SEV Biblia, Chapter 1:12
Dijo uno de ellos, su propio profeta: Los cretenses, siempre mentirosos, malas bestias, vientres perezosos.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Titus 1:12
Verse 12. One of themselves, even a prophet of their own] This was Epimenides, who was born at Gnossus, in Crete, and was reckoned by many the seventh wise man of Greece, instead of Periander, to whom that honour was by them denied. Many fabulous things are related of this poet, which are not proper to be noticed here. He died about 538 years before the Christian era. When St. Paul calls him a prophet of their own, he only intimates that he was, by the Cretans, reputed a prophet. And, according to Plutarch, (in Solone,) the Cretans paid him divine honours after his death. Diogenes Laertius mentions some of his prophecies: beholding the fort of Munichia, which guarded the port of Athens, he cried out: "O ignorant men! if they but knew what slaughters this fort shall occasion, they would pull it down with their teeth!" This prophecy was fulfilled several years after, when the king, Antipater, put a garrison in this very fort, to keep the Athenians in subjection. See Diog. Laert., lib. i. p. 73.
Plato, Deuteronomy Legibus, lib. ii., says that, on the Athenians expressing great fear of the Persians, Epimenides encouraged them by saying "that they should not come before ten years, and that they should return after having suffered great disasters." This prediction was supposed to have been fulfilled in the defeat of the Persians in the battles of Salamis and Marathon.
He predicted to the Lacedemonians and Cretans the captivity to which they should one day be reduced by the Arcadians. This took place under Euricrates, king of Crete, and Archidamus, king of Lacedemon; vide Diog. Laert., lib. i. p. 74, edit. Meibom.
It was in consequence of these prophecies, whether true or false, that his countrymen esteemed him a prophet; that he was termed anhr aqeiov, a divine man, by Plato; and that Cicero, Deuteronomy Divin., lib. i., says he was futura praesciens, et vaticinans per furorem: "He knew future events, and prophesied under a divine influence." These things are sufficient to justify the epithet of prophet, given him here by St. Paul. It may also be remarked that vates and poeta, prophet and poet, were synonymous terms among the Romans.
The Cretians are always liars] The words quoted here by the apostle are, according to St. Jerome, Socrates, Nicephorus, and others, taken from a work of Epimenides, now no longer extant, entitled peri crhsmwn? Concerning Oracles. The words form a hexameter verse:-krhtev aei yeustai, kaka qhria, gasterev argai.
The Cretans are always liars; destructive wild beasts; sluggish gluttons.
That the Cretans were reputed to be egregious liars, several of the ancients declare; insomuch that krhtizein, to act like a Cretan, signifies to lie; and crhsqai krhtismw, to deceive. The other Greeks reputed them liars, because they said that among them was the sepulchre of Jupiter, who was the highest object of the Greek and Roman worship. By telling this truth, which all others would have to pass for a lie, the Cretans showed that the object of their highest admiration was only a dead man.
Evil beasts] Ferocious and destructive in their manners.
Slow bellies.] Addicted to voluptuousness, idleness, and gluttony; sluggish or hoggish men.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 12. One of themselves, even a prophet of their own , etc.] This was Epimenides, in whose poems stand the words here cited; the apostle rightly calls him one of themselves, since he was a Cretian by birth, of the city of Gnossus; it is reported of him, that being sent by his father to his sheep in the field, he by the way, at noon, turned aside into a cave, and slept fifty seven years and he is very properly called a prophet of their own; for in Crete Jupiter had his prophets , and he might be one of them: the priests among the Heathens were called prophets; so Baal's priests are called the prophets of Baal, and the prophets of the groves, ( 1 Kings 18:19). Besides, Epimenides was thought to be inspired by the gods: he is called by Apuleius , a famous fortune teller; and is said by Laertius to be very skilful in divination, and to have foretold many things which came to pass; and by the Grecians were supposed to be very dear to the gods; so Balaam, the soothsayer and diviner, is called a prophet, ( 2 Peter 2:16).
Add to this, that the passage next cited stands in a poem of this writer, entitled, Concerning Oracles; and it is easy to observe, that poets in common were usually called vates, or prophets; so that the apostle speaks here with great propriety. Now concerning the inhabitants of Crete, Epimenides, a native of the place, and a person of great character and repute among them, said, the Cretians are always liars : living is a sin common to human nature, and appears in men as early, or earlier than any other; and all men are guilty of it, at one time or another; but all are not habitually liars, as it seems these Cretians were: lying was a governing vice among them; they were not only guilty of it in some particular instances, but always; not only for saying that Jupiter's sepulchre was with them, when it was the sepulchre of Minos his son, which they had fraudulently obliterated; and for which Callimachus charges them with lying, and uses these very words of Epimenides; though he assigns a different reason from that now given, which is, that Jupiter died not, but always exists, and therefore his sepulchre could not be with them: but this single instance was not sufficient to fasten such a character upon them; it was a sin they were addicted to: some countries are distinguished by their vices; some for pride; some for levity, vanity, and inconstancy; some for boasting and bragging some for covetousness; some for idleness; some for effeminacy; some for hypocrisy and deceit; and others, as the Cretians, it seems, for lying; this was their national sin ; and this is said by others, as well as Epimenides. Crete is, by Ovid , called mendax Creta, lying Crete. Hence, with the Grecians, to cretize, is proverbially used for to lie; this is a sin, than which nothing makes a man more like the devil, or more infamous among men, or more abominable to God. The Ethiopic version, instead of Cretes, or Cretians, reads hypocrites. Other characters of them, from the same Heathen poet, follow, evil beasts: slow bellies ; by evil beasts are meant beasts of prey, savage and mischievous ones; (see Genesis 37:20,33) and are so called, to distinguish them from other beasts, as sheep, and the like, which are not so; and perhaps Crete might abound with such evil beasts; for the Cretians are said to excel in hunting; and to these they themselves are compared, by one of their own prophets, for their cruelty, and savage disposition: so cruel persecutors are compared to beasts, ( 1 Corinthians 15:30) and the false teachers, the apostle has respect to in citing this passage, were cruel, if not to the bodies, yet to the souls of men, whom they poisoned and destroyed. And the Cretians are called, by the poet, slow bellies partly for their intemperance, their gluttony and drunkenness: which suited with the false teachers, whose god was their belly, and which they served, and not the Lord Jesus; and partly for their sloth and idleness, eating the bread of others without working.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 10-16 - False teachers are described. Faithful ministers must oppose such in good time, that their folly being made manifest, they may go no furthe They had a base end in what they did; serving a worldly interest unde pretence of religion: for the love of money is the root of all evil Such should be resisted, and put to shame, by sound doctrine from the Scriptures. Shameful actions, the reproach of heathens, should be fa from Christians; falsehood and lying, envious craft and cruelty, bruta and sensual practices, and idleness and sloth, are sins condemned eve by the light of nature. But Christian meekness is as far from cowardl passing over sin and error, as from anger and impatience. And thoug there may be national differences of character, yet the heart of man in every age and place is deceitful and desperately wicked. But the sharpest reproofs must aim at the good of the reproved; and soundnes in the faith is most desirable and necessary. To those who are defile and unbelieving, nothing is pure; they abuse, and turn things lawfu and good into sin. Many profess to know God, yet in their lives den and reject him. See the miserable state of hypocrites, such as have form of godliness, but are without the power; yet let us not be s ready to fix this charge on others, as careful that it does not appl to ourselves __________________________________________________________________
Greek Textus Receptus
ειπεν 2036 5627 τις 5100 εξ 1537 αυτων 846 ιδιος 2398 αυτων 846 προφητης 4396 κρητες 2912 αει 104 ψευσται 5583 κακα 2556 θηρια 2342 γαστερες 1064 αργαι 692
Vincent's NT Word Studies
12. One of themselves (tiv ex autwn). Autwn refers to the gainsayers, vv. 9, 10. Tiv refers to Epimenides, contemporary with Solon, and born in Crete B.C. 659. A legend relates that, going by his father's order in search of a sheep, he lay down in a cave, where he fell asleep and slept for fifty years. He then appeared with long hair and a flowing beard, and with an astonishing knowledge of medicine and natural history. It was said that he had the power of sending his soul out of his body and recalling it at pleasure, and that he had familiar intercourse with the gods and possessed the power of prophecy. He was sent for to Athens at the request of the inhabitants, in order to pave the way for the legislation of Solon by purifications and propitiatory sacrifices, intended to allay the feuds and party discussions which prevailed in the city. In return for his services he refused the Athenians' offers of wealth and public honors, and asked only a branch of the sacred olive, and a decree of perpetual friendship between Athens and his native city. He is said to have lived to the age of 157 years, and divine honors were paid him by the Cretans after his death. He composed a Theogony, and poems concerning religious mysteries. He wrote also a poem on the Argonautic Expedition, and other works. Jerome mentions his treatise On Oracles and Responses, from which the quotation in this verse is supposed to have been taken. According to Diogenes Laertius (i. 10) Epimenides, in order to remove a pestilence from Athens, turned some sheep loose at the Areopagus, and wherever they lay down sacrificed to the proper God: whence, he says, there are still to be found, in different demes of the Athenians, anonymous altars. Comp. Acts xvii. 22, 23.
The Cretans, etc. The words Krhtev - ajrgai form a hexameter line. Always (aei). Habitually.
Liars (yeustai). In Pastorals here and 1 Tim. i. 10. Once in Paul, Rom. iii. 4. Mostly in John. The Cretan habit of lying passed into a verb, krhtizein to speak like a Cretan = to lie: also into a noun, krhtismov Cretan behavior = lying. Similarly, the licentiousness of Corinth appeared in the verb korinqiazesqai to practice whoredom, and in the noun korinqiasthv a whoremonger. Comp. Ov. Artis Amat. i. 296.
"non hoc, centum quae sustinet urbes Quamvis sit mend, Crete Negro potest."
"Crete, which a hundred cities doth maintain, Cannot deny this, though to lying given."
A familiar saying was tria kappa kakista the three worst K's, Krhtev, Kappadokai, Kilikev Cretans, Cappadocians, Cilicians.
Evil beasts (kaka qhria). Rude, cruel, and brutal.
Slow-bellies (gasterev argai). Better, idle-bellies. Rev. gives the correct idea, idle gluttons. They are so given to gluttony that they are mere bellies. Comp. Philip. iii. 19. Gasthr, elsewhere in N.T. always in connection with childbearing. So mostly in LXX, but in a few instances as here. See Job xx. 23; Ps. xvi. 14; Sir. xxxvii. 5. In Job xx. 14 as the rendering of qereb, bowels. Argov idle, o P. However such words may have befitted the pagan seer, it is not pleasant to regard them as taken up and endorsed by the great Christian apostle, who thus is made to stigmatise as liars, beasts, and gluttons a whole people, among whom he had himself so successfully labored that several churches had been founded in a short time. They are strange words from a venerable Christian minister to a younger minister to whom he had intrusted the care of those very souls; and, in any case, are superfluous, as addressed to one who must have known the characteristics of the Cretans quite as well as the writer himself.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
1:12 {A prophet of their own} (idios autwn profetes). "Their own prophet." Self-styled "prophet" (or poet), and so accepted by the Cretans and by Cicero and Apuleius, that is Epimenides who was born in Crete at Cnossos. It is a hexameter line and Callimachus quoted the first part of it in a Hymn to Zeus. It is said that Epimenides suggested to the Athenians the erection of statues to "unknown gods" (#Ac 17:23). {Liars} (yeustai). See #1Ti 1:10 for the word. The Cretans had a bad reputation on this line, partly due to their claim to having the tomb of Zeus. {Evil beasts} (kaka qeria). "Wicked wild beasts." Lock asks if the Minotaur was partly responsible. {Idle gluttons} (gasteres argai). "Idle bellies." Blunt and forceful. See #Php 3:19 "whose god is the belly" (h koilia). Both words give the picture of the sensual gormandizer.
