From: David Moore (dvdmoore@dcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us)
Date: Fri Jan 26 1996 - 11:56:35 EST
On Thu, 25 Jan 1996, Kenneth Litwak wrote:
> I have a question or two from Dt. in the LXX. 6:11 says that the Israelites
> will get things they did not work for. The verbs for them not working forthem
> are generally Aorist, but the passage has a forward perspective "You didn't
> dig the cistern, but you get to have it". This is followed by
> KAI FAGWN KAI EMPLHSQEIS. These are Aorist participles, but they refer, I think,
> to a future event, i.e., when you get the houses and vineyards and cisterns
> and so forth, you will eat and be filled full. Howevver, that's not how I
> learned to trasnlate participles. It would be more like "after having both eaten
> and having been filled full". Is it common to understand Aorist participles as
> future in reference?
The key to the interpretation of these aorist participles is that
the sentence does not end at the end of the verse. Rather, the thought
continues in v. 12; so the idea is "When you have eaten and become full
(with these things) take care that you don't forget the Lord your God who
brought you out of the land of Egypt, from a house of slavery."
Hebrew verbs, as I'm sure you know, are not limited to expressing
simple past, present, or future action but often - as is the case with these
participles you mention - express things like action previous to a point of
future reference. If I understand the Hebrew correctly here, 'AKALTA and
SABA`TA are kal preterites that should be understood as expressing past
action from a point of future reference.
David L. Moore Southeastern Spanish District
Miami, Florida of the Assemblies of God
dvdmoore@dcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us Department of Education
http://members.aol.com/dvdmoore
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