B. Relative Ellipsis:
Where the omitted word must be supplied from the words actually related to it
and employed in the context itself.
. III. Where the omitted word is to be supplied from
. ANALOGOUS, or RELATED WORDS.
Gen. 50:23 — “The children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph’s knees.” Margin, borne. R.V., born. But the Ellipsis of relation is:—
“[and educated] at Joseph’s knees.”
Exod. 13:15 — “Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all [beasts];” etc.
Lev. 21:4 — “But he being a chief man [a priest] among his people, shall not
defile himself [for his wife] to profane himself.” See verse 14; and Eze. 24:16, 17.
Deut. 15:12 — “And if thy brother, [or thy sister] , an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew, woman, be sold unto thee,” etc.
Psa. 142:4 — “I looked on my right hand, and beheld [on my left hand].”
Isa. 30:17 — “One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one;
at the rebuke of five shall ye [all] flee.”
Isa. 38:12 — “I have cut off as a weaver my life,”
i.e., I have cut off my life as a weaver [his thread].
Matt. 3:4 — “And a leathern girdle [was bound] about his loins.”
In John 7:39, the verb given is rightly supplied in the A.V. :
“For the Holy Spirit was not yet given.”
Rom. 14:21 — “It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing
whereby thy brother stumbleth,” i.e., nor to do any thing whereby, etc.
.
The point is not merely abstaining from the use of anything that other people abuse, but from that which is a cause of stumbling to the weak conscience of the brother in Christ, who thought it wrong to eat or drink that which has been offered to an idol.
Rom. 16:16 — “Salute one another with an holy kiss.”
Here, the fact that ἀλλήλους (alleelous) is masculine, and the undoubted and overwhelming testimony of the Primitive Church, necessitate an Ellipsis;
which must certainly be understood, if not actually supplied. It was, and is,
contrary to all Eastern usage for women (who were always covered, 1 Cor. 11:5)
and men to kiss each other indiscriminately. The Ellipsis understood is:—
“Salute one another [men and women respectively] with a holy kiss.”
The Apostolical Constitutions (Cent. III.) say:— “Let the men salute one another (masc.), and the women one another (fem.), with a kiss.” In this sense are to be understood also 1 Cor. 16:20; 2 Cor. 13:12; 1 Thess. 5:26; 1 Pet. 5:14.*
* For an exhaustive treatment of the whole subject, see a work, entitled
Salute One Another, by the Rev. Jas. Neil, M.A. Lond,: Simpkin and Marshall.
From “Figures Of Speech Used In The Bible” by E. W. Bullinger,
(Public Domain) pages 61-62. Adapted for website compatibility.
See original at link. Stream Download.
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