"The Name" (was SFRAGIZW: middle or passive?)
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sat Oct 19 22:18:01 EDT 2002
Forwarded for George Somsel <Polycarp66 at aol.com>
Date: Sat, 19 Oct 2002 18:37:53 EDT
In a message dated 10/19/2002 12:57:43 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
iver_larsen at sil.org writes:
>I would not consider Eph 1:13 an example of the so-called "divine passive",
>but just an ordinary passive. Semantically speaking, the function of a
>passive is to put the agent out of focus, either 1) because he is not known,
>2) because the readers already know who the agent is or 3) because the
>writer simply wants to get the agent out of focus in order to put relatively
>more focus on the action or the other participants. The "divine passive" is
>a fourth option used by Hebrew speakers or thinkers where the writer/speaker
>wants to avoid mentioning the name of God in a construction where one would
>normally expect God as the explicit agent. One can, of course, also used
>substitutes like "the Name" or many others. In Eph 1:13, I think the passive
>is used because of 2) and 3), and not because of 4).
>
You will note that I have retitled the thread since I am departing in
another direction. Iver's post (or rather, the section quoted) made me
think of the Orthodox hesitancy to use the name of God based on Ex 20.7
LoW TI&f) )eT_$"M_YHWH ):eLoHeYKf Lf$fW:)
OU LHMYHi TO ONOMA KURIOU TOU QEOU SOU EPI MATAIWi
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
A frequent expedient is to use "the name." It occurred to me that on
numerous occassions in the NT we find "the name" usually qualified by "of
the Lord" or "of Jesus." I seem to recall a usage where it appears without
such qualification but offhand don't locate it. I did, however, find an
interesting example in the "Wisdom of Solomon" 14.21 which I propose for
your consideration. The question is "Is this an early example of the
reluctance to use the name of God"?
KAI TOUTO EGENETO TWi BIWi EIS ENEDRON, hOTI H SUMFORAi H TURANNIDI
DOULEUSANTES ANQRWPOI ** TO AKOINWNHTON ONOMA ** LIQOIS KAI CULOIS
PERIEQESAN.
And this became a hidden trap for mankind, because men, in bondage to
misfortune or to royal authority bestowed on objects of stone or wood THE
NAME THAT OUGHT NOT TO BE SHARED.
gfsomsel
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