[B-Greek] Is GRAFH in the singular used in Josephus or Philo for all the scriptures?
George F Somsel
gfsomsel at yahoo.com
Sun Feb 17 07:45:28 EST 2008
In response to the earlier statement that Philo the word [GRAFH] in the singular was used regarding ALL scripture, I find that in "Heir" § 159 it is dative plural though in § 168 it is sg. Here we find
“αἱ γὰρ πλάκες ἔργον θεοῦ ἦσαν, καὶ ἡ γραφὴ γραφὴ θεοῦ κεκολαμμένη ἐν ταῖς πλαξί”
"hAI GAR PLAKES ERGON QEOU HSAN, KAI hH GRAFH GRAFH QEOU KEKOLAMMENH EN TAIS PLACI"
As you can see, in this passage it does not reference ALL scripture, but the tables of the Ten Commandments alone.
george
gfsomsel
… search for truth, hear truth,
learn truth, love truth, speak the truth, hold the truth,
defend the truth till death.
- Jan Hus
_________
----- Original Message ----
From: Albert Pietersma <albert.pietersma at sympatico.ca>
To: Bryant J.Williams III <bjwvmw at com-pair.net>
Cc: Leonard Jayawardena <leonardj at live.com>; b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Saturday, February 16, 2008 7:13:37 PM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Is GRAFH in the singular used in Josephus or Philo for all the scriptures?
Not
sure
whether
this
is
relevant,
but
GRAFH
with
the
sense
of
'Scripture'
occurs
in
the
Letter
of
Aristeas
§155
and
168.
To
the
best
of
my
knowledge
this
is
the
earliest
attestation
in
compositional
Greek
literature.
Al
On
Feb
16,
2008,
at
3:14
PM,
Bryant
J.
Williams
III
wrote:
>
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
>>
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