2 Peter 2:17

2 Peter 2:17. These are springs without water. The noun is the same as that used of Jacob's well in John 4:6. It means, however, a spring-well or fountain. It is possible that the figure points to the apostasy of the men ‘who bear the semblance of teachers, just as, for a little time, a place in Eastern lands where water has flowed will continue green, but disappoint the thirsty traveller who may be led by a little verdure to hope for water' (Lumby). But it is rather in respect simply of the pretence which they make, and the deception which they practise, that they are likened to waterless springs. The force of the imagery, which has a special appropriateness in Eastern lands, will be seen by comparing those passages in which God Himself is designated a ‘fountain of living waters' (Jeremiah 2:13), or those in which men who turn from sin are likened to a ‘spring of water, whose waters fail not' (Isaiah 58:11); but best of all by comparing such passages as those in which the ‘mouth of the righteous' is said to be as a ‘well of life,' and the ‘law of the wise' is described as ‘a fountain of life' (Proverbs 10:11; Proverbs 13:14). See also the imagery used by Christ Himself in John 4:10; John 4:14; John 7:37.

and mists driven by a storm. The R. V. rightly follows the best critical authorities here in substituting for the ‘clouds' of the A. V. a more expressive term (not found elsewhere in the New Testament) meaning ‘mists' or ‘mist-clouds.' The noun rendered ‘storm' is the one which is applied to the ‘storm' on the Lake in Mark 4:37; Luke 8:23 (its only other New Testament occurrences). It denotes properly a whirlwind sweeping upwards. Hence the aptness of the description ‘driven,' not merely ‘carried' as in the A. V. Wycliffe's rendering is very expressive ‘mists driven with whirling winds.' It is doubtful, however, whether this second figure is intended to convey the idea that these false teachers are wanting in consistency (Huther). The point of comparison is simply the deceptive-ness of what they offer. Like the drifting mist-clouds, presaging rain to refresh the earth and enrich the husbandman, which suddenly vanish and leave bitter disappointment to the expectant, when they are caught up by the tempest, so these teachers excite delusive hopes by lofty promises which leave nothing behind them. Compare the Old Testament figure ‘whoso boasteth himself of a false gift is like clouds and wind without rain' (Proverbs 25:14). See also Paul's figure in Ephesians 4:14.

for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved. The best authorities omit the ‘for ever' of the A. V. The phrase is the same as in Jude 1:13, and should, therefore, be rendered the ‘blackness,' etc., not the ‘mist,' etc. It asserts the Divine certainty, the hopelessness, the perpetuity of the doom of these apostates. Compare Jeremiah's description of the false prophets , whose ‘way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness' (Jeremiah 23:12). For the conception of the Divine judgment, whether of the righteous or of the unrighteous, as reserved or prepared, see also Matthew 25:34; Matthew 25:41; 1 Peter 1:4, etc.