rwp - combat

rwp@John:6:52 @{Strove} (\emachonto\). Imperfect (inchoative) middle of \machomai\...to fight in armed combat... (Acts:7:26|), then to wage a war of words as here and strkjv@2Timothy:2:24|. They were already murmuring (41|), now they began bitter strife with one another over the last words of Jesus (43-51|), some probably seeing a spiritual meaning in them. There was division of opinion about Jesus in Jerusalem also later (7:12,40; strkjv@9:16; strkjv@10:19|). {How can?} (\Ps dunatai;\). The very idiom used by Nicodemus in strkjv@3:4,9|. Here scornful disbelief. {This man} (\houtos\). Contemptuous use pictured in verse 42|. {His flesh to eat} (\tn sarka autou phagein\). As if we were cannibals! Some MSS. do not have \autou\, but the meaning is clear. The mystical appropriation of Christ by the believer (Galatians:2:20; strkjv@Ephesians:3:17|) they could not comprehend, though some apparently were against this literal interpretation of "flesh" (\sarx\).

rwp@Matthew:2:15 @{Until the death of Herod} (\hes ts teleuts Hridou\). The Magi had been warned in a dream not to report to Herod and now Joseph was warned in a dream to take Mary and the child along (\mellei ztein tou apolesai\ gives a vivid picture of the purpose of Herod in these three verbs). In Egypt Joseph was to keep Mary and Jesus till the death of Herod the monster. Matthew quotes strkjv@Hosea:11:1| to show that this was in fulfilment of God's purpose to call his Son out of Egypt. He may have quoted again from a collection of _testimonia_ rather than from the Septuagint. There is a Jewish tradition in the Talmud that Jesus "brought with him magic arts out of Egypt in an incision on his body" (_Shabb_. 104b)...may have been to combat it"...(McNeile).

rwp@Revelation:11:7 @{When they shall have finished} (\hotan telessin\). Merely the first aorist active subjunctive of \tele\ with \hotan\ in an indefinite temporal clause with no _futurum exactum_ (future perfect), "whenever they finish." {The beast} (\to thrion\). "The wild beast comes out of the abyss" of strkjv@9:1f|. He reappears in strkjv@13:1; strkjv@17:8|. In strkjv@Daniel:7:3| \thria\ occurs. Nothing less than antichrist will satisfy the picture here. Some see the abomination of strkjv@Daniel:7:7; strkjv@Matthew:24:15|. Some see Nero _redivivus_. {He shall make war with them} (\poisei met' autn polemon\). This same phrase occurs in strkjv@12:17|...the picture of single combat... (2:16|). {He shall overcome them} (\niksei autous\). Future active of \nika\. The victory of the beast over the two witnesses is certain, as in strkjv@Daniel:7:21|. {And kill them} (\kai apoktenei\). Future active of \apoktein\. Without attempting to apply this prophecy to specific individuals or times, one can agree with these words of Swete: "But his words cover in effect all the martyrdoms and massacres of history in which brute force has seemed to triumph over truth and righteousness."

CONCORD combat