Luke 2:14--new question
Edward Hobbs (EHOBBS@wellesley.edu)
Fri, 27 Dec 1996 13:46:51 -0500 (EST)
The thread about a month ago on Luke 2:14 mostly focussed on the question of
the right reading among the MSS. This current question is about the structure
of the sentence. IM(not-so-Humble)O, this is beyond dispute, since all of the
canticles in Luke 1-2 are cast in a Habraic/LXX mold, whoever wrote them. (In
my opinion, all were composed by the greatest stylist in the NT, "Luke" [=the
author of Luke-Acts, whatever his friends called him]; this author was able to
write Greek in any style suitable to his narrative, and could even write
"Septuagint"--almost equivalent to a modern author writing in the style of
Shakespeare AND DOING IT WELL.)
The sentence is in fairly standard Hebrew parallelism:
DOXA EN hUYISTOIS QEWi
EIRHNH EPI GHS EN ANQRWPOIS EUDOKIAS
If the (perhaps Byzantine) reading is adopted, it works slightly less well:
DOXA EN hUYISTOIS QEWi
EIRHNH, EUDOKIA EPI GHS EN ANQRWPOIS
In either case, both clauses understand an equative verb (which of course is
readily deleted).
Edward Hobbs