From: Maurice A. O'Sullivan (mauros@iol.ie)
Date: Thu Apr 13 2000 - 08:02:26 EDT
<x-flowed>At 05:01 13/04/00, Harold R. Holmyard III wrote:
>I do not know about a permissive imperative other than that such seems
>to be the usage in the Septuagint of Psalm 4, from which Paul quotes in Eph
>4:26.
Harold:
The term "permissive imperative" is used in:
Daniel B. Wallace
Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics :An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament
[ This was published in 1996 by Zondervan, but I am using the version on
CD-ROM ]
In his introduction to the Imperative, Wallace writes:
>>The imperative mood is the mood of intention. It is the mood furthest
removed from certainty. (Those who have strong-willed children understand
this!) Ontologically, as one of the potential or oblique moods, the
imperative moves in the realm of volition (involving the imposition of
one's will upon another) and possibility.
There are many exceptions to this twofold "flavor" of the imperative in
actual usage, although in almost every instance the rhetorical power of the
imperative is still felt. Thus, when Paul says, "If the unbeliever departs,
let him depart (XWRIZESQW_" (1 Cor 7:15), the permissive imperative is more
strongly addressed to the heart than if he had said, "If the unbeliever
departs, that is OK!" In Jas 4:7 the conditional imperative has not lost
its injunctive flavor: "If you resist (ANTISTHTE) the devil-and you
should!-he will flee from you." Technically, then, it is not best to call
this the mood of command because it may be used for other than a command.
But that volitional force is nevertheless still lurking beneath the
surface, even when the speaker is not barking orders. <<
He further says:
>>4. Permissive Imperative (Imperative of Toleration)
a. Definition
The imperative is rarely used to connote permission or, better, toleration.
This usage does not normally imply that some deed is optional or approved.
It often views the act as a fait accompli. In such instances, the mood
could almost be called "an imperative of resignation." Overall, it is best
to treat this as a statement of permission, allowance, or toleration. The
connotations of "permission" are usually too positive to convey adequately
the nuances involved in this type of imperative.>>
>The Greek verb ORGIZOMAI translates the Hebrew verb RFGAZ, which in
>the Qal can mean: "be agitated, quiver, quake, be perturbed, be excited."
Just a small point; the verb is R-G-Z, and ORGIZEIN is only one of a dozen
equivalent verbs listed in:
Muraoka, Takamitsu. Hebrew/Aramaic Index to the Septuagint. Keyed to to the
Hatch-Redpath Concordance. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998.
(along with several others which he encloses in double square brackets to
indicate his disagreement with the equivalence indicated in Hatch and Redpath )
Regards
Maurice
Maurice A. O'Sullivan [ Bray, Ireland ]
mauros@iol.ie
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