2 Peter 2:4

εἰ γὰρ ὁ θεός … introducing a series of conditional sentences. The apodosis is found in οἶδεν κύριος … of 2 Peter 2:9. σειραῖς. No doubt a rendering of δεσμοῖς in Jude 1:6, agreeably to the practice of this writer, who is somewhat fond of using rarer words, instead of the more commonplace. σειρά usually means a “cord” or “rope” (Homer, Il. xxiii., 115, Od. xxii., 175). It would seem to mean “a golden chain” in Il. viii., 19, 25, cf. Plato. Theatetus, i. 53 C. The meaning “fetters” is peculiar to 2 Peter (for var. lect. σειροῖς, see textual note). ταρταρώσας = “cast into Tartarus”. The verb is a ἅπαξ λεγ. τάρταρος occurs in three passages of LXX. (Job 40:15 (Job 40:20), Job 41:22 (Job 41:23), Prov. 24:51 (Proverbs 30:16): but in none of these is there any corresponding idea in the Hebrew. The word also occurs in Enoch xx. 2, where Gehenna is the place of punishment for apostate Jews, and Tartarus for the fallen angels. In Homer (e.g. Il. viii. 13) Hades is the place of confinement for dead men, and Tartarus is the name given to a murky abyss beneath Hades in which the sins of fallen Immortals (Kronos, Japetos, and the Titans) are punished (cf. Salmond, H.B.D. 2:344 a). Hence 2 Peter uses this word in agreement with the Book of Enoch and Greek mythology, because he is speaking of fallen angels and not of men. As regards the cosmology that is here implied, it has been suggested that the earth is not regarded as flat, but the universe is conceived as two concentric spheres, the outer heaven, the inner the earth. The nether half of heaven is Tartarus, and the nether half of the earth is Hades (St. Clair, Expositor, July, 1902). The use of the word by 2 Peter is remarkable as implying an atmosphere of Greek thought in the circle in which he moved, and for which he wrote. ζόφος in Homer is used of the gloom of the nether world, Od. xx. 356, cf. Hebrews 12:18. Also Hebrews 12:17 and Jude 1:6; Jude 1:13. It is implied that fallen angels and unrighteous men alike undergo temporary punishment until the day of their final doom, cf. Jude 1:9. Enoch x. 4, 12, lxxxviii. 2.