[B-Greek] Tense of EXESTH Mk. 3:21

mark lama markosl80 at yahoo.com
Sat Apr 19 11:58:17 EDT 2003


Dear All, The text of Mark 3:21 reads as follows: KAI AKOUSANTES hOI PAR' AUTOU EXHLTHON KRATHSAI AUTON: ELEGON GAR hOTI "EXESTH." My understanding is that Jesus' family is concerned with his present mental status (see the previous verse for context). Why then is EXESTH aorist, as if it meant "He was (not is) out of his mind." ? Or is EXISTANAI active, not stative here, thus, "He has gone out of his mind," as we would say in English, "He has flipped."?  A relevant example that occurs to me is 2 Cor. 5:13: EITE EXESTHMEN, QEWi, EITE SWFRONOUMEN, hUMIN. Here the aorist EXESTHMEN is contrasted with the present SWFRONOUMEN, both of which seem to be referring to the subject's present mental state. I would, on the strength of this example, be tempted to treat this and the occurrence in Mark 3 as virtual presents, at least in semantic force. This seems, however, dangerously unwarranted by what I know of Greek syntax. Could EXESTHN have idiomatically acquired the force of a present, or is there another better way to treat it? CARIS KAI EIRHNH, Mark


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