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 'Š 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 Š 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 'Š from
the face of our ancestors') Ac 7:45; APESTEILEN AUTOUS ... PRO PROSWPOU
AUTOU 'he sent them out Š (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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