From: Alan B. Thomas (a_b_thomas@yahoo.com)
Date: Sat Dec 16 2000 - 23:47:18 EST
Steve:
I really have more questions myself than answers.
Concerning this...
> Is there any justification for taking the magi's
> offering of the gifts to
> include burning the frankincense?
If I understand this question, it would seem to me to
be asking if PROSFERW is ever used of "both" the
bringing of an offering AND the burning of it by the
same individual(s).
Was the ritual of burning performed by the one
bringing the offering, or was that the separate role
of the priests? I wonder if "magi" (not of the
priestly order) would perform such a "ritual"? (Or at
least not in any "religious" sense)
> Specifically in the following instances in the
> Septuagint, frankincense is
> mentioned as part of the offering and the mixture is
> burned:
>
> Lev 2:1-2
> Lev 2:14-16
In these passages, it would appear that even here the
priests were the ones who performed the burning, not
those who brought the "offering."
> Would there be a cultural expectation that
> frankincense offered in this
> manner be burned?
(in this manner)
The sense I get is that this was an unusual entourage
on a unprecedented mission. I would wonder if such a
similar cultural event had ever happened before or
after this one.
I realize I really have no answers, just questions.
Would establishing the semantic range of PROSFERW shed
additional light on how it is to be understood in this
particular passage. Which is to say, since there are
really no other determinative contextual indicators in
Matt. 2, it seems to me that at best it could only
extend the list of speculative options.
=====
Sincerely,
Alan B. Thomas
"Mary did you know... this child that you delivered,
would soon deliver you?
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