5. Ἐπισκιάσει σοι. Ἐπισκιάζω appears in four other places in the New Testament. Of these, three are connected with the story of the Transfiguration (Mt. xvii. 5, Mk. ix. 7, Lk. ix. 34). That the remaining instance should be Acts v. 15 is, in connexion with our present problem, an interesting fact. Thayer‐Grimm remarks that the verb occurs in “profane” authors, “generally with an accusative of the object, and in the sense of obscuring”. In the Septuagint, however, it is used of the divine covering or overshadowing (cf. Ps. xc. (xci.) 4; Ps. cxxxix. (cxl.) 8; Ex. xl. 29 (35)). We have to ask whether these passages, especially the last, have influenced the writer of i. 35. We cannot assume the point, of course, but there is much to be said for it. The thought of the cloud of Yahweh overshadowing the tent of meeting may very well have shaped the thought and the phrasing of δ. Ὕψίστου ἐπισκιάσει σοι. If there is any weight in this suggestion (cf. Plummer, op. cit., p. 24), again it tells for Lukan authorship—so far, that is to say, as the undoubted fact that chaps. i and ii have a distinctly Old Testament atmosphere will take us. Apart, however, from such considerations it is a remarkable fact, on the theory of interpolation, that a word so rare in the New Testament, and one which St. Luke uses more than any one else, should appear in the suspected verses. Acts v. 15 (ἵνα ἐρχομένου Πέτρου κἂν ἡ σκιὰ ἐπισκιάσει τινὶ αὐτῶν) is enough in itself to raise the gravest doubt that we have here to do with an interpolator. 6. Πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἐπελεύσεται ἐπὶ σέ. Here we have first to call attention to the verb ἐπέρχομαι. Apart from Eph. ii. 7 and James v. 1, this verb is limited to the Lukan writings, where it occurs six times (i.e. besides i. 35). We have already spoken of Πνεῦμα ἅγιον and remarked that, while it is characteristic of St. Luke, we could not lay stress upon that fact, since even an interpolator would naturally introduce a reference to the Holy Spirit in such a connexion as i. 35. If, however, as now we take the whole phrase, we come to a very different conclusion. For in Acts i. 8 we have the significantly close parallel, ἐπελθόντος τ. ἁγίου πνεύματος ἐφ᾽ ὑμᾶς. The parallel speaks for itself! 7. We consider lastly, εἶπεν δὲ ... πρός. A comparison of passages in the four Gospels and the Acts gives the following results: εἶπεν δέ: Jn. 1 (& 2?); Lk. (G.) 60; Acts 15; Lk. (G. & Ac.) 75 εἶπεν ... πρός: Mt. 1?; Mk. 2; Jn. 9; Lk. (G.) 79; Acts 26; Lk. (G. & Ac.) 105 εἶπεν δὲ ... πρός: Lk. (G.) 25; Acts 2; Lk. (G. & Ac.) 27 To the facts noted in the foregoing table we may add that εἶπεν πρός occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. St. Luke, therefore, has it 105 times out of 116. Still more is εἶπεν δὲ ... πρός limited to St. Luke. No other New Testament writer uses the phrase, and St. Luke has it 27 times.(66)