meirakion, pais, ephebos
Steven Craig Miller
scmiller at www.plantnet.com
Fri Dec 3 16:05:11 EST 1999
To: Christopher Hutson,
Garland Shinn wrote: << Regarding PAIS, I note that the word is used of the
centurion's servant in Matt 8:5-13 while Luke uses the word DOULOS in what
is apparently the same incident in 7:1-10. I would welcome your take on how
is PAIS being used in the Matthean account. Is there some cultural
phenomenon occurring here? >>
SCM: << Sure, PAIS could also be used to refer to a servant or slave. In a
similar manner, the English term "boy" was used to refer to a male servant
or slave. >>
CH: << Yes. And that would be an option, if one wanted to harmonize Matt
and Luke. Matt 14:2 clearly uses PAIS to mean something like "slave" or
"henchman." Reading Matt alone, however, it seems most natural to read the
centurion's PAIS as his son. >>
Most natural? How did you determine this?
FWIW, W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison, commenting on Mt 8:6, write:
<< ... only once in the NT does PAIS clearly mean 'son' (Jn 4.51). For the
rest it seems to mean 'servant' (cf. Mt 14.2; 12.18) or 'youngster' (cf.
17.18). And in the LXX PAIS rarely translates ben: it is most commonly the
equivalent of `ebed. So we prefer to translate 'servant.' One should think
of a house slave >> (2:21).
-Steven Craig Miller
Alton, Illinois (USA)
scmiller at www.plantnet.com
"Words are like people. To know them well one must meet them on their own
level, in their own environment. In different circumstances they react
differently. Like a face they take on varying expressions. Some of them
move from place to place; some never return to their earlier familiar
surroundings. But to know their past is to know a little better what makes
them act as they do in the present" (Frederick W. Danker, "Multipurpose
Tools for Bible Study," 1993:135).
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