1 Gallandi, Bibl. vet. Patr., ii. p. 417, Venice, 1765.
2 Perhaps the same Theophilus whom Methodius, a contemporary of Hippolytus, addresses as Epiphanius. [See vol. vi., this series.] From his introduction, too, it is clear that they are in error who take this book to be a homily. (Fabricius.)
3 In the text the reading is twn ontwn, for which twn wtwn = of the ears, is proposed by some, and anqrwpwn = of men, by others. In the manuscripts the abbreviation anwn is often found for anqrwpwn.
4 In the text we find wj piwn kaqara gh, for which grammar requires wj pioni kaqara gh. Combefisius proposes wsper oun kaqara gh = as in clean ground. Others would read wj puron, etc., = like a grain in clean ground.
6 This reading, paraklhsewn for marturwn (= witnesses), which is peculiar to Hippolytus alone, is all the more remarkable as so thoroughly suiting Paul's meaning in the passage.
9 The text reads atina = which. Gudius proposes tina = some.
10 The plectrum was the instrument with which the lyre was struck. The text is in confusion here. Combefisius corrects it, as we render it, ooganwn dikhn hnwmenon exontej en eautoij.
12 The text reads mh planw (= that I may not deceive). Some propose wj planoi = as deceivers.
13 This is according to the emendation of Combefisius. [And note this primitive theory of inspiration as illustrating the words, "who spake by the prophets," in the Nicene Symbol.]
15 In the text it is prokeimena (= things before us or proposed to us), for which Combefisius proposes, as in our rendering, proeirhmena.
17 Isa. xlii. 1; Matt. xii. 18. The text is auto palin o tou qeou pai. See Macarius, Dininitas D. N. S. C., book iv. ch. xiii. p. 460, and Grabe on Bull's Defens. fid. Nic., p. 101.
21 The text has wn = being, for which read hn = was.
22 micaj. Thomassin, De Incarnatione Verbi, iii. 5, cites the most distinguished of the Greek and Latin Fathers, who taught that a mingling ( commistio), without confusion indeed, but yet most thorough, of the two natures, is the bond and nexus of the personal unity.
23 [This analogy of weaving is powerfully employed by Gray (" Weave the warp, and weave the woof," etc.). See his Pindaric ode, The Bard.]
24 Rev. v. 5; [also Gen. xlix. 8. See below, 7, 8]
30 The text has toutou-proerxomenou, for which we read, with Combefisius, proerxomenon.
36 The text gives simply, thn tou agiou. etc., = the paternal voice of the Holy Ghost, etc. As this would seem to represent the Holy Ghost as the Father of Christ, Combefisius proposes, as in our rendering, kata thn dia tou agiou, etc. The wine, therefore, is taken as a figure of His deity, and the garment as a figure of His humanity; and the sense would be, that He has the latter imbued with the former in a way peculiar to Himself-even as the voice at the Jordan declared Him to be the Father's Son, not His Son by adoption, but His own Son, anointed as man with divinity itself.
37 The nations are compared to a robe about Christ, as something foreign to Himself, and deriving all their gifts from Him.
39 [See Irenaeus, vol. i. p. 559. Dan's name is excepted in Rev. vii., and this was always assigned as the reason. The learned Calmet ( sub voce Dan) makes a prudent reflection on this idea. The history given in Judg. xviii. is more to the purpose.]
44 Perhaps from an apocryphal book, as also below in ch. liv.
47 katakalumma; other reading, kataleimma = remains.
49 The text gives epagwgh. Combefisius prefers apagwgh = trial.
51 i.e., according to the reading, emporia. The text is empeiria = experience.
52 There is another reading, limouj (= famines) twn eqnwn.
55 Combefisius adds, "between the teeth of it; and they said thus to it, Arise, devour much flesh."
56 Combefisius inserted these words, because he thought that they must have been in the vision, as they occur subsequently in the explantation of the vision (v. 19).