<Apparently we have two systems here:
<Ingressive aorist: The scribes and pharisees have begun and are sitting (but
<the end is not in view) on the seat of Moses. Ie: they are in the process of
<assuming the authority of Moses. Or, they are on the seat of Moses and not
<getting off any time soon. They are in the process of assuming authority,
<but have not necessarily completed the process.
<Perfective aspect of the aorist: The scribes pharisees sat on the seat of
<Moses. They have assumed Moses' authority, and it is a done deal. In other
<words, they assumed Moses' authority, with no focus on the process (simple
<description).
<Does this illustrate the differences?
Dear Cindy,
Your contrast between "being in the process of assuming the authority of
Moses" and "having assumed this authority" MAY illustrate the contrast
between an ingressive and constative interpretation of the aorist of this
verse (I suppose you apply the concept "pefectivity" to both kinds of
aorists and not only to the last one.). However, this contrast is only
possible if we assume that KAQIZW is fientive when we interpret it as
ingressive and stative when we interprete it as constative.
Stativity is defined as a state which continues without any input of
energy. Any moment of the state is similar to any other moment or to the
whole state. Thus there are no processes going on inside a state. If we
wiew KAQIZW as only stative, both an ingressive and a constative
interpretation of the aorist would mean exactly the same, only the stress
being different. We can illustrate this with BASILEUW. In Rom 5:14 the
aorist clearly is constative while it is ingressive in 1 Cor 4:8 and Rev
11:17. In each case the meaning is similar, it/they/he - rule (stative),
but in the last two cases the entrance into the state is stressed. To enter
into a state is hardly viewed as a process but rather as something
instantaneous, and once sombody is inside, the state holds. If KAQIZW is
used to signal the action of taking one`s seat, we may speak of a process
in which the person is, as you do. So the first question we have to ask
when analyzing a verb is: "Is it stative or fientive?"
Regards
Rolf
Rolf Furuli
University of Oslo