[B-Greek] Two men in one bed?

N.E. Barry Hofstetter nebarry at verizon.net
Thu Jul 20 15:26:33 EDT 2006


>From: Fridolin Janzen <fjanzen at gmx.net>
>Date: 2006/07/20 Thu PM 01:14:20 CDT
>To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
>Subject: [B-Greek] Two men in one bed?

>Dear friends,
>
> 
>
>Luke 17:34 says that two men shall be in one “bed” (KLINE). Could “O”
>(masculine) also refer to a woman? Wouldn’t it be strange to have two men
>sleeping in one bed at the coming of Christ? Since the meals were taken at a
>“KLINE”, should this word not be translated as “couch” or a synonym, in
>order for people to understand the text properly? I used the word “divã” in
>my translation. Do you think I am on the right track?
>
>We always think the two were sleeping and not participating in a meal,
>because “KLINE” was translated as “bed”. 

It was quite common in ancient times for people of the same gender to share beds, particularly when traveling.  Don't make the mistake of reading modern cultural predilictions into the ancient text...

N.E. Barry Hofstetter 
Adjunct Faculty & IT Support 
The Center for Urban Theological Studies 
http://www.cuts.edu 
Classics Instructor, The American Academy 
http://www.theamericanacademy.net 
And my site: 
http://mysite.verizon.net/nebarry




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