The Pulpit Commentary — Jude — Section 10

that th<' writ<'r wns thinkin" or Simon the vorso there is n still more serious cliffi- Me.gus in p1uticmlo.r, or or C11:'poorRtcs, or cu]ty in the toxt. Instead of the term any of_ the cnrly Gnostics-a supposition " Lord," some of the very best authorities entertained both b.,- tho carlie~t ChristiRn rend "Jesus." If this mmt ho ncceptcd writers and by some in our own timo. Dut \\•e hAve an act of the Jchovnh of the 01ci it is possible enough that the seeds whir.h Testament ascribed to tho Je,tu of tho Now were to develop into the prononnc,,d Testament. But this would bu an cntirnly Gnoelioism of o. later time were alrC'ady unexampled usngo. For, while the Now ~own, and tllRl in such sperulative error 'l'estameut not uufrcquently introduces tho Jude saw tl10 nlh- of a life which was re- name of Ch,·ist ,vheu it refers to deeds of ~rdless of all Divine restraint. grace or claims of honour which the Ohl Vrrs. 5-7.-Thrce instnn('P,s of tl1c- judg- 'l'estnment connects with the 1mme of Je- ments of God are now rcforred to. Thc'I' ai·e h,wah (cf. l Cor. x. 4; 1 Pet. iii. 15, etc.), it never docs this with thnt nnme of the eitsd ns typical exnmples of the Dll'iM Redeemer of the New Testament which relribntion, with which lhe renders can be specially marks his human nature nnd taken to be familiar, and which they will origin. Hence Prot'essor Hort epeaks of recognize to gi,e point to the terror of lhe the reading "Jesus" here as a blunder, condemnation overhanging the men in however supported. 'fhe ordinary rending question. may, therefore, be adhered to, especially as it is by no menns ill accredited, having Ver. 5.-The first is taken from the l1ist.ory on its side two of the J?rimery uncials and of Israel. It is introduced, not as e. contrast other weighty autbo1itles. 'l'bese clauses with what precedes, but as e. natural tran- are peculiar in other respects, They speak sition from it. It is given, too, as o. matter not of" the people" as the Authorized Ver- quite within their knowledge, o.IJd of wl1ich sion puts it, but rather of" a people." And consequently the_v-need only t.o be reminded. this is not without its purpose; For the The Authorized Yersion is short of the mark idea is not simply that the ancient Israel in &e'l'ernl respects here. What the writer experience1l both redemption and judgment expresses is not the mere fact that be is at the bands of their Lord, but that Israel's to do a certain thing, but that he bas the Lord, by bringing Israel out of Egypt, secured wish to do so. Hence the now I desire to a people for himself, though hf! bad also to put yon in remembruce of the Revised destroy unbelievers among them. Agnin, Vcrsion is preferable to the I will therefore, the phrase rendered "afterward " by the etc., of the Authorized Version. The next Authorized Versiuu means strictly "the clause is more decidedly astray. For the second time," as is noticed by the margin of term rendered'' once" means" once for all" the Revised Version. Whnt is intended, 11.ud the knowledge is given o.s e. p1·cse~t therefore, may be the.t Israel was the sub- possession. Hence ibe rendering should ject of two great deeds on Jehov.ah's _pari he though ye Jmow once for sll; or bettn, -in the first instance a redeeming deed, it& lmoteing as ye do onr,e for all-a form of the second instance e. punitive deed. And expression wilich might be pare.phrased in bis purpose in seeking e. people for himself our English idiom, as Mr. Humphry rightly was not inconsistent wit.h his doing what be observes.," though ye have known a.II along." did in this second instance. What, then, is There is, Lowever, very considel'B.ble diffi- referred to? Those seem to interpret it best culty in the reading here. It mries be- who take it to be a genera.I referauce to the tweeu "ye know this" which is accepted by wilderness-fate of unbelieving Israel, rather tlie .A.utLorized Version," ye know all things" than to any single instance of the terrors wl,ich is preferred by the Revised Version, of the Divine judgment, such as thnt re- and "JC all know" which, though poorly ported in Numb. xxv. 1-9. It is far-fetched p.ccredittd, is yet supposed by Prnfessor to suppose that the event in view is one so Hort to be not improbably the original. remote from the deliverance of Israel from The documentary evidence is, on the whole, Egypt as the Babylonian captivity. We on the side of "all things;" and if this may compare with this verse, therefore, is o.dopted, the universal term will naturally such passages as Pa. cvi. 12-'---21 ; Heh. iii, b,, limited by the context to a knowledge of lG-iv. 5. r,.Ji that is pertinent to the point in question. Ver. 6.-The second instunce of Divine 'l'11is knowledge of the principles at issue judgmcnt is taken from the angelic world. in the C'18e of these evil men, and of the The copula connects it closely with the retril,u(.ive d<:eda of God by which these former, and gives it some emphasis: "angels, pri:1ciples have been signally vindicated, is too," i.e. angels not less than the people a Telioon why Jude needs simply to rdresh selected by God to be a. people for himself, the memories of his reader£, and not to tell have been examples of the terrible law of them i.nythiug new. In the second half of Divine n:tributiou, The 110.rticular clnas of 1-25.J TIU~ GENEilAL EPISTLE OF ,JUJiE. 7