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MAGOI/ANATOLH
Allow me to raise a somewhat different question about the visit of the Magi.
In Mat. 2:2 and 2:9, we have the phrase EN TH ANATOLH which has
traditionally been translated "in the east." The points of the compass,
however, are normally presented with a preposition and as anarthrous; at
least, in the NT all other instances are so presented. (See, for instance,
2:1, APO ANATOLWN, where the usage is also plural.) So the expression in
2:2,9 is sometimes translated "in its [the star's] rising" (So Weymouth, NIV
margin, NEB "the rising of his star"). This appears to be a better
translation.
Both BAGD (s.v.) and Moulton & Milligan (s.v.) cite instances in which
ANATOLH is used of the rising of a planet, of the sun, or of stars (the
latter in BAGD only). So there does seem to be support from both literary
and non-literary sources for "in its rising." L&S also give an instance of
ANATOLH as an astrological technical term (s.v., I:3,b) "the _ascendant_,
i.e. the point where the eastern horizon cuts the zodiac" (in Ptolemaeus
Mathematicus, _Tetrabiblos_, 20, [ii A.D.]). This latter may well be the
usage we have here if the Magi were, in fact, astrologers and the writer of
Matthew is quoting here.
There are two factors that set the use of ANATOLH in 2:2 and 9 apart from
its use in v.1. First is the substitution of the singular in vv. 2 and 9 for
the plural in v. 1. This change within one context would be difficult to
explain without supposing some change in meaning. Second, the use of the
article probably sets the usage in vv. 2 and 9 apart from that of v. 1.
Since, as mentioned above, all other instances of ANATOLH in the NT are
anarthrous when referring to geographical direction (See Moulton [Turner]
III:p.172).
Blass suggests that we have here a reference to a specific place (Bl-DeB,
#253,5), but I find no reference to Anatolia or to any other such place by TH
ANATOLH.
David Moore
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