and the recognition of the consistent and recurrent use of
> EUQUS as a transitional device in Mark's re-casting of oral tradition has
> always been one element in it.
How about this scenario? Young John Mark, bilingual, becomes
a traveling companion of the Aramaic-speaking Kefa/Simon/Peter. Judea
consists of solely Aramaic speaking Jews (hEBRAISTI), solely Greek
speaking Jews (the hELLHNISTAI of Acts 6.1) and bilingual Jews like
Mark. As Kefa spoke to these groups in Aramaic, Mark also translates
to Greek so everyone present understands. In Kefa's eyewitness
account of the words and deeds of Jesus, he uses a word <Aram>mxd)
that actually describes a characteristic of the HJ..that he was
always in a hurry, as if with some sense of urgency. He would
say what he had to say and "immediately" move on to the next
town, walking quickly with what later accounts would describe
as a hurried loping walk. Kefa may have told a group <Aram>
wmxd) dslq mn my) and Mark translates behinD him <Gk> KAI EUQEWS
ANABAINWN APO TOU UDATOS. Kkefa relates over and over from
one occasion to the next, that Jesus "hurried" to do this, and
"hurried" to do that, young Mark translating to EUQEWS, EUQEWS,
etc.
Whether Mark wrote down the things that he translated
during the lifetime of Kefa, or wrote them down from his often
repeated translating and memorization after the death of Kefa,
we do not know. But this word, rather than being a literary
device for connecting acts, is really a brief peek at a
characterictic of the HJ, related by one of his followers.
Jack
--
D’man dith laych idneh d’nishMA nishMA
Jack Kilmon (jkilmon@historian.net)
http://www.historian.net