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Mat_1:20. Ἰδού ] as in Hebrew and in Greek writers, directs attention quickly to an object brought into view. Very frequent in Matthew.
κατʼ ὄναρ ] in somnis, Vulg., Virg. Aen. ii. 270; ἐν ὀνείροις , Niceph. Schol. in Synes. p. 442. Frequent in later Greek, but not in the LXX. and Apocrypha; rejected by Photius, p. 149. 25, as βάρβαρον ; amongst the old writers, commonly only ὄναρ . See Phrynichus, ed. Lobeck, p. 423 f.; κατά serves to designate the manner and way, and yields the adverbial meaning, in a dream, ὄψις ὀνείρου ἐν τῷ ὕπνῳ , Herod. i. 38. The appearance of the angel was an appearance in a dream; see Kühner, II. 1, p. 413. It might denote the time, if, as in Joseph. Antiq. xi. 9. 3, κατὰ τοὺς ὕπνους , or καθʼ ὕπνον (Gen_20:6), had been employed. Express visions in dreams in the N. T. are related only by Matthew. Comp. besides, Act_2:17.
υἱὸς Δ .] The reason of this address (nominative, see Kühner, II. 1, p. 43) is not difficult to see (de Wette); it is highly natural in the case of the angel, because he has to bring news of the Messiah. B.-Crusius says too little: Joseph is so addressed as one favoured by God, or, as he for whom something miraculous was quite appropriate. Fritzsche says too much: “ut ad Mariam ducendam promtiorem redderet.” The former neglects the special connection, the latter imports a meaning.
τὴν γυναῖκά σου ] apposition to Μαριάμ : the Mary, who is thy wife: in which proleptic designation there lies an element stating the cause. This view (in answer to Fritzsche, who explains: Mary, as thy wife) is required by Mat_1:24.
ἐν αὐτῇ ) not for ἐξ αὐτῆς , but also not to be translated, with Fritzsche: per eam, as ἐν with persons is never merely instrumental, and as the context (Mat_1:18 : ἐν γαστρὶ ἔχουσα ἐκ . πν . ἁγ .) demands a different rendering; but, quite literally, in utero Mariae, that which has been begotten in her.
The neuter places the embryo still under the impersonal, material point of view. Comp., first, Mat_1:21 : τέξεται δὲ υἱόν . See Wetstein, and on Luk_1:35.
ἐκ πν . ἐστιν ἁγίου ] proceeds from the Holy Ghost as author, by whom, accordingly, your suspicions are removed. Observe the emphatic position, which lays the determining emphasis upon πνεύματος , in opposition to sexual intercourse. Upon the distinction between ἐνθυμεῖσθαι with the genitive (rationem habere alic. rei) and the accusative (“when he had considered this”), see Kühner, ad Xen. Memorabilia, i. 1. 17; Krüger on Thucyd. i. 42. 1.