[B-Greek] Mt 1:18 hEUREQH EN GASTRI ECOUSA
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at ioa.com
Thu Feb 2 13:21:33 EST 2006
On Feb 2, 2006, at 12:29 PM, Webb wrote:
> In relation to Acts 8:40, I was thinking along the same lines as
> HH. If one
> takes the Philip story as analogous to the kind of thing storied about
> Elijah and Ezekiel, then "Philip found himself at Azotus" makes
> sense. The
> author of Acts could be saying that, as far as Philip is concerned,
> the
> Spirit snatches him away and drops him in another place. Otherwise the
> intent could just be "and Philip showed up in Azotus". But that's a
> very
> mundane thing to say, and not a very mundane way of expressing it.
> There's
> something mysterious about the Philip story (cf. v. 39) that makes
> me prefer
> the first sense.
I have no objection to "Philip found himself at Azotus." What
disturbs me, however, is that the translation is pitched to make a
theological point rather than to convey what the verb means by and of
itself. Granted it's in a context, but can't the reader draw the
conclusion for him/herself that you wnat him/her to draw?
> As for how the word hEUREQH functions in Matt. 1, I have an
> approach that
> I'm not sure is any better than what's already been put forward:
> After his mother Mary had become formally engaged to Joseph, but
> before
> their union, they discovered that she had conceived a child by the
> Holy
> Spirit. Joseph, her husband, was a man of integrity. Not wanting
> her to be
> disgraced, he intended to divorce her secretly.
> My main reason for rendering it "they discovered" is that the previous
> sentence refers to Mary and Joseph, then "their" union,
i.e. their "non-union"?
> and immediately
> comes hEUREQH EN GASTRI ECOUSA EK PNEUMATOS hAGIOU, then
> immediately Joseph.
> If M had said that she found out or he found out, that would have
> raised the
> question, how did Joseph find out? So M puts it in the indefinite,
> to bridge
> between the previous sentence, with the two of them, and the following
> sentence, with Joseph.
> L. Harris's argument seems potentially weighty, but it raises the
> question
> of how M could talk about Joseph's desire to "divorce her secretly"
> and so
> protect Mary from scandal, if she had just failed a formal legal
> test of
> purity. If the "finding" was formal and legal, how could a scandal be
> suppressed?
Here I would object even more to a paraphrase that goes beyond what
the Greek text says in order to emphasize an interpretation. And your
objection to L. Harrris' argument can be applied just as well to your
own suggestion that the discovery is a joint one made by Joseph and
Mary. After all, if Joseph realized that Mary was pregnant by the
Holy Spirit, why would he be contemplating a quiet dissolution of
their engagement?
Of course, this is not a forum to discuss translation theory, but
since so much seems to be at stake to some in what implications there
are for this or that interpretation of hEUREQH, I must say that don't
understand why translators should feel a need to fill in gaps that
the original writers don't seem to have been aware of. I've had the
notion that the NT writers generally were reasonably economical in
their narrative composition; why should a translator feel he has to
do them one better? The old Latin proverb is "ars est celare artem"
-- "The real art is to disguise the artifice." Leave something for
the reader to ponder of what the writer meant.
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org
> [mailto:b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org]
>> On Behalf Of Harold Holmyard
>> Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2006 6:14 AM
>> To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
>> Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Mt 1:18 hEUREQH EN GASTRI ECOUSA
>>
>> 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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>
>
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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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