Acts 15:17

might seek after the Lord The Hebrew of Amos differs widely here; and in the LXX. "the Lord" is not expressed. But the Spirit enabled St James to give the full interpretation of the prophetic words. The original paints the restored tabernacle, and of course the people of David restored along with it, as possessors of the remnant of Edom and all the heathen. The nations shall be joined unto the Lord's people. The LXX., as an exposition, speaks of "the residue of men seeking unto the restored tabernacle." St James makes both clear by shewing that "to seek after the Lord" is to be the true up-building both of the house of David and of all mankind besides.

The Hebrew word for "man" is Adamwhich differs very slightly from the word Edom. So that the variation between "remnant of Edom" and "residue of men" may be due only to the various reading of that noun.

upon whom my name is called An Aramaic mode of saying "who are called by my name." The expression is so translated James 2:7 (cp. Deuteronomy 28:10, &c.).

who doeth Here the most ancient texts connect the words of this verse with those of the following, and have nothing to represent the English "all" in Acts 15:17, or "unto God are all his works" in Acts 15:18, so that the sense becomes either (1) "the Lord, who maketh these things known from the beginning of the world," or (2) "the Lord, who doeth these things that were known from the beginning of the world." The first of these renderings is the more difficult to understand, and it must be taken as somewhat hyperbolic. God made known by His prophets the calling of the Gentiles in very early days, and this early revelation may be all that is intended by the stronger phrase. But the second sense seems to suit better with the context. This reception of the Gentiles seems to the Jew a new and startling thing, but God has revealed it by His prophets, and He who is doing it is but carrying out what He had known and designed from the beginning of the world.