2 Clement 19

Dale M. Wheeler dalemw at teleport.com
Thu Mar 4 15:42:26 EST 1999


On: Wed, 03 Mar 1999 05:34:00 -0500, Mary L B Pendergraft wrote:
>At 08:24 PM 3/2/99 -0500, Bart Ehrman wrote:
>>   Near the end of 2 Clement we read:
>>
>>   hWSTE ADELPHOI KAI ADELPHAI, META TON THEON THS ALHQEIAS ANAGINWSKW
>>hUMIN ENTEUXIN EIS TO PROSECHEIN TOIS GEGRAMMENOIS. (2 Clem. 19.1)
>>
>>   Any hunches on what the META TON THEON THS ALHQEIAS might mean?
>>
>>-- Bart Ehrman
>>   University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
>>
>
>
>It _should_ mean "after the god of truth" but of course, what would that
>mean?  I wonder whether this is just a bad preposition, and the goal was
>perhaps KATA, "according to."   It seems to me that prepositions are a weak
>link in the writing of many people, both second-language users and native
>speakers such as my students,  who produce things like "This example is an
>exception of the rule..."


I agree with Mary that this is a "substitution" for KATA being used in an
oath type formula (eg., with OMNUW, ORKIZW); which is the feel of this
verse: "so that, brothers and sisters, "by" the true God, I read (outloud)
to you the appeal to hold fast to the things that have been written."  A
similarly unusual use of META is found in 1Mac 7:35LXX.

XAIREIN...


***********************************************************************
Dale M. Wheeler, Ph.D.
Research Professor in Biblical Languages        Multnomah Bible College
8435 NE Glisan Street                               Portland, OR  97220
Voice: 503-251-6416    FAX:503-254-1268     E-Mail: dalemw at teleport.com 
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