[B-Greek] Mt 1:18 hEUREQH EN GASTRI ECOUSA

Harold Holmyard hholmyard at ont.com
Thu Feb 2 09:14:14 EST 2006


Carl W. Conrad wrote:

>
>
> Acts 8:40 FILIPPOS DE hEUREQH EIS AZWTON Here it's something like 
> "Philip appeared next in Azotus."


You may be right that this is the best approach for translating this 
verse, but please let me explain why I offered "found himself" here. The 
language in the previous verse (v. 39) is odd:

hOTE DE ANHBHSAN EK TOU hUDATOS, PNEUMA KURIOU hARPASEN TON FILIPPON KAI 
OUK EIDEN AUTON OUKETI hO EUNOUCOS, EPOREUETO GAR THN hODON AUTOU CAIRWN

The issue with me is whether there is a miracle or just strong 
descriptive language. Reasons for thinking it might be miraculous are: 
1) the Spirit snatches Philip away, 2) the verb hARPAZW is used of a 
supernatural catching up of people into heaven in 1 Thess 4:17, 3) the 
text says oddly that the eunuch did not see Philip any longer, 4) verse 
40 says that Philip was found/found himself/appeared in Azotus.

Parsons and Culy, _Acts: A Handbook on the Greek Text_ (168), note that 
GAR may introduce a "compound sentence" covering not only the following 
words in verse 39 but also the clause in verse 40 about Philip in 
Azotus. So both ideas would explain why the eunuch no longer saw him.

The text makes it sound as though Philip just supernaturally disappeared 
and then (re-)appeared at Azotus. However, perhaps the snatching was 
more of an internal compulsion manifested by Philip in walking away from 
the eunuch towards Azotus under the Spirit's leading. The words about 
seeing him no longer would then imply that the eunuch had no further 
dealings with him because he kept on his journey to Egypt, rejoicing 
over his new-found faith and not concerned about Philip's departure.

If this were a miraculous event, the OT may suggest some precedent for 
this sort of thing with men of God:

1Kings 18:12 I don’t know where the Spirit of the LORD may carry you 
when I leave you. If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn’t find you, he will 
kill me. Yet I your servant have worshiped the LORD since my youth.

Of course, the same interpretative question exists in 1 Kgs 18:12. The 
LXX verb there is AIRW ("take up") and the Hebrew equivalent implies 
"carry, bear." We also have the Spirit taking Ezekiel places, though 
that may not actually be physical:

Ezek. 11:1 Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the gate of 
the house of the LORD that faces east. There at the entrance to the gate 
were twenty-five men, and I saw among them Jaazaniah son of Azzur and 
Pelatiah son of Benaiah, leaders of the people.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard

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