Hey Jeff, that was great! I heard David and Amy were at Castleberry last week. My son, Josh, now preaches and works with David at Castleberry. I'm assuming they are visting the family while they are here. Hope you get see those grandkids!
"And having imposed the taxes on the subjects, he summoned to himself the foremost men of the provinces, and concerning the taxes he asked, 'they aren't oppressive are they?' And when they affirmed [them] to have moderation, he commanded them each to accomplish half."
A 50% reduction in taxes. We may be wishing for a Darius in the White House pretty soon.
But notice a few words found in the New Testament, the usages of which are illustrated in these excerpts from Plutarch. βαρεῖς, nominative plural of βαρύς, is the word used in 1 John 5:3, "his commandments are not grievous." It's the word rendered "oppressive" in the above translation.
The use of ἀντί in the previous post, "in place of," well illustrates the fundamental idea of this preposition as used throughout the New Testament, including 1 Cor. 11:15, "her hair is given her for (in place of) a covering."
And even though it is true that eros was especially used of sexual passion/desire, the passage two posts back about Cyrus' nose includes the cognate verb ἐράω (in the conjugated form ἐρῶσι) in a context that has nothing to do with sexual desire, and thus well illustrates what is in fact the truth, eros (not used in the NT) and its cognates did not always refer to sexual desire. The point: Preachers and others need to be careful when making broad statements about what the Greek says/means. Many oft repeated assertions, heard in many pulpits, are made by people who don't know whereof they speak.
Just a few observations as I work through the first few pages of Plutarch's Moralia.
FWIW, I'm not real happy with my translation of μετρίως ἔχειν. I think I tortured ἔχειν a bit trying to accomodate the adverb, μετρίως. Checking Robertson, I see his discussion of adverbs with ἔχειν, and the examples he cites such as Mt. 14:35. In view of that I'll revise and translate the phrase "have moderation."
Hello! Mrs.Whoosh would like very much to confer with you about an extremely intriguing idea. Certainly this simple yet ingenious conception has the potential to become a worldwide phenomenon!! The one thing lacking is a mastermind. Perhaps your curiosity has been whetted...
I just typed in a very long response that unfortunately I lost. I clicked the comment button but then our computer kicked me back to the sign in screen!
"And when the Persians were desiring to take a flat and tillable land in place of their own which was mountainous and rugged, [Cyrus] did not permit it, saying that both the seed of the plants and the lives of the men are joined in similitude with the land."
I take that to mean Cyrus supposed that a people, just as a plant, is suited to its own land and ought not go looking for some other kind of land. Interesting thought. Exceptions could be found easily enough, although Scandinavians from frigid Norway and Sweden did find Minnesota to their liking! But I wonder if this philosophy had anything to do with Cyrus' "conciliatory policy toward subject peoples" (quoting from ISBE, I. 847) which was "to resettle them in their homelands."
"Persians are enamored of the hooked noses on account of the fact that Cyrus, who was most loved of all the kings, had a nose that was hooked in appearance."
_____ the _____ _____ through the Lord love__ bad__ the kingdom _____ _____ the _____.
I should know that last word, but can't place it. Do I have the others right? Or close? I guess I'll see.
