Gal.4:2 ἄχρι τῆς προθεσμίας τοῦ πατρός

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Stephen Hughes
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Joined: February 26th, 2013, 7:12 am

Gal.4:2 ἄχρι τῆς προθεσμίας τοῦ πατρός

Post by Stephen Hughes »

Λέγω δέ, ἐφ’ ὅσον χρόνον ὁ κληρονόμος νήπιός ἐστιν, οὐδὲν διαφέρει δούλου, κύριος πάντων ὤν· 2 ἀλλὰ ὑπὸ ἐπιτρόπους ἐστὶν καὶ οἰκονόμους, ἄχρι τῆς προθεσμίας τοῦ πατρός.
I think that the verb that would best express / represent the genitive (τοῦ πατρός) here would perhaps be ἄχρι τῆς προθεσμίας τῆς ἑσταμένης ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρός

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In anticipation, let me quote...
Jonathan Robie wrote:But I have no idea how I can tell if the conclusions you are reaching are true or not, or how you go about deciding this.
In considering how to get more than just a gloss for this, I think that rather than just take προθεσμία as a virtual equivalent of διωρία - "an interval of time (καθορισμένον χρονικὸν διάστημα) following some decision or thought"
Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, 5.9.1 wrote:Δόξαν δ᾽ ἐπανεῖναι πρὸς ὀλίγον τὴν πολιορκίαν καὶ διωρίαν βουλῆς τοῖς στασιασταῖς παρέχειν
It was decided to give those who were rebelling against Rome some time to consider things
It is probably more like the time for the paying the soldiers that is mentioned later in the same paragraph.
Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, 5.9.1 wrote:ἐνστάσης γὰρ τῆς προθεσμίας, καθ᾽ ἣν ἔδει διαδοῦναι τοῖς στρατιώταις τροφάς,[/u]
It was decided to give those who were rebelling against Rome some time to consider things
Not quoted here, but the story goes on to say that the προθεσμία (ἡμέρα) was the lawfully appointed day that marked the beginning of a period of several days.

ἐνίστημι is not only used of a προθεσμία but also of an heir.
ἐνίστημι LSJ I.2. wrote:LSJ I.2. in Law, institute an heir, “ἐ. κληρονόμους τοὺς υἱούς” PMasp.151.75 (vi A. D.).
The adjective θέσμιος, α, ον means "lawful", "fixed", "settled" (opposite being ἀθέσμιος "unlawful" - only in Suida, άθεσμος being in the modern idiom) from προτίθημι v.i.
LSJ προτίθημι wrote:4. fix, set, ἐς ἑβδομήκοντα ἔτεα οὖρον τῆς ζόης ἀνθρώπῳ π. Id.1.32:—Med.; οὖρον π. ἐνιαυτόν ib.74.
προτίθημι in the sense of its adjectival form προθέσμιος "planned before-hand" is closer to its use in Ephesians 1:9

Putting the clause about the time for the heir to get the inheritance, recording it with the notary public, would have been a κατάθεσις "deposition".

Assuming that ἐπίτροπος is to ἐπιτροπή, as ἀπόστολος is to ἀποστολή, then the father would have ποιέω-ed the ἐπίτροπος or ἀναδείκνυμι-ed him. The one who was appointed would then also λαμβάνειν the ἐπιτροπή at either the time of the deposition of the will or at the time of its execution.
LSJ προθεσμ-ία wrote:προθεσμ-ία (sc. ἡμέρα), ἡ,
A.day appointed beforehand, a fixed or limited time, within which money was to be paid, actions brought, claims made, elections held, etc., and if this period was allowed to expire, no further proceedings were allowed, D.36.25, Aeschin.1.39; ἐὰν ἡ π. ἐξήκῃ is past, IG12.41.9; “τριετὴς π.” Pl.Lg.954d, cf. D.38.27, Paus.4.5.10.
2. generally, fixed or appointed time, “προθεσμίας οὔσης τῷ κινδύνῳ” Lys.7.17; “π. ἀδικημάτων” Id.13.83; “μηδεμίαν εἶναι π. τῆς ἐπιλήψεως” Pl.Lg.954e; “τῆς προθεσμίας ὀλίγης εἰς τὴν χειροτονίαν οὔσης” App.BC1.14, cf.Ep.Gal.4.2, OGI509.21 (Aphrodisias, ii A.D.); “οὐκ ἐτήρησε τὴν π. τῆς θεοῦ” Supp.Epigr.4.649 (Lydia, ii A.D.); π. φυσικὴ [νόσου] natural period, Gal.1.289; “ἡ π. τῆς καθάρσεως” Sor.2.10, cf. 1.21, al.: pl., τρεῖς τοῦ μηνὸς ἀρχαὶ καὶ π. (Kalends, Nones and Ides) Plu.2.269b; “προθεσμίας ὁριζομένους ἑορτάς” Luc.Nigr.27.
3. occasion of delay, J.AJ15.5.1.
II. προθέσμιος, α, ον, Adj. foreappointed, Ἔφεσος, ἡ π. τῶν γάμων (sc. πόλις) Ach. Tat.5.21.
The question of whether προθεσμία was a fixed legal term used technically or a word that still relied on an understanding of θέσμιος plus the sense of the prefixed προ-, is something not settled by this discussion.

This is a lot of waffle that I don't think is going to do any more than clutter the screen and increase people's bandwidth.
Γελᾷ δ' ὁ μωρός, κἄν τι μὴ γέλοιον ᾖ
(Menander, Γνῶμαι μονόστιχοι 108)
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