From: David L. Moore (dvdmoore@ix.netcom.com)
Date: Sat Jul 04 1998 - 18:13:42 EDT
At 12:32 PM 7/4/98 +0000, clayton stirling bartholomew wrote:
>
>So based on the usage of APAGW both in classical and koine periods, I am
>inclined to concluded that the sense of APAGW does not include the semantic
>component "to what" . The "to what" information is either supplied by
>additional information in the context or it is left ambiguous. And in the
Acts
>12:19 it is left ambiguous.
Of course it is the context that must determine which of the possible
meanings of APAGW is to be understood. It doesn't seem, however, APACQHNAI
has been left ambiguous in Acts 12:19. Note ANAKRINAS in the middle of the
verse which, being an aorist participle, almost certainly indicates that
the soldiers were brought to judgement before Herod or his direct
representative before they were "led away [to death]." Another reason to
believe that the soldiers were executed is the implication of 12:2 that the
same fate awaited Peter as had befallen James. Soldiers under Roman
discipline - and we should be able to safely assume that was the case with
soldiers serving under Herod - were required to fulfill the sentence of any
prisoner they allowed to escape. (Cf. 16:27 where the guard is about to
kill himself because he thinks the prisoners have escaped and 27:42 where
those charge with guarding the prisoners prefer to kill them than to allow
any the chance to escape.) So if Peter was destined for execution, it
would be logical to understand that his guards, after being examined and
found guilty were led away to death.
The word is well attested in this sense (see BAGD s.v. APAGW, 2, c). Note
especially the use of the word with no addition, a section which includes
Luke 23:26; Jn. 19:16 (in MS Aleph among others), and the verse we are
discussing. So we shouldn't be afraid to understand "led away [to be
executed]" here.
>I am sure that all kinds of historical and cultural information can be
brought
>out that points to the conclusion that the guards in Acts 12 were executed
but
>this kind of information is quite beside the point.
It's not at all beside the point. It's the key to the correct
understanding of this passage.
> The guards probably were
>executed but the word APACQHNAI does not provide that information.
David Moore
David L. Moore
Miami, Florida, USA
E-mail: dvdmoore@ix.netcom.com
Home Page: http://members.aol.com/dvdmoore
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