Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

5 I will therefore, to prevent you from liftening to thefe wicked teachers, put you in remembrance, although ye formerly knew this, that the Lord, having faved the people of Ifrael out of the land of Egypt, afterward deftroyed them in the wilderness, because they did not believe his promises, and refused to go into Canaan, Numb. xiv. xxvi. Heb. iii. 18, 19.

6 Alfo, the angels who kept not their own office, the office which was originally allotted to them, but left their proper ftation, by intruding into the offices and ftations of the angels. who were greater than they, God hath driven out of heaven, notwithflanding their numbers and power, and hath kept them, ever fince, in everlasting chains of confinement under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day, to be punished.

took notice of, 2 Epift. ii. 4 5. and in place of the third instance, the deftruction of the old world, he hath introduced the deftruction of the rebellious Ifraelites in the wilderness.

2. That the Lord having faved the people. Some MSS. and verfions read here Incas Jefus having faved. Two of Stephen's MSS. read Go God; which expreffes the true meaning of the paffage. But the common reading is beft fupported.

3. Afterward deftroyed them who did not believe. Jude doth not mention the various fins committed by the lfraelites in the wilderness; fuch as their rebellion in refufing to go into Canaan, their idolatry in worshipping the golden calf, their fornication with the Midianitish women, their frequent murmurings; but he fums up the whole in their unbelief, because it was the fource of all their fins.

Ver. 6.- -I. Alfo the angels who kept not TAY EXUTY apyny their own office. So the word apx" fignifies, Luke xx. 20. Deliver him on apx? xas on tea, to the power and authority of the Governor. The apofile's meaning is, that thefe fuperior beings did not keep their original of fice, but forfeited it by fome mifbehaviour. Hence they are called, 2 Pet. ii. 4. The angels who finned.-The common tranflation of this claufe, viz. who kept not their firft eflate, expreffeth its meaning very well; but it is a paraphrafe and not a tranflation.-Hunt in his Dif fertation on the fall of man, faith, the office of the angels who finned, was to attend the vifible manifeftation of the divine prefence in para

02

dife,

7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them, in like manner

giving themfelves over to fornication, and going after frange fefh, are fet forth for an example, fuffering the vengeance of eternal

fire.

8 Likewife also these filthy dreamers defile the fet, defpife dominion, and fpeak evil of dignities.

7 Ως Σόδομα μορρα, και αἱ

και Γο περὶ αὐτας πόλεις τον όμοιον τέτοις τρο To ExπOQVEUσαJai, nai aπελθεσαι οπίσω σαρκος ETEρας, προκεινται δειγμα, πυρος αιωνια δικην ύπεχεσαι,

8 Ομοιως μεντοι και έτοι. Ενυπνιαζομενοι, σάρκα μεν μιαίνεσι, κυριοτητα δε αθετεσι, δόξας δε βλασφήμες

σιν.

dife, and to minifter to mankind. But this is to be wife above what is written. See note 4.

2. But left their proper habitation. Orpicy, denotes the place in which God appointed the angels who finned, to execute the offices and functions which he hai affigned to them. According to Hunt, their habitation was this earth.-It is of more importance to obferve, that by faying, The angels kept not their own office, but left their proper habitation, the apoftle infinuates that they attempted to raife themselves to a higher flation than that which God had allotted to them; confequently that the fin for which they are to be punished, was pride and rebellion.

3. He hath referved in everlasting chains, under darkness.—Everlasting chains, is a metaphorical expreffion which denotes a perpetual confinement, which it is no more in their power to escape from, than a man who is ftrongly bound with iron chains can break them. See the explication of the phrafe, under darkness, given 2 Pet. ii. 4. note 3

4. Unto the judgment of the great day. This great day is elsewhere called, the day of the Lord, and that day, emphatically.-In our Lord's defcription of the general judgment, Matth. xxv. 41. he tells us that the wicked are to Depart into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. This implies that thefe wicked fpirits are to be punished with the wicked of mankind. - Hunt in his differtation referred to in note I. on this verfe, faith, Upon the fuppofition that the fallen angels belong to our system, their punishment with the wicked of our fpecies, will appear the more congruous.-If the angels who finned, were originally appointed to minifter to mankind, as Hunt imagines, and were difcontented with this earth in its paradifical ftate as an babita tion, the atmosphere which furrounds the earth in its prefent altered ftate, is very properly made the prifon-house in which they are con fined till the general judgment.

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

7 Further, feeing Sodom and Gomarrha, and the cities around them, which in a manner like to these wicked teachers bad habitually committed` whoredom and beftiality, are publicly set forth as an example of that terrible punishment which is to be inflicted, on the ungodly after the general judgment; having from the immediate hand of God undergone the punishment of an eternal fire; a fire whofe effects will remain while the world remains,

8 In like manner indeed, thefe ungodly men fhall be punished with eternal fire. Being caft into a deep spiritual fleep through the intoxication of fin, they, under the pretence of Chriftian liberty and a fuperior illu mination, defile their body like the Sodomites with libidinous practices, and defpife every kind of government, and revile magiftrates when they punish them for their leud practices.

Ver. 7.-1. And the cities around them. Thefe cities were Admah and Zeboim. The four are mentioned, Deut. xxix. 23.-Zoar, the fifth city in the plain of Sodom, was fpared at the request of Lot, for a place of refuge to him and his family.

2. Which in a manner like to thefe. Τον όμοιον τέτοις τρόπον. I have followed our tranflators in completing the conftruction of this claufe, by fupplying the prepofition aara, which the fenfe likewife requires.-Like to theje. The relative retos, being mafculine, may refer to the ungodly teachers mentioned, ver. 4-Or, though wrong be a feminine word, yet as it fignifies the inhabitants of a city, as well as the city itfelf, the relative Teras may very properly be in the mafculine gender, to denote the inhabitants of the other cities of the plain. See Ef. iv. 64 -I make thefe obfervations, becaufe fome commentators fuppofe Teros ftands for the angels who left their proper habitation, as if their fin had been lewdneft; which is a very falfe idea.

3. Had habitually committed whoredom. This is the literal fignification of the compound word exogrevasa because an increafes the figtion of the word with which it is compounded. In the language of fcripture wogVUELV fignifies to commit any fort of whoredom or uncleannefs, and among the relt Sodomy. See I Cor. v. 1. note 1. and Parkhurt in voc. εκτσορνεύομαι. Ellius faith the prepofition ex in this

0 3

EX

compounded

9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil, he difputed about the body of Mofes, durit not bring againft him a railing accufation, but faid, The Lord rebuke thee.

9 Ὁ δὲ Μιχαηλ ο αρχαίο γελα, ότε τῳ διαβολη δια κρινομενος διελέγετο περι το Μωσεως σωματος, εκ ετολ μησε κρίσιν επενεγκειν βλασ Φημιας, αλλ' ειπεν Επιτι μησαι σοι Κύριος.

compounded word, denotes the Sodomites committing whoredom out of the order of nature. They committed the unnatural crime which hath taken its name from them.

[ocr errors]

4. Are fet forth, duyμa, an example See 2 Pet. ii. 6. The burning of the cities of the plain, being reprefented here as an example, or type, of that punishment by fire which at the general judgment God will inflict on the wicked, the confideration thereof fhould terrify the ungodly of every defcription, and bring them to repentance. For when God is about to punish them in that dreadful manner, will they be able to flee from him, or refift him?

Ver. 8.-1. In like manner indeed, thefe also shall be punished. I put a full point after the words xa &70: and to finish the fentence, I fupply the words, fhall be punished, from the end of the foregoing verfe with which this claufe is connected in the fenfe, being the reddition to the claufe in the beginning of ver. 7.-; σodoμa xas youoppa fince, or, as Sodom and Gomorrha are fet forth as an example, &c. ver. 8. PETO In like manner certainly these alfo fhall be punished. In the next claufe of this 8th verfe, a new fentiment is introduced, which therefore fhould have been made the beginning of the verse.

-

ομοιως

2. Being caft into a deep fleep. This is the proper literal translation of the word aaμεvo, as Beza hath shewed. Befides in other paffages of feripture, the wicked are represented as fast asleep. See Rom. xiii. 11. 1 Theff. v.,6.

3. And defpife government, (fee 2 Pet. ii. 10 note 2.) and revile dignities : δόξας δε βλαστημεσι literally they revile glories, that is thofe who poffefs the glory of the magiftrate's office. This mult be the meaning of dogas, as diftinguished from gorna, government.-The Jews fancying it finful to obey the heathen magiftrates, defpifed both them and their office. The ungodly teachers of whom Jude fpeaks, carried the matter ftili farther: They reviled all magiftrates whatever, as enemies to the natural liberty of mankind.

Ver 9.1. But Michael the archangel. Michael is mentioned, Dan. x. 13. 21. xii. 1. as flanding up a defence of the children of Daniel's people.-Because it is faid, Rev. xii. 7. That Michael and his angels fought against the Dragon and his angels, Eftius conjectures that Michael is the chief, or prince of all the angels. But this argument is not conclufive Because the book of Daniel is the firft facred writing in which proper names are given to particular angels, fome have fancied,

I

9 (AE) But Michael the archangel, ' when contending with the devil he difputed about the body of Mofes, 2 did not attempt to bring against him a reviling accufation, but faid, The Lord rebuke thee.

3

9 But how different was the conduct of Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he difputed about the restoration of the Jewish church and ftate by Joshua the high prieft, Zechar iii. 1. Though that malicious fpirit was clothed with no authority of office, he did not attempt to bring again him a reviling accufation; but mildly faid, The Lord rebuke thee Satan.

that during the Babylonifh captivity the Jews invented thefe names or learned them from the Chaldeans. But this feems an unfounded conjecture. For the angel who appeared to Zacharias, Luke i. 19. called himself, Gabriel, which fhews that that name was not of Chal dean invention.

from ver. 1.

2. When contending with the devil he difputed about the body of Mofes. In the paffages of Daniel's prophecy quoted in the preceding note, Michael is fpoken of as one of the chief angels who took care of the Ifraelites as a nation. He may therefore have been the angel of the Lord, before whom Jofhua the high priest is faid, Zech. iii. 1. to have food, Satan being at his right hand to refift him, namely in his defign of reftoring the Jewish church and ftate, called by Jude the body of Mofes, juft as the Chriftian church is called by Paul the body of Chrift. Zechariah adds, And the Lord, that is, the angel of the Lord, as is plain faid unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan, even the Lord, that hath chefen Jerufalem, rebuke thee.-Le Clerc gives a different interpretation of this paffage. By Satan in Zechariah's vifion, and Alcoho; in Jude's epiltle, he underlands Tatuai and Shether boznai, the king of Perfia's lieutenants, who oppofed the restoration of Jerufalem, and who on that account might be called Satan or the adverfary of the Jews, in the fame manner that Peter was called Satan by his matter, for oppofing his fuffering at Jerufalem. According to this interpretation, Jude's meaning is, that the angel in Zechariah's vifion brought no eviling accufation against the adverfaries of the Jews, but reproved them with modely on account of their being magiftrates. This, Jude mentioned to fhew the ungodly teachers who reviled the Roman magiftrates, that they were culpable in doing what the angels who, as Peter obferveth, 2 Ep. ii. 11. are greater in power than they, did not attemt to do.

Beza, Eftius, Tillotfon, and others, by the body of Mofes about which the devil contended with Michael, underftand his dead body, which they fuppofe the devil contended fhould be buried publicly, on pretence of doing honour to Mofes; but that his intention was to give the Ifraelites an opportunity of raifing his body and worshipping it : That Michael knowing this, rebuked the devil in the words mentioned by Jude; and to prevent the Ifraelites from committing idolatry, buried

0 +

« AnteriorContinua »