OT-PROPHET-MINOR.filter - rwp Israel:

rwp@Acts:17:26 @{And he made of one} (\epoisen te ex henos\). The word \haimatos\ (blood) is absent from Aleph A B and is a later explanatory addition. What Paul affirms is the unity of the human race with a common origin and with God as the Creator. This view runs counter to Greek exclusiveness which treated other races as barbarians and to Jewish pride which treated other nations as heathen or pagan (the Jews were \laos\, the Gentiles \ethn\). The cosmopolitanism of Paul here rises above Jew and Greek and claims the one God as the Creator of the one race of men. The Athenians themselves claimed to be \antochthonous\ (indigenous) and a special creation. Zeno and Seneca did teach a kind of cosmopolitanism (really pantheism) far different from the personal God of Paul. It was Rome, not Greece, that carried out the moral ideas of Zeno. Man is part of the universe (verse 24|) and God created (\epoisen\) man as he created (\poisas\) the all. {For to dwell} (\katoikein\). Infinitive (present active) of purpose, so as to dwell. {Having determined} (\horisas\). First aorist active participle of \horiz\, old verb to make a horizon as already in strkjv@19:42| which see. Paul here touches God's Providence. God has revealed himself in history as in creation. His hand appears in the history of all men as well as in that of the Chosen People of Israel. {Appointed seasons} (\prostetagmenous kairous\). Not the weather as in strkjv@14:17|, but "the times of the Gentiles" (\kairoi ethnn\) of which Jesus spoke (Luke:21:24|). The perfect passive participle of \prostass\, old verb to enjoin, emphasizes God's control of human history without any denial of human free agency as was involved in the Stoic Fate (\Heirmarmen\). {Bounds} (\horothesias\). Limits? Same idea in strkjv@Job:12:23|. Nations rise and fall, but it is not blind chance or hard fate. Thus there is an interplay between God's will and man's activities, difficult as it is for us to see with our shortened vision.

rwp@Mark:2:19 @{The sons of the bridechamber} (\hoi huioi tou numphnos\). Not merely the groomsmen, but the guests also, the \paranymphs\ (\paranumphoi\ of the old Greek). Jesus here adopts the Baptist's own metaphor (John:3:29|), changing the friend of the bridegroom (\ho philos tou numphiou\) to sons of the bridechamber. Jesus identifies himself with the bridegroom of the O.T. (Hosea:2:21|), God in his covenant relation with Israel (Swete). Mourning does not suit the wedding feast. Mark, Matthew, and Luke all give the three parables (bridegroom, unfulled cloth, new wineskins) illustrating and defending the conduct of Jesus in feasting with Levi on a Jewish fast-day. strkjv@Luke:5:36| calls these parables. Jesus here seems iconoclastic to the ecclesiastics and revolutionary in emphasis on the spiritual instead of the ritualistic and ceremonial.

rwp@Revelation:9:3 @{Locusts} (\akrides\). Also verse 7| and already in strkjv@Matthew:3:4; strkjv@Mark:1:6| (diet of the Baptist). The Israelites were permitted to eat them, but when the swarms came like the eighth Egyptian plague (Exodus:10:13ff.|) they devoured every green thing. The smoke was worse than the fallen star and the locusts that came out of the smoke were worse still, "a swarm of hellish locusts" (Swete). {The scorpions} (\hoi skorpioi\). Old name for a little animal somewhat like a lobster that lurks in stone walls in warm regions, with a venomous sting in its tail, in N.T. in strkjv@Luke:10:19; strkjv@11:12; strkjv@Revelation:9:3,5,10|. The scorpion ranks with the snake as hostile to man.

rwp@Revelation:19:7 @{Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad} (\chairmen kai agallimen\). Present active subjunctive (volitive) of \chair\ and \agallia\ (elsewhere in N.T. in the middle except strkjv@Luke:1:47; strkjv@1Peter:1:8|). For both verbs together see strkjv@Matthew:5:12|. {Let us give} (\dmen\). Second aorist active subjunctive of \didmi\, but A reads \dsomen\ (future active) and P \dsmen\. If the future indicative is read, the tone is changed from exhortation to declaration (we shall give glory unto him). {The marriage of the Lamb} (\ho gamos tou arniou\). In the O.T. God is the Bridegroom of Israel (Hosea:2:16; strkjv@Isaiah:54:6; strkjv@Ezekiel:16:7ff.|). In the N.T. Christ is the Bridegroom of the Kingdom (the universal spiritual church as seen by Paul, strkjv@2Corinthians:11:2; strkjv@Ephesians:5:25ff.|, and by John in strkjv@Revelation:3:20; strkjv@19:7,9; strkjv@21:2,9; strkjv@22:17|. In the Gospels Christ appears as the Bridegroom (Mark:2:19f.; strkjv@Matthew:9:15; strkjv@Luke:5:34f.; strkjv@John:3:29|). The figure of \gamos\ occurs in strkjv@Matthew:22:2-14|. Three metaphors of women appear in the Apocalypse (the Mother in chapter strkjv@Revelation:12|, the Harlot in strkjv@Revelation:17-19|, and the Bride of Christ here to the end). "The first and third present the Church under two different aspects of her life, while the second answers to her great rival and enemy" (Swete). {Is come} (\lthen\). Prophetic aorist, come at last. {Made herself ready} (\htoimasen heautn\). First aorist active indicative of \hetoimaz\ and the reflexive pronoun. See strkjv@22:2| for \htoimasmenn hs numphn\ (prepared as a bride). There is something for her to do (1John:3:3; strkjv@Jude:1:21; strkjv@2Corinthians:7:1|), but the chief preparation is the act of Christ (Ephesians:5:25ff.|).

rwp@Romans:9:27 @{Isaiah} (\Esaias\). Shortened quotation from strkjv@Isaiah:10:22| (LXX). {It is the remnant that shall be saved} (\to hupoleimma sthsetai\). First future passive of \sz\. Literally, "the remnant will be saved." Late word from \hupoleip\, to leave behind (11:3|), here only in N.T. Textus Receptus has \kataleimma\, but Aleph A B have \hupoleimma\. Isaiah cries in anguish over the outlook for Israel, but sees hope for the remnant.

rwp@Romans:9:31 @{Did not arrive at that law} (\eis nomon ouk ephthasen\). First aorist active indicative of \phthan\, old verb to anticipate (1Thessalonians:4:15|), now just to arrive as here and strkjv@2Corinthians:10:14|. The word "that" is not in the Greek. Legal righteousness Israel failed to reach, because to do that one had to keep perfectly all the law.