[b-greek] RE: Rev 22:1-2

From: Harold R. Holmyard III (hholmyard@ont.com)
Date: Sun Jan 21 2001 - 19:10:59 EST


Dear Iver and list,

I apologize for assuming that the phrase in John 19:18 (ESTAURWSAN, KAI
MET' AUTOU ALLOUS DUO ENTEUQEN KAI ENTEUQEN) was the same as the one in Rev
22:2 (ENTEUQEN, EKEIQEN). Perhaps, Iver, you are right about the technical
details of John's relative position to the two things in Rev 22:2 (nearer
one than the other), even though BAGD equates the usage in Rev 22:2 with
that in John 19:18. The usage in John occurs several times in the OT (Exod
17:12; Num 22:14; John 8:22; 2 Sam 2:13)), while that in Rev 22:2 does not
occur elsewhere in the Bible. Another possibility is that the phrase in Rev
22:2 was a variant way of saying the same thing as the phrase in John
19:18, since BAGD gives the meaning of ENTEUQEN KAI ENTEUQEN in John 19:18
as "from here and from there=on each side." ENTEUQEN KAI EKEIQEN literally
means "from here and from there," so this does not seem a far-fetched idea.

Looking at John 19:18 brought the observation that John there uses the word
MESON, which also occurs in Rev 22:2:

hOPOU AUTON ESTAURWSAN, KAI MET' AUTOU ALLOUS DUO ENTEUQEN KAI ENTEUQEN,
MESON DE TON INSOUN

"where they crucified him, and with him two others on one side and the
other, and in between-- Jesus."

Looking at the OT verses yielded a further collocation of ENTEUQEN and MESOS:

Josh 8:22 KAI hOUTOI ECHLQOSAN EK THS POLEWS EIS SUNANTHSIN. KAI EKENHQHSAN
ANAMESON THS PAREMBOLHS, hOUTOI ENTEUQEN KAI hOUTOI ENTEUQEN

"And these came forth out of the city to meet them; and they were in the
midst of the army, some being on this side, and some on that."

My Accordance program has ANAMESON written as ANA MESON.

Again, Rev 22:2 begins:

EN MESWi TNS PLATEIAS AUTNS KAI TOU POTAMOU ENTEUQEN KAI EKEIQEN CULON ZWHS

Since this the third time in the Bible where MESOS in some form occurs with
ENTEUQEN or a similar word, it seems possible that the usage this third
time may be the same as the first two. If one divides Rev 22:1-2 as the UBS
editors have, this is possible, but the possibility disappears if one
divides the verses as ASV does.

In addition to this fact, it seems odd to me to begin a verse with a
genitive phrase, as Rev 22:2 would with the ASV division:

KAI TOU POTAMOU ENTEUQEN KAI EKEIQEN CULON ZWHS

Doesn't that seem an unusual sort of construction with which to begin a
sentence?

On the other hand, given the parallels in John and Joshua, the following
rendering seems reasonable:

EN MESWi TNS PLATEIAS AUTNS KAI TOU POTAMOU ENTEUQEN KAI EKEIQEN CULON ZWHS

Between its street and the river on one side and the other was the tree of
life.

The idea would be that the tree of life was in between the city's street on
one side and the river on the other side.

One person asked why we do not simply use the translation "square" for the
word "street," based on some Moulton & Milligan citations. I am not
familiar with those, but BAGD does not even mention "square" alternative
translation for PLATEIA (perhaps BADG has mentioned it). Neither does LSJ.

Another person asked why we supply "was" as the verb in the sentence in
22:2. John uses past tense verbs to describe his vision. In 22:1 the verb
is EDEICEN, an aorist: "he showed me." It seems consistent to supply a past
tense verb in verse 2, since there is no main verb.

                                Yours,
                                Harold Holmyard
                                Dallas, TX








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