Re: PAIS

From: Christopher Hutson (crhutson@salisbury.net)
Date: Sat Dec 04 1999 - 17:49:32 EST


Thanks, Steven, for the interesting dialogue on PAIS.

>CH: << I don't follow you. The narrator is certainly speaking about the
>same boy, isn't he? Why would it make any different that it is not his own
>son? >>
>
>Sorry, I mistakenly took your reply (<< Well, the PAIS in Matt 17:18
>happens to be a hUIOS (17:15). >>) to be a reply against the assertion by
>Davies and Allison: << ... only once in the NT does PAIS clearly mean 'son'

>(Jn 4.51). >>

Yes, that's what I intended.

>CH: << The point is that PAIS in Mt 17:15 does not mean DOULOS. Matthew
>can use PAIS as a synonym of DOULOS, but he does not always, and here he
>clearly does not. >>
>
>SCM: That is true, but the assertion W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison was:
>
><< ... 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).
>
>Thus at Mt 17:18, the term PAIS is being used (according to Davies &
>Allison) to mean "youngster."

Well, I can agree with you and D&A on splitting this very fine hair. PAIS
does not *mean* "son," but in this context the reference clearly is to a
PAIS who is a hUIOS, not a DOULOS, and that was my point. I think we are on
the same track here.

BTW, thanks for pushing me to check D&A's point about LXX usage of PAIS. I
think they are on to something when they assert that it usually stands for
_'ebed_, not _ben_.

>For the term PAIS to mean "son" here, it
>would have to have something like the possessive pronoun "his" added.

Hmmm. I'm not sure that the addition of "my" or "his" would clinch it
either way. You would have to show me that such usage is consistent in our
literature. See below.

>And I
>would add that it is probably more common for a parent to refer to his or
>her child by the terms "son" or "daughter," than it would be for a parent
>to refer to their child by the term "child." For example, at Mt 17:15 the
>father refers to his son as hUIOS and not PAIS. And so, at Mt 8:8, if the
>centurion was wanting to refer to his own son one might have expected hO
>UIOS MOU rather than hO PAIS MOU.
>
>What do you think?

I think we need to check specific examples in context. I have now checked
and can see that PAIS in the LXX usually stands for _'ebed_, as Davies and
Allison say. That seems to me a strong point in favor or reading PAIS as
"slave" in Matt 8, and I thank you for pointing it out. But here are some
passages to think about:

Gen 21:7 (LXX) "And she said, 'Who will report to Abraham that Sarah is
nursing a baby (PAIDION = MT _banim_)? Because I bore a son (hUIOS = MT
_ben_) in my old age." Here PAIDION is clearly "little child."

Matt 12:18 (quoting Isa 42:1) "Behold my PAIS (= MT _'ebed_) whom I
uphold..." Here "my PAIS" clearly means "my servant." I find that "my
PAIS" in the LXX often means "my slave," as D&A say.

Jos., Life 429. "[Titus] gave orders for the chastisement of a slave
(DOULOS), a eunuch and my son's tutor (PAIDAGWGON TOU PAIDOS MOU)." Here
"my PAIS" clearly means "my son."

Test XL Martyrs 3.2 "And I Aetius call upon my kinsmen Marcus and Akulina,
and the leder Claudius, and my brothers Marcus, Trypho, and my sisters, and
my wife Domna along with my son (META PAIDIOU MOU)." Here "my PAIDION"
clearly means "my child."

I cannot tell that the presence or absence of a possessive pronoun such as
"my" makes any difference either way, but that other features in the context
must determine whether to translate PAIS as "slave" or "son" or "child" in
any given passage. But the Jos, Vita 429, shows that PAIS MOU can be
equivalent to hUIOS MOU, don't you think?

XPIC

------------------------------------
Christopher R. Hutson
          Hood Theological Seminary
          Salisbury, NC 28144
crhutson@salisbury.net
------------------------------------

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