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Re: John 6:22

At 8:53 AM -0400 6/8/97, Carl W. Conrad wrote:

>At 9:14 AM -0400 6/7/97, Jim Beale wrote:
>
>>   THi EPAURION hO OXLOS hO hESTHKWS PERAN THS QALASSHS
>>   EIDON hOTI PLOIARION ALLO OUK HN EKEI EI MH hEN KAI
>>   hOTI OU SUNEISHLQEN TOIS MAQHTAIS AUTOU hO IHSOUS EIS
>>   TO PLOION ALLA MONOI hOI MAQHTAI AUTOU APHLQON.
>>
>>I have questions regarding "hOTI PLOIARION ALLO OUK HN EKEI EI
>>MH hEN."  Does this mean "only one other boat was there" or
>>"there was only one boat there"?  If it means the latter, then
>>why the apparent distinction between PLOIARION and PLOION?  And
>>if the former, how can that be reconciled with the context,
>>which seems to imply that the crowd is puzzled over the means
>>used by Jesus to leave that place?
>
>I think the meaning is, in fact, "only ONE  boat was there." I think the
>Greek is strained, probably Semitizing, but perfectly intelligible in an
>idiomatic sort of way. I'm reminded of first reading, after picking up bare
>bones of Hebrew, Gen 1:11-12 the sequence, "fruit tree bearing fruit which
>seed of it is in it" and thinking "what a quaint manner of expression!"

Though fearful to venture beyond the limits of the charter of the
list, I foolishly hazard to raise a textual critical question (and
now don my scratchy asbetos underwear;-)~  The Majority text seems
to give a much better sense to the passage:

   THi EPAURION hO OXLOS hO hESTHKWS PERAN THS QALASSHS,
   IDWN hOTI PLOIARION ALLO OUK HN EKEI EI MH hEN EKEINO
   EIS hO ENEBHSAN hOI MAQHTAI AUTOU . . .

This reading has quite a bit of ms support, too much I think to
warrant an {A} for KAI.  At any rate, it seems to make better sense
of the passage than the NA26 (about which Brown has the nerve to say
"As phrased, this statement is illogical." Sheesh!!)

The question in my mind is whether hEN refers to that boat in which
the twelve entered or another boat.  The presence of EKEINO seems
definitive in making the referent of hEN to be the PLOIARION in which
the apostles rowed off.  The reading in NA26 seems to leave the
referent of hEN indeterminate.  Quaint indeed!

>I don't think there's a whit of difference between PLOIARION and
>PLOION--they're synonymous.

The idea of the dinghy came from Bernard, who wrote:

   A PLOIARION, "little boat," is mentioned in the N.T. only
   at Mk. 3:9, Jn. 21:8 (where it is the skiff or dinghy
   belonging to the PLOION of 21:3,6), and in this passage.
   TO PLOION was the big fishing-boat, able to carry Jesus
   and the Twelve, which has been mentioned already (vv. 17,
   19,21); there had been no other PLOIARION on the beach the
   previous evening (perhaps Jn. means no other PLOIARION
   _besides_ the dinghy belonging to the PLOION, which had
   gone with it).
   (St. John, Vol. I, 188)

As far as I can tell, it is quite difficult to draw a distinction
between PLOION and PLOIARION in John 21.  It seems to me that they
most likely refer to the same boat, though I guess it is possible
that there are two.  Does it seem at all strange that the two words
would be employed in the same passage in order to refer to the same
object?

In Christ,
Jim Beale
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