[B-Greek] Is GRAFH in the singular used in Josephus or Philo for all the scriptures?

Bryant J. Williams III bjwvmw at com-pair.net
Sat Feb 16 15:14:51 EST 2008


Dear Leonard,

See Colin Brown, NIDNTT, Vol. 3: 482-497, "Scripture, Writing," by R. Mayer. Pay
particular attention to the fact that it is used to translate the Hebrew,
"katab." Only once in II Chronicles 24:27 is it used for "midrash;" otherwise it
is used for the sense of "(holy) writing, written decree, types of script (of
different languages), letter."

Page 486,
    3. Judaism after the closing of the OT canon. (a) In Philo and Josephus,
the most important writers of the Hewish-Hellenistic symbiosis, we again find
the whole range of meaning covered by the words. GRAFH is used in its original
sense (Philo, Vit. Mos. 1, 287), then inscription (Josephus, Ant. 17, 417), and
painting (Philo, Vit. Mos. 1, 158), and finally in a legal sense (Pilo, Vit.
Mos. 2, 203). ..."Holy Scritpute" (sing. and Plur.) is used of the Bible
particularly often by Philo(e.g. Congr. 34, 90). GRAMMA is used in parallel to
this (Vit. Mos. 2, 290, 292).

You may want to check out the following:

1.    NIDNTT, Vol. 3: 477-482, "Scribe" (GAMMATEUS) by N. Hillyer.
2.    NIDNTT, Vol. 1:728-744, "Fullness, Abound, Multitude, Fulfill, Make Room"
(PLHROW) by T. Brandt, W. Bauder, R. Schippers and J. G. Baldwin.

En Xristwi,

Rev. Bryant J. Williams III
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Leonard Jayawardena" <leonardj at live.com>
To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, February 15, 2008 9:59 PM
Subject: [B-Greek] Is GRAFH in the singular used in Josephus or Philo for all
the scriptures?


>
> I am returning to the B-Greek list after a long spell of absence. I was forced
to drop out of B-Greek due to what I believe to be some technical problem with
my earlier dial-up e-mail account. My question relates to an issue that I raised
in some earlier posts.  According to "Theological Dictionary of the NT" (article
"graphe") by Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich, abridged in one volume by
Geoffrey Bromiley, "The use of the singular [of GRAFH] for all scripture does
not occur in Philo or Josephus." In a note on Galatians 3:22 in his commentary
"St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians," J. B. Lightfoot expresses the view that,
in the NT, GRAFH in the singular always means a particular scriptural passage
and says, "The biblical usage is followed also by the earliest fathers. The
transition from the 'Scriptures' to the 'Scripture' is analagous to the
transition from [TA BIBLIA] to the 'Bible.'" Unfortunately, I don't have the
tools to verify the above statements (within the quot
>  es) and would greatly appreciate it if list members could confirm them, or,
if they disagree, mention the particular passages in which they think the
singular is used for all the scriptures in Philo or Josephus, indicating also
whether the definite article is used in the original Greek in those passages.
Please also comment on the second sentence of the quote from Lightfoot.
> Whether GRAFH is used in the singular in Josephus or Philo to refer to all the
scriptures has an important bearing on the question of how this word is used in
the NT, especially on the translation of 2 Timothy 3:16.  Leonard JayawardenaSri
Lanka
> _________________________________________________________________
> Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today it's FREE!
> http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/
> ---
> B-Greek home page: http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek
> B-Greek mailing list
> B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek
>
> For your security this Message has been checked for Viruses as a courtesy of
Com-Pair Services!
>
>
>
> -- 
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.20.7/1283 - Release Date: 02/16/08 2:16
PM
>
>


For your security this Message has been checked for Viruses as a courtesy of Com-Pair Services!




More information about the B-Greek mailing list