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Philo speaks of seeing the unchanging beauty of the ideal world, ajlevktw/ tini; kai; dusermhneuvtw/ qeva/ ( De Somn. i. § 32; 1.649 M.).
ejpei; nwqroi; gegovnate ...] since ye are become dull of hearing , Vulg. quoniam imbecilles facti estis ad audiendum ... The difficulty of which the apostle has spoken came from the fault of the Hebrews. They had become with years less quick in understanding and not more quick according to a natural and healthy development. Compare Chrysostom: to; eijpei'n ejpei; nwqroi; gegovnate tai'" ajkoai'" dhlou'nto" h\n o{ti pavlai uJgivainon kai; h\san ijscuroiv, th'/ proqumiva/ zevonte" (Heb. 10:32), kai; u{steron aujtou;" tou'to paqei'n marturei' .

As yet however this dulness had not extended to action though such an issue was not far off (Heb. 6:12; comp. 2 Pet. 2:20). {Ora dev , writes Chrysostom, pw'" mevcri" ajkoh'" th;n nwqrovthta e[sthse .

For nwqroiv see Heb. 6:12. The word is found in LXX. Prov. 22:29; Ecclus. 4:29; 11:12. The plural aiJ ajkoaiv expresses the powers of hearing. Comp. Mark 7:35.
ejpeiv ] since, seeing. The conjunction is of frequent use in the Epistle, in which the strengthened form ejpeidhv is not found. See Heb. 2:14; 4:6; 5:2; 6:13; 9:17, 26; 10:2; 11:11. It expresses a fact which influences a result, yet not so that the result is the direct and necessary consequence of it ( o{ti ).

Heb. 5:12. The fault of the Hebrews is clearly defined. When by reason of the time—because they had been Christians so long,—they ought to have been teachers, they were themselves in need of elementary teaching. For kai; gavr see 4:2 note; for ojfeivlonte" , 2:17; 5:3 notes; and for dia; to;n crovnon compare v. 14 dia; th;n e{xin .

On didavskalo" Bengel says ‘vocabulum non muneris sed facultatis.’
p. creivan e[cete tou' did. uJma'" tina; ta; st. ] ye have need again that some one teach you the elements ... The tina is ambiguous. It may be treated as an interrogative ( tivna ): ‘that one teach you what are the rudiments...’ (so Vulg. Syr. Orig. Cyr.), or as the indefinite pronoun ( tinav ). In spite of the ancient authority for the first rendering, the second seems to be preferable (comp. 1 Thess. 4:9). It gives a sharper antithesis to didavskaloi ei\nai . And it could hardly be said the Hebrews required to learn what the elements of the Faith were. They knew what they were though they did not know them.

The constructions of creivan e[cein are singularly varied. The phrase is used absolutely (Mark 2:25; Acts 2:45; 1 Cor. 12:24; Eph. 4:28; 1 John 3:17); with an object in the genitive ( gavlakto" , Heb. 10:36 c with the simple infinitive (1 Thess. 1:8; 5:1; Matt. 3:14 c with i{na (John 2:25; 16:30; 1 John 2:27); and here only with the infinitive and article.

The phrase ta; stoicei'a th'" ajrch'" tw'n logivwn tou' qeou' (Vulg. elementa exordii sermonum Dei ) is very remarkable. Even ‘the beginning,’ the simplest fruitful presentation of the Gospel, is complex. The divine message includes from the first distinct elements which require to grow together. It is one, not as monotonous, but in virtue of a vital unity.

‘The beginning of the oracles of God’ corresponds with ‘the beginning of Christ’ (Heb. 6:1). Th'" ajrch'" is not in either place to be separated from the genitive which follows as if it could have one adjectival sense, ‘the first elements,’ ‘the first teaching.’
ta; stoicei'a ] the rudiments , the first, simplest, elements of which


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