(2.) An earnest it is, — ἀῤῥαβών. Neither the Greek nor the Latin hath any word to express directly what is here intended. The Latins have made words for it, from that expressed here in the Greek, “arrha” and “arrabo.” The Greek word is but the Hebrew “herabon” [עֵרָבוֹן]; which, as some conceive, came amongst them by the Syrian merchants, being a word of trade. It is by some rendered, in Latin, “pignus,” a “pledge;” but this cannot be here intended. A pledge is that property which any one gives or leaves in the custody of another, to assure him that he will give him, or pay him, some other thing; in the nature of that which we call a “pawn.” Now, the thing that is here intended, is a part of that which is to come, and but a part of it, according to the trade use of the word, whence the metaphor is taken; it is excellently rendered in our language, an “earnest.” An earnest is part of the price of any thing, or part of any grant, given beforehand to assure the person to whom it is given that at the appointed season he shall receive the whole that is promised him.