4 Num. xvii. 8. [Willows are chosen, perhaps, with refernce to Isa. xliv. 4; but Ezekiel's willow supplies the thought here (Ezek. xvii. 5,6).]
8 [Rev. viii. 3; Num. xvii. 7.]
12 "And by this law the Son of God was preached to all the ends of the earth."-Vat. [Hermas again introduces here the name which he made his base in Vision ii. 2.]
13 [Dan. x. 21, xii 1; Rev. xii. 7. It is not necessary to accept this statement as doctrine, but the idea may be traced to these texts.]
14 [That is, the New Law, the gospel of the Son of God.]
15 [Vision ii. 2. Denying the Son.]
16 And ... cut, omitted in Pal.
19 Omitted in Lips. Translation is made from Vat.
20 The versions vary in some of the minute particulars.
21 [The by-gone quarrels about foreknowledge and predestination are innocently enough anticipated here.]
24 [Here is a note of Hermas' time. Not noly does it imply the history of heresies as of some progress, but it marks the Montanist refusal to receive penitent lapsers.]
25 [He has in view the passages Matt. xx. 23, Luke xxii. 24, and hence is lenient in judgment.]
26 [Why "naturally"? Latin, "de ipsis tamen qui boni fuerunt." Greek, a0gaqoi\ o!ntej. Gebhardt and Harnack, Lips. 1877.]
30 [A note of the time of composing The Shepherd. This chapter speaks of experiences of life among heathen and of wordly Christians, inconsistent with the times of Clement.]
31 Omitted in Lips.; supplied from Vat.
32 "Withered, all but their tops, which alone were green."-Vat. and Pal.
33 [Matt. x. 40-42 influences this judgment of Hermas.]
34 Omitted in Lips., which has, instead, "are afraid."
35 [A cheering conclusion of his severe judgments, and aimed at the despair created by Montanist prophesyings.]
36 Literally, "the calling that was made by His Son to be saved." The Vatican renders this, "He wishes to preserve the invitation made by His Son." The Pal. has, "wishes to save His Church, which belongs to His Son." In the text, klh=sij is taken as = klhtoi/.
1 The Spirit.-Vat. [He is called "the Spirit of Christ" by St. Peter (i. 11); and perhaps this is a key to the non-dogmatic language of Hermas, if indeed he is here speaking of the Holy Spirit personally, and not of the Son exclusively. See Simil. v. 6. Isa. v. 1.]
2 To a fruitful hill.-Pal. Omitted in Vat. [Hermas delights in the picturesque, and introduces Arcadia in harmony with his pastoral fiction.]
4 [As of Eden. Gen. iii. 24; Rev. xxi. 11. The Tsohar.]