[b-greek] Re: "Syntactical Chiasmus"

From: John Barach (jbarach@telusplanet.net)
Date: Sun Jan 28 2001 - 18:14:03 EST


Steven --

Perhaps someone else has already mentioned it, but you might want to
check out John Breck's _The Shape of Biblical Language: Chiasmus in the
Scriptures and Beyond_ (Crestwood: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1994).
Breck is a bit more recent than Welch (1981) and Lund (1942).

Breck deals with two examples (Phil. 5 and Matt. 7:6) on pp. 29-30, the
section dealing with parallelism (which he distinguishes from chiasmus
proper). He says of Matt. 7:6 that it "follows a pattern common in
ancient Greek and Roman rhetoric, referred to as *hysteron-proteron* or
'last-first.'" See Welch, pp. 250-268.

He says the RSV/NRSV use language that implies that the swine turn and
attack ("maul") you.

   The Greek, however, uses a verb ... that can only refer to an
   attack by the dogs, mentioned in line A. The real meaning of
   the passage cannot be discerned unless we read it 'spirally,'
   from the extremities toward the center (A - A' - B - B'): 'If
   you give what is holy to dogs, they will turn on you; if you
   throw pearls before swine, they will trample them under foot (p.29)

Note that Breck argues the exact opposite of Al Jacobson in his e-mail
to you. Jacobson argued that hRHXWSIN "would be more characteristic of
the action of swine ... than to the action of dogs." But Breck thinks
the expression fits dogs better than swine!

With regard to Phil. 5, he writes:

   If the inversion and hysteron-proteron principle are not
   recognized here, Philemon's faith appears to be placed both
   in the Lord Jesus and in all the saints. Read according to
   the meaning Paul intended, the passage declares: "I hear of
   your love for all the saints, and of the faith which you have
   towards [in] the Lord Jesus" (p. 30).

But Breck doesn't go on to give more examples from classical literature.
For that, he footnotes Welch (see above).

Hope this is of some help.

Regards,

John


%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
John Barach (403) 317-1950
Pastor, Trinity Reformed Church (URCNA)
113 Stafford Blvd. N.
Lethbridge, AB
T1H 6E3

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