[B-Greek] AGGELOS in 2 Cor 12:7

ann nyland accuratebibles at ozemail.com.au
Sun May 23 21:24:59 EDT 2004


Dear Harold,

I am not sure if you are disagreeing with what I have said (?) as your
quotes support what I said.

The verses you have cited about SKOLOS actually support what I said - I have
suggested there is wide range of meaning for the AGGELOS in question, and
the verses you have cited are not sickness. Further, I myself translate
ASQENEIA as "weakness" in the passage you have quoted, as indeed does the
passage you have quoted, not as "sickness". Of course, the word's semantic
range includes both.

At any rate, Paul did not actually use large handwriting in Galatians due to
poor eyesight, - to put it in our idiom, he was saying, in effect, "Get the
point! Look at the large letters I'm using! I'm spelling it out to you right
now!" - "Hey, you! Look at this! Get the point! Read my lips!". Galatians
uses typical words about the evil-eye spell - these have been ignored to
date in published NT translation, but throughout Galatians Paul plays on
words with the word "eye". Gal. 3:1, "You senseless Galatians, who has cast
a spell on you by using the evil eye spell of mind control!":  BASKAINW, to
use words to cast a mind-control spell on someone by means of the evil eye,
hapax for the N.T. Some believed that to see one's reflection made one
liable to the effects of the evil eye, and the spell was broken by spitting
three times, cf. Theokritos, VI, 35-40. A 3rd century A.D. stone inscription
tells of the effects upon one who testifies to having the evil eye put on
them, with the result that his wife and children were killed. ed. CIG (1877;
repr. 1977) 9668, l.2. A funerary epigram for Apollodorus, Pfuhl/Mobius
1.1021 (pl. 153; = E. Schwertheim, Die Inschriften von Kyzikos und Umgebung,
1 [IK 26.1; Bonn, 1980] 493 [pl. 34], describes Hades as casting his evil
eye upon honorable things. An amulet described by J. Russell, JOB 32 (1982)
539-548 has the wording "the seal of Solomon holds in check the evil eye."
See also the early 1st c. inscription, IG VII 581.5 (Megara), which alludes
to the pagan god Hades' jealousy of mortals who have higher thoughts; IKret
2.3.44 (Aptera, III AD), of a husband lamenting that the evil eye was put on
him and thus his wife died; and TAM 3.1.810.8 (Termessos, II-III AD), an
epitaph in which it states that fate cast her evil eye on the deceased.
Paul continues the wordplay with the next sentence, "Before your very eyes".
In Galatians 4:14, some translations add "bodily illness", "state of my poor
body", "my illness / condition was a trial to you", none of which are in the
Greek. In v 15, Paul continues to play on words (and we all know just how
much Paul loves to play on words, that is, in the Greek - it is often not
apparent in English translation).

In conclusion, people prior to the evidence of the papyri and inscriptions
have surmised, with a great deal of circular reliance, that Paul had bad
eyesight and that the Satanic messenger was a sickness, but the evidence
suggests otherwise.

Best wishes,
Ann Nyland


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard at ont.com>
To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, May 24, 2004 10:56 AM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] AGGELOS in 2 Cor 12:7


Dear Ann,

>Person or spirit - both are allowed by the Greek. There is nothing in the
>Greek to suggest a sickness, and I have not come across a Greek inscription
>where a sickness is spoken of in such terms - this is particularly
>signifiant, as the NT healing words are used very much in the manner of
>traditional Greek healing words, right from Homer. I would say theological
>considerations have been the basis for the traditional translation
>(sickness) of this verse. It could have been anything.

HH: It might be that you have not come across a
Greek inscription where a sickness is spoken of
like that because this may have been an
especially Israelite idiom. The LXX uses SKOLOY
in these verses:

Num. 33:55 ¶ "'But if you do not drive out the
inhabitants of the land, those you allow to
remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns
in your sides. They will give you trouble in the
land where you will live.
Hos. 2:6 Therefore I will block her path with
thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she
cannot find her way.
Ezek. 28:24 ¶ "'No longer will the people of
Israel have malicious neighbors who are painful
briers and sharp thorns. Then they will know that
I am the Sovereign LORD. d them; and they shall
know that I am the Lord GOD.

HH: It probably relates to Genesis 3:

Gen. 3:18 It will produce thorns and thistles for
you, and you will eat the plants of the field.

HH: As you say, the Israelites could associate
almost anything bad as a thorn. But this seems
like a condition Paul had. He describes it as an
ASQENEIA in 2 Cor 12:9-10, which often describes
a sickness, disease, or bodily ailment:

2Cor. 12:8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.
2Cor. 12:9 But he said to me,  "My grace is
sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect
in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more
gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's
power may rest on me.
2Cor. 12:10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I
delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships,
in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am
weak, then I am strong.

HH: Some connect this ASQENEIA with the ASQENEIA
that Paul mentions in Galatians 4:13f.:

Gal. 4:13 As you know, it was because of an
*illness* that I first preached the gospel to you.
Gal. 4:14 Even though my illness was a trial to
you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn.
Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of
God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself.

HH: The large handwriting that he had to use suggested an eye ailment:

Gal. 6:11 ¶ See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!

HH: So did his comment that the Galatians would
gladly have torn out their eyes and given them to
Paul if they could:

Gal. 4:15 What has happened to all your joy? I
can testify that, if you could have done so, you
would have torn out your eyes and given them to
me.

HH: The eye hypothesis may not be provable, but
it is not unreasonable for Galatians and may
relate to 2 Corinthians. If it is his eyes, it
seems a lengthy condition, since it seems to have
affected his writing some time after the visit to
Galatia.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard





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