From: Christopher Hutson (crhutson@salisbury.net)
Date: Fri Dec 03 1999 - 17:13:59 EST
>From Steven Craig Miller:
>SCM: << Sure, PAIS could also be used to refer to a servant or slave. In a
>similar manner, the English term "boy" was used to refer to a male servant
>or slave. >>
>
>CH: << Yes. And that would be an option, if one wanted to harmonize Matt
>and Luke. Matt 14:2 clearly uses PAIS to mean something like "slave" or
>"henchman." Reading Matt alone, however, it seems most natural to read the
>centurion's PAIS as his son. >>
>
>Most natural? How did you determine this?
Well, maybe it just seems most natural to me, because inmy culture I am used
to talking about sons and not about slaves. :-) So your question is well
put.
One thing that strikes me is that the centurion seems awfully worked up
about the illness of his PAIS. He displays the sort of distress that I
would expect more from a father than from a master. Of course, there
certainly could be a centurion who was overwrought about the illness of his
slave, and one could no doubt cite examples from antiquity (Cicero comes to
mind). But it seems to me that the centurion's behavior would more
typically apply to a son than to a slave. The fact that Luke specifies that
the ill one is DOULOS could possibly fit with Luke's redactional interest in
highlighting issues of power subordination.
Another consideration is that the centurion refers specifically to his
DOULOS in Matt 8:9. If the PAIS were a DOULOS, he could have said so.
But I recognize that neither of these points is conclusive and I agree that
my suggestion that PAIS = "son" in Matt 8 is somewhat subjective. I
wouldn't insist on it by any means.
>FWIW, W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison, commenting on Mt 8:6, write:
>
><< ... only once in the NT does PAIS clearly mean 'son' (Jn 4.51). For the
>rest it seems to mean 'servant' (cf. Mt 14.2; 12.18) or 'youngster' (cf.
>17.18). And in the LXX PAIS rarely translates ben: it is most commonly the
>equivalent of `ebed. So we prefer to translate 'servant.' One should think
>of a house slave >> (2:21).
Well, the PAIS in Matt 17:18 happens to be a hUIOS (17:15).
But thanks for Davies & Allison's note on the LXX usage of PAIS as a common
translation of _`ebed_ and rare for _ben_. I haven't checked, but that
would be a strong consideration in favor of harmonizing Matt and Luke. I
presume that their supposition "house slave" is aimed at accounting for the
high degree of emotion displayed by the centurion.
I guess all I can do is repeat that PAIS is slippery and the lexicography is
inconclusive. Context is everything. I wouldn't quibble with either
reading of PAIS in Matt 8.
erroso,
XPIC
------------------------------------
Christopher R. Hutson
Hood Theological Seminary
Salisbury, NC 28144
crhutson@salisbury.net
------------------------------------
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