[B-Greek] Acts 18:3 - SKHNOPOIOS = tallit, prayer-shawl?

yancywsmith yancywsmith at sbcglobal.net
Wed Dec 27 18:23:20 EST 2006


An interesting article on the SKHNOPOIOS is available in pdf. form  
by  at http://domain600695.sites.fasthosts.com/szesnath/research.html
In this article one possibility mentioned but not explored by the  
author Holger Szesnat is that Paul was a builder of dramatic scenes.  
This notion is followed up in a recent monograph by L.L. Welburn in  
Paul, the Fool of Christ: A Study of 1 Corinthians 1-4 in the Comic- 
philosophic Tradition (The Library of New Testament Studies)  
available in paperback now. Welburn argues that Paul's writing  
implies a knowledge of the comic theater tradition. We often think of  
"tents" being what Paul made, but in the ancient world there were  
many sorts of things called SKHNAI, which he would have made out of  
various possible materials. Since the open air courtyard was the  
center of ancient Greek home life, I wonder whether awnings and  
tarpulins would have been in use to create shaded areas as well as  
temporary shelters for transients.
Yancy Smith
Fort Worth, TX




On Dec 27, 2006, at 4:27 PM, George F Somsel wrote:

> While there is scant mention of SKHNOPOIEW outside of the Bible, it  
> seems unlikely that it would refer to one who make tallit.  In  
> fact, it is even possible that it doesn't refer to the manufacture  
> of tents but rather to their erection.  In Is 13.20 the Symmachus  
> version reads OUDE SKHNOPOHSEI EKEI ARAY "nor shall the Arab pitch  
> tent there."  On the other hand, in Ex 26.1 the TWO words SKHNH +  
> POIEW appear in the sense of to manufacture a tent.  I was thinking  
> that there was a word for one who erected tents in a circus.  I  
> thought it was "roustabout" but I find that this refers to casual  
> labor in the oil industry.  Perhaps someone else knows.  BTW:  I  
> don't think Paul erected tents though he may have manufactured them.
>
> george
> gfsomsel
> _________
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Carl W. Conrad <cwconrad2 at mac.com>
> To: Biblical Greek list <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, December 27, 2006 5:10:26 PM
> Subject: [B-Greek] Acts 18:3 - SKHNOPOIOS = tallit, prayer-shawl?
>
>
> Hi Folks,
>
>   Thanks for your help on my last question, the grammar of Acts 7:17,
> the interesting one about Abraham buying the land from Emmor.
>
>   There is a discussion on the internet about ...
>
> Acts 18:3
> And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them,
> and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers.
>
>   Where tentmaker (SKHNOPOIOS) is considered by some to be the
> Jewish prayer shawl, the tallit, rather than either a small  
> portable tent or a
> larger tent, as for the military.  There are lots of points made on  
> all sides.
> Granted, the tallit theory is a bit conjectural, and even the  
> question of
> what types of prayer shawls were in use seems to be unclear.
>
>   It does not seem to have been discussed here, and I was wondering
> if the biblical Greek experts might weigh in.
>
> Shalom,
> Steven Avery
> Queens, NY
>
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