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CHAPTER I

PRELIMINARY TESTING OF THE THEORY BY EXAMINATION OF THE PROLOGUE

As a preliminary to the classified discussion of particular usages, it is instructive to take the Prologue of the Gospel and examine it verse by verse. Thus we may gain at the outset a clearer conception of the texture of the writer's language as a whole; and, when we come to classify, may realize that we are not dealing merely with isolated phenomena, but with illustrations of a continuous characteristic which admits of but one explanation-the theory of an Aramaic original.

vv. 12. The phrase pòs Tòv eóv in the sense 'with God' is remarkable, as Westcott observes. He cites the parallel usage in Mt. 1356, Mk. 63, 91, 144, Lk. 9a1, 1 Jn. 12. The last of these passages is an echo of the Gospel-prologue, presumably by the same author-ήτις ἦν πρὸς τὸν πατέρα. With regard to the Synoptic instances we notice (1) that they are all from the Marcan source, and (2) that Mt. 17, Lk. 2253 alter Mark's "pòs iμâs to the more natural μeľ vμŵv, while Mt. 2655 omits the phrase altogether. The parallel passages are as follows:

ΜΚ. 6 καὶ οὐκ εἰσὶν αἱ ἀδελφαὶ αὐτοῦ ὧδε πρὸς ἡμᾶς;

Mt. 13 καὶ αἱ ἀδελφαὶ αὐτοῦ οὐχὶ πᾶσαι πρὸς ἡμᾶς εἰσίν ;

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Μκ. 9 ἕως πότε πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἔσομαι;

Mt. 17" έως πότε μεθ ̓ ὑμῶν ἔσομαι;

Lk. 9' ἕως πότε ἔσομαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς;

ΜΚ. 14" καθ ̓ ἡμέραν ἤμην πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ διδάσκων.
Μt. 265 καθ ̓ ἡμέραν ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ ἐκαθεζόμην διδάσκων.
Lk. 223 καθ' ἡμέραν ὄντος μου μεθ ̓ ὑμῶν ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ.

Clearly, then, we are dealing with a phrase confined in the
Gospels to the Marcan source and to Jn. which was so far strange

to the other Synoptists that they were moved on occasions to alter or expunge it. The view that it may represent an Aramaic phrase is at once suggested by the fact that it occurs three times in Mk., for which on other grounds an Aramaic original, or at any rate Aramaic influence, has been postulated. In Aramaic the common preposition (possibly akin to the verb join') denotes "join') (1) connexion with, apud, τapá, (2) motion towards, ad, πpós. It may be suggested that feeling for the second meaning so commonly borne by has moved the translator of an Aramaic original to represent the preposition by πpós even when used in the former

sense.*

πρός

18.20

The usage of #pós = 'with' is frequent in St. Paul; cf. 1 Thess. 3*, 2 Thess. 25, 31o, 1 Cor. 167, 2 Cor. 58, 11o, Gal. 11, 25, 4' Phil. 126, Philem. 13. There are, however, many other indications that this Apostle's language is tinged with Aramaic influence.

ζωὴ

v.. ô yéyovev ev autê (wỳ ýv. This reading has the consensus of early attestation, the punctuation which connects ồ yéyover with the preceding sentence seeming 'to be little if at all earlier than Cent. IV' (WH.). Yet, as is well known, considerable difficulty has arisen in connexion with the interpretation, 'That which hath been made in Him was life'. The Aramaic equivalent would be (810) 10 m2 8. Here the opening, answering to 'that which', might equally well bear the meaning 'inasmuch as, since, because'; cf. the use of in Dan. 2

And inasmuch as

because wisdom and דִי חָכְמְתָא וּגְבוּרְתָּא דִי לֵהּ הִיא 220 ; 'thou sawest

might belongeth unto Him'. The Heb. relative often bears the same sense. Adopting this interpretation, we obtain the meaning, 'Because in Him was life'; and this admirably suits the connexion-He was the source of all creation because He Himself was Life.

ν.5. καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ ἡ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν. The difficulty of Karéλaßev is familiar. Dr. Ball, in his article

* It was only after finishing this chapter that the writer noticed that the facts that rpós here = Aram., and that the other Gospel-occurrences emanate from the Marcan source with its Aram. background, had been anticipated by Dr. Rendel Harris in the first of a series of articles on 'The origin of the Prologue to St. John's Gospel' in the Expositor, xii (1916), pp. 156 f. The coincidence in conclusion serves to prove that it is unmistakable for an Aramaic scholar.

mentioned in the Introduction, has made the brilliant suggestion that confusion may have arisen in Aramaic between the Aph'el form as 'akbel 'darken' and the Pa'el form kabbel from an outwardly identical root, meaning 'receive, take'. It may be further noted that in Syriac the latter root actually occurs in the Aph'el in the sense 'receive'-cf. Lk. 157 in Sin. and Pesh. ado pa? 'because he hath received him whole' (cf. other instances cited by Payne Smith, 3470). The difference between

;auro ob karda3ev is slight לא קבליה obscured it not and לא אקבליה

,was not obscuring it לָא מַקְבֵּיל הֲוָא יָתֵיהּ ,the substantive verb

and if the construction was the common one of the participle with

there would, in an unvocalized text, be no distinction between obscuring' and a 'receiving'. The sense 'darken'

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is equally suitable to Jn. 12 ἵνα μὴ σκοτία ὑμᾶς καταλάβῃ,

.’that darkness shroud you not יַקְבִּילִינְכוֹן קַבְלָא

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υ.. ἐγένετο ἄνθρωπος . . . ὄνομα αὐτῷ Ἰωάννης, i. e. ny. Whose name was' is only elsewhere so expressed in N.T. in ch. 3' ἄνθρωπος ἐκ τῶν Φαρισαίων Νικόδημος ὄνομα αὐτῷ, Apoc. 6 ἵππος χλωρός· καὶ ὁ καθήμενος ἐπάνω αὐτοῦ, ὄνομα αὐτῷ ὁ θάνατος, Apoc. 9" τὸν ἄγγελον τῆς ἀβύσσου ὄνομα αὐτῷ Ἑβραϊστὶ ̓Αβαδδών.

Elsewhere in N.T. the ordinary expression is óvóμarı (classical); cf. Matt. 272, Mk. 52, Lk. 15, 57, 103, 160, 2350, 2418, Acts 51.34, 89, 910.11.12.33.36, 101, 11, 1213, 16114, 1734, 182.7.24, 1924, 20o, 211, 27', 287 (30 occurrences). Other expressions are: ovóμarı kaλoúμevos, Lk. 192; kaì tò ŏvoμa avtîs, Lk. 1o; & (ĥ) ŏvoμa, Lk. 126.27, 225, 8, 243, Acts 136; οὗ τὸ ὄνομα, ΜΚ. 14.

Pal. Syr. renders the Gospel-occurrences of ovóμari by a 'his name', 'who his name' (i.e. 'whose name'), adeno 'and his name '. Pesh. renders óvóμari by ? (œson?) 'who his (her) name', Joo ? 'who his name was', and once (Acts 1614) Joo a 'her name was'. óvóμaтi κaλovμevos, Lk. 192 = was called', Pesh. Joo ? 'who his name was'. Kai Tò ovoμa avτîs, Lk. 1o= Pal. Syr. o 'and her name', Pesh. Joo 'her name was'. ovoμa, Lk. 12 = Pal. Syr. caret, Pesh. ? 'who his name'; Lk. 25 = Pal. Syr. Joa? 'who was his name' (i. e. 'whose name was '), Pesh. Joo

who his name“ ܕܫܝܡܗ ܡܬܡܪ .Pal. Syr

'his name was'; Lk. 811 =

Pal. Syr.

?, Pesh.

? 'who his name'; Acts 136 = Pesh.

2413

Jo ? 'who his name was'. ovoμa, Lk. 126, 2413 = Pal. Syr. ? 'which its name'. où тò ovoμa,

(126 caret)

Mk. 1432

?, Pesh.

Pal. Syr. caret, Pesh.

=

called'. ovoμa aur@, Jn. 1o Pal. Syr. ?
Pesh. a 'his name'; Jn. 3' = Pal. Syr.
Pesh. Joo a 'his name was '; Rev. 6°
to it'; Rev. 911 = ? 'which, name to it'.

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Pesh.

that which was 'who his name', 'his name',

'name

In the Aramaic parts of the O.T. we find, Ezr. 54 78 1771 П 'and they were given to Sheshbazzar his name' (i. e. 'to one whose name was S.'); Dan. 226, 45.16 gunwuba now who his name Belteshazzar'.

1.2

The Hebrew modes of expressing 'whose name was N.' are two, viz. (1) 'and his name N.', Gen. 24", 382, Judg. 132, 17', Ru. 2', 1 Sam. 1', 912, 1712, 218, 2220, 2 Sam. 4, 92.12, 133, 165, 1725, 20', I Chr. 24, Est. 25, Jer. 3713 (22 occurrences), or (2) 'N. his name', I Sam. 174.23, 2 Sam. 202, 1 Kgs. 132, 2 Chr. 289, Job 1', Zech. 612 (7 occurrences). Besides these two phrases, we once find

Daniel, who his name דניאל אשר נקרא שמו בלטאשצר (10 .Dan)

was called Belteshazzar'. In all these cases the rendering of
Targg. exactly corresponds with the Hebrew, except that in Targ.
of Est. 25 we find
and his name was called
Mordecai' for 'and his name Mordecai' of Heb. The rendering
of Pesh. exactly corresponds with Heb. except in Ru. 2', 1 Sam. 93,
2 Sam. 92, where we find 'who his name' for 'and his name';
in 1 Sam. 133, where the phrase is omitted; and in Zech. 612,
where, in place of 'Branch his name', we have 'and his name
Sunrise'. In LXX Heb. and his name' is rendered kai
ovoμa avтô, except in Gen. 2429, 3812, where we have ❀ (1) ovoμa.
Heb. his name ' is represented by ovoμa aur@ except in Job 1',
where we have ᾧ ὄνομα.

Outside O.T. we find that 'whose name was is rendered in Syriac, 'his name', 'his name was', 'who his name', 'who his name was '. Cf. in Wright's Apocryphal Acts,

,one of the chief men of Antioch܃ ܕܐܢܛܝܘܟܝ. ܫܡܗ ܐܠܟܣܢܕܪܘܣ ܚܕ ܕܝܢ ܓܒܪܐ ܐܢܣܝܦܪܘܣ ܫܡܗ ܗܘܐ ;(ܩܡܛ .his name Alexander (p

'Now a certain man, Onesiphorus his name was' (p. ¿); BONADB WDA? had ling a bath-keeper, who his name

ܣܩܘܢܕܘܣ

Secundus' (p. ); ollux loa ava? - 1.900 :ɔ ‘a procurator's son, who his name was Menelaus' (p. ).

Thus it appears that ὄνομα αὐτῷ Ἰωάννης, Νικόδημος ὄνομα αὐτῷ exactly represent a Semitic construction common to Aramaic and Hebrew, and that the Greek represents the regular rendering of the Hebrew phrase. It is also noteworthy that the only other occurrences of ovoμa avτ are found in Apoc., which is strongly Semitic in colouring.

υ.. ἵνα πάντες πιστεύσωσιν δι ̓ αὐτοῦ probably = = =

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which is most naturally taken to mean, 'that all might believe in it' (the light) rather than 'through him' (John). Cf., for the sense postulated, 12 ὡς τὸ φῶς ἔχετε, πιστεύετε εἰς τὸ φῶς, ἵνα υἱοὶ φωτὸς γένησθε, and 12" ἐγὼ φῶς εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἐλήλυθα, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς ἐμὲ ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ μὴ μείνῃ.

υ.. οὐκ ἦν ἐκεῖνος τὸ φῶς. The emphatic pronoun ἐκεῖνος—so characteristic of the Fourth Gospel-has its counterpart in the Aram., Syriac o 'that one', or in the Personal Pronoun . See below (p. 82).

ἀλλ ̓ ἵνα μαρτυρήσῃ περὶ τοῦ φωτός. The difficulty of the supposed ellipse (usually supplied by the words, 'he came') is familiar.

לָא הֲוָא הוּא נְהוֹרָא אִילָהֵן The whole verse would run in Aramaic נְהוֹרָא

ing by (cf. Pal. Syr.

ma? 1 loan oa loa Joo?). It is probable that is here wrongly rendered iva, and should have its relative force-' (one) who'. The sense then is, 'That one was not the light, but one who was to bear witness of the light'. Cf., for such a use of or without expressed antecedent ('one who',' he who '), Ezr. 72, vina v him who knoweth not ye shall teach'; Dan. 2

and

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and now Thou hast made known to me that which we asked of Thee'. Cf. the similar use of in Hebrew in Gen. 449.10 'He with whom it is found of thy servants shall die... He with whom it is found shall be my slave', where the rendering of Targ. Onk. is my men. Other instances of relative mistranslated by iva are given below (pp. 75 f.).*

* In favour of the ordinary view that the construction implies an ellipse stand two other passages cited by Westcott- 9 Οὔτε οὗτος ἥμαρτεν οὔτε οἱ γονεῖς αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ ̓ ἵνα φανερωθῇ τὰ ἔργα τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ, where before ἵνα we have to supply

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