[B-Greek] Re: verbal hendiadys in Gal 2:12?
Chuck J Bumgardner
bumgardnerbunch at juno.com
Thu Apr 28 13:30:42 EDT 2005
Thanks, Carl. Frankly, I'm not familiar with hendiadyses in general --
as is evident from my post! Malherbe, in trying to define STELLESQAI in
2Th 3:6, says this: "It seems to differ little from hypostellein in Gal
2:12, hypestellen kai aphorizen heauton ('he withdrew and separated
himself'), where the two verbs form a hendiadys." That led me to one of
the few print resources I own in which I could find info about that
construction -- E.W. Bullinger's ancient Figures of Speech Used in the
Bible. Under "hendiadys," he lists examples of what he considers
hendiadyses using verbs: Mt 13:23; Lk 6:48; Ac 9:31; Ac 13:41; 1Th 4:1;
2Pe 3:12; Rev 20:4; Rev 22:17. As a general definition of the
construction, he gives the following: "Two words employed, but only one
thing, or idea, intended. One of the two words expresses the thing, and
the other (of synonymous, or even different, signification, not a second
thing or idea) intensifies it by being changed (if a noun) into an
adjective of the superlative degree, which is, by this means, made
especially emphatic." Succinctness is obviously not one of his virtues
(nor one of mine, I'm afraid!).
However, as you pointed out, the two verbs joined by KAI really don't
clearly state a single idea in the same way that two nouns in that
construction might. But that's not how Bullinger seems to understand the
construction when used with verbs -- at least, so I gather from his
examples. Instead, it seems he would see one of the verbs as
intensifying the other in some fashion, perhaps by using a different and
stronger verb. His illustrations seem somewhat unclear, and that led me
to look for some clarification from the list. Perhaps he is trying to
squeeze more into the concept of "hendiadys" than is warranted.
Be that as it may, whatever we might call the construction that is
structured like a hendiadys, but uses verbs instead of nouns, I was
trying to understand whether the construction itself in Gal 2:12 makes a
contribution toward the definition or nuance of hUPESTELLEN -- i.e., does
the construction itself indicate that AFORIZW has the same idea as
hUPOSTELLW, only "more so."
At any rate, thanks for the helpful comments.
Chuck Bumgardner
East Park Baptist Church
Decatur, IL
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