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Re: Jhn. 1:1 discussion
On Sat, 3 Dec 1994, Stephen Carlson wrote:
> Gregory Jordan wrote:
> > It has since occurred to me that maybe Jesus is not alluding to this
> > passage at all. He says, "prin Abraam genesthai" (John 8:58), yet Moses
> > lived long after Abraham, and the Burning Bush episode was after Abraham,
> > not before him.
>
> What about something like Psalm 90 [89]:2,
>
> PRO TOU ORH GENHQHNAI ... SU EI.
> Before the mountains were born ... thou art.
>
> Note the similar use of the tenses.
Were the mountains born? or begotten? or hatched? Interesting that
Abraham came to be in the middle voice, but the mountains in the passive.
I suppose egennHthHn does get used as an aorist of ginomai, although it
seems to me that it more properly is from gennaw.
I think that there are enough instances of EGW EIMI in John's gospel
that it is still more likely that the Exodus passage is the source of the
usage in general, and that it IS intended to point to the equation of
Jesus with YHWH.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA
(314) 935-4018
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwc@oui.com
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