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More fine points for akhan Steve's article
#1
Shlama Akhay,

I was looking over akhan Steve Caruso's article entitled 'Burnished Brass'.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.aramaicnt.org/index.php?PAGE=Revelation/Burnished">http://www.aramaicnt.org/index.php?PAGE ... /Burnished</a><!-- m -->

I noticed that the Old Testament had very similar expressions, particularly Daniel 10:6. When we compare akhan Steve's verses {Revelation 1:15 and 2:18} with Daniel 10:6 here's what we come up with...

"And his feet like unto burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace; and his voice as the voice of many waters." --Revelation 1:15

"And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet are like unto burnished brass:"--Revelation 2:18

His body [01472] g@viyah
also [was] like the beryl, [08658] tarshiysh
and his face [06440] paniym
as the appearance [04758] mar'eh
of lightning, [01300] baraq
and his eyes [05869] `ayin
as lamps [03940] lappiyd
of fire, [0784] 'esh

and his arms [02220] z@rowa`
and his feet [04772] marg@lah
like in colour [05869] `ayin
to polished [07044] qalal
brass, [05178] n@chosheth

and the voice [06963] qowl
of his words [01697] dabar
like the voice [06963] qowl
of a multitude. [01995] hamown


(Daniel 10:6 from the Blue Letter Bible)

In my Sword Project online Bible, I used Rahlfs' Morphologically Tagged Septuagint to see if the Greek expression for 'burnished brass'-(chalkolibano) in Revelation 1:15 and 2:18 was the same in the LXX of Daniel 10:6 for 'polished brass'. Since Rev. 1:15 & 2:18 are so reminiscent in their expressions to Daniel 10:6 (as you can clearly see from the color-coding above), one might very well expect to see the word 'chalkolibano' used for 'polished / burnished brass' in Daniel 10:6, right?...Wrong!!
The expression used in the Septuagint is two words instead of one and describes bright brass so much better than 'chalkolibano' in the GNT it isn't even funny!!
The phrase used in the LXX is 'chalkou stilbontos'

#4744 stilbo stil'-bo apparently a primary verb; to gleam, i.e. flash intensely:-- Translated in the KJV as 'shining'

When you break down the Grk. word 'chalkolibano' into the two words it's composed of you would have 'chalkou'-(brass)~and 'libanos'-(frankincense).
Brass-frankincense...hmmm...try to make some sense out of that one!! Well...James Strong of Strong's Dictionary fame has done just that...or one can hope... <!-- sSmile --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/smile.gif" alt="Smile" title="Smile" /><!-- sSmile --> ...

[James Strong wrote]
Neuter of a compound of G5475 and G3030 (in the implied meaning of whiteness or brilliancy); burnished copper, an alloy of copper (or gold) and silver having a brilliant lustre. [end of quote]

Akhan Steve does a good job of emphasizing the foreign origin that Strong's Greek Dictionary mentions. Let's look at G3030 from the above quote...

lib'-an-os
Of foreign origin [H3828]; the incense tree, that is, (by implication) incense itself.

Notice that Strong's leads us from G3030 (Greek Concordance) to H3828 (Hebrew Concordance)...

leb-o-naw', leb-o-naw'
From H3826; frankincense (from its whiteness or perhaps that of its smoke).

Since this entry refers us to H3826, let's look at it...

lib-baw'
Feminine of H3820; the heart.

Well...I'm not sure how 'lib-baw'-(heart) evolved into 'leb-o-naw'-(frankincense) <!-- s:dontgetit: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/dontgetit.gif" alt=":dontgetit:" title="Dont Get It" /><!-- s:dontgetit: --> but I suppose that's a side-issue. <!-- sSmile --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/smile.gif" alt="Smile" title="Smile" /><!-- sSmile --> The main issue is that the Greek appears rather strained and wishy-washy, borrowing from Heb. 'leb-o-naw' and using two nouns in an awkward consruct word that is not found anywhere in any Greek writings whatsoever (as our fellow-researcher and avid Syriac student Steve Caruso has stated in his article <!-- sSmile --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/smile.gif" alt="Smile" title="Smile" /><!-- sSmile --> ).
The expression in Daniel 10:6 (LXX) for 'polished brass' is much more natural because it uses a noun followed by a verb (chalkou stilbontos) as opposed to the GNT of Rev. 1:15 & 2:18 which has two nouns stuck back to back in one word (chalkolibano). Packard's Morpological Analysis Codes gives this for 'stilbontos'...

Part of speech: verb, progressive, regular present
Tense: present
Voice: active
Mood: participle
Participle Case: genitive
Participle Number: singular

Any thoughts?

P. S. The only verse in the GNT using 'stilbo' that I could find was Mark 9:3--Translated 'glistening' in the Amplified Bible...

Mark 9:3 And His garments became glistening, intensely white, as no fuller (cloth dresser, launderer) on earth could bleach them.

Shlama w'Burkate, Larry Kelsey
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#2
Shlama Akhay,

'calkolibanw' in Revelation 1:15 & 2:18 doesn't seem to be a copyist error from Daniel 10:6 (LXX)-'calkou stilbontov'-(rendered as 'shining brass' in Brenton's translation of the Septuagint). They look too different but I thought it was a pleasant coincidence that one of the places where 'stilbw' was used in the LXX, the corresponding word in the Hebrew text is 'lahav'...

bhl lahab
BDB Definition:
1) flame, blade
1a) flame
1b) of flashing point of spear or blade of sword

lahab lah'-hab (Strong's)
From an unused root meaning to gleam, a flash; figuratively a sharply polished blade or point of a weapon.

Since 'lahab' and 'lebonaw' don't seem to be related, I'll have to scrap that idea too! Shucks!

Well, I tried, folks! <!-- sSleepy --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/sleepy.gif" alt="Sleepy" title="Sleepy" /><!-- sSleepy -->

Shlama w'Burkate, Larry Kelsey
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