[B-Greek] Antonyms?

Maurice A. O'Sullivan mauros at iol.ie
Sat Jan 3 13:49:23 EST 2004


At 16:53 03/01/2004, Arie Dirkzwager wrote:

>In Luke 6: 20 you find only "poor". The Hebrew word 'anaw, probably the
>origin of PTWCOS, has different meanings: poor in money and poor (humble) in
>the spirit.

Of the 34 occurrences of PTWCOS in the N.T, 10 are in Luke -- which gives 
added significance, I think, to the fact that in 21:2 Luke uses PENICROS. 
This is a hapax in the N.T, and only occurs three times in the LXX -- Ex. 
22:24; Pr. 28:15, 29:7. [ In the MT of these verses, 'anaw does not appear.].

But there are strong overtones of oppression about all three uses of 
PENICROS in the LXX, thereby, I think, re-enforcing the view of A.G.Wright 
in CBQ 44 (1982) 256-263 "The Widow's Mite: Praise or Lament" that these 
verses are a lament about oppression and not praise for almsgiving.

I know that Fitzmyer holds that the two terms are used " in these verse 
synonymously " -- and that he relies on Aristophenes' definition
[ Plutus 553 ] -- " the life of a poor person ( PTWCOS ) is to live, having 
nothing at all, whereas the life of a needy person (PENHS ) is to live 
sparingly, dependent on toil " -- but I can't help wondering, though, if 
the LXX usage wouldn't have had more influence on Luke than Aristophenes <g>.

Regards,

Maurice






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





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