He now proceeds to name the tribe πρόδηλον γὰρ ὅτι … “For it is evident that out of Judah our Lord has sprung, concerning which tribe Moses said nothing about priests”. With πρόδηλον may be compared δήπου of Hebrews 2:16. The facts of our Lord's birth were so far known that everyone connected Him with Judah. The accounts of Matthew and Luke were accepted (cf. Revelation 5:5). This fact of his origin would naturally militate against His claims to be Priest; but this writer here skilfully reconciles them with Scripture. Weizsäcker translates by “längst bekannt” giving to πρό the temporal meaning. On Clem., ad Cor., xii, Lightfoot says: “It may be a question in many passages whether the preposition denotes priority in time or distinctness.” Wetstein quotes from Artemidorus καὶ ἐφάνη πρόδηλον τὸ ὄναρ μετὰ τὴν ἀπόφασιν and from Polyaenus τί καὶ χρὴ γράφειν; πρόδηλον γάρ. ἀνατέταλκεν is possibly a reminiscence of Zechariah 6:12, Ἰδοὺ ἀνὴρ Ἀνατολὴ ὄνομα αὐτῷ · καὶ ὑποκάτωθεν αὐτοῦ ἀνατελεῖ, a passage referred to by Philo, see Carpzov in loc. εἰς ἣν φυλὴν, “ εἰς is applied to the direction of the thought, as Acts 2:25. Δαυῒδ λέγει εἰς αὐτόν, aiming at Him, E. i. 10, ver. 32.” Winer, 49, and so in Dion. Hal., πολλοὶ ἐλέχθησαν εἰς τοῦτο λόγοι, and cf. our own expression, “He spoke to such and such points”. Vulg. translates “in qua tribu”. Whatever Moses spoke regarding priests was spoken with reference to another tribe and not with reference to Judah.

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Old Testament