Question on Genesis 34:3 LXX

Maurice A. O'Sullivan mauros at iol.ie
Tue Nov 5 14:00:54 EST 2002


At 13:36 05/11/2002, you wrote:

>My question is: I am given to understand by numerous commentators
>that parthenos means emphatically a virgin.  However, it is used
>twice in Gen. 34:3 LXX seeming to contradict this.  (It is used
>twice of Dina, there, *after* she had been violated.)

Bob:
If you consult BDAG, you will see that the entry of PARQENOS begins;
 >> gener. of a young woman of marriageable age, w. or without focus on 
virginity;   in our lit. one who has never engaged in sexual intercourse, 
virgin, chaste person <<   And, of course, the full title of BDAG is " A 
Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and Early Christian ......... "

So, you have to go to such LXX tools as exist: a good starting point is:
Lust, J., E. Eynekel, and K. Hauspie. A Greek-English Lexicon of the 
Septuagint. Part I A-I  Part II  K-W  . Stuttgar  Deutsche 
Bibelgesellschaft, 1992-97.

where you will find:
 >> virgin Jg 19:24; virgin (as adj. ) Lv. 21:3; young woman Ez 9:6; a girl 
of marriageable age Gn. 24:4<<

If you have access to the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, you 
will see that the ( long ) entry on PARQENOS is divided into:
A. Non-biblical and non-Jewish use
B. The O.T and Judaism, which in turn is divided into three sections, with 
2. = " the meaning of PARQENOS in the LXX ".
This actually deals with your query in these words:
 >> In a special instance PARQENOS can even be a girl who has been raped, 
Gn. 34:3 PARQENOS is also used for this word at Sir. 30:20.<<
C. New Testament

All of this should alert you to the danger of assuming that one term has 
its _precise_ and _exact_ meaning at any one time, let alone over centuries.

Maurice A. O'Sullivan  [ Bray, Ireland ]
mauros at iol.ie







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