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Heb_13:5-6. Warning against covetousness; exhortation to contentedness.
Ἀφιλάργυρος ] free from greediness of money, from covetousness and avarice, 1Ti_3:3. Comp. Heb_6:2-4 ff.
ὁ τρόπος ] sc. ἔστω : let the mind and comportment, the character, be.
ἀρκούμενοι τοῖς παροῦσιν ] sc. ἔστε : be contented with that which is present. τὰ παρόντα here, as Xen. Sympos. iv. 42 ( οἷς γὰρ μάλιστα τὰ παρόντα ἀρκεῖ , ἥκιστα τῶν ἀλλοτρίων ὀρέγονται ), and often with the classic writers, of the earthly possession which one has.
αὐτὸς γὰρ εἴρηκεν ] for He Himself has said, namely, God, as He who is speaking in the scripture; not Christ (Beza, Böhme, Klee).
οὐ μή σε ἀνῶ οὐδʼ οὐ μή σε ἐγκαταλίπω ] I will in no wise fail thee, nor by any means forsake thee. To this citation the most similar passages are Deu_31:6 ( οὔτε μή σε ἀνῇ , οὔτε μή σε ἐγκαταλίπῃ ), ibid. Heb_13:8 ( οὐκ ἀνήσει σε , οὐδὲ μή σε ἐγκαταλίπῃ ), and 1Ch_28:20 ( οὐκ ἀνήσει σε καὶ οὐ μὴ ἐγκαταλίπῃ ); although, in these passages, instead of the first person singular the third person is used. Less corresponding in point of expression are Jos_1:5 ( οὐκ ἐγκαταλιέψω σε οὐδʼ ὑπερόψομαί σε ), Gen_28:15 ( οὐ μή σε ἐγκαταλίπω ), and Isa_41:17 ( οὐκ ἐγκαταλείψω αὐτούς ). On the other hand, there is found a citation entirely correspondent to ours in Philo, de Confus. Linguar. p. 344 C (ed. Mang. I. p. 430). It is possible that, as Bleek and de Wette suppose, the author adopted the same immediately from Philo. It is, however, also possible that the utterance, in the form in which we meet with it here and in Philo, had become proverbial. According to Delitzsch and Kluge, the utterance of Deu_31:6 assumed this form in the liturgic or homiletic usage of the Hellenistic synagogue, in that reminiscences of other similar O. T. passages blended with the original passage. [According to Piscator, Owen, and Tischendorf, the reference is to Jos_1:5.]