[B-Greek] 1 Chron.29:20 LXX
George F Somsel
gfsomsel at juno.com
Thu Feb 17 22:18:28 EST 2005
On Thu, 17 Feb 2005 21:58:28 -0500 Albert Pietersma
<albert.pietersma at sympatico.ca> writes:
>
> 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)
_______________________
An obvious instance in which proskunesis is considered as the worship of
the divine is in Re 19.10 where "John" attempts to offer this to the
angelus interpretes
KAI EPESA EMPROSQEN TWN PODWN AUTOU PROSKYNHSAI AUTWi. KAI LEGEI MOI,
ORA MH; SUNDOULOS SOU EIMI KAI TWN ADELFWN SOU TWN EXONTWN THN MARTURIAN
IHSOU; TWi QEWi PROSKUNHSON. hH GAR MARTURIA IHSOU ESTIN TO PNEUMA THS
PROFHTEIAS.
george
gfsomsel
___________
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