Lk 2:49 EN TOIS ... (Luke in Codex Bezae issue)

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri Sep 27 16:24:29 EDT 2002


At 4:03 PM -0400 9/27/02, Carl W. Conrad wrote:
>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.

I'm sorry, Sylvie; I really question that the sort of "jeu d'esprit" you
are suggesting is present in that phrase EN TOIS TOU DIOS: DIOS in that
phrase can only be the genitive of the name of ZEUS; I don't think there's
any allusion to the historian named DIOS--that would have to have been EN
TOIS TOU DIOU. You may think that this is too close to be a coincidence,
but I don't think it's any more than a coincidence.

>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).

No, I still don't think that the TOIS of EN TOIS TOU PATROS MOU can refer
back to the GNWSTOI; if the TOIS is not neuter plural referring to
"concerns" ("business" as it has traditionally been translated in English),
then the only alternative I can conceive is that, as per the example you've
cited, EN TOIS TOU DIOS, EN TOIS TOU PATROS MOU may conceivably mean, "in
my father's [house]."
-- 

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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