Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Hebrews 13:5 - 13:5

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Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Hebrews 13:5 - 13:5


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

5. ὁ τρόπος. Lit., “Let your turn of mind be unavaricious.” In the A.V. it is “Let your conversation be without covetousness”; but the word here used is not the one generally rendered by “conversation” in the N.T. (ἀναστροφὴ as in Heb 13:7, “general walk,” Gal 1:13; Eph 2:3), or “citizenship” (πολίτευμα, as in Php 1:27; Php 3:20), but “turn of mind” (τρόπος).

ἀφιλάργυρος. Not merely without covetousness (πλεονεξία) but “without love of money.” It is remarkable that “covetousness” and “uncleanness” are constantly placed in juxtaposition in the N.T. (1Co 5:10; 1Co 6:9; Eph 5:3; Eph 5:5; Col 3:5).

ἀρκούμενος. The form of the sentence “Let your turn of mind be without love of money, being content” is the same as ἡ ἀγάπη ἀνυπόκριτος, ἀποστυγοῦντες in Rom 12:9. The few marked similarities between this writer and St Paul only force the radical dissimilarity between their styles into greater prominence; and as the writer had almost certainly read the Epistle to the Romans a striking syntactical peculiarity like this may well have lingered in his memory.

αὐτὸς γὰρ εἴρηκεν. “Himself hath said.” The “Himself” of course refers to God, and the phrase of citation is common in the Rabbis (הוא אמר). “He” and “I” are, as Delitzsch says, used by the Rabbis as mystical names of God.

Οὐ μή σε ἀνῶ κ.τ.λ. These words are found (in the third person) in Deu 31:6; Deu 31:8; 1Ch 28:20, and similar promises, in the first person, in Gen 28:15; Jos 1:5; Isa 41:17. The very emphatic form of the citation (first with a double then with a triple negation), “I will in no wise fail, neither will I ever in any wise forsake thee,” does not occur either in the Hebrew or the LXX., but it is found in the very same words in Philo (De Confus. Ling. § 32), and since we have had occasion to notice again and again the thorough familiarity of the writer with Philo’s works, it is probable that he derived it from Philo, unless it existed in some proverbial or liturgical form among the Jews. The triple negative οὐδʼ οὐ μὴ is found in Mat 24:21.