Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Jude 1:5

Jude’s first example of sin and punishment is not used in 2 Peter, probably because it seemed too vague and obscure. It is indeed somewhat difficult. The general sense is like that of the passage 1 Corinthians 10:1-11. In that we are reminded how Israel was delivered, and nourished in the wilderness (1–4); and how for all that they sinned and were punished (5–11). The same theme recurs over and over again in Psalms 78. The special sin which Jude has in mind seems to be Israel’s want of faith when the spies brought back reports of the Promised Land (τοὺς μὴ πιστεύσαντας). But no good explanation of the words τὸ δεύτερον has been suggested. They are less emphatic, and therefore less awkward, if we are allowed to read (with א 68 and several versions) κύριος ἅπαξ λαὸν σώσας. With the text before us I see no other reasonable rendering but to take τὸ δεύτερον as simply equivalent to ὕστερον, “afterwards”: but no authority has been cited for such a use. There are other points of uncertainty about the text of this verse which it is worth while to note: for εἰδότας ἅπαξ πάντα אKL and others read εἰδ. ὑμᾶς (which Mayor adopts), B has εἰδ. ὑμᾶς ἅπαξ and for κύριος (read by אCKL etc.) AB 13 and four versions read Ἰησοῦς (see further Introd.). This was interpreted by some Fathers, e.g. Jerome, as signifying Joshua (who, of course, in Greek and Latin is called Jesus). But the subject of both this and the next verse is the same, and Joshua cannot be the subject of Jude 1:6. If Jude did write Ἰησοῦς, it was not without a recollection of Joshua. The identity of name appealed to many early Christian writers.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Jude 1:5

Old Testament

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