[B-Greek] Rv 22:2 ENTEUQEN KAI EKEIQEN
Iver Larsen
iver_larsen at sil.org
Wed Jun 3 01:23:52 EDT 2009
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Moore" <tom at katabiblon.com>
To: "B-Greek" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: 2. juni 2009 08:05
Subject: [B-Greek] Rv 22:2 ENTEUQEN KAI EKEIQEN
> Rv. 22:2: Ἐν μέσῳ τῆς πλατείας αὐτῆς καὶ τοῦ ποταμοῦ ἐντεῦθεν καὶ ἐκεῖθεν
> ξύλον ζωῆς.... [EN MESWi THS PLATEIAS AUTHS KAI TOU POTAMOU ENTEUQEN KAI
> EKEIQEN XULON ZWHS....]
>
> Is it possible that ENTEUQEN KAI EKEIQEN means "from one end to the other"
> instead of "on one side and on the other," so that it is describing not the
> width of the river but the full length of the river? (In previous threads in
> the archives on this topic, in Jan 2001 and May 2006, I didn't see this
> possibility discussed.)
>
> In this scenario I would imagine the river of the water of life as running
> from the throne, terminating at the tree of life, which sits in the middle of
> the city's street. (The river T-intersects with the street rather than running
> parallel to it.)
>
> Would it even be possible to read TOU POTAMOU ENTEUQEN KAI EKEIQEN as a
> genitive absolute: "in the middle of the street a tree of life, and the river
> (being) from here [the location of the tree] and from there [the location of
> the throne]..."?
>
> Regards,
> Tom Moore
Also note Webb's post on Nov 29, 2006 (Rev. 22:1-2), which to me explains the
text very well.
The simplest meaning is to take ENTEUQEN and EKEIQEN to mean on this and yonder
side of the river, and when the simplest meaning makes good sense, it is not
necessary to look for another meaning that can hardly make sense. How can a
river suddenly disappear when it comes to a tree or a street? For the beginning
or end of a river, I would expect a word like KEFALH (head, outermost point),
and I don't think ENTEUQEN and EKEIQEN can be used in the sense you suggest.
One problem is that XULOS is in singular, but this is not uncommon in order to
refer to the concept of a tree. The plural of XULOS is used in the NT for clubs
and pieces of wood. "Many trees" is usually a forest, but here it appears to be
two lines of trees with fruits and leaves to sustain an enormous population
unlike the single tree of life in Eden. The parallel vision in Ezek 47:7 is also
worth noting.
Iver Larsen
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