[B-Greek] uses of sunpolitai outside of NT

Maurice A. O'Sullivan mauros at iol.ie
Mon Oct 13 06:34:25 EDT 2003


At 06:40 13/10/2003, Mike Singleton wrote:

>Sunpolitai is used by Paul in Ephesian 2:19 (evidently an old and rare
>word). Is this word cited anywhere else, even in secular writings?

Mike:
You have a typo here -- SUMPOLITHS is the noun, and even in the small L & S 
there is a reference to Euripides.

But in BDAG, there are citations, apart from Euripides, for usage much 
nearer the time of Ephesians:

Aelian   2nd cty A.D

Josephus, Antiquities 19:175
[ Of all which emperors, who have been many in number, and who laid upon us 
insufferable hardships during the times of their government, this Caius, 
who hath been slain today, hath brought more terrible calamities upon us 
than did all the rest, not only by exercising his ungoverned rage upon his 
fellow citizens, but also upon his kindred and friends, and alike upon all 
others, and by inflicting still greater miseries upon them, as punishments, 
which they never deserved, he being equally furious against men and against 
the gods; ]

It appears twice in TestJob -- I won't even start to go into the text 
history of this <g>, but here is what the Anchor Bible Dictionary has to 
say about dating TestJob:
[ It seems best to regard the text as one of unclear origin within 
sectarian Judaism, mingling interests in magic, merkabah mysticism, 
standard Jewish features such as burial proprieties and opposition to 
idolatry along with the care of the poor and female prophetic utterance. 
Neither a specific origin nor a date more precise than 100 b.c.e.–200 c.e. 
can be determined.

Regards,

Maurice



Maurice A. O'Sullivan
mauros at iol.ie
[ Bray, Ireland ]

"God does a lot of things in the Psalms
that He can't get away with in systematic theology."



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