Lk 4:4 (Mt 4:4, LXX Dt 8:3) ARTWi MONWi
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Mon Oct 14 23:35:46 EDT 2002
Forwarded for George Somsel <Polycarp66 at aol.com>
Date: Mon, 14 Oct 2002 19:03:16 EDT
In a message dated 10/14/2002 7:13:48 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Sylvie
Chabert d'Hyères <abilene at ifrance.com> writes:
>OUK EP ARTWi MONWi ZHSETAI hO ANQRWPOS
>"Man shall not live by bread alone"
>
>MONWi is an adjective corresponding to Hebrew LeVaDo. LeVaDo is either
>adjectival or adverb, because elsewhere in the LXX, LeVaDo is rendered
>either by the adjective MONWi (Gen 2:18), or by the adverb MONON (Ex 12:16).
>
>How is it in English? Can "alone" be either an adjective or an adverb?
>
>Current French translations have rendered MONWi with the adverb seulement:
>some (literal ones) preferred the adjective. But in the case of "by bread
>alone", precisely what is "alone"? (without salt, without leaven, without
>wine, apart from God's grace, without ...?)
>
>The LXX chose the adjective and consequently Luke did also, but in a
>quotation which is not complete, since the second half of the verse is
>omitted: "... but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God". The
>adjective MONWi is more prominent in Luke. Is that significant? What
>should we understand "by bread alone" to mean? What does it refer to? Any
>idea?
>
'Bread' is used in the biblical writings for not only a food substance made
from a flour consisting of some form of ground grain and baked prior to
eating. It also used for FOOD IN GENERAL. The context determines whether
it is specifically bread or more generally food which is meant. Here I
think we must understand it to stand for food in general. So, No. It does
not refer to bread without butter or without meat. It signifies that man
does not live SOLELY or SIMPLY by food which nourishes his physical body.
This is made evident by the parallel in Mt. 4.4 which quotes the rest of
the verse from Dt. 8.3
ALL' EPI PANTI hRHMATI EKPOREUOMENWi DIA STOMATOS QEOU
Although we do not have the rest of the verse in Lk, we cannot therefore
exclude it from consideration. The quotation
OUK EP' ARTWi MONWi ZHSETAI hO ANQRWPOS
would immediately bring to mind the rest of the quotation. I think the
translation which most of us are accustomed to read tends to give us a
somewhat "spiritualized" understanding of the passage (which is probably
intended in the NT usage but may not have been in the OT). The passage in
Hebrew reads
Lo) (aL_HaL.eXeM L:BaD.oW YiXYeH Hf)fDfM
C.iY (aL_K.fL_MoWCf) PiY_YHWH YiXYeH
which the JPS TANAK translates as
"man does not live on bread alone, but that man may live on anything that
the LORD decrees."
This would indicate that the subject is indeed bread, not food in general,
since the implication is that he could live on some other substance should
God have decreed such. It is the LXX translation which the NT reflects and
thereby spiritualizes it to indicate that it is not by physical sustenance
that man lives, but upon spiritual sustenance as well.
gfsomsel
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