Judas 1:5-15

Jude 1:5-15

Contents:—Three examples of the punitive justice of God, typical of the judgment awaiting those deceivers, introduced as a warning, Jude 1:6-8; more particular description of their sins. An exclamation of woe, Jude 1:11, followed by additional details of their character, and an application to them of a prophecy of Enoch.

5I will17 therefore18 put you in remembrance, though ye19 once knew this,20 how that the Lord,21 having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed22 them that believed not. 6And the angels23 which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved24 in everlasting chains25 under darkness unto the 7judgment of the great day. Even as26 Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner,27 giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange28 flesh, 8are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise29 also these filthy dreamers defile30 the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.31 32 9Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst33 not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. 10But these speak evil of those things34 which they know not: but what they know35 naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. 11Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward,36 and perished in the gainsaying of Core. 12These are spots in your feasts of charity,37 when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about38 of winds; trees whose fruit withereth,39 with out fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; 13Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for 14ever. And Enoch, also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied40 of these, saying, Behold the Lord41 cometh with ten thousand of his saints,42 15To execute judgment upon all, and to convince43 all that ar44 ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against13him.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Jude 1:5. But I will remind you—believed not.—This connects with 2 Peter 1:12, although there the reference is not to historical facts, but to doctrines. In like manner the words,“you who know all things once for all” revert to that passage as well as to προγινώσκοντες, 2 Peter 3:17.—ἅπαξ τοῦτο (cf. Appar. Crit., N. 5). It is inadmissible to connect ἅπαξ with ὑπομνῆσαι, or to take it in the sense of once, formerly, from the beginning; it rather has here its usual meaning, you have heard it once for all and stamped it on your memory; you need not any new instruction on that head; but it is matter of urgent necessity for you to be reminded of it, earnestly to deliberate upon it, and to apply what has taken place to events as they occur. It is not related to the following τὸ δεύτερον. If we adopt the reading πάντα, all that is necessary is to connect it with the sequel, to the historical facts, and hence not to take it as at 1 John 2:20. [εἰδότας πάντα. Remembering that Jude wrote against the Gnostics (the men of knowledge), who laid claim to superior knowledge, and on that pretence beguiled their hearers into corrupt doctrines and licentious practices (2 Peter 1:2-3), the words εἰδότας πάντα seem to have an implied antithesis, and while affirming of his readers that they had all the knowledge necessary to their salvation (1 John 2:20), put them on their guard against the pretended superiority of knowledge of the Gnostics. See Wordsworth in loc.—M.].—Huther says on the reading ὁ ̓Ιησοῦς that it unfolds the same view as 1 Corinthians 10:4, and that the name of Jesus in this connection may be accounted for by the popular character of a parenetic Epistle.—τὸ δεύτερον neither=afterward, nor=on the contrary (Grotius). Forced is also the explanation of Winer, pp. 642, 643: “The Lord, after having delivered them, did, on a second occasion (when they were in need of His helping grace), refuse them His delivering grace and destroy them.” Equally unnatural is that of Huther: “God did reveal Himself to His people in two ways, the first time as a Deliverer, the second time as Judge, that is in the latter instance as Judge of the unbelieving who did not trustfully and obediently rely upon His promise.” Similarly Stier: “After God’s deliverance and pardoning there is also a second time surely following in the case of the unworthy.” No, it is said, He destroyed them the second time, and should be referred to two judgments of destruction, once, when the people, with the exception of a few, perished in the wilderness, and again to the Babylonish captivity, Numbers 14:23; 2 Chronicles 36:16, etc. The corresponding passage in 2 Peter (2:2) specifies the example of the flood; Jude wished to select a still stronger example, exhibiting a two-fold destruction of the chosen people. Notwithstanding the former wonderful deliverance, the people were twice destroyed. Had this Epistle been written after the destruction of Jerusalem, Jude might have added a τὸ τρίτον. [Notwithstanding Fronmüller’s emphatic assertion to the contrary, we feel constrained to advocate the view recommended in Appar. Crit., note 6. It is more telling in point of fact and more congruous in point of doctrine; it is perfectly sound in point of grammar, and the charge of its being forced and unnatural is arbitrary and unsupported by reasons.—M.]

Jude 1:6. And the angels—darkness.—The allusion in 2 Peter 2:4 is here more fully explained. If it could be proved that Jude had before him the book of Enoch, which repeatedly adverts to the coming down of the angels in order to contaminate themselves with women, we should not be warranted to think here of the first fall in the world of spirits. But this presumption is not certain. See note on 2 Peter 2:4.

Their first estate.—Huther explains ἀρχή of the dominion, originally assigned to them; others (e.g., Calvin, Grotius) of their original condition, estate, cf. John 8:44. Both ideas may be combined as Stier [and others] do. [In that case we have primam dignitatem, Carpz. al.—M.]

Their own habitation, not heaven in general, but their own dwelling of light assigned to them by the Creator. Their fall and guilt seem to have been the consequence of their leaving that habitation and arbitrarily going beyond the sphere allotted to them. There is no explicit reference to Satan, but μὴ τηρεῖν, which points to incitement from without, may allude to him. Delitzsch: “They made themselves at home on earth and exchanged the power belonging to their vocation in heaven with an earthly exhibition of power usurped for the sake of selfish sensual indulgence.”

For the judgment of the great day, i.e., for the last judgment at the end of the world; an amplification of 2 Peter 2:4; cf. Acts 2:20; Revelation 6:17; Revelation 16:14.

With everlasting bonds.—Peter has only “chains (bands) of darkness,” cf Jude 1:7. The book of Enoch has this variation: “Bind them for seventy generations under the earth until the day of judgment, then shall they be removed to the lowest depths of fire.”

Under darkness.—De Wette: “In the depth of the under-world, in the abyss.” Revelation 20:2-3. At the same time the reference to the inward, spiritual darkness of the love of evil, must not be overlooked. See 2 Peter 2:4. [Clement of Alex. says,“that the chains in which the evil angels are now confined, are the air near this earth of ours,(“vicinus terris locus, caliginosus aër), and that they may well be said to be chained, because they are restrained from recovering the glory and happiness they have lost.”

Wordsworth: “This passage is cited by Origen in Mtt. tom., XV., p. 693, and in Rom. lib. 3., vol. IV., p. 510, where he calls this Epistle Scriptura divina,” ibid, lib., V., p. 549.—M.]

Jude 1:7. How Sodom and Gomorrah, etc.—To the two examples taken from the past history of Israel and the invisible world, Jude, again agreeing with Peter, adds a new example, taken from the heathen world, of a punitive judgment the consequences of which still remain.

The cities around them, an addition to 2 Peter 2:6. Admah and Zeboim. Deuteronomy 29:23; Hosea 11:8.

In like manner as these men, τούτοις may be connected with Sodom and Gomorrah, that is, the inhabitants of those cities; as the sin of those cities is generally known, it cannot be thought strange that it is indirectly adverted to. It is less known of the other two cities, hence the selection of this word. Bengel refers τούτοις to the false teachers, Jude 1:4, but he thereby anticipates the thought of Jude 1:8. The majority of modern expositors believe the reference to be to the fallen angels, who, according to the book of Enoch, sinned in like manner. See on 2 Peter 2:6. We cannot believe that Jude or Peter considered fables of apocryphal books, like those contained in the book of Enoch and the Gospel of the Twelve Patriarchs, and which cannot be substantiated by Genesis 4:0. to be true,(see Evangel. Kirchenzeitung, 1858, p. 35, sq.), although Jude refers to them and confirms some of their statements. [Bengel’s construction, which is also that of Wordsworth and others, seems to be more natural and less artificial than that recommended by Fronmüller. The anticipation of the thought of Jude 1:8, is no valid objection. Jude first points out the analogy in general terms and then develops it. The very sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were those of some of the Gnostic sects. See the description of the Nicolaitans in Iren. 1:20; Theodoret haer. fab., 1. Epiphan. haer. 25.—M.]

ἐκπορνεύειν, although not used elsewhere in the New Testament, is of frequent occurrence in the LXX., where it is generally applied to spiritual whoredom, but also to physical in Genesis 38:24 for זָנָה. ἐκ is intensive, and denotes extravagant lust. The idea “transcending the limits of nature” belongs to what follows.

Gone after strange flesh, ἀπελθοῦσαι ὀπίσω σαρκὸς ἑτέρας;—ἀπέρχεσθαι ὀπίσω, to go after, literally, Mark 1:20; then tropically. Peter uses the term τορεύεσθαι ὀπίσω, 2 Peter 2:10. See note there. It is evident that this term cannot apply to angels, who have no flesh.

Are set forth, etc.; πρόκεινται [literally: lie before the eyes, ante (oculos) jacent.—M.] The parallel passage, 2 Peter 2:6, has a different turn,“having made [set, instituted—M.] them an example.” There we have ὑπόδειγμα, here δεῖγμα. The Dead Sea is to this day a testimony of that catastrophe; ruins of the sunken cities were perhaps still visible in the days of Jude at low-water; but this is not the case now, although such a myth of travellers is occasionally circulated. See Zeller Bibl. Wörterbuch, p. 510.

Πυρὸς αἰωνίου should be construed with δίκην,(de Wette), not with δεῖγμα. Stier: “They suffer a punishment intended to serve as an example and type of eternal fire.” Cf. Wis 10:7 [On the construction with δίκην, Wordsworth offers the following exposition: “As Sodom and Gomorrah suffer the vengeance of a fire that consumed them finally, so that they will never be restored, as long as the world lasts, so the bodies and souls of the wicked will suffer, as long as they are capable of suffering, which, since they are immortal, will, as Tertullian says: “be forever,” “erimus iidem, qui nunc, nec alii post resurrectionem: Dei quidem cultores, apud Deum semper, profani verò in pœnam aqueè jugis ignis habentes est ipsâ naturâ ejus, divinâ scilicet, subministrationem incorruptibilitatis.” Apol. 48.—M]. De Wette says that “subterraneous fire is presumed to be beneath the sea that covers the cities.” May this not be a false presumption?—ὑπέχειν, 2Ma 4:48; 2 Thessalonians 1:9. [On the Eternity of future punishment, see Bp. Taylor’s Sermon on Christ’s advent to judgment, part III., §. 6.—M.]

Jude 1:8. Now in like manner, etc.—μέντοι has at once illative and adversative force. Now, in like manner, however—i.e., without taking warning from those Divine judgments.

These dreamers also, refers back to Jude 1:4. ̓Ενυπνιαζόμενοι, on account of μὲν and δὲ should be construed both with μιαίνουσι and ἀθετοῦσι. This sets aside various false interpretations, which make reference to voluptuous dreams, nocturnal pollutions, etc. As ἐνύπνιον differs from ὅνειρος in that the former denotes a confused state of soul, an abnormal influence of the imagination on the bodily organs, whereas the latter designates a clear and sometimes most significant dream, so ἐνυτνιαζόμενοι is designed to portray that state of the soul in which the Ego is controlled and held captive by the power of ungodly, sensual impulses. Stier: “Their inner man is benumbed, blinded, absorbed by gloomy visions, dreamy and holden with sleep. Cf. Isaiah 29:10.

[Bengel: “Uno verbo ἐνυπνιαζόμενοι hominum mere naturalium indoles graphice admodum descripta est. Somnians multa videre, audire, etc., sibi videtur; concupiscentia agitatur, gaudio, angore, timore, rel. At nescit imperare sibi in isto statu: sed qualis est imago in somnio ex imagine orta, talis hominum illorum conditio. Hinc, omnibus licet rationis nervis adhibitis, concipere nequeunt, filios lucis vera libertate, in luci expergefactos, perfrui.”

Hornejus: “Tam insipientes sunt, ut quasi lethargo quodam sopiti non tantum impure vivant, sed etiam quæ non norunt tam audaciter vituperent.”

Arnaud: “Cependant ceux-ci, comme des gens qui agissent sans savoir ce qu’ils font, comme s’ils rêvaient, pour ainsi dire.….”—M.]

Defile the flesh, i.e., their own and strange flesh. The idea has a turn somewhat different from 2 Peter 2:10, to which Jude here alludes. Peter speaks of the lust, Jude of its gratification. In the sequel also Jude goes farther than Peter, a circumstance noteworthy with regard to their relation to each other. Ἀθετεῖν stronger than καταφρονεῖν; see on 2 Peter 2:10. Jude 1:11. In like manner 9 contains an expansion of and deviation from 2 Peter 2:11. The attempt of interpreting that passage by the verse under notice leads to confusion and forced meanings.

Jude 1:9. But Michael, the archangel, etc.—A comparison showing the daring and criminality of their blaspheming. They dare to do something against the lordship and the glories (see on them note on 2 Peter 2:11), which even Michael, the archangel, did not venture to do against Satan. The Hebrew Michael signifies,“Who is like God,” and denotes the humility and greatness of this Prince of angels, as well as the standard of all his actions, cf. Exodus 15:11; Psalms 89:7-8. He is called one of the chief Princes, Daniel 10:13; the great Prince standing up and fighting for the children of the people of God, Daniel 12:1; cf. Revelation 12:7; 1 Thessalonians 4:16. In the book of Enoch, where however the incident mentioned is not recorded, we read of him (as cited by Huther): “Who (set) over human virtue, governs the nations.” Jude supposes his readers familiar with this incident. The Jews had from ancient times various traditions of the burial of Moses, of a contest about his soul. According to Oecumenius, the tradition ran that God had charged Michael the archangel with the burial of Moses; that Satan opposed him, bringing an accusation against him relating to the murder of the Egyptian; in consequence of which he was unworthy of such honourable burial. Jude, like Paul, 2 Timothy 3:8, probably drew from this tradition, the Spirit of God directing him to extract the truth from those traditions. It is therefore not necessary to assume here a special revelation vouchsafed to Jude. Origen, Epiphanius and others refer to a book called “The Ascension or Removal of Moses”, but that book is doubtless of a later origin, and it is more probable that Jude made use of oral tradition rather than of that book.

Contending with the devil.—Διακρινόμενος διελέγετο; διακρίνεσθαι, to get into dispute, to separate and disagree, particularly to carry on a dispute in law. The words διαλέγετο ὅτε τῷ διαβόλῳ show that it was a verbal altercation. Stier: “The powers of heaven and hell contended consequently for the, body of the man of God after his death.”

Dared not, etc.—Huther: “From fear of the original glory of the devil.” Better,“from profound dread of the majesty of God.” Κρίσιν ἐπιφέρειν, cf. Acts 25:18, to give a sentence of condemnation against one. Βλασφημίας βλάσφημον, 2 Peter 2:11, words of insult, anger, or words of satire and mockery. Stier remarks, that even Father Luther did occasionally transgress in this respect and speak far too defiantly against the enemy.

The Lord rebuke thee.—The Angel of the Covenant addresses these words to Satan in Zechariah 3:2; cf. Acts 23:3.; 2 Timothy 4:14. The enemy himself has betrayed the secret that he may be overcome by the words,“The Most Merciful rebuke thee.” Bengel: “Modesty is an angelic virtue.”

Jude 1:10. These, however, etc.—Jude now passes from the particular expression of that daring disposition to the general. They speak evil, in general, of all things which they know not. For ὅσα is not=â, but=quæcunque. The reference is to the whole sphere of things invisible and heavenly, including the δόξαι. They are held by the delusion of materialism, that only that is real which may be seen with the eyes and touched by the hands, cf. Colossians 2:18.

But those things which they understand.—̔Επίστανται, apparently stronger than οἴδασι, is an ironical expression. The things they thoroughly understand, viz., the objects and means of sensual enjoyment, they use for their destruction, and really understand nothing of their nature and effects.

Naturally, as the brute beasts; φυσικῶς ὡς τὰ ἄλογα ζῶα, go together. Their understanding does not go beyond that which the instincts of nature, the instinctive desire of food and procreation, teach brute beasts. But they sink even beneath them because of their own free will and deliberation, they prostitute in carnal indulgence those powers of the soul which ought to introduce them to God and heavenly things. The parallel passage, 2 Peter 2:12, reads: “They speak evil of the things that they understand not,” with this difference, however, that Peter not only states the additional particular of the destiny of the brute creation, but connects also φυσικὰ with ζῶα, whereas here it goes with ἐπίστασθαι. It is evident that Jude made free use of the passage in Peter.

Therein do they ruin themselves, cf. 2 Peter 2:12; Psalms 49:13, 21.

Jude 1:11. Woe unto them, etc.—An utterance of woe, of frequent occurrence in the speeches of our Lord, expressive of pain and indignation, and conveying the threat of punishment, cf. Matthew 11:21; Matthew 18:7; Matthew 23:13; Matthew 24:19; Matthew 26:24; Mark 14:21; Mark 13:17; Luke 6:24-25; Luke 11:42; Luke 17:1. Bengel: “The only passage where this Apostle alone utters a woe for three reasons.” Paul says, 1 Corinthians 9:16 : “Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel.” The expression occurs repeatedly in the book of Revelation, Revelation 8:13; Revelation 9:12; Revelation 11:14; Revelation 12:12; Revelation 18:10; Revelation 18:16; Revelation 18:19. 2 Peter 2:14, has “cursed children,” lit. “children of malediction.” Jude paraphrases it by,“woe unto them,” which threatens them with the curse. Jude, in addition to the example of Balaam, which we have in 2 Peter, produces the examples of Cain and the company of Core as types of the mind and judgment of those persons. He adverts rather to the order of the matter than to the order of time.

They walked.—De Wette: “Their career is regarded as already completed, the author prophetically foreseeing their end.” This contains a hint in favour of the genuineness of the Epistle.

The way of Cain; τῇ ὁδῷ, cf. Acts 14:16; Acts 9:31; the Dative of the direction in which [see above App. Crit., note 20.—M.], cf. 1 Samuel 15:20; LXX., Tob 4:5. It is not difficult to find the point of comparison. It is acting upon mere natural instincts, on the selfish impulses of nature (cf. φυσικῶς, Jude 1:10), in contempt of the warnings of God in the conscience and in His word. De Wette stops at the idea that Cain is here mentioned as the archetype of all bad men. Too general. Calov and others understand it of spiritual murder by deceiving the brethren, or of fiery persecution, so Lyra. Arbitrary. Schnecken, burger refers to the moral skepticism of the deceivers, since in the later writings of the Jews, Cain is represented to have said: “There is no Judge, no other world, no reward for the righteous, no punishment for the wicked.” Farfetched. Stier: “Selfish, hateful envy of the pious brother, because his piety was pleasing to God, consequently to God and man at one and the same time, the resistance of an evil conscience which is defiant instead of humbling itself, the root of the Cainite sin from which full hatred develops with fearful velocity into the act of murder.” Huther: “In comparing these false teachers with Cain, Jude intends to describe them as resisting God from envy of the grace shown to believers.” But this is not the description of those deceivers.—[Wordsworth: “Specially applicable to some classes of the Gnostics, who dared impiously to affirm that ‘Cain was made by a power superior to that of the Creator; and who acknowledged Esau, Korah and the Sodomites, and all such, as their own kindred.’ See Iren. 1, 31. (Stieren), 1, 35, p. 113 (Grabe). Cf. Tertull., Præscr. c. 47; Clem. Alexandr., Strom. 7, p. 549; Hippolyt., Phil. p. 133; Epiph., Hær. 38; Theodoret, Hæret. fab. c. 15; Philostr. c. 2; Tillemont, II., p. 21. These false teachers destroy like Cain; they love lucre and allure to sin like Balaam; they make divisions in the Church of Christ like Korah. Catena, p. 164, and cf. Bede on 1 John 1:6.”—M.]

And in the error of Balaam, etc.—Peter has,“They went astray, following the way of Balaam, the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness.” Jude gives this in a contracted form. See 2 Peter 2:15-16. πλάνῃ, cf. 2 Peter 2:18; James 5:20; Ezekiel 33:16, LXX. Huther: “Vicious life averted from the truth.” Not=εἰς πλάνην, but the Dative of direction in which, like τῇ ὁδῷ and with ἐξακολουθεῖν, 2 Peter 2:15; in the direction of erring.

Has drawn them along [they rushed headlong, see Appar. Crit., note 20.—M.]; ἐκχεῖσθαι, Middle, to stream forth like a torrent without a dam (Bengel), to suffer oneself to be carried away like the Latin effundi in venerem, in libidines. At the same time we may think of the meaning of שָׁפַךְ, to slip and fall, Psalms 63:2. [The force of the Greek verb is rather “to pour oneself out in a torrent.” See Loesner, p. 583.—M.]. Ἐξεχύθησαν μισθοῦ.The explanation,“They threw themselves into the error of Balaam for hire (=ἀντὶ or ἔνεκα),” is false; so is that of Schnecken burger: “They threw themselves into the error of Balaam in expectation of reward.” De Wette’s rendering also is very forced: “Through the seduction of Balaam’s reward they poured themselves out in vice.” In that case we ought to have τοῦ μισθοῦ Βαλαάμ.—Μισθοῦ should rather be taken in apposition with Βαλαάμ, a brief allusion, which is easily explained on the supposition that Jude had before him 2 Peter 2:15. The point of comparison lies first in selfishness and avarice, then in seduction to unchastity.

In the gainsaying of Core they perished.—ἀντιλέγειν, to contradict, to quarrel, to offer resistance, used in LXX. for מְרִיבָה, cf. John 19:12; Hebrews 6:16; Hebrews 7:7; Hebrews 12:3. Κορέ, cf. Numbers 16:32; Numbers 26:10. It was an insurrection against the Lord and His representatives under the cover of right and religion. Huther: “They lost themselves in the gainsaying of Core.” He thinks that both the parallelism of the three clauses and the Preterite of the verb favour such a construction. The last reason proves nothing (see above), and the first is counterbalanced by the circumstance that ἀπολέσθαι is not used in the sense of losing oneself into a thing, of entangling oneself. Matthew 10:6 is not a parallel passage. Grammatical usage permits no other explanation than this: “they perished in the gainsaying of Core, by offering like resistance to God and His holy ordinances.” Stier sees a gradation in the words way, error and gainsaying. “The end and the beginning of the whole way is illustrated at the very commencement of history in the case of Cain, the rushing progress in the way of error is especially exhibited in the case of Balaam, the final insurrection and provocation of judgment is typified in Korah.” Huther calls to mind that opposition to God sprung, in the case of Cain, from envy, in that of Balaam, from covetousness, in that of Korah from pride; Jude 1:12 gives a further delineation of these deceivers, similar to 2 Peter 2:13; 2 Peter 2:17. [Irenæus, IV., 43, ed. Grabe: “The doom of those who rise against the true faith, and excite others against the Church of God, is to be swallowed up by the earth, and to remain in the gulf below, with Korah, Dathan and Abiram.”—M]

Jude 1:12. These are spots in your love-feasts, etc.—ἐν ταῖς , in your love-feasts, not, as Luther renders, in your alms, the exhibitions of love. The early degeneracy of the love-feasts connected with the Lord’s Supper is evident from 1 Corinthians 11:20, etc. [Hippolytus, Ref. Hæres., p. 172, states that the Simonians said that their promiscuous μίξεις were τελείαν and μακαρίζοντας ἑαυτοῦς ἐπὶ τῇ μίξει.—M.].—Σπίλάδες; σπίλαξ or really denotes a rock or a cliff, from σπέος, while σπίλος, the word used by Peter, means both a cliff and a spot. De Wette and Huther favour the literal sense: “It is these who are cliffs in your love-feasts, i.e., on which these feasts split, or good morals suffer shipwreck (cf. 1 Timothy 1:19).” It is more simple to understand it of the seductive, dangerous power of these men. But we agree with Stier in preferring the sense of stain, spot, because, as he remarks, grammatical usage might easily change in words of such near affinity; these words having a common root might be used more or less loosely, and the parallel in 2 Peter favouring it. Possibly both (Peter and Jude) alluded to Deuteronomy 32:5. [Aretius:—“σπίλας non solum est glarea, hoc est, ferræ species quæ maculas facile relinquit, sed est etiam concavum saxum in littore maris, seu lacuum ac fluminum, in quam concavitatem tanquam in commune receptaculum sordes aquarum confluunt.” Mack. (Scott, Bloomf.): “The word σπιλάδες properly signifies rocks in the sea, which, when they the above its surface, appear like spots.” Oecumen., Theophyl. (ὕφαλοι πέτραι), Lightoot, Wetstein, Whitby, Meyer, de Wette, Schleusner, Huther, Peile, Lillie, Alford, Wordsworth, al., all agree in rendering “rocks.” It is the only sense in which it occurs in ancient authors; it is, moreover, in better unison with the other metaphors by which Jude describes the false teachers (clouds, trees, waves, wandering stars) than spots. On these grounds we prefer “rocks” to “spots.”—Wordsworth:—“These σπιλάδες may be well said to be ἐν ταῖς , where the Church looks only for peace and safety, as in a deep and placid harbor. The words scopulus, φάρανξ, Charybdis, Euripus barathrum, etc., are thus applied frequently to persons. See Floruas, 4, 9, where Antony is called a scopulus; and Aristoph. Equites, 248, φάραγγα, καὶ Χάρυβδιν ἁρπαγῆς, and Anthol., 2, 15. 1, εἰς δολίους, where treacherous persons are compared to ὕφαλοι πέτραι. Horat., Ep. I., 15. 31,—

Pernicies et tempestas barathrumque macelli,

Quicquid quæsierat ventri donabat avaro.—M.]

συνευωχούμενοι. De Wette objects to supplying ὑμῖν, and translates “carousing together without fear;” so Stier. But since 2 Peter 2:13 has ὑμῖν, and ἀφόβως thus gets a better sense, moreover since otherwise σύν would be superfluous, it is perhaps better to render: “They carouse with you, push themselves to your love-feasts.” It is singular, however, that they not only would do so with impunity, but that Jude does not insist upon separation. The same objection, however, arises at 2 Peter 2:13, and is not so very difficult to be met. [It is to be regretted that Fronmüller has withheld the solution of the difficulty. The only one we are able to supply is that these false teachers abused the well-known liberal hospitality of the early Christians by clandestinely appearing at their love-feasts. The insertion of ὑμῖν is against the weight of MSS. evidence, and discountenanced by the majority of versions and reliable exegetes.—M.]

Without fear.—The most natural construction is to take ἀφόβως with συνευωχούμενοι, not with ποιμαίνοντες (Stier), which would isolate the former too much. They are so insolent as to dread neither correction nor expulsion, and still less the monitions of their own conscience. Bengel misses the sense by rendering,“To feast together is not wrong per se, therefore, ἀφόβως ought to be connected with this verb (ποιμαίν.).”

Feeding themselves.—Jude refers to Ezekiel 34:2; Ezekiel 34:8,“Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves,” cf. Isaiah 56:11. We learn from this circumstance that those deceivers set up as guides and leaders of the flock, and that they sought the wool of the sheep, not the sheep themselves, cf. 1 Peter 5:2. [Alford:—“Using the ἀγάπαι not for their legitimate purpose, the realization of the unity of Christians by social union, but for their own purposes, the enjoyment of their lusts and the furtherance of their schemes.”—M.]. The remark of Huther, that there is no other hint of said adversaries having filled the ecclesiastical office, is perfectly true, but that does not exclude their setting up as teachers and leaders. The true point of view is displaced if ποιμαίνοντες is restricted to the agapæ and expounded (as de Wette does),“They take their fill while they suffer the poor (the majority, the flock) to want,” 1 Corinthians 11:21. ποιμαίνειν, in that sense, would be an inappropriate term. The sequel also does not relate to the agapæ.

Clouds without water, driven fast by winds.—[Alford:—“Driven out of course by winds;” he reads παραφερόμενοι (with A. B. C. K., al.), borne out of their course, hither and thither.—M.]. In 2 Peter 2:17 another figure, viz.: “wells without water,” precedes the parallel to this, while here one is added which is wanting there, viz.: “dead trees.” De Wette, who applies the figure to the agapæ, is certainly wrong in saying that these men added largely to the agapæ, without sharing their contributions with the poor. No, the reference is rather to the promise and boasting of great and profound knowledge, but it is idle show and vapour, cf. Proverbs 25:14. They are carried about by every wind of doctrine, and cannot satisfy the wants of those who thirst for the truth. Huther:—“The figure delineates the inward spiritual emptiness of those men, who on that account are unable to do good, but it seems also to intimate their deceptive ostentation, which has been pointed out by Calvin.” The reference to doing good, however, belongs not to this, but to the next figure. ποιμαίνοντες and νεφέλαι point unmistakably to their arrogated teaching and leading.—Περιφερόμεναι, driven about, fitfully driven to and fro. [See above Appar. Crit., note 22.—M.] Peter has ἐλαυνόμεναι.

Late autumnal trees, etc.—Φθινοπωρινά, from φθίνω and ὀπώρα; ὀπώρα signifies the hottest season of the year; when that is over (φθίνει), the φθινόπωρον, late autumn, the beginning of winter, sets in; the adjective denotes, therefore,“late-autumnal,” not “fruit spoiling,” as Stier renders, contrary to grammatical usage. [The best account of this word is that given by Lillie in loco, which is here transcribed: “According to Passow (as translated by Liddell and Scott), ὀπώρα Isaiah , 1,‘the part of the year between the rising of Sirius and of Arcturus. … not so much …. autumn as our dog days, or at most the end of summer;, and then, because this was the season of fruit, it stands, 2, for ‘the fruit itself, esp. tree-fruit;—and hence also the verb ὀπωρίζω is to gather fruits. φθίνω, again is used, 1, intransitively, to decay, wither, and, 2, transitively, to corrupt, destroy. Joining the two words, each in its first signification, we have φθινόπωρον, autumn, or more commonly, senescens auctumnus et in hyemem vergens (Steph. Scap.), late autumn, the fall of the year (L. and S.); and φθινοπωρινός, belonging to that season—which are the only meanings of those compounds which the lexicons recognize as classical. In that sense, accordingly, is the Adjective taken here, in connection with ἄκαρπα, by Wicl. (harvest-trees without fruit), Tynd., Cranm.,(without fr. at gathering time), Castal.,(autumnales infructuosæ), Thom.,(auctumnal trees without fruit), Dav.,(aut. trees stripped of their fruit); and apart from that connection, by Rhemish; Vulg., and its followers generally, Dutch, French, Swiss, margin; Engl., Ann., Hamm.; Cocc.; Beausobre and L’Enfant, margin; Bengel, Moldenh; Hænlein (erroneously cited by Huther), Meyer, Gerlach, Barn.; de W.; Peile,(trees on the wane—“fallen into the sere and yellow leaf”), Huther;—Wahl, Robinson, Green,(autumnal, sere, bare), Schirl. The same interpretation is allowed also by Zeg., Wits., Gill, Laurm., Rosenm., Trol.,(‘without leaves,’ [which is also Wesley’s version],‘as trees are in autumn’), Bloomf.;—Schleusn. The second significations of φθίνω and ὀπώρα, however, appear combined in the use, according to Phavor., of φθινόπωρον to denote νόσος φθίνουσα ὀπώρας (hence Clarke: galled or diseased trees; an etymology and sense allowed also by Wits., Laurm., Trol., cankered;—Schleus.), and in Pindar’s use of φθινοπωρίς. Liddell and Scott do, indeed, mark this last word as a ‘pecul. fem.’ of φθινοπωρινός, which they explain to mean autumnal. But in the passage referred to—Pyth., 5, 161, 162, φθινοπωρὶς —φθινοπωρὶς evidently does not mean that, but rather the blighting influence of these wintry blasts, and so it is explained by the best commentators of Pindar. Heyne translates thus: ‘fructibus exitialis ventorum hibernus flatus;’ and the most recent editor, Prof. Schneidewin, has the following note: ‘ὀπώρα ὥρα auctumus, annus dicuntur pro iis quæ giguntur iis temporibus. Jam sensus: Valeas viribus et consilio etiam in posterum, ne ventus brumalis tibi perdat temporis fructus.’ If it be said that the common version requires the noun to be taken in its second signification and the verb in its first, it may be replied, 1, that this acknowledged secondary meaning of the noun is its meaning in the only place where it is found in the New Testament, viz.: Revelation 18:14;—Revelation 2:0, that the intransitive use of the verb is by far the more frequent;—and, 3, that the verb retains this intransitive sense in other analogous cases of composition; e.g., φθινόκαρπος, applied by Pindar, Pyth., 4, 471, to an oak from which the limbs had been lopped; and φθινόκωλος, with wasting limbs (L. and S.). While, therefore, our present form φθινοπωρινός may not, in the one or two instances where it is found elsewhere, bear the meaning here ascribed to it, I concur nevertheless in the remark of Grotius: ‘Si usum vocis respicias, dicit arbores auctumnales. Sed magis respicitur ἐτυμολογία vocis, ut dicat eos similes esse arboribus, quarum fructus perit illico.’ This sense, moreover, is more in harmony with the design of the writer, which is to describe the characteristic and inward spiritual desolation of these wicked men …., and it lays a firmer basis for the dreadful climax whereby he effects that object, cf. Matthew 13:22; Luke 8:14, etc.”—M.] They stand there, like late-autumnal trees, which have no fruit but only dry leaves. They deceive our expectations, as the baren fig-tree, Matthew 21:19; Luke 13:6, and are therefore ripe for the curse and woodman’s axe. As we expect the clouds to yield water, so we expect the trees to yield fruit. The former relates to their teaching, the latter to their life. Bengel:—“Trees, as they appear at the end of autumn, without fruit and leaves,” cf. Isaiah 1:30. Jude thinks of persons, who year after year are like late-autumnal trees. This is not a weak, but a very striking description, whereas, if we follow the etymology, the addition of ἄκαρπος would be superfluous.

Unfruitful.—Not “whose fruit has been taken off,” as de Wette, but without fruit [or better, incapable of yielding fruit.—M.]

Twice dead, not=wholly dead, which is arbitrary, for the figure is taken from trees which have at different times suffered fatal injury by frost or from insects. Stier: “By nature we are through the fall altogether dead trees; now these persons, having received the grace of regeneration, have died a second time (2 Peter 2:20). This is the second death in guilt and punishment.” Others (like Grotius) erroneously interpret these words of the first (earthly) and the second (post-terrene) death, seeing death had not yet affected them in either respect. [Wordsworth: “So these men are trees, which died twice, because these men having been once dead in trespasses and sins, arid raised to life in baptism, have relapsed and apostatized into the death of sin, and so have died twice; and because by their sins they have incurred the second death. See Revelation 2:11; Revelation 20:6; Revelation 20:14; Revelation 21:8, where it is said that the second death is the penalty of the unbelieving, abominable, and fornicators.” Oecumenius: “τὰ φθινοπώρινα δένδρα δὶς ,ἔν τε τῇ τοῦ καρποῦ αὐτῶν ,καὶ ἐν τῇ τῶν φύλλων .” De Wette illustrates by “bis dat qui cito dat,” and Horace’s “pro quo bis patior mori.” Alford refers to the double death in a tree, which is not only as it seems to the eye in common with other trees, in the apparent death of winter, but really dead: dead to appearance and dead in reality.—M.]

Uprooted, not trees dug out and thus eradicated, but such as still remain in the earth, shaken loose by their roots, and thus incapable of shedding leaves and bearing fruit. Figurative description of men torn loose from this vital foundation and the communion of the Church, no longer moved by the Holy Spirit, having ceased to do good works, and doomed to the penalty of the obdurate, cf. John 15:6; Matthew 3:10. [Arnaud: “Tous ces mots sont des métaphores energiques pour montrer le néant de ces impures, la légèreté de leur conduite, la sterilité de leur foi et l’absence de leurs bonnes mœurs.”—M.]

Jude 1:13. Raging waves of the sea [German,“wild waves,” better than raging, so Alford.—M.]. The Apostle probably thought of Isaiah 57:20 : “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt,” cf. Wis 14:1. ἄγριος is elsewhere used of wild beasts. The figure describes their passionate conduct, their rushing against divinely-ordered barriers, their inward impurity and hurtfulness, cf. Psalms 46:4. The figurative expression of Isaiah has a literal application in the Epistle.

̓Επαφρίζειν, properly to foam over, cover with foam, foam out. αἰσχύνας, an emphatic Plural, as 1 Peter 4:3, all kinds of shame proceeding from the evil treasure of the heart. Huther: “Shameful lusts, which they exhibit in their wild, immoral life.”

Wandering stars, etc.—ἀστέρες πλανῆται, wandering stars, from πλανᾷν πλανᾶσθαι, cf. 5:11; 2 Timothy 3:13. [Alford: “Comets, which astonish the world for awhile and then pass away into darkness.—Those professing Christians, by their profession of being lights in the world, instead of letting that light shine on more and more into the perfect day, are drifting about in strange errors of doctrine and practice, until it will be utterly extinguished in eternal darkness.”—M.]. It is difficult to see why the reference to comets, which were known to the people in ancient times, should be pronounced arbitrary (Huther). “That have no regular course, and depart from the sun (of righteousness).” Meyer. So also de Wette and Stier; the latter says: “If a star loses or deviates from its place or course, it either falls forthwith down dark, or, and, that is the sense here, it roves awhile with deceitful light until it reaches the point and catastrophe, which God has appointed.” The word ἀστέρες again contains a reference to men, that set up for lights of the Church, cf. Revelation 1:20; Daniel 12:3; Philippians 2:15. So Oecumenius. We must not think of authorized teachers, but remember that men, in order to gain distinction in those Churches, had to render themselves prominent by the light of knowledge; de Wette interprets the metaphor of the outward splendour of the luxury and perhaps also of the authority of those men; Huther applies the metaphor to unstable men, driven hither and thither by their carnal appetites, whose life presents the strongest contrast to the calm, well-ordered life of Christians. But this does not explain the term ἀστέρες.—Bengel observes: “It has recently been discovered that planets are opaque bodies that shine with borrowed light. Jude was enabled to intimate this in virtue of Divine illumination.” But the reference is neither to planets nor their opacity.

To whom [better, for whom.—M.] the blackness of darkness is reserved forever.—Cf. the parallel passage, 2 Peter 2:17, and the commentary on it. Stier: “The comets, as unstable, disrupted ruins, may be hastening forward to a final darkness among the slags of the last process of reconstruction.”

Jude 1:14. But of [for.—M.] these also prophesied Enoch, the seventh from Adam..—Now follows a prophecy of Enoch of these people. τούτοις, with reference to them; see Winer, p. 244, cf. Luke 18:31.—καὶ should be connected with προφήτευσε, not with τούτοις. As other prophets, so Enoch also, the most ancient of prophets.

The seventh from Adam, cf. Genesis 5:18. There are really only five patriarchs between Enoch and Adam, viz., Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel and Jared, but Adam is included as the first. This designation, although omitted by commentators, occurs repeatedly in the book of Enoch; e.g., we read, Enoch 93:3: “I, as the seventh, am born in the first week, while judgment and justice were delayed;” cf. Enoch 60:8: “In the seventh week there shall arise an apostate generation;” Enoch 37:1, traces back the genealogy of Enoch to Adam, not for the sake of embellishment, but in order to remove all doubt as to his personal identity.” The epithet “the seventh” cannot be without meaning; Calvin thinks that it is intended to denote the great age of this prophecy; others see in it a secret, mystical meaning. Bengel: “Every seventh is the most esteemed.” Stier: “The seventh from Adam is personally a type of the sanctified of the seventh age of the world (of the seventh millennium, of the great earth-sabbath), therefore he prophesies for this time.” Menken: “The number seven was esteemed in the ancient world as an important signature pointing to the sacred and mystery. The fact that after sin and death had freely exerted their unhappy power during the first six generations, in the seventh generation mankind appeared in the person of one man (who had led a godly life, and was taken by God to God without seeing death) in a state of high completeness and blessed freedom from death, has a kind of prophetico-symbolical significance, and intimates that mankind in general, after having duly completed its course and fought its battle under the oppression of sin and death through six long world-periods, shall appear in the seventh world-period in a state of higher completeness, in a more Divine life and more blessed freedom from death. The seventh world-period is the Kingdom of God on earth. To Adam, the first, was revealed and promised the appearance and advent of the Lord, as a Helper and Saviour; to Enoch, the seventh from Adam, was revealed the last advent of the same Lord, Helper and Saviour, as a Judge and Avenger, and he was the first prophet, who spoke and taught this among men.” [“The number seven is sacred above all; Enoch is seventh from Adam and walks with God; Moses is seventh from Abraham; Phineas is seventh from Jacob our father, as Enoch was seventh from Adam. And they correspond to the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, the day of rest. Every seventh age is in the highest esteem.” Wetstein, citing Rabbinical writings, p. 737. Wordsworth deems it worthy of remark, that Enoch lived as many years as there are days in a solar year, viz., 365, and was then translated (Genesis 5:24.)—M.]. The words which follow are found almost literally in the above-mentioned apocryphal book of Enoch, which was formerly known only by fragments and notices of the early fathers, but has recently been discovered in an Æthiopic translation and translated from the Æthiopic into German. It became known in Europe about the close of the last century. Winer, Dorner and others ascribe its authorship to a Jew of the first century of the Christian era; Ewald places its date at the end of the second century before Christ. A new edition and translation of this book was published by D. Dillmann in 1853, who pronounces it to have been written about B. C. 110. The book consists, according to the careful investigation of the last-named scholar, of three parts: 1. The proper and original book of Enoch, which constitutes the greatest part of this apocryphal work. 2. Of historical additions for the elucidation of several doctrines and ideas from the pen of another author, who wrote not long afterwards. 3. Of so-called Noachian additions connected with other interpolations made by a third author, belonging at least to the end of the first century B. C. The passage in question is rendered by Dillmann thus: “And behold, He comes with myriads of saints to execute judgment on them, and He will destroy the ungodly and judge all flesh in all things which the sinners and the ungodly have committed and done against Him,” Jude 1:9. Considering that the variations between the Epistle and the book of Enoch are not inconsiderable, and that the book of Enoch is not expressly cited, there is still room to doubt whether Jude knew that book. But the tradition of Enoch’s prophecy he must at all events have known and considered true as to its kernel. [There is an English translation by Archbishop Lawrence, with an introduction and notes, which passed through three editions, 1821, 1833, 1838, but has been completely superseded by that of Dillmann, with an introduction and commentary, published at Leipzig in 1853. See Introduction § 7.—M.]

Behold the Lord came with His holy myriads.—Now follows the substance of the prophecy.—Ἠ̄λθε, the Aorist, because Enoch speaks in a vision, in which the future appears to him as present [really a prophetic past.—M.], as in Isaiah 9:6; Isaiah 53:4. The Æthiopic text of the book of Enoch seems to have the Present.

With His holy myriads; ἐν. In them, i.e., to be glorified in them, as 2 Thessalonians 1:10, and with them. Myriads, literally ten thousands, then absolutely, many thousands. The book of Enoch in other similar passages with reference to Daniel 7:0, uses the terms thousand times thousand, and ten thousand times ten thousand; so Enoch 40:1; 71:10. In Deuteronomy 33:2, Jehovah is represented as revealing Himself from Sinai, shining forth from among many thousands of saints. According to Zechariah 14:5, He will come to judgment with all His saints, cf. Matthew 25:31; Revelation 5:11. The term denotes not only angels, but also the elect from among men; cf. Hebrews 12:22; 1 Corinthians 6:2.—With His, αὑτοῦ. They belong to Him, stand before His throne, and wait for His commands.

Jude 1:15. To give judgment, etc.—κρίσιν ποιεῖν. John 5:27; cf. Genesis 18:25; to execute it in fact. [The term here and in the references seems rather to denote the functions of the Judge, than those of the executor.—M.]

To convict all the ungodly; ἐξελέγξαι, the composite form intensifies the idea, which is their thorough and absolute conviction, not their punishment; the reference is to inward conviction in the conscience. [I doubt whether this interpretation is exhaustive; the conviction of course begins with the conscience, but the intensive nature of the composite seems to imply a conviction that shall bring the convicted to judgment, and entail the execution of the judicial sentence.—M.]

Wherein they were ungodly; ἀσεβεῖν used transitively, cf. 2 Peter 2:6. Winer, p. 236. The guilt of ungodliness is here made very prominent, the same word being used four times, cf. Zephaniah 3:11.

Of all the hard speeches; σκληρός, hard, dry, rough, indigestible [?—M.], used figuratively of daring, impious blasphemy; cf. 1 Samuel 2:3; Malachi 3:13; Numbers 16:26. Differently, John 6:60. This involves even greater guilt than the works which were the result of their ungodly disposition; hence they are named first. In the above-cited passage from the book of Enoch, nothing is said of such hard speeches; but soon after we read: “Ye have reviled His greatness with arrogant, blasphemous speeches of your unclean mouth; ye hard-hearted, ye shall find no peace,” Enoch 5:4; cf. Enoch 46:7.

Against Him.—“Although they did not believe that all their ungodly speeches were aimed at Him.”

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Those who know the book of Enoch, with its absurd fancies and its coarse notions of the heavenly world, must revere more strongly than ever the chasteness and truth of our canonical writings, and be grateful to the Church for rejecting such clumsy fabrications. In that book we read, e.g., of the giants or tyrants mentioned in Genesis 6:0, that “the women with whom the angels had intercourse, conceived and brought forth great giants 6000 feet [German: 3000 Ellen.—M.] in height. These ate up all the produce of men, until men were unable to sustain them any longer. Then the giants turned upon the men to devour them,” etc. The book is full of the coarsest materialism, stating as irrefragable facts that there are in heaven particular receptacles for the winds, for hail, snow and rain, for thunder and lightning, that there is a literal cornerstone of the earth, and that the sky is supported by columns. Here is something to learn for the modern friends of an extreme realism.

2. The guilt of the heavenly spirits that apostatized from God is the more aggravated, because in their case there was no temptation from without, as in that of men.3. Those deceivers confirm the old, but in most instances not sufficiently acknowledged truth, that the decisions of the will are not so much the result of thinking and perceiving, as, on the contrary, thinking and perceiving the result of the decisions of the will. Demosthenes (Olynth., II., 32) already declared “that persons accustomed to do mean and bad acts cannot understand a great and powerful thought, and that the thoughts and intentions of men are the reflections of their manner of life.”

4. In reading the account of corruption given in this Epistle, we have to apply the rule belonging to the prophecies of the Old Testament, that the events described in them take place at different times and stages of development before they meet their final and highest fulfilment.5. “The whole development of evil, as well as of good, grows like a tree, the very beginnings of which contain the same kind in the germ, and foretell the end; but the Spirit of God has, with prophetic vision, described to us the events and delineated the persons for the future.” Stier.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Our curiosity should not lead us to seek to penetrate the mysterious incidents of the apostasy of angels; we should rather take warning from so much of it as is clear.—The necessity of continuing in grace, lest somebody spoil us of our crown.—Whoso rejects the light here and does not walk in the light now, will hereafter dwell in eternal darkness.—Whatever is spoken or written against the servants of God, the Eternal Judge will consider as spoken or written against Himself.H. Rieger:—It is an old experience of constant and multiform repetition, that the most licentious men are generally also the most impatient of all checks emanating from human sources, that they decry all government and authority as an invention of the devil, and abuse, the liberty of the Gospel as a cloak of maliciousness. [Sensuality and lawlessness go together.—M.]—Those who walk in the way of Cain hypocritically observe the externals of religion and its exercise, but are at mortal enmity with whatever aims at the spirit and the truth, and thus end with being driven away from the face of God.

Starke:—It often happens that the more good God does to man, the more man wanders away from God, Deuteronomy 32:15. But if men resist the goodness of God, He has recourse to severity and justice, Romans 2:4; Romans 11:22.—Unbelief is certainly the greatest sin, and the source of all other vices.—Heaven is a many-mansioned house, John 14:2. Thank God that through Christ we may once more return to our first home, whereas the devils have left their habitation forever, 2 Corinthians 5:1-2.—The life of heaven is a state of liberty, light and peace; the life of hell is a state of confinement, darkness and perpetual fear of more punishment.—Sins that cannot be named in decency, or on account of ignorance, are yet so common among Christians that a preacher does not know whether he ought to speak of them, or be silent, Ezekiel 8:8-9.—O! the mad blindness of men, that will not grow wise by other people’s injury, but will persist in their daring even to the extent of being made examples of the Divine judgment, 2 Chronicles 30:8; Ezekiel 13:4-5.—Although some governments are not what they ought to be, men ought to honour in them the image of God, Ex. 22:38.—True zeal, be it never so great, is always humble and modest, whereas false zeal is defiant and passionate, Romans 10:2.—Jesus uttered His woes on none more than on false teachers and hypocrites, Matthew 23:13. They have the heart of a Cain, a Balaam and a Korah.—Gold and honours are two hooks with which the devil fishes and catches many thousand souls for his kingdom, John 13:2; 1 Chronicles 22:1.—All the feasts of Christians ought by rights to be love-feasts, Nehemiah 8:10.—Can there be anything more unhappy than being rooted out and separated from the communion of the life of Christ? Colossians 2:7.—Think ye that the pagans were allowed to revile their gods, as God is, without let or punishment, blasphemed among Christians? But have patience, Jesus will summon those mighty blasphemers to His bar, and avenge the insult that has been heaped upon Him.

[Literature on Jude 1:9;—

Hecht, Joannes, Disputatio inauguralis de certamine Michaëlis cum Diabolo de corpore Mosis, 4to., Jenæ., 1853.

Nieremberg, N., Exercitatio exegetico-polemica de Angelica super corpore Mosis discrepatione, 4to., Ratisbonæ, 1682.

Bachmann, I. G., De certamine circa corpus Mosis, Crit. Sac, Thes., 2, 794.

Hensel, M. Z., De certamine Archangeli Michaëlis cum Diabolo de corpore Mosis, Crit. Sac, Thes., 2, 797.

Calmet, A., La Mort et la Sépulture de Moyse, Dissertations, Commentaire, 8, 753.—M.]

Footnotes:

Jude 1:5; Jude 1:5. [βούλομαι, to wish, to desire. Its force ought to be brought out in a stronger form than the ambiguous “I will.”—M.]

[18] Jude 1:5. [δὲ, not=therefore, but=but.

Kühner: “δέ most generally has an adversative force, and hence can express every kind of contrast. In respect to its signification, it ranks like the Latin autem, between the copulative connectives (τέ, καί) and the adversative (ἀλλά, etc.), since it contains both a copulative and adversative force, and hence either opposes one thought to another, (adversative), or merely contrasts it (copulative). Hence it is very frequently used in Greek, where the English uses and. The new thought being different from the preceding is placed in contrast with it.”

Winer (pp. 472. 473): “δέ never means therefore, then; nor for, nor does it ever serve as a mere copula or particle of transition.”—M.]

Jude 1:5; Jude 1:5. [ὑμᾶς. The force of the second ὑμᾶς is lost in E. V.; it is emphatic, and the emphasis ought to be brought out. “ But I wish to remind you, you who … ”—M.]

Jude 1:5; Jude 1:5. [εἰδότας has a Present sense. They know it once for all, certainly, fully. This thorough knowledge of theirs is the motive of Jude’s reminding them. They know it now; not that they knew it once and have now forgotten it.—M.]

[21] Jude 1:5. Lachm., Tisch. read εἰδότας ἅπαξ πάντα, ὅτι ὁ Ἰησοῦς. So Vulgate. Stier says, that this would be unexampled, unintelligible, remarkabl; that the dark Epistle had been much corrected and glossed. De Wette agrees with Lachmann, following A. B. C. and other authorities, but not in respect of Ἰησοῦς. [The reading πάντα is also sustained by Cod. Sin., several Cursives, Copt. Syriac. It is on many accounts preferable to τοῦτο.

Ἰησοῦς instead of Κύριος is the reading of A. B., several Cursives, Vulg., Copt., Sahidic, Æthiopic and Armenian verss.; also of Didymus, Cyril, Jerome, Cassian, and received by Griesb. and Lachmann. In point of doctrine, it agrees with that of Paul. Cf. 1 Corinthians 10:1-11; Hebrews 3:7-19; Hebrews 4:1-2.—M.]

[22] Jude 1:5. [δεύτερον, the second time, again not afterwards, as in E. V. The first thing was deliverance, the second destruction. So Engl. Annot., Stier, Peile, Huther, Wordsw., Lillie.—M.]

[German: “But I will remind you, you that have known this once, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, for the second time destroyed those who believed not.”Translate: “But I wish to remind you, you who know all things once for all, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, the next time destroyed those who believed not.”—M.]

Jude 1:6; Jude 1:6. [ἀγγέλους. The omission of the Article here contrasts angels with men, of whom Jude has spoken in the previous verse. τοὺς μὴ κ. τ. λ. specifies the particular class of angels in question.—M.]

[24] Jude 1:6. [“τετήρηκεν, says Huther, stands in sharp opposition to μὴ τηρήσαντας.” Hence the same word ought to be used in order to bring out the opposition.

[German:—“And the angels that kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath kept for the judgment of the great day with everlasting bonds under darkness.”[Translate:—“And angels that kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath kept with everlasting bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day.”—M.]

Jude 1:6; Jude 1:6. [δεσμοῖς , Abl. instr. “With everlasting bonds.” “E. V., 18 times out of 20 (the other exception being Mark 7:35, string) has bands or bonds.” Lillie. Calvin: “ Quocunque pergant, secum trahunt sua vincula et suis tenebris obvoluti manent. Interea in magnum diem extremum eorum supplicium differtur.” Milton, Par. Lost. IV., 75: “ Which way I fly is hell; myself am hell.”—M.]

Jude 1:7; Jude 1:7. [ὡς connected with ὑπομνῆσαι, viz.: “I wish to remind you. … how Sodom and Gomorrah, etc.”—M.]

Jude 1:7; Jude 1:7. [τὸν ὅμοιον τούτοις τρόπον=in like manner as these men.—M.]

[28] Jude 1:7. ἑτέρας. “Nowhere else does E. V. translate ἕτερος, which occurs 98 times, by strange.” Lillie.—M.]

[German:—“How Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, having whored themselves out in like manner as these, and gone after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”[Translate:—…. having given themselves over to fornication in like manner as these men, and gone after other flesh, are set forth, etc.—M.]

Jude 1:8; Jude 1:8. [μέντοι, omitted in E. V., has adversative force, and should be rendered by some such word as yet, however, etc.—M.]

Jude 1:8; Jude 1:8. [μὲν … .δὲ, on the one hand, on the other. Calvin:—“Notanda autem est antithesis, quum dicit eos carnem contaminare: hoc est, quod minus præstantiæ habet, dehonestare: et tamen spernere quasi probrosum, quod in genere humano maxime excellit.”—M.]

[31] Jude 1:8. [Cod. Sin. has κυριότητας.—M.]

[German:—“Now in like manner these dreamers also defile the flesh, and thus (dabei=therewith, at the same time) reject the dominion and revile the majesties.”

[Translate:—“In like manner, however, these dreamers also on the one hand defile the flesh, on the other reject lordship and speak evil of dignities.”—M.]

Jude 1:9; Jude 1:9. Lachm. reads: ὅτε Μιχαὴλ ὁ ; but we prefer, with Stier, the common reading.

Jude 1:9; Jude 1:9. [οὐκ ἐτόλμησε, did not dare, or dared not, better than durst not of E. V. The former is Lillie’s rendering, the latter that of German version.—M.]

[34] Jude 1:10. ὅσα has distributive force, and is variously rendered quæcunque (Vulg.), quotquot (Laurm.), quæ et quanta (Wordsw.), omnia quæ (Bengel), whatsoever things (Kenr., Lillie).

ὅσα μὲν … .ὅσα δὲ state an antithesis, which should be brought out.—M.]

[35] Jude 1:10. [ἐπίστανται is stronger than οἴδασι of the first clause, cf. Mark 14:68; the former is to understand, the latter, to know.

[German:—“These, on the contrary, revile those things which they know not; but those things which they understand naturally, as the brute beasts, even therein do they ruin themselves.”[Translate:—“These, however, on the one hand, speak evil of whatsoever things they know not, on the other, whatsoever things they understand naturally, as the brute beasts, in those they corrupt themselves.”—M.]

[36] Jude 1:11. [καὶ τῆ πλάνῃ τοῦ Βαλαὰμ μισθοῦ; the construction of this difficult clause, which has the most weighty authorities, is that which takes τῇ πλάνῃ as a Dative of the direction in which (Dodd., Mack. Thom., Scott, Stier, Peile, Wahl, Robins., Wordsw., Lillie), and μισαθοῦ ἑνεκα μισθοῦ, or Oec.’s κέρδους χάριν; (so Wic., Tynd., Cran., Reims, vss.; Grot., Beng., Bloomf., Stier, Winer, Robins., Wordsw., Lillie. al.). See Winer, p. 219, § 30, 10, e.—M.]

[German:—“Woe unto them, for they have walked in the way of Cain, and the error of Balaam with his hire has drawn them along, and in the gainsaying of Korah they have perished.”This can hardly be called a translation; it is a paraphrase, which takes considerable liberty with the grammar of the original. Translate:—“Woe unto them, for in the way of Cain they walked, and in the error of Balaam they rushed headlong (Beng.: ‘effusi sunt, ut torrens sine aggere;’ Green, Lillie as here), and in the gainsaying of Core they perished.”—M.]

[37] Jude 1:12. Lachm. reads αὐτῶν instead of ὑμῶν, and supplies οἱ before ἐν ταῖς. Stier also prefers on internal grounds the reading “in their love-feasts.” ἀπάταις is less authentic here than in 2 Pet.

[οἱ ἐν ταῖς, A. B., Cod. Sin., G., Syr., Lachm., Tisch. Cod. Sin. has the reading οὗτοι εἰσιν γογγύσται μεμψίμυροι κα (**κατα) τὰσ ἐπιθυμίασ αὐτῶν πορευόμενοι, which Tischendorf characterizes thus: **improb. γογγ. usque πορ.—M.]

Jude 1:12; Jude 1:12. Tisch., al. read παραφερόμεναι, driven fast. The sense is not essentially different [i.e., from περιφερόμεναι, which is certainly an unauthentic reading. A. B. C., Sin., Griesb., Scholz, Lach., Tisch., Words., Alford, Lillie are all in favour of the former. Cod. Sin. has παντί .—M.]

[39] Jude 1:12. [Sin., φθινοπωρικὰ for φθινοπωρινὰ.—M.]

[German:—“These are spots in your love-feasts, carousing together without fear, feeding themselves, clouds without water, driven fast by winds, late-autumnal trees, unfruitful, twice dead, uprooted.”[Translate:—“These are rocks in your love-feasts, carousing together without fear, feeding themselves, clouds without water, borne along by winds, late-autumnal trees, unfruitful, twice dead, uprooted.”For reasons see below in Exegetical and Critical.—M.]

Jude 1:14; Jude 1:14. προφήτευσε δὲ καὶ τούτοις (Sin., προεπροφήτευσε). “But for these also prophesied Enoch,” better than “But of these” (German), and E. V.—M.]

Jude 1:14; Jude 1:14. Sin., ὁ κύριος.—M.]

Jude 1:14; Jude 1:14. Sin., ἁγίων . German inserts between brackets after myriads (of angels).—M.]

Jude 1:15; Jude 1:15. Lachm., Tisch. read simply: ἐλέγξαι [following A. B., Cod. Sin., which latter has the variation: ἐλέγξαι πάσαν ψυχὴν; and omits afterwards ἀσεβείας αὐτῶν.—M.]

[44] Jude 1:15. αὐτῶν restored by Tischend. in his last edition, after A. B. G. K., while Lachmann omits it.

[German:—“To give judgment against all, and to convict all ungodly ones of all their ungodly deeds, wherein they have shown themselves ungodly, and of all the hard speeches, which the ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”[Translate:—“To exercise judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds, wherein they were ungodly (Lillie), and of all the hard speeches which sinners spake against Him.”—M.]