[B-Greek] Humor or a frozen expression? Mk 5.7
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Mon Oct 2 06:11:32 EDT 2006
On Oct 1, 2006, at 11:04 PM, Elizabeth Kline wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "George F Somsel"
>
>
>> TEXT
>>
>> KAI KRACAS FWNHi MEGALHi LEGEI, "TI EMOI KAI SOI, IHSOU hUIE TOU
>> QEOU TOU
>> hUYISTOU? ORKIZW SE TON QEON MH ME BASANISHiS"
>>
>> And crying out in a loud voice he said, "What have I to do with you
>> [Lit.:
>> "What to me and to you"], Jesus Son of the most high God? I
>> implore you
>> by God that you not torment me."
>>
>> I find this rather ironic that a demon possessing this man would thus
>> beseech Christ in the VERY NAME OF GOD whom he supposedly opposes
>> (I know
>> "KAI TA DAIMONIA PISTEUOUSIN KAI FRISSOUSIN" (Jas 2.19), but that's
>> another passage). Was the writer being humorous or is this simply a
>> frozen usage in relation to ORKIZW?
>
> Is ORKIZW ... TON QEON found in pagan sources? LSJ cites this as a NT
> usage. My limited memory of oath taking in Attic and Homer is that
> the name or an epitaph of the deity
Name, yes, but an epithet rather than an epitaph: deities are
immortal, as
Callimachus noted in his Hymn to Zeus (Hymn 1.8-9):
KRHTES AEI YEUSTAI: KAI GAR TAFON, W ANA, SEIO
KRHTES ETEKTAINANTO; SU D' OU QANES, ESSI GAR AIEI.
> is often used or in some cases
> QEWN. I don't recall seeing it used with ORKIZW (as a verb).
>
>
> Another question, are TOU QEOU TOU hUYISTOU and TON QEON co-
> referential? We assume so because we read this from a monotheistic
> framework but should we assume that demons from Mark's persective
> were theologically orthodox? OK, so it is an off-the-wall question.
Although that question does have a bearing on what we might expect
Mark to write, it's not a question that should be dealt with in this
forum.
More to the point is the entry in BDAG on hORKIZW: it is commonly
used with an accusative of the one called upon to take an oath and a
second expression of the deity who is to validate and ensure enforcement
of the oath; that second expression may be KATA + gen. or a second
accusative. BDAG does cite a couple non-Christian texts with this usage.
According to Hesiod, Theogony 775ff., the gods do take oaths by Styx,
the icy river of the underworld; a god breaking his/her oath suffers
a year
of death-like sleep followed by years of exile before resuming his/her
place among the gods.
One might also look at Louw & Nida 33.467 hORKIZW,
ENORKIZW, EPORKIZW.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
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