From: dalmatia@eburg.com
Date: Thu Apr 09 1998 - 10:30:40 EDT
clayton stirling bartholomew wrote:
>
> After reading Carl and Carlton's posts on the Aorist this morning I was doing
> my morning study in Acts and ran across a present hEURISKEI in Acts 10:27 that
> left me scratching my head. I did some research on the problem but all I was
> able to discover was that Codex Bezae reads hEUREN instead of hEURISKEI.
>
> Could someone explain to me why hEURISKEI is a present in this context?
Perhaps this usage of the present tense is a narrative method of
conveying Peter's state of mind, and is followed up 4 words later with
TE. This is kind of like a surprise party that is not exactly welcome
nor immediately understood. The present then might be how the Greek
thrusts the reader into Peter's mental state as he discovers, to his
astonishment, all these people gathered together. The TE would then
emphasize his spoken response to this unexpected situation, in a way
that DE would not. So perhaps the present tense is best 'translated'
with an exclamation point! "...[he] is finding many gathered
together!" The narrative here is highly condensed and full of drama.
Peter has just arrived, and had to stop Cornelius from worshiping him,
and is STILL talking to him as the door to the room opens, and
SURPRISE!!!
I hope this is useful ~ I am no stranger to being wrong!!
George
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