Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church of Manhattan, KS, 06 Oct. 2019
Omitting greyed-out text should bring presentation time down around 45 minutes.
As we continue to meditate on Hebrews chapter 11, and see examples from men and women of old of how to “understand things hoped for” by faith and how to “make a case concerning matters which are not seen” using the faith God gives us (Hebrews 11:1-2, NAW), we come to the period of Israel’s possession of the Promised Land and subsequent struggles to keep it. The story starts with Rahab, a resident of Jericho, the first city west of the Jordan conquered by the Hebrews:
Jewish tradition has tried to weasel Rahab out of actually being a “prostitute,” but there’s only one meaning for the word porne in the Bible, and, while it might have included doing some of the work of an inkeeper, it invariably meant she sold the use of her body to strangers.
Rahab comes as a surprise at the end of the list of the great Old Testament men and women of faith! Who would have expected a woman of ill-repute in the “Hall of Faith,” and yet, there she is!
There is no indication, however, that she committed adultery with the Israelite spies or that she continued in the sex trade, rather, it seems that the sin of her pagan past stuck with her name even after she repented and married a Hebrew man and became a matron in the Jewish community. (She is even mentioned in chapter 1 of Matthew’s gospel as being in the line of Christ!)
John Calvin noted: “It hence follows, that those who are most exalted, are of no account before God, unless they have faith; and that, on the other hand, those who are hardly allowed a place among the profane and the reprobate, are by faith introduced into the company of angels.”
As for the Israelite spies, they probably chose to stop at her house because:
her place was open late into the night so they could slip in and out and spy under cover of darkness,
and the nature of her business probably meant that there were lots of different men in and out of the house, so no one would think it suspicious for the Israelite men to visit too.
Plus her house was located on the edge of the city for a quick escape.
The full story is in Joshua 2:1-15 "And Joshua the son of Nau[n]e sent out of Sattin two young men [Jewish tradition1 says it was Phinehas and Caleb, but we don’t know for sure] to spy the land, saying, 'Go up and view the land and Jericho:' and the two young men went and entered into Jericho; and they entered into the house of a harlot, whose name was Ra[h]ab, and lodged there. An it was reported to the king of Jericho, saying, 'Men of the sons of Israel have come in hither to spy the land.' And the king of Jericho sent and spoke to Ra[h]ab, saying, 'Bring out the men that entered into thine house this night; for they are come to spy out the land.' And the woman took the two men and hid them; and she spoke to the messengers, saying, 'The men came in to me, but when the gate was shut in the evening, the men went out; I know not whither they are gone: follow after them, if ye may overtake them.' But she had brought them up upon the house, and hid them in the flax-stalks that were spread by her on the house. And the men followed after them in the way to Jordan to the fords; and the gate was shut. And it came to pass when the men who pursued after them were gone forth, and before the spies had lain down to sleep, that she came up to them on the top of the house; and she said to them, 'I know that the Lord has given you the land; for the fear of you has fallen upon us. For we have heard that the Lord God dried up the Red Sea before you, when ye came out of the land of Egypt, and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond Jordan, to Seon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. And when we heard it we were amazed in our heart, and there was no longer any spirit in any of us because of you, for the Lord your god is God in heaven above, and on the earth beneath. And now swear to me by the Lord God; since I deal mercifully with you, so do ye also deal mercifully with the house of my father: and save alive the house of my father, my mother, and my brethren, and all my house, and all that they have, and ye shall rescue my soul from death.' And the men said to her, 'Our life for yours even to death:' and she said, 'When the Lord shall have delivered the city to you, ye shall deal mercifully and truly with me.' And she let them down by the window..." (Brenton)
In this historical account, the contrast is stark between the men of Jericho, on the one hand, who were unbelieving/disobedient/non-compliant and who were destroyed and, on the other hand, the believing/faithful woman Rahab who was saved:
They rejected the Israelite spies; she welcomed them.
They tried to kill the spies; she kept them safe.
They shut their doors and gates against any further interaction with Israel; she hung the red rope2 out her window, inviting a relationship between her household and the house of Israel.
They heard the same news she did of God parting the Red Sea and conquering the kingdoms of the Amorites on the other side of the Jordan River, but instead of being persuaded that this is the God of heaven and earth (who should not be defied), they shut up the city, thinking God would not be powerful enough to overcome them!3 Meanwhile Rahab was persuaded that the Hebrews God was greater than all others and she placed all her hope on a covenant with the people of the “Lord God.”
This contrast between the a-peithoi (literally “the un-persuaded ones”) and the pistos (those with faith) is repeated throughout scripture:
In the escape of Lot and his family from Sodom and Gomorrah’s destruction (Genesis 19:15). There were the Sodomites who ignored the warning, and Lot who was persuaded.
In the salvation of Noah and his family from the flood which drowned the unbelievers (1 Peter 2:8). Noah believed and announced to the world the way of salvation, but the world was unpersuaded and perished.
The book of Hebrews also reminded us earlier in chapter 3 of the contrast between the believing Israelites like Joshua and Caleb and the Israelites who compromised with idolatry and died in the wilderness: “And then to which ones did He swear they would not enter into His rest if not to the non-compliant ones?” (Heb. 3:18, NAW, cf. Acts 14:2, 1 Pet. 3:20)
And during the time of the N.T., the great watershed of faith is whether or not someone believes in Jesus: John 3:36 "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." (NKJV)
The Apostle Peter also wrote: “[it is] time to begin the judgment at the household of God, and if [it comes] first at us, what [will be] the end for those who are unpersuaded by God's good news?" (1 Peter 4:17, NAW)
This message was important to the first-century Jewish Christians addressed in the epistle to the Hebrews: Tradition, Patriotism, Religion, Social Conventions, and even Economics demanded that they forget about Jesus and return to supporting the Judaism of their national leaders in the city of Jerusalem.
Nineteenth-century Scottish pastor John Brown made this point well in his commentary: “Faith enabled Rahab to do what otherwise she could not have done, and to attain what otherwise she could not have attained. This illustration of the power, the necessity, the sufficiency of faith, was peculiarly fitted to come home to the business and bosom of the Hebrew Christians. They, like Rahab, were called to do violence to their patriotic feel-ings, to separate themselves from their unbelieving kindred and country, and to follow... [Jesus at the] hazard of their lives. Nothing but faith could enable them to act properly in these circumstances… Faith, and nothing but faith, can enable… professers of Christianity in every country and in every age… cheerfully to make such sacrifices...”
The example of Rahab’s faith is also important to us non-Jews today who come from non-Christian families and have been so hopelessly damaged by sins. Can we ever be made right?
Heb. 11 implies it, and the Apostle James says it explicitly: “Rahab was justified/made right” – and if she can be, you can too! James 2:5 says that the defining moment of Rahab’s being made right with God was when she took care of the Israelite spies – when she encountered some of God’s people face-to-face, and her vague fears of the Hebrew God turned into a desire to be made right with that God and to become one of His people.4
“Rahab was... a Canaanite, a stranger to the commonwealth of Israel, and had but little help for faith, and yet she was a believer; the power of divine grace greatly appears when it works without the usual means of grace. She was a harlot, and lived in a way of sin; she was not only a keeper of a public house, but a common woman of the town, and yet she believed that the greatness of sin, if truly repented of, shall be no bar to the pardoning mercy of God.” (Matthew Henry, AD 1714) Do you believe with Rahab “that the greatness of sin, if truly repented of, shall be no bar to the pardoning mercy of God” - do you?
Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of His day, “...the tax collectors and the prostitutes will go ahead of y'all into the kingdom of God, for John came to y’all in a way of righteousness and y’all did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did believe him." (Matt. 21:31b-32, NAW)
“In Rahab, then, the church has... a type of the ingathering of the Gentiles and a confirmation both of the universal scope of the gospel and of the depth of God’s grace as extending even to the most degraded of sinners...” ~P.E. Hughes
Now, Rahab was worth taking the lion’s share of our time this morning to consider, but there are many more examples of faith throughout scripture which could also be considered...
Time might have failed the apostle for writing all those histories out, but I can preach as many sermons as I want on this passage, so... let’s take some more time to review these amazing stories! The first four are Judges in Israel’s history, before they had kings:
"[T]he other Saints, of whom Paul speaks, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephtha, David and Samuel, and the rest... were justified by faith; and to this day they are the objects of our admiration, as being ready even to suffer death for piety towards the Lord... Wherefore, let us also, considering... that the choice is now before us, either to deny or to preserve the faith, let us also make it our earnest care and aim to guard what we have received, taking as our instruction the Confession drawn up at Nicaea..." ~Athanasius, Ad Episcopos AEgypti Et Libyae Epistola Encyclica, 21, AD 356
Gideon’s story is in Judges chapters 6-8:
He’s the youngest son in the weakest tribe of Manasseh.
God told him to destroy the community Baal-idol and lead the Israelites in defending themselves against a vast army of invading Midianites.
After following God’s instructions about whittling down the Israelite army to a mere 300 soldiers, Gideon led them in a midnight charge against the Midianite army camp, and ended up winning the day!
Faith recognizes that with God, all things are possible; it doesn’t matter how unfavorable the odds are. You don’t have to have the resources that it takes to beat an enemy; all you need is Jesus.
As another man of faith in the Bible once said, “.. Let’s go! ... For nothing restrains the LORD from saving by many or by few.” (Jonathan, 1 Samuel 14:6, NKJV)
Are there any evils, which are too big to overcome, which God might be calling you, like Gideon, to tackle with His power?
Barak’s story is in Judges chapters 4:
He’s the one who, when the prophetess Deborah told him that God wanted him to mobilize an army of Israelites to overthrow the Canaanite King Jabin’s oppressive rule, he agreed to do so, only on the condition that Deborah go with him.
God gave the victory to the Israelites, but Barak didn’t get the glory of killing the enemy leader. That fell to Jael, the wife of Heber, who “used his head for a tent peg” - as Jamie Soles immortalized the story for my kids, and Jael got a song in her honor in Judges chapter 5.
It’s surprising to see Barak, a man whose faith is portrayed in the historical account as being weak, making it into the Hebrews “Hall of Faith.” His faith certainly wasn’t all that strong, but it was enough to do what God told him to do: he took up duty as an army captain and depend upon God to deliver His people from their enemies.
I often feel a bit like Barak: other people around me seem to have strong, visionary faith, but not me, and most of the ministry I’ve done has been riding on the coat-tails of other people. But the mention of Barak here in Hebrews 11 encourages me that if I simply put one foot in front of the other and do what God has told me to do, trusting that He will somehow deliver us from evil, that is enough. That is faith which is pleasing to God. Persevere in it!
Samson’s story is in Judges 13-16:
He is probably the best-known among the Judges of Israel, who kept fooling around with Philistine women like Delilah and getting into trouble.
But despite his foolishness, Sampson remembered from time to time that God had told his parents that he would be God’s agent to begin delivering Israel from the Philistines, and Sampson killed quite a few of them when he asked God for help and relied on God’s power, and this was despite limitations such as having no weapon or despite being blind.
Sampson didn’t lead a happy life because he kept doing stupid, but his life demonstrates that real faith can exist even in very messed-up people, and God can use anybody who asks for His help. So keep asking for help and don’t give up – that’s faith!
Jepthah’s story is in Judges 11-12:
He is mostly known for making a foolish vow regarding his daughter and for killing a bunch of Israelites who couldn’t say “Shibboleth,” but Jepthah did give a very eloquent and diplomatic speech that schooled the king of Ammon on the history of the Promised Land. In his speech, he clearly gave God the credit for giving the land to Israel, and he argued powerfully for peace, but the Ammonites sent their army over anyway. Jepthah and his band of outlaws accepted the Israelite elders’ request to lead in their defense. He then asked the LORD for help, and proceeded to “whup up on” the Ammonites.
By faith, Jepthah believed God’s word about the history of the Promised Land and asked God to help him reclaim it when enemies threatened the land, and God honored that faith.
Do you know your Bible well enough to be able to school the world in God’s providence throughout history like Jepthah? That is a work of faith.
There were 10 other Judges5, but little more than their name and the length of their reign is recorded in the Bible, so our author passes on to the era in Israel’s history of the Kings and Prophets.
David is the most famous of the Israelite kings, getting the spotlight in the history books of the Bible from 1 Samuel 16 through 1 Kings 2 – plus most of the book of Psalms.
We have studied many of his prayers and worship songs recorded in the Psalms, and they are wonderful examples of faith. Prayer and worship-singing are the most basic exercises of faith.
David was also very successful as a soldier, using God’s strength to destroy the enemies of his nation that God had told them to destroy.
As a king, he certainly wasn’t perfect6, but he loved God and clung to the promise God made to him that the Messiah would be his descendant and would reign as king forever.
Now, in addition to the Judges and Kings who exercised civil leadership over Israel, the Prophets are mentioned as examples of faith for their spiritual leadership. Samuel is the only one mentioned by name here in Hebrews 11:
Samuel’s history is recorded in the book of 1 Samuel – and possibly even before that at the end of the book of Judges which mentions a Levite prophet but doesn’t mention his name. (Oddly enough, the book of Second Samuel never mentions Samuel, but is still called by his name.)
Anyway, Samuel was the one who prophecied the end of Eli’s family’s priesthood, and presided over the transition between Judgships and Israel’s first kings.
He called Israel to get right with God at Mizpah and organized them in reliance upon God to successfully overcome a Philistine invasion.
Samuel then confronted King Saul over his disobedience to God and prophecied the end of Saul’s kingship and the beginning of David’s reign.
So Samuel’s ministry was characterized by confronting sin and pointing people to God.
That kind of prophetic ministry is still needed today. When you, in faithful reliance upon God’s word, confront sin and point people to God, you are walking in faith just like Samuel!
Moving on to the next verse, it’s hard to tell whether the word which begins verse 33 (the masculine plural pronoun “who”) is intended to refer only to the masculine plural “prophets” (immediately preceding it) or whether it was intended to embrace all of the persons of whom our author didn’t have time to discourse, but I am struck at how many of the nine events in verses 33-34 actually were done by prophets:
With the exception of the ones about the lions and the fire, it is hard to nail down which historical events the apostle was thinking of:
When it come to conquering/subduing/literally “wrestling down” kingdoms, the prophets7 were agents in the downfall of many a kingdom:
for instance, the Syrian King whose every move was thwarted by Elisha’s intelligence to the King of Israel, which ended in the entire Syrian army being struck blind and neutralized when Elisha prayed (2 Kings 6).
There is no one in the Bible who is explicitly said to have “worked righteousness/justice,” but the category of “doing what is right” is very broad8, and prophets were famous for acts of justice:
such as Elijah calling down fire on Ahab’s army troops that were trying to kill him (2 Kings 1),
and Elisha helping the widow pay off her debt through the miracle of the oil not running out (2 Ki. 4).
But “doing what is right” by faith is not limited to a few Old Testament saints; it is for any one of us: In Acts 10:34-35 Peter said to Cornelius’ household: “...God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him…” Whoever fears God and works righteousness is accepted!
Now, the only person in the Bible said to have “obtained promises” is Abraham9, and that in Hebrews 6:15, due to his patient waiting on God for a long time.
Trusting God to make good on His word results in seeing God make good on His word!
And, of course, the lion’s mouths were shut for Daniel10, as he explained to the King of Babylon:
Daniel 6:22 “My God sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him...” (NKJV)
Daniel had been thrown to the lions because he prayed to God after his government passed a law that made prayer to God illegal, so God shut down the opposition.
Today it might not be lions, but it might be other threats – like sickness – or slander – that you will have to trust God to shut down.
Moving into verse 34, the quenching/stifling of the power/violence/fury of fire seems to refer to the trial by fire experienced by Daniel’s compatriots, Hananiah, Mischael, and Azariah, who were re-named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego when the Babylonian king captured them and tried to force them to worship the Babylonian gods that were part of their new names.
King Nebuchadnezzar threatened to burn them to death in a furnace if they would not change their religious affiliation. But they stood fast and told the king that they were willing to be burnt to death rather than forsake God, and, when they were thrown into the fiery furnace, God prevented the fire from hurting them at all.
Daniel 3:26-28 “...Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego came from the midst of the fire. And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king's counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them. Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God!’”
I suspect that the next phrase about escaping the mouth of the sword also refers to the prophet Daniel and his friends11, since 2 Chronicles 36:17-20 says that, when the king of the Chaldeans attacked Israel, he “killed their young men with the sword… 20 And those who escaped from the sword12 he carried away to Babylon, where they became servants to him...”
In God’s providence, they escaped execution in the temple in Jerusalem at the hands of the Chaldean army, that they might live to witness in Babylon about the one true God!
And if you want to argue that this refers to someone else, like David, who also escaped the edge of the sword (2 Sam. 15:14, 1 Chr. 21:12), that’s fair too.
The point is that escaping slaughter was done by faith.
When it would be to the glory of God to stand steadfast and die, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, did that, trusting that God would either deliver them or be honored by their deaths,
but when it would be to the glory of God to escape death and live to do His will, they did what they could to avoid dying unnecessarily, trusting God to spare their lives for future service to Him on earth.
Rahab confirms that Gentiles and sinners can be among God’s faithful!
Gideon shows that God often uses small things. You don’t have to have big resources; all you need is faith in Jesus.
Barak encourages me that I don’t have to be extraordinary in faith; if I simply put one foot in front of the other and do what God has told me to do, trusting that He will somehow deliver us from evil, that is enough.
Sampson reminds us not to write off messy people; God can use anybody who asks for His help. So keep asking for help and don’t give up!
Jepthah’s faith was based on a strong understanding of Biblical history. We need to know our Bible well enough to school the world in God’s providence throughout history!
David’s Psalms remind us that Prayer and worship-singing are the most basic exercises of faith.
Samuel modeled prophetic faith by confronting sin and pointing people to God.
Other prophets who wrestled down kingdoms, worked for justice, and obtained promises, teach us that faith doesn’t give up in the face of great evil, but trusts God to bring great transformation.
Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego shut lion’s mouths, stifled the power of fire, and escaped the edge of the sword, showing that faith is faithful to God and refuses to worship any other.
Greek NT |
NAW |
KJV |
31 Πίστει ῾Ραὰβ ἡ πόρνη οὐ συναπώλετοB τοῖς ἀπειθήσασι, δεξαμένη τοὺς κατασκόπους μετ᾿ εἰρήνης. |
31 With faith, Rahab the prostitute did not perish together with those who were unpersuaded, since she received the spies with peace. |
31 By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace. |
32 Καὶ τί ἔτι λέγω; ἐπιλείψειC γὰρD με διηγούμενονE ὁ χρόνος περὶ Γεδεών, Βαράκ [τε καὶF] Σαμψών [καὶG] ᾿Ιεφθάε, Δαυΐδ τε καὶ Σαμουὴλ καὶ τῶν προφητῶν, |
32 And what might I yet say? For the time will be totally insufficient for me to narrate concerning Gideon, Barak, Samson {and} Jepthah, David and both Samuel and the prophets - |
32 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and X Samuel, and of the prophets: |
33 οἳ διὰ πίστεως κατηγωνίσαντοH βασιλείας, εἰργάσαντοI δικαιοσύνην, ἐπέτυχον ἐπαγγελιῶν, ἔφραξαν στόματα λεόντων, |
33 those who through faith wrestled down kingdoms, worked for justice, obtained promises, shut lion’s mouths, |
33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, |
34 ἔσβεσανJ δύναμιν πυρός, ἔφυγονK στόματα μαχαίραςL, [ἐνM]εδυναμώθησαν ἀπὸN ἀσθενείας, ἐγενήθησαν ἰσχυροὶ ἐν πολέμῳ, παρεμβολὰς ἔκλιναν ἀλλοτρίων. |
34 stifled the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were empowered after weakness, were made into mighty men during war, [and] routed foreign army-camps. |
34 Quenched the violenceO of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned [to flight the] armies of [the] aliens. |
1Laniado & Tanchuma apud Masum in Josh. ii. 1
2As early as the first century AD, Christian commentators were relating the scarlet rope hung from Rahab’s window to the blood of Christ that saves sinners from destruction. (“The cord showed beforehand that through the blood of the Lord there would be redemption to all them who believe and hope in God… Not only faith but also prophecy is found in this woman...” ~Clement of Rome, Epistle to the Corinthians 12)
3“The unbelieving defiance of the people of Jericho showed itself in their shutting up of the city in the expectation that it would prove impregnable to any assault by the Israelites...” ~ P.E. Hughes
4James 2:25 "Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?" (NKJV)
5List of Judges: Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar 4) Deborah/Barak, 5)Gideon, Abimelech/Gaal, Tola, Jair, 9) Jepthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, 13) Samson, Levites/Eli?
6“Gideon was slower to take up arms than what he ought to have been; nor did he venture without some hesitation to commit himself to God. Barak at first trembled, so that he was almost forced by the reproofs of Deborah. Samson being overcome by the blandishments of a concubine, inconsiderately betrayed the safety of the whole people. Jephthah, hasty in making a foolish vow, and too obstinate in performing it, marred the finest victory by the cruel death of his own daughter. Thus, in all the saints, something reprehensible is ever to be found; yet faith, though halting and imperfect, is still approved by God. There is, therefore, no reason why the faults we labor under should break us down, or dishearten us, provided we by faith go on in the race of our calling.” ~J. Calvin
7Chrysostom however, thought it referred to Gideon’s 300, Calvin thought it referred to the Kings and Prophets in general, Owen suggested that it could refer to the prophet Samuel, Brown applied it to Joshua and David, and P.E. Hughes to the judges and David.
8Hughes mentioned Samuel (1 Sam. 12:3-5), David (2 Sam. 8:15; 1 Chr. 18:14) and Solomon (1 Kings 10:9) on this. Brown mentioned Phinehas (Num. 25:7) and Elijah (1 Kings 18:40).
9cf. Chrysostom: “I think it is of David that he says ‘they obtained promises.’ But of what sort were these? Those in which He said that his ‘seed should sit upon’ his ‘throne.’ (Ps 32:12)” The plural verb here could comprehend David with Abraham and others. To David and Abraham, P.E. Hughes added the nation of Israel (Josh. 21:43), Gideon, and Elijah as typical of the many persons in the O.T. who were blessed by the reception of God’s promises. John Brown listed Joshua, Gideon, and David.
10P.E. Hughes noted, “Samson, David, and Beniah... could also be said to have stopped the mouths of lions...”
11This was also Chrysostom’s position, but Hughes instead suggested David, Elijah, and Elisha. Brown suggested David (1 Sam. 23), Moses (Ex. 18:4), and Elijah.
12The LXX omits the word “sword” which is in the Masoretic text here.
AThe
Greek is the Majority text, edited by myself to follow the majority
of the earliest-known manuscripts only when the early manuscript
evidence is practically unanimous. My original document includes
notes on the NKJV, NASB, NIV, & ESV English translations, but
since they are all copyrighted, I cannot include them in my online
document. Underlined words in English versions indicate a
standalone difference from all other English translations of a
certain word. Strikeout usually indicates that the
English translation is, in my opinion, too far outside the range of
meaning of the original Greek word. The addition of an X indicates a
Greek word left untranslated – or a plural Greek word
translated as an English singular. [Brackets] indicate words added
in English not in the Greek. Key words are colored consistently
across the chart to show correlations.
BAlthough the root is used in Heb. 1:11, the compound with syn- is used no where else in the NT. It is, however, common in the LXX to denote the avoidable future of the righteous being destroyed together with the wicked (Gen. 18:23; 19:15; Num. 16:26; Deut. 29:18; Ps. 25:9; 27:3; Dan. 2:13).
CHapex legomenon. The form without the epi- prefix occurs in Job 4:11; Prov. 11:3; 19:4. Luke 18:22; Titus 1:5; 3:13; and James 1:4-5 & 2:15.
DOn the basis of a mere 5 manuscripts, the Nestle-Aland/UBS critical edition decided to disrupt the traditional text and move this word to another place in the sentence. The two oldest-known manuscripts support the traditional placement of this word. It doesn’t change the meaning, however.
EThe adverbial participle is used in , where in a poetic way time is described as going off and leaving the writer discoursing about Gideon and the rest ~Robertson’s Grammar.
FThe four oldest-known manuscripts do not have this conjunctive phrase, and they are supported by several later manuscripts and the Vulgate, so although the majority of the manuscripts and the traditional Greek New Testament Editions say “and also,” it may not have been original, but added for smoother reading without changing the meaning.
GThe four oldest-known manuscripts do not have this conjunction, and they are supported by many later manuscripts and the Vulgate, so although the majority of the manuscripts and the traditional Greek New Testament editions say “and,” it may not have been original, but added for smoother reading without changing the meaning.
HHapex Legomenon
IConstative aorist indicating their lifestyle ~Moulton’s Grammar. I would support a new unit for this word and the next meaning “did what is right,” but of the L&N choices for ergazomai,\ln 90.47,\ln 42.41, and\ln 13.9 seem to fit.
JThis verb is not found in the account of Daniel and his compatriots but is frequently cited in descriptions of God’s unquenchable wrath coming to punish (Amos 5:6; Isa. 1:31; 34:10; Jer. 4:4; 7:20; 17:27; 21:12; Ezek. 21:3-4). The Greek words for “power” and “fire” are in Dan. 3:20 (in the story of the fiery furnace), and the phrase “power of fire” is in the Apocrypha (4 Ma. 14:10; Wis. 16:19). I chose “stifle” because they didn’t actually put out the fire. The same fire killed other men, but God baffled the fire’s destructive power upon them for that occasion.
KIngressive aorist indicating the beginning of the flight ~Moulton’s Grammar. The only passages in the Greek Bible which use the same words in this phrase are 2 Sam. 15:14 (where David told his household to “flee” Jerusalem lest they be destroyed by the “mouth” of Absalom's “sword” during his revolt) and 1 Chron. 21:12 (where David defers God's punishment option of “fleeing” three months from enemy “swords”). However, the Hebrew text of 2 Chronicles 36:20 indicates that Daniel and his compatriots escaped the sword before captivity in Babylon: וַיֶּ֛גֶל הַשְּׁאֵרִ֥ית מִן־הַחֶ֖רֶב אֶל־בָּבֶ֑ל
LThe 5 oldest-known Greek manuscripts as well as another half-dozen through the centuries read μαχαιρης, and this is the conventional spelling of the genitive feminine singular ending after a rho, but, for some reason the vast majority of Greek manuscripts starting in the 9th century all spelled the ending -ας, which is the standard genitive feminine singular spelling, and that made it into the traditional editions of the Greek New Testament. It makes no difference in meaning.
MThe five oldest-known Greek manuscripts do not have the εν- prefix, so recent critical editions of the GNT read without it, but after the year 900, practically all the Greek manuscripts included the prefix, so all the traditional editions of the GNT have the longer spelling. The root word is the same, so it doesn’t really change the meaning except perhaps for adding some intensity. I would guess that the language changed over time such that the form without the prefix started sounding too strangely archaic, and that early editors used the form of the word in contemporary use that meant the same thing.
NMost English versions render απο circumstantially, but Turner’s Grammar suggests it is temporal “after weakness.”
ONowhere else does the KJV translate dynamis “violence”