[B-Greek] hAPTOMAI - touch vs. take hold of

George F Somsel gfsomsel at juno.com
Sat Jan 15 14:35:14 EST 2005


On Sat, 15 Jan 2005 14:04:17 -0500 "Jeff Smelser"
<jeffsmelser at ntgreek.net> writes:
> Jeff Smelser here,
> 
> KAI IDOU LEPROS PROSELQWN PROSEKUNEI AUTWi LEGWN, KURIE, EAN QELHiS 
> DUNASAI
> ME KAQARISAI. KAI EKTEINAS THN CEIRA hHYATO AUTOU LEGWN, QELW 
> KAQARISQHTI.
> (Mt. 8:2-3a)
> 
> Why in such passages as Mt. 8:3,  Mk. 1:41, Lk. 5:13 do we suppose 
> hAPTOMAI
> is "touch" rather than "take hold of"? Might it be equally arguable 
> that
> Jesus "took hold of" the leper, that the gesture associated with the 
> miracle
> was a strong one rather than a delicate one? See also Mt. 8:15, Mt. 
> 9:20f,
> etc.
> 
> Or is it sufficiently clear from non-biblical Greek that "touching" 
> rather
> than "taking hold of" was associated with divine blessing, as per 
> BDAG on
> hAPTW, paragraph 2c?
> 
> (Of course, in Mt. 9:29 and 20:34, "touched their eyes" makes much 
> more
> sense than "took hold of their eyes"!)
> 
> Jeff Smelser
> www.ntgreek.net
> www.centrevillechurchofchrist.org
_____________________

I'm inclined to think that the word stresses coming into physical contact
without regard to the delicacy with which it is done (or lack thereof). 
Most instances in the NT, however, do seem to involve the more delicate
variety of contact.  See, e.g. Mt. 9 and parallels (particularly the
Markan passage 5.21 ff.) where the woman with the flow of blood touches
Jesus.  In this instance Mark's version in particular makes it rather
plain that it was not expected that the touching was of a rough variety.

george
gfsomsel
___________



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