Fwd: Re : Lk 1:76
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Wed Sep 11 10:17:49 EDT 2002
At 8:50 AM -0400 9/11/02, Sylvie Chabert d'Hyères wrote:
>
>In a message dated 9/10/2002 8:41:27 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
>cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu wrote:
>
>>1:76 (PRO PROSWPOU KURIOU in D05 where ENWPION KURIOU is the reading of the
>>critical text: PROPOREUSHi gar ENWPION (or PRO PROSWPOU KURIOU) hETOIMASAI
>>hODOUS AUTOU. On the other hand, I think it might reasonably be argued that
>>PRO PROSWPOU with KURIOU is strictly idiomatic and means simply "ahead of
>>"or "preceding" as in the texts cited regularly with accounts of the
>>appearance of John the Baptist as "the messenger sent ahead of the Lord"; if
>>that is so, then PRO PROSWPOU KURIOU is hardly different in meaning from
>>ENWPION KURIOU.
>
>What is strange, Carl, it is that in the parallel that you cite with John
>the Baptist in Lk 7:27: APOSTELLW TON AGGELON MOU PRO PROSWPOU SOU, the
>pronoun SOU does not appear in D05. Contrary to Ex 23:20 whence this
>quotation is drawn, PRO PROSWPOU is taken by Luke with the absolute sense "I
>send my messenger in front of the Face".
I really can't take this perspective very seriously; even if the pronoun
SOU does not appear in Codex Bezae, I believe that the sense of APOSTELLW
TON AGGELON MOU PRO PROSWPOU would be simply "I send my messenger in
advance." I don't think that the idiomatic adverbial expression PRO
PROSWPOU can be separated into its etymological components. Louw & Nida,
whiie acknowledging the literal sense of PROSWPON in the idiom,
nevertheless point to the idiomatic usage of the phrase:
67.19 PRO PROSWPOU: (an idiom, literally 'before the face,' equivalent in
meaning to pro/b 'before,' 67.17, but a somewhat more elaborate phrase
rhetorically) a point of time, possibly only a short time before another
point of time - 'before, previous.' PROSKHRUXANTOS IWANNOU PRO PROSWPOU THS
EISODOU 'before the coming (of Jesus), John preached' Ac 13:24.
>Moreover in Lk 1, the choice of the prepositions ENWPION, ENANTI and PRO
>PROSWPOU appears gradual. ENWPION TOU QEOU in 1:6 - according to D05 - does
>not comprise the nuance of opposition or confrontation which EN-ANTI-ON
>(accepted in the "critical text") holds. EN-ANTI TOU QEOU in Lk 1:9 refers
>to the service performed by the high priest entering the Holy of Holies;
>ENANTI stressed the religious fear inspired by the divine presence (Ex
>28:12, 30 etc., chiefly according to MS A). Could PRO PROSWPOU in 1:76 be
>chosen to mark a difference between these two verses, a difference which
>might be explained by Lk 7:27D would explain ... ?
Quite frankly I am dubious about this endeavor to differentiate what seem
to me essentially to be synonymous expressions. Again I cite Louw & Nida
(who are the more useful here in that they ARE grouping expressions in
semantic domains):
83.33 EMPROSQENa; ENWPIONa; ENANTIONa; ENANTIa; KATENWPIONa; PROa;
PROSWPON, OU n.: a position in front of an object, whether animate or
inanimate, which is regarded as having a spacial orientation of front and
back - 'in front of, before.'13
EMPROSQENaÚ AFES EKEI TO DWRON SOU EMPROSQEN TOU QUSIAASTHRIOU 'leave your
gift there in front of the altar' Mt 5:24; hO DE IHSOUS ESTAQH EMPROSQEN
TOU hHGEMONOS 'Jesus stood before the governor' Mt 27:11; EXHLQEN EMPROSQEN
PANTW 'he went away in front of everyone' or ' while they all watched' Mk
2:12.
ENWPIONaÚ IDOU ANHR ESTH ENWPION MOU 'suddenly a man stood in front of me'
Ac 10:30; EGW EIMI GABRIHL hO PARESTHKWS ENWPION TOU QEOU v 'I am Gabriel,
who stands before God' Lk 1:19.
ENANTIONa Ú hWS AMNOS ENANTION TOU KEIRANTOS AUTON AFWNOS
'like a lamb dumb before its shearer' Ac 8:32.
ENANTIa Ú hIERATEUEIN ... ENANTI TOU QEOU v 'serving as a priest before
God' Lk 1:8.
KATENWPIONa Ú KATENWPION THS DOXHS AUTOU AMWMOUS EN AGALLIASEI 'faultless
and joyful before his glorious presence' Jd 24.
PROa Ú hESTANAI TON PETRON PRO TOU PULWNOS 'Peter stood in front of the
gate' Ac 12:14.
PROSWPONfÚ TWN EQNWN hWN EXWQEN hO QEOS APO PROSWPOU TWN PATERWN hHMWN 'the
nations that God drove out in front of our ancestors' (literally ' from
the face of our ancestors') Ac 7:45; APESTEILEN AUTOUS ... PRO PROSWPOU
AUTOU 'he sent them out (to go) ahead of him' Lk 10:1.
--
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
Most months:: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu OR cwconrad at ioa.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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