[B-Greek] Stoning

Danny Andre' Dixon bereandad2003 at yahoo.com
Sat Jan 15 13:02:13 EST 2005


Dr. Hedrick:
 
Something as direct as claiming to be the Messiah appropriating to oneself direct and authoritative relational association with Yahweh (not necessarily claiming to be God) would have been sufficient for one to be subject to stoning. For an exhaustive case establishing such see Darrell L. Bock, Blasphemy and Exaltation in Judaism: The Charge Against Jesus in Mark 14:53-65 (Grand Rapids: Baker Books reprint 2000).
 
Danny Dixon
dannydixon at hungertruth.org

b-greek-request at lists.ibiblio.org wrote:
Message: 3
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2005 01:47:31 -0600
From: "Gary Hedrick" 
Subject: [B-Greek] John 8:58
To: 
Message-ID: <008701c4fad6$7861fed0$0500a8c0 at HomeOffice>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

In John 8:58, Jesus makes the rather incredible claim that before Abraham was born, "I am" (ego eimi). Aside from the obvious import of Jesus' declaration that He existed even before Abraham came into being, could He also be identifying himself here as the "I AM" of Ex. 3:14? The LXX at Ex. 3:14 has, Egw eimi ho wn ("I am the one who is").

The Hebrew at Ex. 3:14 has ahaya asar ahaya ("I am who I am," or "I will be who I will be"). Interestingly, the Hebrew NT translates ego eimi as ani hoo, or "I (am) he," at  John 8:58, so it doesn't appear to make a clear connection to Ex. 3:14 (that is, unless I'm missing something here). But I realize we're not here to talk about  theology, or even about Hebrew, so my question for this list is simply this: based on the Greek texts of both John 8:58 and also the LXX Ex. 3:14, is it plausible that Jesus was equating himself with the great I AM of the OT? Or do you agree with critics of this view who say the connection between John 8:58 and Ex. 3:14 is a stretch?

Also, I wonder if we have a hint as to the meaning of the Greek text when it says in the next verse that the Judeans who heard Him responded by picking up stones to execute Him, ostensibly for blasphemy, or for claiming to be God. Would there have been any basis for a death sentence if He was not equating himself with God?

I'm rather new to this list, so if there's something in the archives about this, perhaps someone would be kind enough to point me in the right direction. Many thanks.

Dr. Gary Hedrick
CJF Ministries
611 Broadway
San Antonio, TX 78215 USA
Phone 210-226-1075, Ext. 115 (w/ voice mail)
Fax 210-690-8421
gary at cjf.org or gmhedrick at sbcglobal.net



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