Semantic Range of BAPTIZW/BAPTISMA
Iver Larsen
iver_larsen at sil.org
Sat Dec 7 01:45:38 EST 2002
>
> What is interesting about Mark 7.4 is the bracketed KAI KLINWN.
> I don't know how big they made couches in Jesus' day, but it
> seems to me this article would be a bit too big to fit in a
> basin. BAPTISMOS is used in this clause; however, it is so close
> to BAPTIZW (in the first clause) that the parallel is unmistakable.
>
> Perhaps the real issue here is how wet the object gets -- like
> the English "to soak". "Literally" the idea is dipping but by
> extension (metaphorically perhaps) it can include getting
> something really wet (as if it were dipped). This is not unlike
> the English word "to soak". Thus, I can soak a pot in the sink
> (like dipping) or I can soak a person with a squirt gun. The
> point is not how it happened, but that the person is really wet!
>
> Brent Hudson
Hefin Jones gave a good summary of the dictionary senses of this verb, and
from this it appears to me that the basic meaning is "submerge" rather than
"soak" or "become very wet", and in a metaphorical sense "be overwhelmed" or
"having to go through a very difficult time". It does not seem that the real
issue is how wet the object gets, and there is no hint of squirting in any
of the contexts as far as I know.
Concerning the KLINH it seems strange that a whole couch should be submerged
in water, and this may be why both Aleph and B deleted the word. But we need
to be careful not to read back into the text our modern understanding of a
small wash basin and a huge couch. First, there were lots of big Mikvaoth
(huge baths for ritual cleansing that people submerged themselves in) in
Jerusalem. Second, the KLINH also refers to what is variably translated as
"stretcher" or "pallet", something that a single person could easily carry
around under his arm or on the shoulder. It could be submerged in a mikvah,
if needed. Some of the most fanatic "baptizers/cleansers" among the
Pharisees apparently did that.
Iver Larsen
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