[B-Greek] 1 Chron.29:20 LXX

Albert Pietersma albert.pietersma at sympatico.ca
Thu Feb 17 21:58:28 EST 2005


On Feb 17, 2005, at 8:13 PM, Tony Costa wrote:

> In 1 Chron.29:20 LXX, it states KAMPSANTES TA GONATA PROSEKUNHSAN TWi 
> KURIWi KAI TWi BASILEI. In this passage, PROSEKUNHSAN is used of both 
> the Lord and the king (David). Would this passage indicate that the 
> king was also seen as an object of homage with God? The dative case in 
> both articles and nouns KURIWi and BASILEI indicate that the Deity and 
> the king were the recipients of such homage. I know this question may 
> appear more theological than textual, but is the king in this passage 
> presented as the Deity's vice-regent on the earth? Many thanks.
The Greek verb PROSKUNEW means "to do obeisance", and one did obeisance 
to both gods and certain humans of high social status. Though "doing 
obeisance" was an act of showing respect it was not, per se, a 
recognition of divinity. Interestingly, though, it could be so 
understood or misconstrued. What comes to mind is the mutiny of 
Alexander the Great's Greek  troops over the  PROSKUNHSIS episode 
(Bactria 327BC if I remember correctly). Persian kings were shown 
obeisance (though they were not regarded as divine) and afterwards the 
same respect was shown by Persian troops to Alexander. In an effort to 
unify his army and his realm Alexander tried to introduce the same 
practice for his Greek troops. The Greeks did not like this and accused 
Alexander of trying to make himself into a god. The other instance that 
comes to mind is in Greek Esther when Mordecai says that he refused to 
do obeisance to Haman because that was owed to God alone.
Thus in English "to do obeisance" would be a better gloss for PROSKUNEW 
than "to worship" since the latter tends to imply divinity.
Al


Tony Costa, ThD (cand)
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—
Albert Pietersma
Professor of Septuagint and Hellenistic Greek
Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations
University of Toronto
Home: 21 Cross Street,
Weston ON Canada M9N 2B8
Email: albert.pietersma at sympatico.ca
Homepage: http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~pietersm




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