Lk 2:49 EN TOIS ... (Luke in Codex Bezae issue)
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri Sep 27 16:03:25 EDT 2002
For "S Chabert d'Hyères" <laodicy at ifrance.com>:
EN TOIS :
Is this a jeu d'esprit, a rabbinical pun or a literary jest?
Carl,
Flavius Josephus had a sense of humor which one may hope to find
meaningful. Upon pondering the example which you had cited:
EN TOIS TOU DIOS (Contra Apionem 1,118)
I checked more closely to see what it was about.
As it turns out, the author of CONTRA APIONEM, when speaking of the golden
column of the temple of Tyre as TON EN TOIS TOU DIOS, was making a "double"
allusion:
(1) to the Phoenician historian named DIOS, about whom he was speaking in
the preceding lines, particularly at the end of v. 115: DIOS MEN hOUTW PERI
TWN PROEIRHMENWN;
(2) and to what Dios himself had previously mentioned while speaking of the
temple of OLUMPIOU DIOS noted two lines earlier, and by Hiram at Tyre.
You must admit that it's rather "cute", isn't it? In line 118, DIOS refers
unquestionably, if not to both, then at least to one of the two or else to
one by means of the other; I conclude that EN TOIS indicates one or more
elements of an account which the writer leaves to the reader the task of
identifying. It is some sort of literary allusion.
Withe reference to Lk 2:49, EN TOIS would refer to the heavenly Father's
acquaintances, since Jesus answered his parents, who had been looking for
him among their kinsmen and acquaintainces (EN TOIS SUGGENEUSIN KAI EN TOIS
GNWSTOIS, LK 2:44), "Dont' you know that I must be among my Father's (EN
TOIS TOU PATROS MOU DEI ME EINAI) [acquaintances] (in this instance the
persons named in v. 46).
Sylvie Chabert d'Hyeres
http://bezae.ifrance.com
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