[B-Greek] MH FOBOUMENAI MHDEMIAN PTOHSIN.

Mark Lama markosl80 at yahoo.com
Wed May 5 14:02:08 EDT 2004


Jeffrey B. Gibson" <jgibson000 at comcast.net> wrote: 

If I've transliterated it correctly, Proverbs 3:25 reads: KAI OU FOBHQHSHi [corrected] PTOHSIN EPELQOUSAN OUDE hORMAS ASEBWN EPERXOMENAS.

Jeffrey
--

Jeffrey B. Gibson, D.Phil. (Oxon.)



"A. Philip Brown II" <pbrown at GBS.EDU> wrote: 
CAIREIN,



1 Peter 3:6 hWS SARRA  hHS EGENHQHTE TEKNA AGAQOPOIOUSAI KAI MH FOBOUMENAI
MHDEMIAN PTOHSIN.



Hart in Expositor's Greek Testament interprets the last phrase (and not
fearing any terror) in this way:



"from Prov. 3:25 (LXX). Peter regards Sarah's falsehood as the yielding to a
sudden terror for which she was rebuked by God. Fearlessness then is part of
the character which is set before them for imitation ..."



Is this what Peter is saying here? Id be interested in other interpretive
possibilities list members might suggest for the phrase MH FOBOUMENAI
MHDEMIAN PTOHSIN.



CARIS,



Philip Brown

Cincinnati, OH

[Mark]

I have now looked at Prov. 3:25 in its larger context in the LXX, and I cannot see what bearing that verse has, except as being an example of PTOHSIN used as the direct object of FOBEISQAI, on either the 1Peter passage or the passage from Genesis 18 that the commentator apparantly refers to. 

The verse in Proverbs is part of a paragraph listing the benefits of adhering to Wisdom's counsel. In 3:21 Wisdom says: "hUIE, MH PARARRUHiS, THRHSON DE THN EMHN BOULHN KAI ENNOIAN..." I suppose that if Sarah is regarded as a personification of Wisdom, then some connection could be made between the fearlessness that Wisdom promises to her obedient children and the attendant circumstances of becoming children of Sarah (1 Peter 3:6) It seems improbable to me, however, and I wonder at the assertion quoted above that the phrase in 1Pe 3:6 is "from Prov. 3:25 LXX". How can the commentator know this?

The relevant passage in Genesis is 18:12-15, which I quote in excerpt from the LXX: 12 EGELASE DE SARRA EN hEAUTHi LEGOUSA, OUPW MEN MOI GEGONEN hEWS TOU NUN: hO DE KURIOS MOU PRESBUTEROS. 13 KAI EIPE KURIOS PROS ABRAAM, TI hOTI EGELASE SARRA... 15 HRNHSATO DE SARRA, LEGOUSA, OUK EGELASA: EFOBHQH GAR. KAI EIPEN AUTHi, OUCI, ALLA EGELASAS. 

This is the passage where Sarah calls Abraham her KURIOS (in the Greek translation): it also says that she lied to the Lord because EFOBHQH. But I cannot see the connection that the commentator seems to find between this episode and the phrase in Peter MH FOBOUMENAI MHDEMIAN PTOHSIN. It seems forced to me. But I don't have the Expositor's Greek Testament, so I cannot check the broader context of the remarks that you quote, Philip. 

CARIS KAI EIRHNH,

Mark Lama



		
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