This seemed so strange and unique to me. And there's no example in the LSJ article for ἐν that is exactly similar*. Blass gives however, in 157.f2: "An jmdm etwas tun" heisst auch ποιεῖν τι ἔν τινι Mt 17,12 Lk 23,31."
The cited Matthew 17:12 reads ἐποίησαν ἐν αὐτῷ ὅσα ἠθέλησαν
Similar in construction though not meaning were the LSJ's cited instrumental uses of ἐν, at least to Luke 23:31a. In the first, God says to Moses in Ezekiel the Tragedian's Exagoge (why couldn't this have made it into the LXX?):
ΘΕΟΣ· ἐν τῇδε ῥάβδῳ πάντα ποιήσεις κακά·
πρῶτον μὲν αἷμα ποτάμιον ῥυήσεται
πηγαί τε πᾶσαι καὶ ὑδάτων συστήματα·
The second citation for this construction says to compare magical papyrus PMAG.Osl 1.108: κατέχων ῥάβδον σιδηρᾶν, ἐν ᾗ ἀνέφραξας τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ διεπέρασας ἀνε<κ>ξηράνας πάντα τὰ φυτά
But however I wrap my head around ποιέω τι ἔν τινι (instrumental or something else), I'm still left with γένηται with ἔν τινι in Luke 23:31, and that seems even stranger. I am left wondering if the real sense is somehow of location, limiting the primary focus or origin of action to a particular individual or thing, uniting all four of these examples.
* Note, however, the composition section of the LSJ's article on ἐν: "at a person, ἐγγελᾶν, ἐνυβρίζειν τινί."
Statistics: Posted by jeidsath — Thu Oct 05, 2023 2:08 am