"Near" (was: Re: Matthew 4:17 'near')

Steven Craig Miller scmiller at www.plantnet.com
Sat Dec 4 07:54:18 EST 1999


To: Joe A. Friberg,

<< You are right that the extension to intimacy is not a long jump. If it 
is made, what does that do to the near vs. here contrast? >>

Both "near" and "here" are relative points of orientation. For example, it 
is possible to view the whole world as "here," and only that which is 
outside the world as "there." On the other hand, my wife could snuggle up 
next to me and yet I could view her body as being "there," whereas I am 
"here." Or I could view us both as being "here." These are relative points 
of orientation, it has nothing to do with real distance. Likewise, the term 
"near" simply refers to a position as being relatively close to another 
position, it has nothing to do with real distance. The terms "here" and 
"near" are simply two different modes of orientation, by themselves they 
can't tell us anything about real location, they only tell us how the 
speaker of those terms is viewing things.

-Steven Craig Miller
Alton, Illinois (USA)
scmiller at www.plantnet.com

"Words are like people. To know them well one must meet them on their own 
level, in their own environment. In different circumstances they react 
differently. Like a face they take on varying expressions. Some of them 
move from place to place; some never return to their earlier familiar 
surroundings. But to know their past is to know a little better what makes 
them act as they do in the present" (Frederick W. Danker, "Multipurpose 
Tools for Bible Study," 1993:135).




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