[B-Greek] Use of hOTI in Matt. 2:23
theophelous at comcast.net
theophelous at comcast.net
Sat May 21 14:52:02 EDT 2005
hPWS PLHRWQHi TO hPHQEN DIA TWN PROFHTWN hOTI NAZWRAIOS KLHQHSETAI
Is the proper greek sense of hOTI here 'for or because'?
I have looked at the archives of bgreek but not thoroughly. There were some references to Matt. 2:23 that I found using the search engine but they did not concern the use of hOTI.
I have looked at Dean Alford, Bishop Lightfoot, and various non-critical commentaries. The only commentary that I reviewed that addressed this explicitly is from Dr. Gijs van den Brink in his commentary on Matthew.
( http://www.elim.nl/eng/nt/matt/mat02.htm )
"23. He will be called a Nazarene, is not the gist of an Old Testament quotation. This is so not only in that it does not occur in the Old Testament, but also from Matthew's introductory words. He writes of prophets in general terms (in contrast to one specific prophet) and omits 'saying' (cf. Matt 26:56). When this occurs, no quotation follows (see Mark 14:49; Luke 24:25,27,44; John 17:12). The Greek word hoti (tr. ':' ) here does not mean 'that' or 'that is' but rather 'for', or 'because', and thus indicates a reason and explains the sense in which living in Nazareth is a fulfilment of prophecies. When Jesus is later called a Nazarene (a man of Nazareth) or a Galilean (cf. Matt 26:69,71), it is in most cases a sign of lack of appreciation (Matt 13:54 ff; John 1:46; 7:41,42,52). For this reason living in Nazareth is a fulfilment of the prophecies which say that the Messiah will make an unobtrusive appearance and will be unappreciated by his people (among others, Isa 42:2; 53:3; Zech 12:10).
Some of those who regard v.23b as the subject-matter of a prophecy claim that Matthew sees a deep prophetic significance in the word 'Nazarene'. He may have derived it from the Hebrew word ntser, which means 'branch', 'twig' (Isa 11:1). Yet others consider that Matthew is speaking of a Nazarite (Judg 13:5)."
He sees hOTI in the sense of 'for or because'. Because of my own bias I tend to agree with him. But I would like other opinions on the use of hOTI in this context.
Thanks in advance,
Theo Pope
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