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Matthew 21:8 ὁ δὲ πλεῖστος ... ἄλλοι δὲ

Posted: October 28th, 2011, 8:48 am
by Jonathan Robie
Matthew 21 wrote:8 ὁ δὲ πλεῖστος ὄχλος ἔστρωσαν ἑαυτῶν τὰ ἱμάτια ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ, ἄλλοι δὲ ἔκοπτον κλάδους ἀπὸ τῶν δένδρων καὶ ἐστρώννυον ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ.
How should I understand the superlative πλεῖστος here? In opposition to ἄλλοι δὲ - "most of the crowd" ... "others"? Some translations render ὁ δὲ πλεῖστος ὄχλος as "a very large crowd". Are both interpretations equally valid?

Re: Matthew 21:8 ὁ δὲ πλεῖστος ... ἄλλοι δὲ

Posted: October 28th, 2011, 9:44 am
by cwconrad
Jonathan Robie wrote:
Matthew 21 wrote:8 ὁ δὲ πλεῖστος ὄχλος ἔστρωσαν ἑαυτῶν τὰ ἱμάτια ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ, ἄλλοι δὲ ἔκοπτον κλάδους ἀπὸ τῶν δένδρων καὶ ἐστρώννυον ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ.
How should I understand the superlative πλεῖστος here? In opposition to ἄλλοι δὲ - "most of the crowd" ... "others"? Some translations render ὁ δὲ πλεῖστος ὄχλος as "a very large crowd". Are both interpretations equally valid?
I'm reminded of Heraclitus' dictum, "οἱ πλεῖστοι ἄνθρωποι κακοί". On a more serious note, this is not a μὲν ... δέ antithetsis, but rather a sequence of observations, so that πλεῖστος ὄχλος doesn't stand in contrast to ἄλλοι. Moreover the superlative πλεῖστος may simply indicate a "very sizable crowd" rather than "the majority of the crowd" (although the latter is possible, acc. to BDAG). I think that the sense is, "in addition to a sizable crowd, there were people who were strewing that pavement with shrubbery."