Word order in Heb. 8:6
Jeff Smelser
jeffsmelser at ntgreek.net
Tue Nov 12 00:53:15 EST 2002
Hebrews 8:6 has KREITTONOS ESTIN DIAQHKHS MESITHS, usually translated with
the assumption that KREITTONOS modifies DIAQHKHS as if it were an
attributive, e.g. "he is a mediator of a better covenant."
However, I am puzzled by the placement of the adjective. A few verses
earlier, in Heb. 7:24, I can find an adjective in an oblique case separated
by a verb from the noun it appears to modify - APARABATON ECEI THN
hIERWSUNHN, "he has the priesthood unchangeable."
But Heb. 8:6 is stranger still, at least to my eye. I'm having trouble
getting comfortable with connecting KREITTONOS and DIAQHKHS
given the intervening copulative. Maybe once I see nominative MESITHS,
I'm subconsciously looking for a nominative KREITTWN as a complement.
Anyway, as an alternative to the usual interpretation, I considered taking
KREITTONOS as a masculine substantive (rather than a feminine in
agreement with DIAQHKHS) and considered translating, "of a better one
[namely, God], he is a mediator of a covenant," i.e., on behalf of a
better one, namely, God, Jesus is a mediator of a covenant But this
seems foreign to the context.
Am I missing something obvious? Does the phrase seem awkward to
anyone else? Is the usual translation warranted, and if so, why? Can
someone point me to other examples of a noun and its adjective,
both in an oblique case, but separated by a copulative?
(If I had BibleWorks, would it find that sort of thing for me?)
Jeff Smelser
jeffsmelser at ntgreek.net
www.ntgreek.net
www.centrevillechurchofchrist.org
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