[B-Greek] Hebrews 13:17 Question

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Mon May 3 17:50:54 EDT 2004


At 9:11 AM -0500 5/3/04, David Bielby wrote:
>I'm being challenged on my understanding of PEIQESQE in this passage.
>Essentially I'm being told that the term here 'obey' carries the idea that
>one should obey because you have been persuaded by the lifestyle or message
>of the leaders...and that the idea of obeying leaders because they have
>authority to call you to obedience is absent in this verse.  UPAKOUW would
>have been used to convey that concept...but it wasn't.  If this is correct,
>is it because of the use of PEIQESQE  and it's relationship to PEIQW &
>PEIQOS? 
>
>My tools are limited and don't provide other perspectives.  Would you be
>able to elaborate for me on this term and it's immediate context?

L&N has §36.12 and includes Heb 13;17 here:
36.12 PEIQOMAI; PEIQARCEW: to submit to authority or reason by obeying -
'to obey.'
PEIQOMAI: PEIQESQE TOIS hHGOUMENOIS hUMWN KAI hUPEIKETE 'obey your leaders
and submit to them' He 13:17.
PEIQARCEW: PEIQARCHSANTES MOI MH ANAGESQAI APO THS KRHTHS 'you should have
listened to me and not have sailed from Crete' Ac 27:21.

BDAG s.v. PEIQW §3:
	3. pass. and mid., except for the pf.: to be won over as the result
of persuasion.
	a. be persuaded, believe abs. (Pr 26:25) Lk 16:31; Ac 17:4; Hb
11:13 v.l. MH PEIQOMENOU AUTOU since he would not be persuaded Ac 21:14.
PEISQEIS hUPO THS GUNAIKOS TOU NABA AcPl Ha 6, 23. W. dat. of the thing by
which one is persuaded (opp. APISTEIN; TOIS GRAWDESI MUQOIS Iren. 1, 16, 3
[Harv. I 162, 8]) TOIS LEGOMENOIS (Hdt. 2, 146, 1; Jos., Bell. 7, 415) Ac
28:24. PEIQOMAI I believe w. hOTI foll. Hb 13:18; Hs 8, 11, 2. Ac 26:28
v.l. (s. 1b above), construed w. inf. EN OLIGWi ME PEIQHi CRISTIANON
POIHSAI in too short a time you believe you are making a Christian of me
(so Bachmann, Blass). OU PEIQOMAI w. acc. and inf. I cannot believe Ac
26:26.
	b. obey, follow w. dat. of pers. or thing (Hom. et al.; Diod. S. 4,
31, 5 TWi CRHSMWi = the oracle; Maximus Tyr. 23, 2d TWi QEWi; 36, 6g t.
NOMWi TOU DIOS; Appian, Iber. 19 §73 QEWi×; pap; 4 Macc 10:13; 15:10; 18:1;
Just., D. 9, 1; Mel., P. 93, 705; PEIQOMAI QEWi; Did., Gen. 225, 17; THi
ADIKIAi– Theoph. Ant. 1, 14 [p. 92, 5]) Ro 2:8 (opp. APEIQEIN, as Himerius,
Or. 69 [=Or. 22], 7); Gal 3:1 v.l.; 5:7; Hb 13:17; Js 3:3; 2 Cl 17:5; Dg
5:10; IRo 7:2ab; Hm 12, 3, 3.
	c. Some passages stand betw. a and b and permit either transl., w.
dat. be persuaded by someone, take someone's advice or obey, follow someone
Ac 5:36f, 39; 23:21; 27:11 (objection of a passenger, to which the crew
paid no attention and suffered harm as a result: Chion, Ep. 4, 1 hOI D' OUK
EPEIQONTO. Of relation between heretical leaders and their adherents Iren.
3, 12, 5 [Harv. II 58, 10]).

The oldest root forms of this verb are intransitive and middle: PEPOIQA and
EPIQOMHN; I believe that the active PEIQW is historically later than the
middle--note the active aorist is a sigmatic aorist EPEISA; I think the
fundamental sense of PEIQOMAI is "put one's confidence in someone or
something" and so "give heed." Although PEIQOMAI may in some instances
involve the notion of letting another's argument win one over, but I don't
think that verbal persuasion is so much at the core of the verb as is
commitment in trust upon which commitment one acts compliantly.

I don't quite understand the "challenge" you're being put to; PEIQOMAI
means "commit to, consent to"; I don't think one can derive from the use of
the verb itself some sense of what brought about the commitment or consent.

Of course, if you want to delve deeper into Greek traditions associated
with the verb (and noun) PEIQW, you might take a look at Gorgias' Encomium
of Helen, where the clever sophist ends up arguing that Helen abandoned her
husband and child and went off to Troy with Paris because she was seduced
by his irresistible "line"--he argues that PEIQW (the noun here) is a kind
of BIA or 'coercion.' Aeschylus has the same idea in one of the choral odes
of the Agamemnon in a celebrated line: BIATAI hA TALAINA PEIQW, which,
though hard to English, is something like "shameless Seduction exercises a
coercion."
-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/



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