> In Hebrews 4:3 we see:
> WS WMOSA EN TH ORGH MOU EI EISELEUSONTAI EIS THN KATAPAAUSIN MOU
> Translated by the NRSV:
> "As in my anger I swore, 'They shall not enter my rest,'"
> What I don't see is the negation. I see it as "As I swore in my anger,
> if they will enter into my rest,"
>Is the EI somehow acting in this fashion?
> What am I missing?
>
Lou,
What you are missing - and what is not immediately evident is that the
phrase beginning with EI is an abbreviated oath formula, where the EI
EISELEUSONTAI, ktl. is
the protasis of an understood if/then clause which conforms to a standard
Hebrew oath formula in which the speaker invites calamity upon
himself/herself (May I die if ...., cf. 2 kings 6:31) and was commonly
understood as a very forceful way of saying "no". Mark has Jesus engage in
the same manner of speaking at Mk 8:12. G.W. Buchanan has an article on
this ('Some Vow and Oath Formulas in the New Testament', HTR 58 [1965],
319-26) and most standard commentaries on Hebrews and/or on Mark (ad loc.)
will fill in the details for you.
Jeffrey Gibson
jgibson@acfsysv.roosevelt.edu