Re: Rev 5:6 hESTHKOS hWS ESFAGMENON, say what?

Randy Leedy (RLEEDY@bju.edu)
Mon, 20 Oct 1997 16:53:18 -0400

May I add another, perhaps simpler explanation here? Jonathan wonders
how "as slain" can describe the manner of "standing" (or something
close to that). I would suggest that it is simpler to take the
participle as adjectival, modifying "lamb" rather than as adverbial,
modifying "standing." It was not simply a slain lamb (since the lamb
was obviously alive), but a lamb looking as if it had been slain.
This takes into account the fact of the resurrection and is
grammatically simplest, it seems to me.

But, as has often been observed, we must be wary about any
expectation that the grammar in Revelation must exhibit impeccable
clarity. When a very natural understanding is possible with only a
little "fudging" on the grammar, that's much better than an awkward
understanding that conserves grammatical precision. For example, 11:1
reads KAI EDOQH MOI KALAMOS ... LEGWN .... "And a reed was given to
me..., saying..." Say what? How in the world does a reed say
something? This precisely grammatical interpretation yields nonsense.
It is obvious that the subject of LEGWN is not what precise grammar
would dictate--the subject of the passive verb EDOQH (the reed)--but
rather the contextually understood AGENT of that passive verb (most
likely an angel).

But no such "revisioning" is needed in 5:6; hWS ESFAGMENON can simply
be taken attributively, it seems to me.

****************************
In Love to God and Neighbor,
Randy Leedy
Bob Jones University
Greenville, SC
RLeedy@bju.edu
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