From: Ben Crick (ben.crick@argonet.co.uk)
Date: Tue Apr 14 1998 - 11:39:55 EDT
On Mon 13 Apr 98 (20:38:07), cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu wrote:
>ÊThe phrase in Apocalypse 1:8 is a neat periphrasis in its own right.
>ÊHereÊof course we have a masculine participle, at least in hO WN and hO
>ÊERCOMENOS referring to God as "he who is" and "he who comes"--but ofÊcourse
>ÊhO HN is a barbarism from the standpoint of normal Greek grammar, even
>Êthough it is perfectly intelligible in the context; it would not be a
>Êbarbarism if it where hO\ HN, that is, if the hO\ were a relativeÊpronoun,
>Ê"he who was"--but in fact the hO as printed in our texts is an article,
>ÊsoÊthat if we were to translate literally we must say, "the one being, the
>Êwas, and the one coming." There's yet another way to look at hO HN, butÊI
>Êdon't think it is legitimate: the very ancient original function ofÊwhat
> inÊthe historical era is the article (hO, hH, TO) was that of a weak
>Êdemonstrative, and there are a few rare locutions retaining that sense,
>ÊasÊhO D'EFH ('and he said') which one does find in those writers of the
>ÊHellenistic period who write polished Greek--like Philo, for instance.
>ÊButÊI really don't think that's what the author of the Apocalypse is doing.
>ÊRather it's a grammatical anomaly which is nevertheless intelligible.
Carl:
Thank you for a most interesting exposition, so noticeably lacking in the
popular commentaries. The phrase hO... hO... hO in 1:8 is a repeat of the
same phrase in 1:4, "APO [QEOU]/[TOU] hO WN KAI hO HN KAI hO ERCOMENOS,".
Some MSS supply [QEOU] and more supply [TOU], indicating that hO...hO...hO
is to be taken as a single indeclinable noun phrase.
Swete in his comm., after quoting Hebrew and Targum examples, writes:
"Heracleitus: KOSMOS...HN AEI KAI ESTI KAI ESTAI, the oracle in Paus. x.12
ZEUS HN, ZEUS ESTI, ZEUS ESSETAI, and the Orphic lines ZEUS PRWTOS GENETO,
ZEUS hUSTATOS ARCIKERAUNOSá|ZEUS KEFALH, ZEUS MESOS. Thus the Apocalyptist
strikes a note familiar both to Jewish and Hellenic ears.
"But he expresses his thought /more suo/: hO HN (Benson: 'the Was') is a
characteristically bold attempt to supply the want of a past part. of EIMI,
while hO ERCOMENOS is perhaps preferred to hO ESOMENOS because it adumbrates
at the outset the general purpose of the book, which is to exhibit the
comings of God in human history..." (/The Apocalypse of John/, page 5).
JA Bengel, in his /Gnomon Novi Testamenti/ (now for far too long out of
print) has an interesting excursus on the phrase in 1:8, in which he treats
hO...hO...hO as a periphrasis of the Hebrew Proper Noun YHWH:
"¤7 Since these things are so, the /Third/ Part, hO WN KAI hO HN KAI hO
ERCOMENOS, cannot but answer to the Hebrew YHWH: for the epithet, hO
PANTOKRATWR, is never used, unless either QEOS or YHWH immediately precede.
The former precedes, with an interval between, in the present: therefore
YHWH is immediately preceding. Moreover, with the three clauses taken
together, hO WN, KAI hO HN, KAI hO ERCOMENOS, answer to the name YHWH,
or the third, hO ERCOMENOS, undoubtedly does so.
"¤8 He who YHWH, shall be, is called hO ERCOMENOS; and yet He is not called
hO ESOMENOS, but with great skill, hO ERCOMENOS, lest there should appear
to be any detraction from His present /being/, and that His coming may be
more clearly expressed. /About to be/, in Hebrew HB', /coming/; compare
John xvi.13; and so other languages".
....
"¤12 There is an incomparable and admirable compounding of the name YHWH
from YeHiY, /Shall be/, and HoWeH, /Being/, and HaWaH /Was/. This paraphrase
of the Divine Name by three tenses flowed on to the most ancient Greek
poets and to the Talmudic writers. Passages are given in Wolf, T.iv.Curar.
on N.T. p 436. But the Apocalypse has the greatest strength". (op cit, ET,
Edinburgh, 1859, vol 5, pp 195f).
I apologise if this is verging too much on the theological rather than the
liguistical; but Clayton has certainly drawn our attnetion to a fascinating
topic.
ERRWSQE,
Ben
-- Revd Ben Crick, BA CF <ben.crick@argonet.co.uk> 232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK) http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm
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