12-27-2014, 04:18 PM
I?m grateful for these kind words, guys, thank you. And thank you to Dukhrana for featuring the Codex <!-- s
--><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s --> It is no small thing to share with the world the oldest known Aramaic images of Book of Revelation.
And yes that?s right Distazo ? Revelation 16:16 and Matthew 15:39 have the exact same spelling: mgdu. And the text of Rev 16:16 specifically highlights mgdu is a place called mgdu in ?Hebrew?.
As I highlighted above, in Hebrew mgdu means "pleasant" and "valuable", which becomes quite relevant in the Crawford Codex -- the vocabulary, grammar, and paragraph structure all suggest that Crawford is most likely (or first) referring to mgdu in a positive sense rather than a place of war:
In defense of the 'war connection' though for mgdu, scholars point to a history of wars associated with the ancient Israeli city mgdu, and some scholars have (though debatable) etymologically connected mgdu with words like gdd (?cut?) and gdud (?band of raiders?). I naturally think the Father fulfills any and all possibilities He desires, so it may ultimately be that more than one reading is fulfilled. Indeed, in the ancient location of mgdu there was a temple called Magdal. And the same logic applies for different places called ?Megiddo?. I?ve seen a Greek and Latin scholar use two Alexandrian texts with ?MGADAN? to ask whether the Aramaic is a variant of that Greek mistranslation?! I would just say that the farther one deviates from the literal text (i.e., Magadan or Migdol etc) the more unlikely it becomes to one?s perspective (i.e., it seems unlikely that Rev 16:16 would be fulfilled in Migdol Egypt, or some miscellaneous land of the tribe Gad even though arguably gd is similar to mgdu).
Fun to think about the possibilities though for what the Father will accomplish in this knSh ("gathering") from Rev 16:16! Often I learn something unexpected and helpful in one way or another just by keeping an open mind?
--><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s --> It is no small thing to share with the world the oldest known Aramaic images of Book of Revelation. And yes that?s right Distazo ? Revelation 16:16 and Matthew 15:39 have the exact same spelling: mgdu. And the text of Rev 16:16 specifically highlights mgdu is a place called mgdu in ?Hebrew?.
As I highlighted above, in Hebrew mgdu means "pleasant" and "valuable", which becomes quite relevant in the Crawford Codex -- the vocabulary, grammar, and paragraph structure all suggest that Crawford is most likely (or first) referring to mgdu in a positive sense rather than a place of war:
gregglaser Wrote:? 16:16 - SP has an extra word here. SP has unknSh anun ("and will assemble them") in the plural form, whereas Crawford has simply unknSh ("and will assemble") in the singular form. Crawford matches the singular tense of the previous verse (Rev 16:15). By contrast, SP is plural so it requires reference back two verses to the anun ("them") in Rev 16:14. This is a very important distinction because it means that SP connects mgdu ("Megiddo" or "Armageddon") with war. By contrast, Crawford opens up the possibility that mgdu ("Megiddo") is not a place of war (or at least not exclusively a place of war), but rather is (also) the positive place where a last remnant ('he/she who watches and guards his/her garments') can assemble for the blessing of meeting ?Yahshua the thief?. Indeed, in Hebrew mgdu means "pleasant" and "valuable", which sounds like it could be a fitting place for 'Yahshua the thief' to steal away this remnant. Moreover, the dichotomy of verses further supports the Crawford reading, as Rev 16:12-14 describe evil spirits and war, whereas Rev 16:15-16 appear to focus on the positive, namely Yahshua and the remnant.
In defense of the 'war connection' though for mgdu, scholars point to a history of wars associated with the ancient Israeli city mgdu, and some scholars have (though debatable) etymologically connected mgdu with words like gdd (?cut?) and gdud (?band of raiders?). I naturally think the Father fulfills any and all possibilities He desires, so it may ultimately be that more than one reading is fulfilled. Indeed, in the ancient location of mgdu there was a temple called Magdal. And the same logic applies for different places called ?Megiddo?. I?ve seen a Greek and Latin scholar use two Alexandrian texts with ?MGADAN? to ask whether the Aramaic is a variant of that Greek mistranslation?! I would just say that the farther one deviates from the literal text (i.e., Magadan or Migdol etc) the more unlikely it becomes to one?s perspective (i.e., it seems unlikely that Rev 16:16 would be fulfilled in Migdol Egypt, or some miscellaneous land of the tribe Gad even though arguably gd is similar to mgdu).
Fun to think about the possibilities though for what the Father will accomplish in this knSh ("gathering") from Rev 16:16! Often I learn something unexpected and helpful in one way or another just by keeping an open mind?