Judges 16:17
17. if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me—His herculean powers did not arise from his hair, but from his peculiar relation to God as a Nazarite. His unshorn locks were a sign of his Nazaritism, and a pledge on the part of God that his supernatural strength would be continued.
2 Corinthians 6:17
17. Quoted from Isa 52:11, with the freedom of one inspired, who gives variations sanctioned by the Holy Spirit.
be ye separate—"be separated" (Ho 4:17). touch not the unclean thing—rather, "anything unclean" (2Co 7:1; Mic 2:10). Touching is more polluting, as implying participation, than seeing. receive you—The Greek implies, "to myself"; as persons heretofore out of doors, but now admitted within (2Co 5:1-10). With this accords the clause, "Come out from among them," namely, so as to be received to me. So Eze 20:41, "I will accept you"; and Zep 3:19, "gather her that was driven out." "The intercourse of believers with the world should resemble that of angels, who, when they have been sent a message from heaven, discharge their office with the utmost promptness, and joyfully fly back home to the presence of God" (1Co 7:31; 5:9, 10).Titus 2:14
14. gave himself—"The forcible 'Himself, His whole self, the greatest gift ever given,' must not be overlooked."
for us—Greek, "in our behalf." redeem us—deliver us from bondage by paying the price of His precious blood. An appropriate image in addressing bond-servants (Tit 2:9, 10): from all iniquity—the essence of sin, namely, "transgression of the law": in bondage to which we were till then. The aim of His redemption was to redeem us, not merely from the penalty, but from the being of all iniquity. Thus he reverts to the "teaching" in righteousness, or disciplining effect of the grace of God that bringeth salvation (Tit 2:11, 12). peculiar—peculiarly His own, as Israel was of old. zealous—in doing and promoting "good works."1 Peter 2:9
9. Contrast in the privileges and destinies of believers. Compare the similar contrast with the preceding context.
chosen—"elect" of God, even as Christ your Lord is. generation—implying the unity of spiritual origin and kindred of believers as a class distinct from the world. royal—kingly. Believers, like Christ, the antitypical Melchisedec, are at once kings and priests. Israel, in a spiritual sense, was designed to be the same among the nations of the earth. The full realization on earth of this, both to the literal and the spiritual Israel, is as yet future. holy nation—antitypical to Israel. peculiar people—literally, "a people for an acquisition," that is, whom God chose to be peculiarly His: Ac 20:28, "purchased," literally, "acquired." God's "peculiar treasure" above others. show forth—publish abroad. Not their own praises but His. They have no reason to magnify themselves above others for once they had been in the same darkness, and only through God's grace had been brought to the light which they must henceforth show forth to others. praises—Greek, "virtues," "excellencies": His glory, mercy (1Pe 2:10), goodness (Greek, 1Pe 2:3; Nu 14:17, 18; Isa 63:7). The same term is applied to believers, 2Pe 1:5. of him who hath called you— (2Pe 1:3). out of darkness—of heathen and even Jewish ignorance, sin, and misery, and so out of the dominion of the prince of darkness. marvellous—Peter still has in mind Ps 118:23. light—It is called "His," that is, God's. Only the (spiritual) light is created by God, not darkness. In Isa 45:7, it is physical darkness and evil, not moral, that God is said to create, the punishment of sin, not sin itself. Peter, with characteristic boldness, brands as darkness what all the world calls light; reason, without the Holy Spirit, in spite of its vaunted power, is spiritual darkness. "It cannot apprehend what faith is: there it is stark blind; it gropes as one that is without eyesight, stumbling from one thing to another, and knows not what it does" [LUTHER].
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