St Luke 9:51-62
Jesus says, Follow me
9:51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.
9:52 And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to prepare for his arrival,
9:53 but they did not receive him because his face was set toward Jerusalem.
9:54 When his disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”
9:55 But he turned and rebuked them.
9:56 Then they went on to another village.
9:57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
9:58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
9:59 To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
9:60 And Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
9:61 Another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.”
9:62 And Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
[51] ᾿Εγένετο δὲ ἐν τῷ συμπληροῦσθαι τὰς ἡμέρας τῆς ἀναλήψεως αὐτοῦ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐστήριξε τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ τοῦ πορεύεσθαι εἰς ῾Ιερουσαλήμ,
[52] καὶ ἀπέστειλεν ἀγγέλους πρὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ. καὶ πορευθέντες εἰσῆλθον εἰς κώμην Σαμαρειτῶν, ὥστε ἑτοιμάσαι αὐτῷ·
[53] καὶ οὐκ ἐδέξαντο αὐτόν, ὅτι τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ἦν πορευόμενον εἰς ῾Ιερουσαλήμ.
[54] ἰδόντες δὲ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ᾿Ιάκωβος καὶ ᾿Ιωάννης εἶπον· Κύριε, θέλεις εἴπωμεν πῦρ καταβῆναι ἀπὸ οὐρανοῦ καὶ ἀναλῶσαι αὐτούς, ὡς καὶ ᾿Ηλίας ἐποίησε;
[55] στραφεὶς δὲ ἐπετίμησεν αὐτοῖς καὶ εἶπεν· οὐκ οἴδατε ποίου πνεύματός ἐστε ὑμεῖς·
[56] ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἦλθε ψυχὰς ἀνθρώπων ἀπολέσαι, ἀλλὰ σῶσαι. καὶ ἐπορεύθησαν εἰς ἑτέραν κώμην.
[57] ᾿Εγένετο δὲ πορευομένων αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ εἶπέ τις πρὸς αὐτόν· ἀκολουθήσω σοι ὅπου ἐὰν ἀπέρχῃ, Κύριε.
[58] καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς· αἱ ἀλώπεκες φωλεοὺς ἔχουσι καὶ τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ κατασκηνώσεις, ὁ δὲ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἔχει ποῦ τὴν κεφαλὴν κλίνῃ.
[59] Εἶπε δὲ πρὸς ἕτερον· ἀκολούθει μοι· ὁ δὲ εἶπε· Κύριε, ἐπίτρεψόν μοι ἀπελθόντι πρῶτον θάψαι τὸν πατέρα μου.
[60] εἶπε δὲ αὐτῷ ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς· ἄφες τοὺς νεκροὺς θάψαι τοὺς ἑαυτῶν νεκρούς· σὺ δὲ ἀπελθὼν διάγγελλε τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ.
[61] Εἶπε δὲ καὶ ἕτερος· ἀκολουθήσω σοι, Κύριε· πρῶτον δὲ ἐπίτρεψόν μοι ἀποτάξασθαι τοῖς εἰς τὸν οἶκόν μου.
[62] εἶπε δὲ ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς πρὸς αὐτόν· οὐδεὶς ἐπιβαλὼν τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ ἐπ᾿ ἄροτρον καὶ βλέπων εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω εὔθετός ἐστιν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ.
Comments
St Luke draws on LXX Hebraisms centred on τὸ πρόσωπον, ‘face’. The Greek text (vv. 54 and 55) contains phrases not included in the English text.
Sources cited:
EDNT = Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, 3 vols, eds, H. Balz & G. Schneider, Grand Rapids, MI, 1990-3 (orig. Stuttgart, 1978-83).
LSJ = H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, H. S. Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th edn, with new Supplement, Oxford, 1996 (available online).
Montanari = F. Montanari, The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek, 3rd edn, Leiden, Boston, 2013.
Muraoka = T. Muraoka, Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, Louvain, Paris, Walpole, MA, 2009.
Trembelas = Π. Τρεμπέλα, Υπόμνημα στο κατά Λουκάν Ευαγγέλιον (οnline)
[51] αὐτὸς ἐστήριξε τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ τοῦ πορεύεσθαι εἰς ῾Ιερουσαλήμ: στηρίζω, ‘Ι make fast, fix’ (LSJ s.v., A.3); the same basic meaning in LXX, ‘to place firmly and determinedly’ (Muraoka s.v., 1). τὸ πρόσωπον: ‘face’ (LSJ s.v., 1). ἐστήριξε τὸ πρόσωπον: ‘he set his face…’ is a Hebraism. ‘Face’ in LXX can be, as here, an indicator of ‘one’s inner feelings and attitudes’, cf. Engl. save face, shame-faced (Muraoka s.v. πρόσωπον, 7). ‘Face’ also occurs in vv. 52 and 53. The articular inf. τοῦ πορεύεσθαι (‘to walk, go on foot’ [Montanari: cl. Gk, freq. in NT]) is the equivalent of a final clause. Hence: ‘he determined to journey on foot to Jerusalem.’
[52] πρὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ: ‘ahead of’ (Muraoka s.v. πρόσωπον, 6h), another Hebraism, cf. Joel 2.11.
[53] τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ: ‘his face’ replaces ‘he’, yet another Hebraism found in LXX. Here the part represents the whole (this trope is called a metonymy); on this Hebraism see Trembelas ad loc.
[54] θέλεις εἴπωμεν πῦρ καταβῆναι ἀπὸ οὐρανοῦ καὶ ἀναλῶσαι αὐτούς ὡς καὶ ᾿Ηλίας ἐποίησε;: εἴπωμεν, aor. subj., 1st pers. pl. < λέγω. This vb depends on θέλεις, ‘do you wish that …’ ἐθέλω (Hom., usually Attic prose, comedy, & koine; θέλω in trag. & NT), ‘I want, desire, wish’; ἐθέλω folld. by subj., as here, also occurs in trag. (LSJ s.v. I.5).
λέγω τινά ποιεῖν τι, ‘tell someone (acc.) + to do something’, i.e. ‘command someone to do something’ (trag., cl. prose: LSJ s.v., 5); also in LXX (Muraoka s.v., 3). Hence: ‘Do you wish (θέλεις) that we command (εἴπωμεν) fire to descend (καταβῆναι) from the heavens and to burn them up (ἀναλῶσαι αὐτούς)?’ The phrase ὡς καὶ ᾿Ηλίας ἐποίησε (‘just as Elijah did’) is absent from the Codex Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, etc. (Trembelas ad loc.); the Engl. text also omits it.
[55] οὐκ οἴδατε ποίου πνεύματός ἐστε ὑμεῖς: ΄you do not know of what spirit you are (sc. sons)?’ ποίου, gen. sg., ποῖος, ον, α, interrog. pron., adj. (‘which’, ‘what’) modifying πνεύματος (‘spirit’, disposition’, ‘propensity’); see Trembelas ad loc. This entire sentence—Jesus’ reprimand—is omitted from the Engl. text.
[58] ὁ δὲ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἔχει ποῦ τὴν κεφαλὴν κλίνῃ: ‘the Son of Man has not where to incline his head’. Jesus refers to himself in the third person with a periphrasis (‘Son of Man’), which is theologically understandable but noteworthy from a grammatical perspective.
ποῦ τὴν κεφαλὴν κλίνῃ (‘where to incline his head’) is an indirect question. The expression ‘to incline/ rest one’s head’ is a periphrasis for ‘to sleep’ (EDNT s.v. κεφαλή, 4i).
[60] ἄφες τοὺς νεκροὺς θάψαι τοὺς ἑαυτῶν νεκρούς˙ σὺ δὲ ἀπελθὼν διάγγελλε τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ: νεκρός, ὁ, as a subst., ‘corpse’ (Hom. onwards: LSJ s.v., I.1); in the pl., as here, ‘the dead’ (Homer, LXX, NT). In Homer, Odyssey 11 νεκροί are the dead in the underworld.
θάψαι: aor. inf. θάπτω, ‘honour with funeral rites’ (already in Homer: LSJ s.v.), also in LXX (Muraoka ); also v. 59.
As in other cultures across history, ancient Greek custom required that family members, including relations by marriage, tend to the funeral rites of a member. Failure to bury the dead, even enemies fallen in battle, was an offence against divine law, and threatened the cosmic order, as illustrated by Sophocles’ tragedy Antigone.
[61] ἀποτάξασθαι τοῖς εἰς τὸν οἶκόν μου: ἀποτάσσομαι, mid., c. dat., ‘bid adieu to’; in LXX (Muraoka s.v., 2). To bury the dead, mentioned as a pretext in v. 60, is likewise a way of saying farewell. εἰς τὸν οἶκόν μου: in koine the prep. phrase ἐν + dat. (expressing a stationary position or location) is often replaced by εἰς + acc. (The latter construction is standard in modern Greek.)
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 