Jude 1:5

{4} I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. (4) He presents the horrible punishment of those who have abused the grace of God to follow their own lusts.

Jude 1:5 . Ὑπομνῆσαι , to remind ) In an active sense.— εἰδότας ὑμᾶς , though you know ) The Accusative Absolute, as Acts 26:3 . The reason why he only admonishes or reminds them is, because they already know it, and have ascertained it once for all. This expression answers to that of Peter, knowing this first .— ἅπαξ ) once for all: Jude 1:3 , note.— σώσας , having saved ) There is an antithesis in, destroyed .

Though ye once: this may be joined either with the verb following, knew, according to our translation, and the sense is, though ye knew this certainly, as the word once is taken, Psalm 89:35 , or perfectly and thoroughly, or once for all; or rather, with what goes before, and the words may be read, I will yet once (viz. while I am in this tabernacle) put you in remembrance of this, though you know it; as 2 Peter 1:12 . Having saved the people; the people of Israel. Afterward destroyed them; viz. in the wilderness, by plague, fiery serpents, &c. That believed not; he sets forth the Israelites’ unbelief, as the original of all their disobedience and rebellions, and the great cause of their destruction. See Hebrews 3:17-19 4:2 .

(5-7) We now enter upon the main body of the Epistle. Three instances of God’s vengeance: the unbelievers in the wilderness; the impure angels; Sodom and Gomorrha. (5) I will therefore put you in remembrance.—Or, But I wish to remind you. The “but” indicates opposition to the impiety of those just mentioned. Though ye once knew this.—The best MSS. and versions compel us to substitute “all things” for “this,” and we must translate, because ye have once for all (as in Jude 1:3) known all things. You have once for all been taught all that I want to say to you; so that I need only remind you, there is no need to instruct. (Comp. Romans 15:14-15, where see Notes; 2Peter 1:12; 1John 2:21.) “All things” probably has special reference to Old Testament history, as what follows seems to show. How that the Lord.—“How that” depends upon “remind,” not upon “have known.” There is very strong evidence in favour of substituting “Jesus” for “the Lord;” a most remarkable reading, showing how, in Christian language, the Man Jesus had become identified with the Eternal Son. The use of “Christ” in 1Corinthians 10:4, though less striking, is similar. Having saved the people.—Or, perhaps, having saved a people. A whole nation was rescued. The order of the three examples of signal punishment is in 2 Peter chronological: impure angels, flood, Sodom and Gomorrha; here not. But the order here is quite intelligible. St.

Jude’s main object is to warn his readers against that party in the Christian community who, by its abuse of Christian liberty, transformed the gospel of purity into a gospel of wantonness, and to give them a safeguard against such. And the safeguard is this: to hold fast the faith once for all delivered to them, and to remember the consequences of being unbelieving. For this purpose, no warning could be more apposite than the fate of Jude’s own nation in the wilderness. This palmary instance given, two others follow, probably suggested by 2 Peter. Afterward destroyed.—Better, secondly destroyed. Wiclif, “the secunde tyme”; Rheims, “secondly.” The Lord twice manifested His power on Israel: (1) in mercy; (2) in judgment. The reference is almost certainly to Numbers 14:35; Deuteronomy 1:35, &c. The destruction of Jerusalem can scarcely be meant, whatever date we assign to the Epistle, although the striking reading, “Jesus” for “the Lord,” gives some countenance to such an interpretation. The most obvious meaning is, that the people destroyed were those who, in the first instance, were saved. Had the destruction of Jerusalem been intended, the reference would probably have been more clear. (6) And the angels which kept not.—Rather, because they kept not.

Jude 1:5 . I will therefore put you in remembrance, &c. — I will remind you of some examples of God’s judgments against such persons. Œcumenius observes, that “by proposing the following examples of the destruction of sinners from the Old Testament history, the apostle designed to show, that the God of the Old Testament is the same with the God of the New, in opposition to the Manicheans, who denied this; also to prove that the goodness of God will not hinder him from punishing the wicked under the new dispensation, any more than it hindered him from punishing them under the old.” In this passage Jude has mentioned two of the instances of the divine vengeance against atrocious sinners, which Peter took notice of, 2 Peter 2:4-5 , (where see the notes,) and in place of the third instance, the destruction of the old world, he hath introduced the destruction of the rebellious Israelites in the wilderness. Though ye once knew this — Were informed of it, and received it as a truth; that the Lord, having saved the people out of Egypt — By a train of wonderful miracles; afterward destroyed them that believed not — That is, destroyed the far greater part of that very people, whom he had once saved in a very extraordinary manner. Let no one, therefore, presume upon past mercies, as if he were now out of danger.

Jude does not mention the various sins committed by the Israelites in the wilderness, such as their worshipping the golden calf, refusing to go into Canaan, when commanded of God, their fornication with the Midianitish women, their frequent murmurings, &c., but he sums up the whole in their unbelief, because it was the source of all their sins.