Re: Rev 2:20 - "the adultery of eating food"

lakr (lakr@netcom.com)
Mon, 29 Sep 1997 09:55:42 -0700 (PDT)

>
> The title got your attention, didn't it?
>
> I am now teaching a series on the Revelation in adult Sunday School at
> Durham Mennonite Church. Yesterday we were working through the second half
> of chapter 2,and I noticed that the New Jerusalem Bible translates Re 2:20 as:
>
> Rev 2:20 (NJB) Nevertheless, I have a complaint to make: you tolerate the
> woman Jezebel who claims to be a prophetess, and by her teaching she is
> luring my servants away to commit the adultery of eating food which has been
> sacrificed to idols.
>
> "the adultery of eating food which has been sacrificed to idols"? This
> caught me off guard, and a glance at the Greek didn't help:
>
> Rev 2:20 ALLA ECO KATA SOU hOTI AFEIS THN GUNAIKA IEZABEL, hH LEGOUSA
> hEAUTHN PROFHTIN KAI DIDASKEI KAI PLANA TOUS EMOUS DOULOUS PORNEUSAI KAI
> FAGEIN EIDWLOQUTA.
>
> As I read the Greek, it seems to say something more like "luring my servants
> away to commit adultery and eat food which has been offered to idols". I
> suspect that I may be missing something. I haven't used it a lot, but my
> impression is that the New Jerusalem Bible is a pretty good translation, and
> there must be something in the Greek which led them to that translation.
>
> Am I missing something in the Greek? Are they following a text variant not
> found in UBS 3rd? What's the scoop here?
>
> Jonathan

Jonathan, this verse caught my eye because maybe it relates to what
I'm currently working on, the different uses of KAI.

Could this verse perhaps be translated with the last KAI as the English
word "even" ? Therefore Jezebel seduced those to commit fornication, _even_
to eat things sacrificed to idols. (i.e. not literal fornication, but
spiritual).

If I might piggyback a verse I'm considering onto your topic, I am
currently looking a John 17:19. When I first started trying to visualize
this verse in my mind it gave me plenty of trouble because of the use
of KAI. I am starting to wish that I never learned the meaning of
KAI as "and".

Joh 17:19 KAI UPER AUTWN [EGW] AGIAZW EMAUTON
INA WSIN KAI AUTOI HGIASMENOI EN ALHQEIA

At this point I've come up with the feeling that KAI is almost being
used to make "them" emphatic and to contrast their condition of
sanctification as being contrasted with that of Jesus' own sanctification.

Therefore WSIN HGIASMENOI would be a complete thought as in
'they may be sanctified', WSIN AUTOI HGIASMENOI would be '*they* may
be sanctified', and WSIN KAI AUTOI HGIASMENOI, '*they also* may be
sanctified'. [ I hope this is correct or it's back to the drawing
board. ]

I'm still trying to come up with an overall mental concept for the meaning
of KAI as 'and|also|even' in my reading which does not split it into
two different meanings 1) the traditional linking of two or more things
together and 2) this 'even | also' nuance.

I'm afraid I've described what I'm trying to do very poorly. Does anyone
have any suggestions how I might tackle this, or is it something that
comes naturally after reading lots of Greek ?

Sincerely,
Larry Kruper