The Pulpit Commentary — James — Section 49

tongue la a fire: the worlu of iniquity among sage before us is the rmly rme in the Now our mombers is the tongue,which dellleth the Testament whero the word is used except whole body and setteth on fire the wheel ot by our Lord himself. The word itself is n(1tnre." (2) "And the tongue is a fire, that simply B Grreoised form of c\J;:J 'J_, "valley world of iniquity: tho tongue is among our of Hinnom," or fully, "valley of the sons of members thBt which defileth the whole Hinnom" (variously rendered by the LXX. body," eto.: so VulgBte. (8) "And the tongue ,,,&pa.-y! 'Ev11&µ or 11lov 'Evv6µ or radvv<i, Josh. is a fire: that world of iniquity, the tongue, xviii. 16), This valley, from its associations, is among our members that which defileth bec>1me a type of hell; and hence its name the whole body," etc. Of these, the first, was to.ken by the Jews to denote the place of which is that of the Revisers, appears to be torment. In this sense it occurs in the New prefemb!e. A fourth rendering, which is Testament, and frequently in Jewish writ. wholly untenable, deserves notice for its ings (see Buxtorf, 'Lexicon,' su.b verb. CJ;')t), antiquity, viz. that of the Byrie.c, "The and it is said that the later rabbis actually tongue is a fire: the worlrl of iniquity (is fixed upon this VBlley as the mouth of hell. the forest)." The world of iniquity (6 ,co,rµ.os Ver. 7.-Fou.rth illustration, involving a .,.;;, a.6,,clcu). The tongue is thus charac- proof of the terrible power of the tongue for terized, becanse it leads to and embraces all evil. All kinds of wild animals, etc., can be kinds of wickcdnesses. As Bishop Words- tamed and have been tamed: the tongue worth points out, it contains within it.self cannot be. What a deadly power for evil the elements of all mischief. A somewhat must it therefore be I The famous chorus similar use of ,co,rµ.or is found in the LXX. in Sophocles, 'Antigone,' 1. 332, ,eq., IloMc\ of Prov. xvii. 6, Toti .,,-,,r,.ou o.\or 6 ,co,rµ.os .,..,,, 'l"<t 6ewct ,coi,3~11 a.118po,,ro11 3<111&-repov r<.\E<, is XPTJ/J,U.'T"'"• 'TOU 3t a.11"i<T'TOII ova~ o/3e,\os, "The quoted by nearly all commentators, and whole world of wee.Ith is for the faithful: for affords a remarki<ble parallel to this pas- the faithless not a penny." Ka8l,rTa.Ta.1: "is sage. Every kind ofbeasts,etc.; literally,every set" or "has its place," and so simply "is." nature ( ,p6,ru) of beans . . . hath been tamed The tongue (1) defiles the whole body, and by man's natu.i·e (Tfi ,p6,r« Tfi a.118p011r,"!J); (2) sets on fire .,.1,,, .,.poxov T,is "'f<Vi<Te.,,, "the V nlge.te, omnis enim natu.ra bestiaru.m ... wheel of birth" or "of nature "-a very domita su.nt a natu.ra hu.mana. (On the dative strange expression, and one almost without .,..;; ,p6,r.,, see Winer, •Gram. of N. T.,' p. 275.) parallel. (Tpox•• only here in the New Tes- With this fourfold enumeration of the brute tament. There is, however, no doubt about creation (" beasts . . . birds . . . serpents its meaning "wheel." The A.V., which took . . . things in the sea"), cf. Gen. u. 2, it as ,.p&xos, equivaleut to "course," is " The fear of yon nnd the dread of yon shall universally. given up (see Winer, 'Gram. of be upon all the beasts (8-f,p,a.) of the earth, N. T.,' p. 62). For "'f<V<<Tis, comp. eh. i. 23. upon all the fowls (1rfr«11a) of the heavens, The Vulge.te he.a rotam nativitatis nostrie.) and upon all that mo.eth upon the eo.rtlJ, Alford translates the phmse," the orb of the and upon all the fishes of the sea." Serpen/3 creation," and in favour of this the use of (,p..-e..-&.) would be better rendered, as R.V., the word Tpox&s in Ps. lxxvii. (lxxvi.) 19 may creeping things. be appealed to. But more nBtural is the Ver. 8.-It is an miruly evil; rather, interp1·ete.tion of Dean Plumptre, who takes restless, reading a.1Ca.Ta.1TTa.Tov (N, A, B) for it as "a figure for the whole of life from a.,ca...-a.<TX<To11 of Te:x.tus Receptus (C, K. L); birth, the wheel which then begins to roll on Vulgate, inqu.ietu.m malu.m (cf. eh. i. !l).. The its course and continues rolling until death." nominatives in this verse should be noticed: So Huther and Dean Scott iu the' Speaker's "'l'he hist words are to be regarded as o. Commentary.' 'fhis view hns the support J..-ind of exclamation, and are therefore ap- of the Syrie.o Version: "The course of our pended in an independent construction" generations which run as a wheel;" and is (Wiuer, p. 668). A restless evil I Full ~f implied in the (false) reading of N, T,is deadly poison I Compare the abrupt nomi- "'f<vfre.,, 1/P."'" (compare the Vulgate). It native in Phil. iii. 19 with Bishop Light- should also be noticed that life is compared foot's note .. Deadly (8a.va.T71tp6pos); here only too. wheel in Eccles. xii. 6 (LXX., Tpox&s). in the New Testament. In the LXX. it is And is set on fire. The tongue has already found in Numb. xvili. 22; Job uxiii. 23; been called a fire. It is now shown how 4 Maco. viii. 17, 24; xv. 23. For the figure, that fire is kindled-from beneath, from of. Pa. ex!. 3, "They have sharpened their Gehenna. A similar expression is found in tongues like a serpent ; adders' poison id the Targum on Ps. cxx. 2, " LinguB dolosa nuder their lips." .. cum carbonibus juniperi, qui inceusi Vers. 9, 10.-Exa.mples of the re~tlesa sunt in GehennB infeme." Gehenuo., here cbo.ro.oter of the tongue: "With it we bless pereouified, is mentioned also in Matt. v. 22, the Lord and Fathtr, and with it too we 2tl, 30 ; x. 28 ; xvi ii. !) ; xxiii. 15, 33; Mark curse men who are rue.de in hi, image." ix. 43, 45, 47; Luke xii. 5. 'fhua the pas- In the first clause we ehould ree.u Kup,o,  THE GENERAL EPIS'l'LE OF JAM!l:S. [OH, Ill, 1-ia,