Re: Heb 1:1-2

From: Jonathan Robie (jwrobie@mindspring.com)
Date: Wed Jun 18 1997 - 22:50:21 EDT


Wayne Heidler wrote:

>This is strictly for my own education. I am trying to work my way through
>Hebrews and discover or use what I had learned as much as I can. I have
>also been studying Mounce's grammar, along with Brooks and Winbery *Syntax
>of the NT Greek*. But it is slow going.

First off, let me point out that Hebrews has some of the hardest Greek in
the entire New Testament, so it isn't surprising that this is slow going. My
"Little Greek Home Page" (http://www.mindspring.com/~jwrobie) lists some of
the books of the NT in order of difficulty:

"Be realistic, and start with books that are relatively easy. The easiest
books are 1 John and the Gospel of John. Work all the way through them
before going on to other texts. Next, try the other gospels. After that, go
to Paul, but leave out Colossians and Ephesians, which are fairly difficult.
I found Galatians easier than most of Paul's other letters. After that come
Peter, Colossians and Ephesians, Hebrews, and Revelations. The Greek in the
Old Testament is sometimes rather different than the Greek in the New
Testament, and will be harder to understand."

As one little Greek to another, I find Hebrews tough going.

>1. The first words: POLUMERWS KAI POLUTROPWS. I know that they are both
>adverbs and used a total of one time each in the NT. My question is, is
>this an adverbial phrase and if so what could the possible syntax be.

These are both adverbs, so they modify a verb: LALHSAS. He has spoken in
many parts and many ways.

>2. Verse 2 starts with the prep. EP'. Again, I think this is the start of
>a clause, possibly an Adverbial Gen. of time. But where would the end be?
> Is it EP ESCATOU TWN hHMERWN TOUTWN? Or, EP ESCATOU TWN hHMERWN?

The former. TWN hHMERWN TOUTWN means "these days". ESCATOU modifies "these
days" to make it "these last days".

I like to start out by finding the subject and the main verb, then work from
there. Here's the text:

Hebr 1:1 (GNT)
POLUMERWS KAI POLUTROPWS PALAI hO QEOS LALHSAS TOIS PATRASIN EN TOIS
PROFHTAIS EP ESCATOU TWN HMERWN TOUTWN ELALHSEN hHMIN EN hUIW, hON EQHKEN
KLHRONOMON PANTWN, DI hOU KAI EPOIHSEN TOUS AIWNAS:

First off, where is the subject? The subject is always nominative, so hO
QEOS must be the subject.

Now what is the main verb? Two verbs might look likely: LALHSAS and
ELALHSEN. But LALHSAS is a participle, and it doesn't modify a noun, so it
probably functions as a circumstantial participle, modifying ELALHSEN. Let's
try that - the main structure would then be:

hO QEOS ... LALHSAS ... ELALHSEN
God ... having spoken ... has spoken

Now we have all those messy adverbs to deal with. Let's figure out how they
hang off the verbs to come up with a rough structure for the sentence:

hO QEOS (God)

    LALHSAS (having spoken)
           having spoken to whom?
             TOIS PATRASIN (to the fathers)
           having spoken through whom?
             EN TOIS PROFHTAIS (by the prophets)
           having spoke how?
             POLUMERWS KAI POLUTROPWS (in many ways and many times)
           having spoken when?
             PALAI (long ago)

    ELALHSEN (has spoken)
           has spoken to whom?
             hHMIN (to us)
           has spoken when?
             EP ESCATOU TWN hHMERWN TOUTWN (in these last days)
           has spoken through whom?
             EN hUIW (by the son)
                 tell me about this son!
                    hON EQHKEN KLHRONOMON PANTWN (whom he appointed heir of all)
                 tell me more about this son!
                    DI hOU KAI EPOIHSEN TOUS AIWNAS: (through whom he also
created the worlds)

Actually, it would be perfectly grammatical Greek if it were written in this
order, though it would have a different emphasis:

hO QEOS, LALHSAS TOIS PATRASIN EN TOIS PROFHTAIS POLUMERWS KAI POLUTROPWS
PALAI, ELALHSEN hHMIN EP ESCATOU TWN hHMERWN TOUTWN EN hUIW, hON EQHKEN
KLHRONOMON PANTWN, DI hOU KAI EPOIHSEN TOUS AIWNAS...

But this changes the emphasis significantly compared to the original:

POLUMERWS KAI POLUTROPWS PALAI hO QEOS LALHSAS TOIS PATRASIN EN TOIS
PROFHTAIS EP ESCATOU TWN HMERWN TOUTWN ELALHSEN hHMIN EN hUIW, hON EQHKEN
KLHRONOMON PANTWN, DI hOU KAI EPOIHSEN TOUS AIWNAS:

The whole book starts out with POLUMERWS KAI POLUTROPWS. The first phrase is
generally emphasized: this sentence emphasizes the *way* in which God used
to reveal himself. Louw and Nida say that one possible meaning of POLUMERWS
is "fragmentary" (63.19). A little at a time, always fragmentary, God's
revelation dripped out here and there, long long ago, through the prophets,
to the fathers. In these last days, God has spoken to us through his son.
What a contrast! Then it goes on to tell us just who that son is!

So if I wanted to maintain this emphasis, I might start a translation like this:

"In partial and various ways, long ago, God spoke to the fathers by the
prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us through his son, whom
he appointed heir of all, through whom he created the world order..."

But this loses a bit of the relationship between LALHSAS and ELALHSEN, which
I might try to maintain with a translation like this:

"God, having spoken to the fathers through the prophets long ago in partial
and various ways, has spoken to us through his son, whom he appointed heir
of all, through whom he created the world order..."

I can't think of how to translate this to maintain both.

Jonathan

***************************************************************************
Jonathan Robie jwrobie@mindspring.com http://www.mindspring.com/~jwrobie
POET Software, 3207 Gibson Road, Durham, N.C., 27703 http://www.poet.com
***************************************************************************



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat Apr 20 2002 - 15:38:19 EDT