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2Pe_2:22. The two proverbial expressions which form the close bring out how contemptible is the conduct just described.
συμβέβηκε αὐτοῖς ] “it has happened to them,” “has befallen them.”
τὸ τῆς ἀληθοῦς παροιμίας ] The same construction, Mat_21:21 : τὸ τῆς συκῆς ; παροιμία denotes a figurative speech or mode of expression generally. ἀληθοῦς is added in order to bring out that the proverb has here too proved true; the author employs the singular παροιμίας , because the two proverbs following have one and the same meaning.
κὑων ἐπιστρέψας … ἐξέραμα ] The verse of the O. T. Pro_26:11, LXX., runs: ὥσπερ κύων ὅταν ἐπέλθῃ ἐπὶ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ ἔμετον μισητὸς γενῆται , οὕτως ἄφρων τῇ ἑαυτοῦ κακίᾳ ἀναστρέψας ἐπὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἁμαρτίαν ; in spite of the similarity, it is yet doubtful whether the writer had this passage in his eye; probably he took this παροιμία , like that which follows,—which can be traced to no written source,—from popular tradition.
ἐπιστρέψας ] is not to bo taken as a verb fin., but the predicate is, after the manner of proverbial expression, joined without the copula to the noun (Winer, p. 331 [E. T. 443]): “a dog that has returned to its ἐξέραμα ” ( ἅπ . λεγ .: “what has been vomited”).
ὗς λουσαμένη … βορβόρου ] ἐπιστρέψασα may be supplied from what precedes, but thus this second παροιμία would lose its independence; breviloquence is natural to proverbs (Winer, p. 547 [E. T. 735]); εἰς , according to the sense, points sufficiently to a verb of motion to be supplied: “a sow that has bathed itself, to the κύλισμα βορβόρου .”[83]
κύλισμα ( ἅπ . λεγ .), equal to κυλίστρα : the place for wallowing. The genit. βορβὁρου ( ἅπ . λεγ .) shows the nature of the κυλίσμα where the swine wallow; the other reading, κυλισμόν , indicates the act of wallowing.
Similar passages are to be found in the Rabbis. Cf. Pott in loc.
[83] Steinfass interprets erroneously: “A sow that was bathed, in order the better to wallow in the mire.”