From: Jim West (jwest@highland.net)
Date: Mon Jan 26 1998 - 12:20:02 EST
At 11:04 AM 1/26/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Dear Greekers,
>
>I've noticed that the active voice MOICHEUOW is usually
>used; but the passive form ( MOICHEUOMAI ) is used in
>Mt 5:32, Mt 19:9, Mk 10:11-12, and Jn 8:4. This is a little
>puzzling to me. Especially:
>
> "they said to Him, 'Teacher, this woman has
> been caught in adultery ( MOICHEUOMENH ),
> in the very act.' " -Jn 8:4
>
>My question: How can she be "caught...in the very act" of
>being adulterated? What is the significance of being in the
>form of the verb? Is this the normal way to speak of a woman
>in an adulterous act?
>
>Thank you for your help.
>
>Denny
Carl may well be right- but I would argue that the passive verb is used
because, in the Palestine of Jesus' day, the woman was a victim of any
illicit action. In Roman and Greek law women had rights of their own- but
in Judaism women were granted rights only through their husbands. Thus, if
a woman were abandoned, divorced, or childless, her only forms of support
were to return home in shame to the family (not likely) or become the wife
of another (again, not likely) or become a prostitute. In the case Jesus
cites the woman has been divorced by her husband for no cause and thus is
forced into an adulterous situation merely to survive. She is adulterated!
Best,
Jim
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Jim West, ThD
Adjunct Professor of Bible
Quartz Hill School of Theology
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