John Bengel Commentary - Revelation 2:14 - 2:14

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John Bengel Commentary - Revelation 2:14 - 2:14


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Rev 2:14. Τῷ Βαλὰκ) This is the reading of the Alex. Cod.,[33] and indeed, as I have mentioned in the Apparatus, in the first edition of Mill. See App. Ed. ii.: The changes which the Edition of Kuster was the first to make for the worse, or even for the better, are everywhere ascribed by philologists on this side of the sea to Mill himself. I indeed corrected with great labour, from the first edition of Mill, the errors of the second, especially in the Apocalypse: therefore where my Apparatus differs from the second edition, I again and again assert, that the difference is not the result of carelessness. In this phrase, who taught τῷ Balak, the Dative of advantage [for Balak] is the sense which holds good, which Wolf does not deny, p. 463; nor is that case more to be met with anywhere than in the history of Balaam: κατάρασαί μοι τὸν λαὸν τοῦτου, κ.τ.λ., Numbers 22, 23. Josephus, l. 4, Ant. ch. vi. § 6, makes Balaam speak thus: ΒΆΛΑΚΕ ΚΑῚ ΤῶΝ ΜΑΔΙΑΝΙΤῶΝ ΟἹ ΠΑΡΌΝΤΕς· ΧΡῊ ΓΆΡ ΜΕ ΚΑῚ ΠΑΡᾺ ΒΟΎΛΗΣΙΝ ΤΟῦ ΘΕΟῦ ΧΑΡΊΣΑΘΑΙ ΥΜΙΝ, Κ.Τ.Λ With the same meaning the Apocalypse has, ἘΔΊΑΣΚΕΝ Τῷ ΒΑΛΆΚ: for Balaam did not teach Balak, but he taught the people of Balak, for the sake of Balak, by whom Balaam had been hired. See Num 24:14; Num 25:1-2; Num 31:8; Num 31:16.

[33] AC read τῷ: Rec. Text Elz. τόν; Steph. ἐν τῷ; both without good authority.-E.