[B-Greek] Heb 8:13
Elizabeth Kline
kline_dekooning at earthlink.net
Fri Oct 2 18:36:23 EDT 2009
On Oct 2, 2009, at 10:44 AM, Cornell Machiavelli wrote:
> ἐν τῷ λέγειν Καινὴν
> πεπαλαίωκεν τὴν πρώτην: τὸ δὲ
> παλαιούμενον καὶ γηράσκον ἐγγὺς
> ἀφανισμοῦ.
>
> EN TWi LEGEIN KAINHN PEPALAIWKEN THN PRWTHN: TO DE PALAIOUMENON KAI
> GHRASKON
> EGGUS AFANISMOU
>
> The first πεπαλαίωκεν is Perfect tense: the first covenant
> is in a state of
> being obsolete. It continues with παλαιούμενον καὶ
> γηράσκον Present participles: the
> first covenant is then said to becoming obsolete and growing old..
> It has moved from a state
> of being obsolete to a process (or, something in progress) of
> becoming obsolete. Why the move from Perfect
> to Present with PALAIOW?
The following is all very tentative analysis.
Heb 10:8
ἰδοὺ ἡμέραι ἔρχονται, λέγει κύριος,
καὶ συντελέσω ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον Ἰσραὴλ
καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον Ἰούδα διαθήκην
καινήν
.
IDOU hHMERAI ERCONTAI, LEGEI KURIOS, KAI SUNTELESW EPI TON OIKON
ISRAHL KAI EPI TON OIKON IOUDA DIAQHKHN KAINHN
.
In regard to sentence articulation EN TWi LEGEIN KAINHN appears to
function as a contextualizer, pointing back to DIAQHKHN KAINHN in 10:8
with the focus (most salient information) found in the prefect active
finite PEPALAIWKEN. Some would probably say the entire clause
PEPALAIWKEN THN PRWTHN is in focus.
.
Concerning PEPALAIWKEN Ellingworth[1] states that the subject is to be
understood as QEOS and the meaning forensic "to declare
old" (Ellingworth) or "obsolete" (BDAG, C.Koester AB ). In other
words, we have a speech act EN TWi LEGEIN KAINHN (ref. DIAQHKHN KAINHN
Heb. 10:8) which has the legal (forensic) effect of making THN PROTHN
DIAQHKHN obsolete. I suspect the reasoning behind this reading
involves the unusual use of PALAIOW in the active with an implied
agent (QEOS). The legal status of having been declared obsolete does
not rule out the historical process of becoming old PALAIOUMENON
assuming we accept a shift in sense/reference between PEPALAIWKEN and
PALAIOUMENON.
.
Heb. 8:13 ἐν τῷ λέγειν καινὴν
πεπαλαίωκεν τὴν πρώτην· τὸ δὲ
παλαιούμενον καὶ γηράσκον ἐγγὺς
ἀφανισμοῦ.
.
HEB. 8:13 EN TWi LEGEIN KAINHN PEPALAIWKEN THN PRWTHN· TO DE
PALAIOUMENON KAI GHRASKON EGGUS AFANISMOU.
.
This analysis raises a small problem. The sentence articulation of
10:13b suggests to me that PALAIOUMENON functions as a
contextualizer, linking to PEPALAIWKEN in 13a. I suppose that even if
we accept a shift in sense/reference between these, just the form of
the word might serve the purpose of linking the two clauses. I think
we could find other examples of a repeated lexeme used with a shift in
sense/reference that still provides textual cohesion simply because of
the similarity in the form of the word.
Anyway, my time is up. I will probably have seen numerous problems by
tomorrow morning.
.
Elizabeth Kline
[1] Hebrews, NIGTC 1993. BTW, Ellingworth's Hebrews is one of the best
works in this series.
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