Mk 1:3 & par. EN THi ERHMWi MT/LXX
c stirling bartholomew
cc.constantine at worldnet.att.net
Thu Sep 5 02:16:03 EDT 2002
Hello Randall,
on 9/3/02 11:39 PM, Randall Buth wrote:
Randall Wrote:
>
> At a fundamental level the Hebrew text is poetic:
> poetic parallelism would place 'in the wilderness' with the first
> verb "clear a path"
> since a parallel wilderness phrase 'in the arava'
> unambiguously goes with the second verb 'make straight'.
Yes, this is the key point. See comment's below.
>
> The Massoretes correctly read this in this way, as is evidenced by the
> double zaqef accent on both "call" and "in the wilderness". In such
> cases the first disjunctive accent divides the material off and has
> 'higher ranking'.
> So the official MT reading is also
> "a voice calls, 'clear a path in the wilderness...' ".
>
> The Greek can be taken as a reader may want to take it.
> In addition, whether in Greek or Hebrew, a person (ancient or modern)
> may want to make a midrashic play on the text and repunctuate in ways
> other than Isaiah 40 intended. Which is how I read our gospel
> texts here.
Yes, this sounds good. Very good.
Now let's take another look at Edwards and Taylor.
Clay wrote late at night:
>>
>> LUKE 3:4 FWNH BOWNTOS
>> EN THi ERHMWi: hETOIMASATE
>> THN hODON KURIOU, EUQEIAS
>> POIEITE TAS TRIBOUS AUTOU:
>>
>> IS. 40:3 FWNH BOWNTOS
>> EN THi ERHMWi hETOIMASATE THN hODON KURIOU
>> EUQEIAS POIEITE TAS TRIBOUS TOU QEOU hHMWN
>>
>> One of you Hebrew scholars want to give some help with this one?
>> Where do we join EN THi ERHMWi? With FWNH BOWNTOS or with what follows?
>>
>> Joan E. Taylor* and James R. Edwards** disagree on the evidence. Edwards
>> states (p.27) "In both the MT and the LXX 'in the desert' designates the
>> place where God will prepare the way for his people . . . Mark, however,
>> aligns 'in the desert' with the herald . . . "
I now see J.R. Edwards' second point.
Mark, by placing the quote in the same context with John Baptist: MK 1:4
EGENETO IWANNHS [hO] BAPTIZWN EN THi ERHMWi makes the reader understand EN
THi ERHMWi in the same way in both the Isa. 40:3 quote and in Mk 1:4 as
quoted here.
His first point however is debatable. Does the LXX simply mirror the
semantic structure of the MT here? Don't think so. The parallelism that you
mention isn't there in the LXX because barava is a "minus" in the LXX.
>>
>> Taylor claims that the NT and LXX agree on this and disagree with the MT. She
>> suggests (tentatively?) that the MT joins "in the desert" with what follows.
>> This agrees with A. Motyer's and E.J. Young's reading of Isa. 4:3.
Taylor is looking at the form of the LXX quote in the synoptics and
observing that it is verbatim and then (apparently?) reading back the
synoptic use of the quote into the LXX. The LXX can be read several ways.
But in MK 1:3-4 the repetition of EN THi ERHMWi in verse 4 constrains the
reading in the Isaiah quote. No such constraint is present in the LXX.
In summary, I think both Taylor and Edwards have problems with their
analysis of the relationship between MT/LXX/GNT here.
Thanks for your help, Randall. Your comments got right to the heart of the
matter.
greetings,
Clay
--
Clayton Stirling Bartholomew
Three Tree Point
P.O. Box 255 Seahurst WA 98062
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