Peter Streitenberger wrote: ↑November 8th, 2017, 7:52 pm
Dear Randall, Barry and the rest of the band,
thanks! I have to agree with your interpretation and it made me think over the whole issue and I hope to be able to think more clearly now.
To add a further example in Flavius, unfortunately not completely clear to decide in Josephus is the following:
Wars of the Jews 3:214 ὁ (note: ὁ refers to ὁ κριός in the sentence before) δ᾽ ἐστὶν
ὑπερμεγέθης δοκὸς ἱστῷ νηὸς παραπλήσιος ἐστόμωται δὲ παχεῖ σιδήρῳ κατ᾽ ἄκρον εἰς κριοῦ προτομήν ἀφ᾽ οὗ καὶ καλεῖται τετυπωμένῳ
This battering ram is
a vast beam of wood like the mast of a ship; its forepart is armed with a thick piece of iron at the head of it, which is so carved as to be like the head of a ram, from which its name is taken.
The η δοκὸς modifying adjective is ὑπερμεγέθης. In all instances of the LXX and the NT this word is used with the feminine article and Josephus himself does so: τὰς δοκοὺς in Antiquities of the Jews 8:68. So this word fits the criteria of the word John used and belongs into that group of nouns.
Then ὑπερμεγέθης is at least in my database of Bibleworks coded as "ann
msn", so counted as masculine (a=adjective, n=normal, n=nominative, m=masculine.....). If they count it as masculine I do as well - trusting their coding competence,
- and the Josephus data, even if not 100% clear as the LXX examples. Not completely convincing this example, granted.
Here another writer, Philo, doing much the same as John in Rev.:
Quaestiones in Genesim (fragment. 2:13 ἵνα, θεασάμενοι
τὴν κιβωτὸν ἀντίμιμον γῆς ἕνεκα τοῦ καιροῦ γενομένην καὶ τὰ τῶν ζῴων γένη ταμιεύουσαν ὧν ἔφερεν ἡ γῆ τὰ κατὰ μέρος εἴδη,
in order that when they see the ark placed in front of them as a sort of type, made with respect to the then present time
Here is what I was after: τὴν κιβωτὸν in combination with the masculine ἀντίμιμον.
Then, same writer, same lexeme as Flavius but used in the Johns way with an masculine modifier:
De opificio mundi 1:69
καὶ τέχναις καὶ ἐπιστήμαις
πολυσχιδεῖς ἀνατέμνων ὁδοὺς λεωφόρους ἁπάσας διὰ γῆς ἔρχεται καὶ θαλάττης τὰ ἐν ἑκατέρᾳ φύσει διερευνώμενος;
and making for itself by art and science
all sorts of roads leading in divers directions, and all plain; it traverses land and sea, investigating everything which is contained in either element.
With πολυσχιδεῖς counted as masculine in my database of BW.
De vita Mosis 1:170
ἐχθροὶ δ᾽ ἀντικρύ, τὰ δὲ παρ᾽ ἑκάτερα βαθεῖα καὶ
ἀτριβὴς ἐρήμη σφαδᾴζοντες καὶ τῷ μεγέθει τῶν κακῶν ἀπειρηκότες, οἷα παρὰ τοιαύτας φιλεῖ συμφοράς, τὸν ἄρχοντα ᾐτιῶντο φάσκοντες·
and not being able to escape, for behind was the sea, and in front was the enemy, and on each side a vast and
pathless wilderness, reviled against Moses, and, being dismayed at the magnitude of the evils that threatened them, began, as is very common in such calamities, to blame their governors, and said:
While ἀτριβὴς is coded "annmsn", as masculine, at least in my database.