From: Steven Craig Miller (stevencraigmiller@home.com)
Date: Mon Jan 29 2001 - 11:10:45 EST
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To: Stephen C. Carlson,
<< What makes you think that "normal Greek syntax" is overriden in Matt
7:6? Putting aside Philem 5 (which is an arguable case), I don't quite
understand the objection to treating Matt 7:6 as a chiasmus, when other
factors, such as the senses of KATAPATHSOUSIN and hRHCWSIN, so indicate (as
supported by Davies & Allison in their magisterial commentary). Perhaps a
clarification of the objection would be helpful. >>
Davies & Allison write:
<< KATAPATHSOUSIN presumably goes with 'swine,' hRHXWSIN with 'dog.' >>
But they don't offer anything to support such a statement (they merely
presume it). You write:
<< ... when other factors, such as the senses of KATAPATHSOUSIN and
hRHCWSIN, so indicate (as supported by Davies & Allison in their
magisterial commentary) ... >>
Do you have a different edition from mine? What do you find in this
magisterial commentary which convinces you that KATAPATHSOUSIN actually
goes with 'swine' and RHXWSIN only with 'dogs'? Both verbs seem to me to
fit pigs better than dogs. KATAPATEW mean to "trample down," and RHGNUMI
means to "break asunder, shatter." Both these actions appear to be more
fitting for pigs than dogs (or at least as fitting for pigs as they might
be for dogs). And while RHGNUMI might also mean "tear," a wild boar is
capable of tearing a person to bits.
(a) MH DWTE TO hAGION TOIS KUSIN
(b) MHDE BALHTE TOUS MARGARITAS hUMWN EMPROSQEN TWN COIRWN,
(c) MHPOTE KATAPATHSOUSIN AUTOUS EN TOIS POSIN AUTWN
(d) KAI STRAFENTES hRHXWSIN hUMAS (Mt 7:6).
The subject of the verbs at 6c and 6d are admittedly vague, but to whom or
to what do the "they" refer? Davis and Allison suggest that the "they" at
6c refers back to the pigs at 6b, and that the "they" at 6d refers back to
the dogs at 6a. How so? What clue is there in the Greek text which makes
this correlation obvious? There is nothing in the Greek text to support
such an interpretation. I truly do believe that Davies and Allison have
given us a magisterial commentary, but I find this section to be very weak.
They don't argue the point here, they merely present and assume.
There is nothing in the Greek text to indicate that the subject of 6c is
different from the subject of 6d. Normal Greek syntax would have one assume
that the subject is the same in both 6c and 6d. Does the word KAI normally
introduce a new subject? While the subject for 6cd is somewhat ambiguous,
the most natural reading of the Greek text would be that the subject of 6cd
is either the "pigs" alone, or both the "pigs" and the "dogs" together. I
know of no justification from Greek syntax to justify taking the subject of
6c to be the "pigs" and the subject of 6d to be the "dogs." There is
nothing in the Greek text to support such a reading.
Davies and Allison appear to have been seduced by the notion of a
"chiasmus," since there is nothing in the text which explicitly makes it
clear that a chiasmus is present at Mt 7:6. Once they line up the text in
this "a b b a" fashion, and once they have supplied (introduced without any
justification!) the subject "the swine" and "lest the dogs" into their
reading of the text, the Chiasmus appears all but obvious. And yet, they
don't offer anything to prove their point, they merely assume it.
Chiasmus is a familiar figure of speech in Greek speech. But none of the
grammars treat it as a type of Greek syntax. To assume that Mt 7:6 is a
Chiasmus is to override normal Greek syntax and to make the text say what I
serious doubt it is legitimate to have it say. There is no real Chiasmus at
Mt 7:6. In my opinion, the interpretation of Mt 7:6 as a Chiasmus is based
more on the creative imagination of scholars than on sober analysis of
Greek syntax.
-Steven Craig Miller
Alton, Illinois (USA)
stevencraigmiller@home.com
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