Re: MOICHEUOMENH

From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Mon Jan 26 1998 - 12:43:40 EST


At 11:20 AM -0600 1/26/98, Jim West wrote:
>At 11:04 AM 1/26/98 -0500, you wrote:
>>Dear Greekers,
>>
>>I've noticed that the active voice MOICHEUOW is usually
>>used; but the passive form ( MOICHEUOMAI ) is used in
>>Mt 5:32, Mt 19:9, Mk 10:11-12, and Jn 8:4. This is a little
>>puzzling to me. Especially:
>>
>> "they said to Him, 'Teacher, this woman has
>> been caught in adultery ( MOICHEUOMENH ),
>> in the very act.' " -Jn 8:4
>>
>>My question: How can she be "caught...in the very act" of
>>being adulterated? What is the significance of being in the
>>form of the verb? Is this the normal way to speak of a woman
>>in an adulterous act?
>>
>>Thank you for your help.
>>
>>Denny
>
>Carl may well be right- but I would argue that the passive verb is used
>because, in the Palestine of Jesus' day, the woman was a victim of any
>illicit action. In Roman and Greek law women had rights of their own- but
>in Judaism women were granted rights only through their husbands. Thus, if
>a woman were abandoned, divorced, or childless, her only forms of support
>were to return home in shame to the family (not likely) or become the wife
>of another (again, not likely) or become a prostitute. In the case Jesus
>cites the woman has been divorced by her husband for no cause and thus is
>forced into an adulterous situation merely to survive. She is adulterated!

This is true, and by no means insignificant, but it ignores the context of
the passage that's being asked about as well as the fact that the
participle is in the present tense: The woman has been caught actively
engaging in adultery (KATEILHPTAI EP' AUTOFWRWi MOICEUMENH). It's not a
matter of the woman being cited--in fact, the passage tells what those who
bring the woman to Jesus are saying to him as they prepare to stone her. In
8:3 it's AGOUSIN ... GUNAIKA EPI MOICEIAi KATEILHMMENHN, but 8:4 with the
present participle MOICEUOMENH puts her in the act when caught, not just in
the act of being divorced by her husband.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cconrad@yancey.main.nc.us
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/



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