St Luke 12:49-56
Jesus brings fire on earth
12:49 “I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already ablaze!
12:50 I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what constraint I am under until it is completed!
12:51 Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!
12:52 From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three;
12:53 they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
12:54 He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain,” and so it happens.
12:55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and it happens.
12:56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?
[49] Πῦρ ἦλθον βαλεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, καὶ τί θέλω εἰ ἤδη ἀνήφθη!
[50] βάπτισμα δὲ ἔχω βαπτισθῆναι, καὶ πῶς συνέχομαι ἕως οὗ τελεσθῇ!
[51] δοκεῖτε ὅτι εἰρήνην παρεγενόμην δοῦναι ἐν τῇ γῇ; οὐχί, λέγω ὑμῖν, ἀλλ᾿ ἢ διαμερισμόν.
[52] ἔσονται γὰρ ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν πέντε ἐν οἴκῳ ἑνὶ διαμεμερισμένοι, τρεῖς ἐπὶ δυσὶ καὶ δύο ἐπὶ τρισί·
[53] διαμερισθήσονται πατὴρ ἐπὶ υἱῷ καὶ υἱὸς ἐπὶ πατρί, μήτηρ ἐπὶ θυγατρὶ καὶ θυγάτηρ ἐπὶ μητρί, πενθερὰ ἐπὶ τὴν νύμφην αὐτῆς καὶ νύμφη ἐπὶ τὴν πενθερὰν αὐτῆς.
[54] ῎Ελεγε δὲ καὶ τοῖς ὄχλοις· ὅταν ἴδητε τὴν νεφέλην ἀνατέλλουσαν ἀπὸ δυσμῶν, εὐθέως λέγετε, ὄμβρος ἔρχεται, καὶ γίνεται οὕτω·
[55] καὶ ὅταν νότον πνέοντα, λέγετε ὅτι καύσων ἔσται, καὶ γίνεται.
[56] ὑποκριταί, τὸ πρόσωπον τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῆς γῆς οἴδατε δοκιμάζειν, τὸν δὲ καιρὸν τοῦτον πῶς οὐ δοκιμάζετε;
Comments
Jesus begins impressively and most emphatically with the word ‘fire’ (v. 49). Vv. 52-3 dwell on dissent and separation within a family; Jesus brings out the notion of domestic divisions by means of the figure of speech known as chiasmus. (Cf. last week’s comments.)
[49] Πῦρ ἦλθον βαλεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν: Πῦρ, ‘fire’ (cf. Engl. pyrotechnics) is emphatic by position: ‘Fire I have come to put on earth’. The word marks a transition without a particle that might connect it to the preceding sentence, a phenomenon called asyndeton (‘unconnected’). βάπτισμα (v.50) is also emphatic by position, but the sentence it ushers in is bound to the preceding one by means of a particle, δέ. βαλεῖν: aor. inf. (here of purpose) < βάλλω, ‘put, set, place’ (Homer, Eur. & post-cl. prose, incl. LXX: LSJ II. s.v., βάλλω, II.6a; Muraoka s.v., 2).
τί θέλω εἰ ἤδη ἀνήφθη: τί θέλω, ‘What do I want…?’ is an ellipse, since ‘more than’ is understood: ‘What more do I want than?’ εἰ ἤδη ἀνήφθη: ‘if it [sc. the fire] has already been kindled’. This conditional clause expresses an unreal, contrary-to-fact condition.
[51] οὐχί, λέγω ὑμῖν, ἀλλ᾿ ἢ διαμερισμόν: Ellipsis, ‘No, I say to you (pl.) [i.e., I have not come to bring peace] but only [sc. to bring] division/ dissension.’ ἀλλ᾿ ἢ, ‘but rather’ is employed usually in a negative statement in cl. Gk., as here.
[52] διαμεμερισμένοι, τρεῖς ἐπὶ δυσὶ καὶ δύο ἐπὶ τρισί: διαμεμερισμένοι, perf. pass. part. < διαμερίζω; the pre-verb δια- highlights the notion of separateness or separation. Hence the part. = ‘divided amongst’. Jesus will stress the occurrence of dissension by means of rhetorical chiasmus, the inversion of parallel members, AB ~ BA, ‘three against two and two against three’.
[53] διαμερισθήσονται πατὴρ ἐπὶ υἱῷ καὶ υἱὸς ἐπὶ πατρί, μήτηρ ἐπὶ θυγατρὶ καὶ θυγάτηρ ἐπὶ μητρί, πενθερὰ ἐπὶ τὴν νύμφην αὐτῆς καὶ νύμφη ἐπὶ τὴν πενθερὰν αὐτῆς: Jesus repeats the vb ‘to be divided’, emphatically placing it at the very beginning (διαμερισθήσονται, ‘will be divided’); the subjects of this vb are formulated as three instances of chiasmus. Threefold chiasmus cannot but reinforce the notion of entanglement and dissension among the five members of the (generic) single household that he just mentioned (v. 52, ἐν οἴκῳ ἑνὶ, ‘within a household SINGLE’).
[54] Ἔλεγε δὲ καὶ τοῖς ὄχλοις: Ἔλεγε, impf., ‘he said, was saying’. The impf. (as here) can be used in the NT to delineate the content of direct speech, esp. longer discourse.
[56] ὑποκριταί: ὑποκριτής, in classical Athens, ‘an actor on the stage’; in the NT ‘a godless person’ (EDNT s.v.).
δοκιμάζειν, δοκιμάζετε: δοκιμάζω, ‘test’ (already cl. Gk: EDNT s.v.. 2); here the meaning is closer to ‘assess’, referring to clouds, winds, and καιρὸν τοῦτον, ‘this particular time’. Καιρός, generally, ‘time’, ‘circumstances’ (LSJ s.v. III. 3; also in LXX: Muraoka s.v., 3). (It is interesting that καιρός in modern Gk can mean ‘weather’.)
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 