[B-Greek] Xylos zoes (List parameters)
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Wed Jul 7 05:27:13 EDT 2010
On Jul 7, 2010, at 12:18 AM, George F Somsel wrote:
> Obviously multiple trees cannot at the same time be one tree, but mythologically
> speaking there should be no difficulty. What else would "a tree" of life be if
> not the Tree of Life in Genesis? Unless you can produce a known something to
> which our author would be referring, I must assume that he can only be referring
> to the Tree of Life in the Garden which would be known to his readers.
Please let's not speak mythologically: it gets into hermeneutical questions which
lie outside the parameters of proper B-Greek list discussion. Let's stick to matters
of Greek text, grammar and immediate context.
Carl W. Conrad
Co-Chair, B-Greek List
> ________________________________
> From: Michael Aubrey <mga318 at yahoo.com>
> To: George F Somsel <gfsomsel at yahoo.com>; Mark Lightman
> <lightmanmark at yahoo.com>; Pere Porta <pporta7 at gmail.com>; Brant Clements
> <clements at grics.net>
> Cc: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> Sent: Tue, July 6, 2010 6:40:12 PM
> Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Xylos zoes
>
>
> If it appeared that I thought they were the same tree, then I need to state
> explicitly that I do not think they are. All I said was that the difference in
> the use of the article is related to how identifiable the article's noun is to
> the audience -- at least as perceived by the author.
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: George F Somsel <gfsomsel at yahoo.com>
> To: Mark Lightman <lightmanmark at yahoo.com>; Michael Aubrey <mga318 at yahoo.com>;
> Pere Porta <pporta7 at gmail.com>; Brant Clements <clements at grics.net>
> Cc: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> Sent: Tue, July 6, 2010 8:50:56 AM
> Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Xylos zoes
>
>
> ἐν μέσῳ τῆς πλατείας αὐτῆς καὶ τοῦ ποταμοῦ ἐντεῦθεν καὶ ἐκεῖθεν ξύλονζωῆςποιοῦν
> καρποὺς δώδεκα, κατὰ μῆνα ἕκαστον ἀποδιδοῦν τὸν καρπὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὰ φύλλα τοῦ
> ξύλου εἰς θεραπείαν τῶν ἐθνῶν.
> EN MESWi THS PLATEIAS AUTHS KAI TOU POTAMOU ENTEUQEN KAI EKEIQEN CULON ZWHS
> POIOUN KARPOUS DWDEKA KATA MHNA hEKASTON APODIDOUN TON KARPON AUTOU KAI TA FULLA
> TOU CULOU EIS QERAPEIAN TWN EQNWN.
>
>
> In light of the fact that the author of the Apocalypse relies quite heavily on
> the mythological portraits of the OT in speaking of the Dragon (or Leviathon or
> Rahab in the OT) and other such elements, I hardly think "John" would be
> referencing "a different tree." He was speaking of a figure well-known to his
> audience. [It would be advisable for everyone to read Hermann Gunkel's
> _Schöpfung und Chaos_ now FINALLY translated as _Creation and Chaos in the
> Primieval Era and the Eschaton_ to gain an understanding of the usage of OT
> imagery here] That he fails to use the article here to introduce "the Tree of
> Life" as a known concept may be accounted for by the fact that in the New
> Jerusalem Trees of Life are simply ubiquitous (ἐντεῦθεν καὶ ἐκεῖθεν ENTEUQEN KAI
> EKEIQEN).
>
> george
> gfsomsel
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