From: Jim West (jwest@highland.net)
Date: Thu Jan 29 1998 - 13:12:59 EST
At 12:32 PM 1/29/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Thanks to Jim and Wes for the helpful responses.
>
>Now another question. What is the significance (if any) of the plural number
>of SABBATWN?
>
there are two possibilities:
1- the author takes "sabbatwn" as week, which is its meaning in various
Greek texts from the period.
2- the translator saw the Hebrew Shabbath and took it as a plural (as
happens in John when Jerusalem is placed in the plural in Greek because its
ending is dual in Hebrew!).
>I believe that it is primarily this aspect which leads the radio teacher of
>whom I speak to the conclusion to which he comes: "At the end of the Sabbaths,
>at the beginning of the Sabbaths"=the end of the O.T. Sabbaths and the
>beginning of the N.T. Sabbaths (that this refers not just to the Sabbath
>[sing.] just past and to the week to come but to all of the Sabbaths which
>have gone before and which are to come).
>
No- this is simply a misunderstanding. The word can mean both sabbath and week.
>Far be it to argue with Thayer and Bauer/Arndt/Gingrich, I just would have
>liked a little discussion on the significance of number here. Can anyone
>oblige me?
>
Again, it could be due to semitic influence, as mentioned above.
>Thanks in advance.
>
>Rev. Craig R. Harmon, pastor
>Lutheran Church of the Apostles
>5100 W. 115th Street
>Alsip, IL 60803
>
Best,
Jim
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Jim West, ThD
Adjunct Professor of Bible
Quartz Hill School of Theology
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