[B-Greek] Matthew 16:18 - two questions

Elizabeth Kline kline_dekooning at earthlink.net
Mon Jul 21 15:49:30 EDT 2008


Matthew 16:18 - KAGW DE SOI LEGW hOTI SU EI PETROS, KAI EPI TAUTHi THi
PETRAi OIKODOMHSW MOU THN EKKLHSIAN KAI PULAI hADOU OU
KATISCUSOUSIN AUTHS.

On Jul 20, 2008, at 5:26 PM, Harold Holmyard wrote:

> I don't have TDNT here ...

Well the article must be half a century old, but  J. Jeremias (TDNT  
VI, 924-928 C. "The Gates of Hades" Mat.16:18) argues that PULAI hADOU  
Mat.16:18 should NOT be understood as simply a figurative reference to  
the power of death. Jeremias adopts an eschatological conflict  
framework, which should be familiar and need no explanation. He brings  
a lot of evidence, not all of it very convincing, for example his  
citation from Sir 51:9b is taken from the 12th century fragments found  
in the Cairo Geniza and translated "... and from the gates of the  
world of the dead (msh'ri sheol) ". The hebrew as translated in his  
article doesn't support his 'eschatological conflict framework' and  
the greek text which is much older (the uncials have some variation in  
the prepositions noted with brackets)

SIR. 51:9 KAI ANUYWSA APO [EPI?] GHS hIKETEIAN MOU KAI hUPER [APO?]  
QANATOU hRUSEWS EDEHQHN

Given that we don't have a very clear picture of the textual history  
of this citation, it is still not evidence that supports an  
eschatological conflict framework. SIR. 51:9b hUPER [APO?] QANATOU  
hRUSEWS EDEHQHN, if it translates the Hebrew found at the Cairo Geniza  
seems to support R.T.France see my original post below:


PULAI hADOU can be understood as the power of death. The figurative
reference is certainly not to 'Hell' but to Hades which was the region
of the dead. I would agree with France (Matt. 2007) and others that
PULAI hADOU is not used here to represent an aggressive attacker of
THS EKKLHSIAS, as if Hades were spewing out demonic forces to attack
HN EKKLHSIAN. Rather, the idea is that the power of death, which
appears to be invincible will fail and the EKKLHSIA will prevail.

an aside: SIR. 51:9b hUPER [APO?] QANATOU hRUSEWS EDEHQHN

What do you make of hRUSEWS here? Perhaps a river? Rivers play a  
significant role in the geography of Hades.


Elizabeth Kline







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