Thursday, September 17, 2020

Peder Borgen on the use of τρωγω in John 6

 

Commenting on the use of τρωγω in John 6:54f, Norwegian biblical scholar Peder Borgen noted:

 

It is strange that in vv. 54.56.57.58 the word τρωγειν is used as the present substitute for φαγειν instead of the usual εσθιειν. John’s vocabulary has, however, parallels in Hellenistic Greek usage. The word τρωγειν is also used in the quotation of Ps. 41, 10 as a translation of the Hebrew אוכל in John 13, 18 (LXX translates as ο εσθιων). There are even agreements in wording between this quotation and John 6, 58.

 

John 6, 58    ο τρωγειν τουτον τον αρτον

John 13, 18 ο τρωγειν μου τον αρτον (Ps. 41, 10)

 

These agreements and the fact that the word τρωγειν occurs only in the two eucharistic passages in John indicate that it comes from the eucharistic traditions, probably as a peculiar translation of Ps. 41, 10. In any case, the presence of τρωγειν in John 13, 18 and the parallels in Hellenistic Greek texts show that no special theological significance should be attached to the use of the word in 6, 54.56.57.58. (Peder Borgen, Bread from Heaven: An Exegetical Study of the Concept of Manna in the Gospel of John and the Writings of Philo [2d ed.; The Johannine Monograph Series 4; Leiden: Brill, 1981; repr., Eugene, Oreg.: Wipf and Stock, 2017], 92-93)

 

In the above, Borgen referenced the entry for τρωγω in Moulon and Milligan’s The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament. Here is the entry in full (note how it includes non-literal/metaphorical usages of the verb, contra RC apologists who claim it is never used in such a way):

 

τργω,

     orig. of animals, “munnch,” “crunch,” “eat audibly,” then of men, “eat vegetables, fruit, etc,” as in Herod, ii. 37, and then “eat” generally. The word, outside the Fourth Gospel (654 al.), is found in the NT only in Mt 2433 (the Lukan parallel 1727 here substitutes σθω): cf. Syll 805 (= 3 1171)10 δωκεν εζωμον νστ τργειν. Other exx. are P Lond 12177 (iii/A.D.) (= I. p. 89) ψυχρ τργοντα κατακαεσθαι, and Preisigke 57305 (= P Bouriant 1160) a school-exercise of iv/v A.D. containing a saying of Diogenes who, when he saw a certain man eating e;;σθοντα), remarked— νξ τν μραν τργει. There seems no good reason for assuming the survival of any difference in meaning between the two verbs that supplied a present stem for φαγεν: but see Haussleiter in Archiv fiir lat. Lexicographie ix. (1896), p. 300 ff. In MGr τρ(γ)ω is the usual word for “eat.”

 

     In one of the Klepht ballads edited by Abbott Songs p. 22, the verb is used to denote security. The famous Andritsos, besieged in the great Monastery,11 τρωγε κ πινε, while his enemies stormed at the gate. For the compd. πιτργω cf. P Oxy IX. 118511 (c. A.D. 200) παδα τν μεικρν δε ρτον σθειν, λας πιτργειν, ψαρου μ θινγνειν, “a little boy must eat bread, nibble besides some salt, and not touch the sauce” (Ed.). For τραγματα = “the dessert” or δευτρα τρπεζα (secunda mensa, bellaria), see Cagnat IV. 10006 (ii/B.C.). 

 

For more on John 6 and other topics relating to the Eucharist, see:

 

Responses to Robert Sungenis, Not By BreadAlone (2000/2009)


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