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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Hebrews 12:21 - 12:21
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21. τὸ φανταζόμενον. “The splendour of the spectacle” (here only in N. T.). The true punctuation of the verse is And—so fearful was the spectacle—Moses said …
Ἔκφοβός εἰμι κ.τ.λ. No such speech of Moses at Sinai is recorded in the Pentateuch. The writer is either drawing from the Jewish Haggadah or (by a mode of citation not uncommon) is compressing two incidents into one. For in Deu 9:19 Moses, after the apostasy of Israel in worshipping the Golden Calf, said “I was afraid (LXX. καὶ ἔκφοβός εἰμι) of the anger and hot displeasure of the Lord,” and in Act 7:32 we find the words “becoming a-tremble” (ἔντρομος γενομενος) to express the fear of Moses on seeing the Burning Bush (though here also there is no mention of any trembling in Exo 3:6). The tradition of Moses’ terror is found in Jewish writings. In Shabbath f. 88. 2 he exclaims “Lord of the Universe, I am afraid lest they (the Angels) should consume me with the breath of their mouths.” Comp. Midrash Koheleth, f. 69. 4.