[B-Greek] How to understand Rev 11:8]

Elizabeth Kline kline_dekooning at earthlink.net
Mon Jun 14 17:22:30 EDT 2010


On Jun 14, 2010, at 11:11 AM, Elizabeth Kline wrote:

>> 
>> A conventional translation of Rev 11:8 would be:
>> 
>>>> Their corpses will lie in the main street of the great city, which
>> spiritually is called "Sodom" and "Egypt," where their lord was
>> crucified. <<
>> 
>> I was wondering if the clause "where their lord was crucified" could be
>> taken as being dependent of "spiritually". This has been suggested by Greg
>> Beale (in his commentary).
>> 
> 
> 
> Rev. 11:7 Καὶ ὅταν τελέσωσιν τὴν μαρτυρίαν αὐτῶν, τὸ θηρίον τὸ ἀναβαῖνον ἐκ τῆς ἀβύσσου ποιήσει μετ᾿ αὐτῶν πόλεμον καὶ νικήσει αὐτοὺς καὶ ἀποκτενεῖ αὐτούς.  8 καὶ τὸ πτῶμα αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τῆς πλατείας τῆς πόλεως τῆς μεγάλης, ἥτις καλεῖται πνευματικῶς Σόδομα καὶ Αἴγυπτος, ὅπου καὶ ὁ κύριος αὐτῶν ἐσταυρώθη.
> 
> Rev. 11:7 KAI hOTAN TELESWSIN THN MARTURIAN AUTWN, TO QHRION TO ANABAINON EK THS ABUSSOU POIHSEI MET᾿ AUTWN POLEMON KAI NIKHSEI AUTOUS KAI APOKTENEI AUTOUS.  8 KAI TO PTWMA AUTWN EPI THS PLATEIAS THS POLEWS THS MEGALHS, hHTIS KALEITAI PNEUMATIKWS SODOMA KAI AIGUPTOS, hOPOU KAI hO KURIOS AUTWN ESTAURWQH.
> 
> G.Beale does appear to say something like that (p.592[1]).   The main point, that THS POLEWS THS MEGALHS is not a literal city, is easier to accept than Beale's claim that having  the clause beginning with hOPOU refer back to the beginning of v 8 is "awkward"[1].  I don't see anything awkward about it. Perhaps I have been reading too much Sophocles. I see nothing the least bit difficult about hOPOU ... connecting back across a parenthetical  hHTIS KALEITAI PNEUMATIKWS SODOMA KAI AIGUPTOS. On the other hand I have some reservations about having hOPOU ... limit (modify) the adverb PNEUMATIKWS. That seems to me a strange notion. 
> 
> Perhaps I am misreading Beale. I am willing to listen to other explanations of what he is saying re: hOPOU & PNEUMATIKWS.  


Beale has a reference to G.B. Caird (Rev. HNTC p.138). Caird suggests that hOPOU KAI ... is a continuation of "the general description of the city, which John has expressly called figurative." Caird does not comment on the syntax. Beale argues that hOPOU KAI ... defines PNEUMATIKWS ... which in turn defines THS POLEWS THS MEGALHS.  Caird's reading does not support Beale's analysis of the syntax. Caird's comments are compatible with reading PNEUMATIKWS ... and hOPOU KAI ... as both defining THS POLEWS THS MEGALHS or hOPOU KAI ... defining PNEUMATIKWS ... . In other words, Caird's exegesis is not dependent on the parsing of the clause level constituents. I would lean toward a parallel parsing (contra Beale) which I think is more in keeping with the Semitic aversion to deep hypotaxis. However, I do not think it really has any impact on how we understand this text. 
 

Elizabeth Kline
 






More information about the B-Greek mailing list