[B-Greek] Matthew 28:17: hOI DE EDISTASAN
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Thu Apr 13 17:45:41 EDT 2006
On Apr 13, 2006, at 9:38 AM, Stephen C. Carlson wrote:
>>> This assumes 'prophesy' is predictive or somehow supernatural in
>>> vision.
>>> If you take 'prophecy' more along the lines of "preaching or
>>> declaring
>>> sinful or correct behavior" then you have the taunting nature of
>>> "preach
>>> at us, tell us we're doing something wrong, go ahead..." In this
>>> case,
>>> two groups aren't required.
>
> The question in the text after the "Prophesy", however, is "Who hit
> you?".
> That taunt fits the first option much better than the second one.
> In fact,
> I cannot really accept the second option as a viable interpretation.
>
>> I haven't had the time to analyze each case, but my cursory skip
>> through
>> the occurrences in Luke shows me that exegeting all occurrences as
>> two
>> groups is completely unsupportable.
>
> Surely evidence from the same author (here Matt 26:67) is more
> relevant
> than evidence from another?
>
>> Frankly, I think the discussion would be helped by generating a clear
>> and more accurate definition of DISTAZW, since it appears to me that
>> what's driving the 'two groups' idea is the semantic interaction
>> between
>> PISTIS and DISTAZW.
>
> We're back to Matt 28:17, and I'll let someone deal with that, but
> I would
> agree with you that getting a better sense of DISTAZW would be
> helpful.
> For what it is worth, LSJ also gives the meaning of "hesitate."
In the course of this thread, I have tried to consider alternatives,
but I am, in fact, more than ever convinced that the conventional
reading of hOI DE EDISTASAN in Mt 28:17 as meaning "but some doubted"
is correct.
For what it's worth, I'll bring in some of the data from BDAG:
1. The definition of DISTAZW (This won't alter the understanding of
hOI DE, but only of what hOI DE did):
DISTAZW (DIS + ?) fut. DISTASW; 1 aor. EDISTASA (Pla.+; OGI 315, 66;
UPZ 110, 57; PSI 1315, 6 [both II BC]; PGiss 18, 9; BGU 388, 17; Sb
6663, 35 al. pap; EpArist 53; Jos., Bell. 2, 182) gener. ‘to be
uncertain, to have second thoughts about a matter’.
1. to have doubts concerning something, doubt, waver abs. (Diod. S.
20, 15, 3) Mt 14:31; 28:17 (IEllis, NTS 14, ’67/68, 574–80;
KMcKay, JSNT 24, ’85, 71f the subject is a subgroup of the apostles;
for another interpr. of Mt 28:17 s. 2 below); GMary Ox 3525, 10. THi
YUCHi within oneself 1 Cl 23:3. Also THi KARDIAi 2 Cl 11:2. ἐν
τῇ καρδίᾳ Hm 9:5. PERI TINOS have doubts concerning someth.
(Diod. S. 4, 62, 3; 19, 36, 5; Plut., Mor. 62a) 1 Cl 11:2; Hs 9, 28,
7. W. indirect quest. foll. (Pla., Aristot.; Polyb. 12, 26c, 2) TINI
DWiS consider to whom you should give Hm 2:4.
2. to be uncertain about taking a particular course of action,
hesitate in doubt (Diod. S. 10, 4, 4; Dositheus 71, 5; Just., D. 28,
2; 39, 6) perh. Mt 28:17 abs.; w. inf. foll. DOUNAI D 4:7 and B
19:11; AITEISQAI to make a request Hs 5, 4, 3.—DELG s.v. δί. M-M.
TW.
2. Under hO/hH/hO. The usage of hOI DE to indicate the behavior/
action of a subgroup of those whose action has been described just
previously): hO MEN ... hO DE
b. 28:17 hOI DE introduces a second class; just before this, instead
of the first class, the whole group is mentioned (cp. X., Hell. 1, 2,
14, Cyr. 3, 2, 12; KMcKay, JSNT 24, ’85, 71f)=but some (as Arrian,
Anab. 5, 2, 7; 5, 14, 4; Lucian, Tim. 4 p. 107; Hesych. Miles. [VI
AD]: 390 fgm. 1, 35 end Jac.).
And here a couple of those relevant texts:
(a) Xenophon Hellenica 1.2.14 ... hOI AICMALWTOI SYRAKOSIOI ...
APODRANTES NUKTOS WiCONTO EIS DEKELEIAN, hOI D' EIS MEGARA. " ... the
Syracusan prisoners ... escaping by night got away to Decelea, but
some of them to Megara."
(b) Xenophon, Cyropaedia 3.2.12 EN DE TOUTWi PROSAGOUSI TWi KURWi
TOUS AICMALWTOUS DEDEMENOUS, TOUS DE TINAS KAI TETRWMENOUS ... "At
this time they bring before Cyrus the prisoners in chains, some of
them also wounded ... "
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
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