[B-Greek] Gentile - Don't enter the Temple! (Inscription)
Louis Sorenson
llsorenson at hotmail.com
Mon May 31 12:13:11 EDT 2010
Josephus has the following regarding the inscriptions and uses the word ἀλλοφύλον ALLΟFULON. But Louw-Nida list ἐθνικός EQNIKOS as gentile, which along with Ἕλλην (m), Ἑλληνίς (f), and ἀλλοφύλον. It's nice to see the word ἀλλογένης ALLOGENHS made it into the NT, being it was on an inscription inside the temple. You wonder how many words in the NT are absent in the NT which were seen on inscriptions all around.
BDAG: foreign of the grateful Samaritan εἰ μὴ ὁ ἀ. οὗτος except this foreigner Lk 17:18.
καὶ αὐτὸς ἦν Σαμαρίτης
.......εἰ μὴ ὁ ἀλλογενὴς οὗτος
The question is whether a Samaritan was an ἀλλόφυλον or ἐθνικον. Is the following dichotomy correct.
Gentiles: ELLHN , EQNIKOS, ALLOFULON
Not Jewish proper: ALLOGENHS (Samaritan, Would also apply to gentiles, to Herod Idumaean/Nabatean - was Herod, King of the Jews, a gentile? His family had converted to Judaism.)
Greek-speaking Jew HELLHNISTHS
Aramaic speaking Jew IOUDAIOS
So where does someone who has Roman father and having a Jewish mother fit in? What if they are circumcised or uncircumcised, does that make a difference? What about females who do not undergo circumcision? Here are a few more sources in Josephus about the temple inscription.
Josephus
Wars 5.194 (Flavius Josephus. Flavii Iosephi opera. B. Niese.
Berlin. Weidmann. 1895.)
. When you go through these [first] cloisters,
unto the second [court of the] temple, there was a partition made of
stone
all round, whose height was three cubits: its construction was very
elegant;
upon it stood pillars, at equal distances from one another, declaring
the
law of purity, some in Greek, and some in Roman letters, that "no
foreigner should go within that sanctuary" for that second [court
of the] temple was called "the Sanctuary," and was ascended to
by fourteen steps from the first court.
[194]
ἐν αὐτῷ
δὲ εἱστήκεσαν
ἐξ ἴσου
διαστήματος
στῆλαι
τὸν
τῆς
ἁγνείας
προσημαίνουσαι
νόμον
αἱ μὲν
Ἑλληνικοῖς
αἱ δὲ Ῥωμαϊκοῖς
γράμμασιν
μηδένα
ἀλλόφυλον
ἐντὸς
τοῦ
ἁγίου
παριέναι:
The Latin letters were for the cohort especially?
The word ἀλλόφυλον is used frequently for "Philistines" in the LXX. BDAG: alien, foreign, hence fr. the Judean viewpoint=gentiles, outsiders; subst. a gentile
Josephus Wars 6.124
124]
Now Titus was deeply affected with this state of things, and
reproached
John and his party, and said to them, "Have not you, vile wretches
that you are, by our permission, put up this partition-wall before your
sanctuary? Have not you been allowed to put up the pillars thereto
belonging,
at due distances, and on it to engrave in Greek, and in your own
letters,
this prohibition, that no foreigner should go beyond that wall. 1
Have not we given you leave to kill such as go beyond it, though he were
a Roman?
[124]
Τίτος
δὲ ὑπερπαθήσας
πάλιν
ἐξωνείδιζε
τοὺς
περὶ
τὸν
Ἰωάννην,
λέγων
“ἆρ᾽
οὐχ
ὑμεῖς,
ὦ μιαρώτατοι,
τὸν
δρύφακτον
τοῦτον
προεβάλεσθε
τῶν
ἁγίων;
[125]
οὐχ
ὑμεῖς
δὲ τὰς
ἐν αὐτῷ
στήλας
διεστήσατε,
γράμμασιν
Ἑλληνικοῖς
καὶ
ἡμετέροις
κεχαραγμένας,
μηδένα
τὸ γείσιον
ὑπερβαίνειν
παραγγέλλειν;
[126]
οὐχ
ἡμεῖς
δὲ τοὺς
ὑπερβάντας
ὑμῖν
ἀναιρεῖν
ἐπετρέψαμεν,
κἂν
Ῥωμαῖός
τις
ᾖ; τί οὖν
νῦν,
ἀλιτήριοι,
καὶ
νεκροὺς
ἐν αὐτῷ
καταπατεῖτε;
τί δὲ τὸν
ναὸν
αἵματι
ξένῳ
καὶ
ἐγχωρίῳ
φύρετε;
Louis Sorenson
in reply to :
-----------------------------------------
Dear List,
A colleague of mind said the following:
ALLOGENH may indeed refer generally to "Gentiles"; however, I wonder if it isn't
rather a more specific reference to the Samaritans as in Luke 17:18. Remember,
that the Samaritans had a rival temple on Mt. Gerizim, and the rivalry between
the Jews and the Samaritans was quite heated and intense, especially when it
came to the affairs of the temple. The Samaritans considered Mt. Gerizim to be
the legitimate place of worship for the tribes of Israel, and rejected the
legitimacy of the Davidic "usurpation."
En Xristwi,
Rev. Bryant J. Williams III
From: llsorenson at hotmail.com
To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Gentile - Don't enter the Temple! (Inscription)
Date: Sun, 30 May 2010 15:42:38 -0500
They have found several of these inscriptions from the
temple in Jerusalem. It's a fun short read for those
who want to give it a try. See Acts 21.26ff
MHQENA ALLOGENH EISPO-
REUESQAI ENTOS TOU PE-
RI TO IERON TRUFAKTOU KAI
PERIBOLOU OS D AN LH-
FQH EAUTWI AITIOS ES-
TAI DIA TO ECAKOLOU-
QEIN QANATON
μηθενα αλλογενη εισπορευεσθαι
εντος του περι το ιερον
τρυφακτου και περιβολου
ος δ'αν ληφθη εαυτωι αιτιος
εςται δια το εχακολουθειν
θανατον
Info can be found at
http://www.kchanson.com/ancdocs/greek/templewarning.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Temple_inscription_in_greek.jpg
Louis Sorenson
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