Galatians 4:25

τὸ δὲ Ἅγαρ Σινὰ ὄρος ἐστὶν ABDgr syrHarcl. marg. Σινὰ omitted by d and Ambrosiaster Com. (ut videtur). τὸ γὰρ Σινὰ ὄρος ἐστὶν אCG vulg. Orig. and so Lightfoot, W.H. margin, and Westcott in notes on select readings. Observe that the first two readings “differ only by the presence or absence of Δεα.” τὸ γὰρ Ἅγαρ Σινὰ ὄρος ἐστιν Text. Rec. with KLP syrpesh. Harcl. text

NOTE A

Arabia in Galatians 1:17 and Galatians 4:25

THE terms Arabia and Arabians, as used during the first century A.D., referred not only to the peninsula proper including the Sinaitic peninsula (Galatians 4:25), but also especially to the kingdom of the Nabathaeans. So Josephus expressly in Antt. I. 12. 4 § 221. He also speaks of Arabia being on the east of Peraea (B.J. III. 3. 3 [§ 47]), of its being visible from the Temple towers (B. J. v. 4. 3 [§ 160]), and of its limit in the country of Gamalitis (Antt. XVIII. 5. 1§ 113). The Nabathaeans, who presumably came from a more southern part, were settled in Petra B.C. 312 (if not even earlier, in the first half of the 5th cent. B.C. see Malachi 1:3), and from that time came into frequent touch with the Seleucid, Egyptian, Jewish, and Roman rulers, holding their own with some ease, on account of the natural difficulties of their country. The limits of their kingdom changed, but in the first century A.D. extended as far north as the neighbourhood of Damascus. Damascus itself was under the suzerainty of Rome, but the cessation of Roman coinage there after 33–34 until 62 A.D. makes it probable that during those years it was in the hands of the Arabians, probably ceded to Aretas IV. by Caligula. Thus St Paul’s notice, 2 Corinthians 11:32, is so far confirmed. See further Schürer, English Translation, I. ii., pp. 345 sqq., C. H. Turner in Hastings, D.B. I. 416, and Nöldeke in Hastings-Selbie, D.B. s.v. Arabia.

It is then clear, if the language of Josephus is sufficient guide, that when St Paul speaks of spending two years in Arabia he may mean anywhere in the kingdom of the Nabathaeans, from near Damascus down to the Sinaitic peninsula. As he does not give any closer definition he probably wandered from place to place. He may even have gone as far south as Mt Sinai, but we know too little of the possibilities of travelling at that time in Petra and the districts bordering upon it to be able to say that he could do so. It may be doubted whether the sentimental reason of visiting the scene of the giving of the Law would have appealed to him just after his conversion. The case of Elijah was wholly different: to him the revelation to Moses was the highest conceivable; not so to St Paul.

25. τὸ δὲ Ἅγαρ Σινὰ ὄρος ἐστὶν ἐν τῇ Ἀραβίᾳ. See notes on Textual Criticism.

(1) So W.H. text, which we shall consider first. “Now Hagar is Mt Sinai in Arabia.”
(a) This has been explained since the time of Chrysostom by saying that the word “Hagar” means Mt Sinai on the lips of Arabians. For “ḥagar” (חגר) in Arabic = rock, stone. But Hagar (הגר) is from a different root.

(b) It is therefore better to accept the following explanation. The thought “Hagar” (not the word and not the woman as such, but the thought of bondage suggested by her) corresponds to Mt Sinai, situated in a desert land and far away from the land of promise generally, and Jerusalem in particular. For τὸ δὲ introducing a thought rather than a word see Ephesians 4:9. No doubt the connexion of “Hagar” with Mt Sinai would the more readily suggest itself in that Hagar and her son went into Arabia. It is doubtful whether the Hagarenes (Psalms 83:6), or Hagrites (1 Chronicles 5:10; 1 Chronicles 5:19-20), were of Aramaean or Arabian origin.

(2) W.H. marg. τὸ γὰρ Σινὰ ὄρος ἐστὶν ἐν τῇʼ Αραβία̣. This must be explained on the same lines as (1) (b). I say Hagar is the mother of slaves, for Mt Sinai, the place whence the first covenant (Hagar) came, is in a desert place far away from the land of promise generally, and Jerusalem in particular.

On Arabia see Galatians 1:17, where, as here, the distance from Jerusalem, and, also apparently, its non-Jewish associations, are in St Paul’s mind. See also Appendix, Note A.

συνστοιχεῖ δὲ. συνστ.[134], cf. στοιχεῖν Galatians 5:25; Galatians 6:16 and στοιχεῖα Galatians 4:3; Galatians 4:9, “is in the same rank with,” i.e. the same category. Polybius uses συνστοιχεῖν literally of soldiers, συζυγοῦντας καὶ συστοιχοῦντας διαμένειν (x. 23 [21]. 7). Compare σύστοιχος of the same class, e.g. ὁ γλυκὺς καὶ λιπαρὸς καὶ ὅσοι σύστοιχοι τούτοις (Theophr. de Caus. Plant. 6. 4. 2). “The place of the giving of the Law belongs to the same grade or stratum of the development of the world as the present Jerusalem, the metropolis of the Jews, and not to the higher grade, on which stands the future Jerusalem, the Jerusalem that now exists in heaven” (Zahn, p. 236). The force of the δέ is: But though distant it corresponds in character with etc.

[134] Is affixed it means that all the passages are mentioned where the word occurs in the Greek Bible.

τῇ νῦν Ἰερουσαλήμ. νῦν the earthly and visible, not without reference to the position of enmity towards Christ taken by its representatives. In this and the following verse the Hebrew form of the name is used (see Galatians 1:17 note) because of its sacred and theological associations.

δουλεύει γὰρ. Although in strict grammar the subject is Hagar or the first διαθήκη, yet, as neither could be said to be in bondage, the thought is of Jerusalem, subservient to Rome, typical of worse bondage under the Law, and indeed to an evil master (cf. John 8:31-35).

μετὰ τῶν τέκνων αὐτῆς, i.e. with those who belong spiritually to her.