Lk 1:76

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Wed Sep 11 17:35:50 EDT 2002


CWC forwarding note: I am forwarding to the list the response of Mme.
Chabert d'Hyères, Englished--hopefully without gross misrepresentation--,
to earlier messages in the thread sent by George Somsel and myself:

Thank you Carl and George for your remarks which call for clarification or
amplification of the thought.

>> Quite frankly I am dubious about this endeavor to differentiate what seem to
>me essentially to be synonymous expressions. Again I cite Louw & Nida...
> ENANTIONa: hWS AMNOS ENANTION TOU KEIRANTOS AUTON AFWNOS
>>  'like a lamb dumb before its shearer' Ac 8:32.

The Greek-French dictionary of Bailly gives two senses for the adverb
ENANTION: (1) in front of, opposite, in the presence of ( w. genitive) (2)
vis-a-vis, with idea of hostility (with or without movement w. genitive)
Luke in his gospel and according to D05 kept ENANTION for confrontation
between the emissary of the authorities of the Temple and the people (Lk
20:26) OUK ISCUSAN EPILABESQAI AUTOU hRHMATOS ENANTION TOU LAOU. Bailly
does not make this distinction for ENWPION, which it translates as
"opposite." All things considered, the author who does not wish to allow a
notion of hostility will use ENWPION in preference to ENANTION.

>> ENANTIa: hIERATEUEIN ... ENANTI TOU QEOU v 'serving as a priest Š before
>> God' Lk 1:8.

Bailly gives for ENANTI only biblical references such as those of Ben Sirach:
--Ben Sirach 38:15 on the recognition of sins before God, a text comparable
to Jer 3:25, cited by George Somsel.
--Ben Sirach 51:14 on the prayer of the priest for the people before the
Holy of Holies, a text which can be associated with Ex 28:12 and 29. If an
association can be made between Ben Sirach and some verses of the Torah,
would it be inappropriate to give weight to Luke's verse by comparison with
these texts? ENANTI is rather infrequent to count; however in the Hebrew
Mt, "lifnei", the equivalent of ENANTI, is very frequent and does not call
for comment. Also I wonder whether ENANTI would not form part of a
vocabulary specific to a sacerdotal context - of Alexandria or elsewhere -
and is discernible in the introductions of certain Psalms of the LXX,
indicating, for example, the day of the week; PS 91: EIS THN hHMERAN TOU
SABBATOU. PS 93 TETRADI SABBATWN.

Sylvie Chabert d'Hyères



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