Re: Luke 9:60 AFES TOUS NEKROUS QAYAI TOUS hEAUTWN NEKROUS

Jeffrey Gibson (jgibson@acfsysv.roosevelt.edu)
Wed, 11 Dec 1996 17:22:28 -600 (CST)

Jonathan,
Link in his usually odious THE SEVENTH SEAL ( a highschool NT textbbok)
claims that the idiom was used by a contemporary Arab boy to mean "I
must wait
until my father dies" - that is, the idiom assumes the father is still
living and the son has a responsibility to take care of him, and
therefore uses family obligations as an excuse not to follow Jesus. An
interesting thesis, but I have no idea how accurate it is. Comments from
anyone else on the list?

Jeffrey Gibson
jgibson@acfsysv.roosevelt.edu

On Wed, 11 Dec 1996, Jonathan Robie wrote:

> Louw and Nida say that the phrase AFES TOUS NEKROUS QAYAI TOUS hEAUTWN
> NEKROUS is "an idiom, possibly an adage, literally 'let the dead bury their
> dead'", and say that this idiom means 'the matter in question is not the
> real issue' - 'that is not what I mean, that is not the issue, that is not
> the point'. Therefore, they interpret:
>
> Luke 9:60 (GNT) EIPEN DE AUTW: AFES TOUS NEKROUS QAYAI TOUS hEAUTWN NEKROUS,
> SU DE APELQWN DIAGGELLE THN BASILEIAN TOU QEOU.
>
> as:
>
> "That is not the issue; you go and announce the kingdom of God."
>
> I wish they had footnotes in their lexicon. What kind of evidence is there
> that this phrase might be used as an idiom?
>
> P.S. They also mention that some scholars understand this as 'let those who
> are spiritually dead take care of their own dead'
>
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