From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Tue Feb 06 2001 - 07:11:40 EST
At 2:05 AM -0700 2/6/01, virgil newkirk wrote:
>On Mon, 05 Feb 2001 at 15:56...
>
> John Barach wrote...
>
>In their commentary on Acts, Lake and Cadbury point out that Acts 1:26
>doesn't contain the usual formula for "they cast lots" (EBALON KLHROUS)
>but rather a phrase which could be rendered "they gave lots" (EDWKAN
>KLHROUS). They conclude that the group of disciples *voted* by giving
>lots (e.g., a white pebble for Matthias, a black one for
>Joseph/Barsabbas/Justus).
>
>Is that a plausible explanation? Are there other texts which use DIDWMI
>in connection with casting lots?
>
> To John and all...
>
> Is that a plausible explanation?......Yes ! And it was unanimous, from
>the indications I see.
>
> The text...KAI EDWKAN KLHROUS AUTOIS, KAI EPESEN HO KLHROS EPI MAQQIAN,
>KAI SUGKATEYHFISQH META TWN ENDEKA APOSTOLWN
>
> Notice the KLHROUS, by the way, that were AUTOIS nominative pronoun
>dative masculine theirs plural..the personification of all that was theirs
>....There was some confidence in these lots. These KLHROUS became one
>KLHROS...EPI...with the accusative...distributed all over Matthias. It seems
>to me.
I think I would understand this verse in a simpler way:
(1) EDWKAN KLHROUS AUTOIS means that lots (whatever sort of instrument they
were using, be it pebbles or folded slips of paper) were assigned to each
of the candidates so that each KLHROS is marked to indicate one of the
candidates;
(2) hO KLHROS EPESEN EPI MATQIAN means, I think, not that THE lot literally
fell upon Matthias, but that PIPTW here refers to the chance selection and
hO KLHROS here refers to the process of choosing by lot. Here's L&N:
"30.107 hO KLHROS PIPTEI EPI TINA: (an idiom, literally 'the lot falls upon
someone') the process of choosing, with the probable implication of
discerning God's will in this manner - 'to choose by lot, to select by
lot.'EPESEN hO KLHROS EPI MAQQIAN, KAI SUGKATEYHFISQH META TWN hENDEKA
APOSTOLWN 'the name chosen was that of Matthias and he was added to the
group of the eleven apostles' Ac 1:26. In some societies the closest
natural equivalents of deciding by lot are procedures involving 'drawing
straws' or 'throwing dice' or 'throwing down sticks' or 'dropping pebbles.'"
--
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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