[B-Greek] Luke 2.25, 26 HN KECRHMATISMENON
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Fri Mar 13 05:56:05 EDT 2009
On Mar 12, 2009, at 10:12 PM, Mark Lightman wrote:
> (1) Luke is imitating LXX style where simple parataxis with
> KAI's, as in Hebrew, can stand in for subordinate clauses
> with a range of meanings. So you can coordinate these
> sentences as subordinate clauses temporally,
> in whatever order you want, or causally, or however the
> context indicates.
>
> (2) I think Simeon, not the Christ, has to be the subject of
> QANEIN. Otherwise you would need another noun in
> the accusative.
I would agree, more or less with Mark's assessment, including that it
affects the style of the LXX. I do not think there's any indication of
a causal relationship between the revelation he received according to
verse 26 and his expectation of "Israel's comfort," although one might
guess there's some linkage between his expectation/hope and the
revelation he had received. In its own way it is somewhat comparable
to the differently worded (and interpreted with varying degrees of
puzzlement) formulations of the Jesus saying in the Synoptic gospels
about "some of those standing here who will not taste death before
they see ... " (Mk 9:1, Mt 16:28, Lk 9:27). As Mark says, the two
sentences offer us two distinct statements about the Symeon; the
statements are certainly consistent with each other, but it is left to
the listener/reader to guess whether Symeon's hope/expectation was the
reason for the revelation that came to him or whether the revelation
was the ground of his hope/expectation. It seems a bit of the old
question about the relative priority of the chicken and the egg.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
> --- On Thu, 3/12/09, Mitch Larramore <mitchlarramore at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> From: Mitch Larramore <mitchlarramore at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [B-Greek] Luke 2.25, 26 HN KECRHMATISMENON
> To: "B Greek" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
> Date: Thursday, March 12, 2009, 6:38 PM
>
>
> 25 KAI IDOU ANQRWPOS HN EN IEROUSALHM Wi ONOMA SUMEWN, KAI hO
> ANQRWPOS OUTOS
> DIKAIOS KAI EULABHS, PROSDECOMENOS PARAKLHSIN TOU ISRAHL, KAI PNEUMA
> HN AGION EP
> AUTON: 26 KAI HN AUTWi KECRHMATISMENON hUPO TOU PNEUMATOS TOU AGIOU
> MH IDEIN
> QANATON PRIN [H] AN IDHi TON CRISTON KURIOU.
>
> 1. Was Simeon waiting for the comfort of Israel (whatever that is)
> BECAUSE it
> had been revealed to him that he would see the Messiah before dying?
> In other
> words, can we determine the temporal sequence of events such as to
> know in which
> order these 2 events occurred (Event A = waiting for comfort of
> Israel; Event B
> = revealed to him he would see Messiah)?
>
> 2. Does it indicate whether Simeon would not die or whether the
> Messiah would
> not die before Simeon got a chance to see the Messiah?
>
> Mitch Larramore
> Sugar Land, Texas
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