9). The uceumulati?,n of _no~ms mindii that such like outward observances. with the reiterakd " and, fum1shrng would of themselves, µ3ake their life accept- another ex~mple of the. 6«vo-r11s of St. a.Llo to Gou; this general/ientime11t hl\biting Puul'B style, betokens a scornfully impatient itself, in the choice of the pnrticulGr form rnime11iB. These reactionaries were full of of outward ceremonies to be !\µopted, in the feotival-ol:,seni1,g pedo.ntry-" days,'' "new obijervunce of the celebrations •given by moolll!,'' " festival.a,'' "holy years,'' being God to his people for the se&Bon of their olways on their lips. The meaning of the nonage. 'fho principle itself WGs no doubt fu,;t three of the uouns is p::irtially sug• repugnant to tbo Gpostl,:l's miml, even ge11t.ed by Col. r. 16, " Let uo ~n juclgo upart from the Jwfai;i;ing forw which it wus OJ:1, IV, 1-31.] 'l'RE EPISTLE TO 'rHE GALATIANS. 191