Kunigunde Kreuzerin wrote:A question. Apparently all scholars agree that Josephus (
Ant 16: 6: 2) is evidence that the word παρασκευή is a fixed expression for the
day before the Sabbath.
ἐν σάββασιν ἢ τῇ πρὸ αὐτῆς παρασκευῇ ἀπὸ ὥρας ἐνάτης
I am not sure. I think there's a
possibility that it refers just to the
time of activity of the preparation.
But I can not really judge this. What would you think?
Well, this is what I have so far.... The relevant portion of the BAGD entry goes as follows (underlining mine):
• παρασκευή, ῆς, ἡ (s. prec. entry; trag., Hdt.+; Ath. 15, 2) prim. sense ‘preparation’ (Hdt. 9, 82 and Polyaenus 7, 21, 6 τοῦ δείπνου; 7, 27, 3 πολέμου), in our lit. only of a definite day, as the day of preparation for a festival; acc. to Israel’s usage (in this sense only in late pap, s. New Docs 3, 80; Jos., Ant. 16, 163; Synes., Ep. 4 p. 161d) it was Friday, on which day everything had to be prepared for the Sabbath, when no work was permitted....
I have tracked down the underlined sources.
1. "
New Docs 3, 80" = G. H. R. Horsley,
New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity, entry 58 (παρασκευή), page 80:
At New Docs 1977, 67, a possible example was noted of an abbreviation for παρασκευή meaning 'Friday'. A more certain instance is afforded by IGCB 19 (Corinth, VI), a fragmentary Christian epitaph which concludes by providing the date when the deceased died (presumably): μη(νὶ) Σεπ[τεμβρίῳ] ἡμέρα | παρα[σκευή] (Il. 8-9, Bees' reading). Though the final word is partly restored, it can hardly be in doubt in such a dating context. But it should be noted that ἡμέρα cannot be read in Bees' photo of the stone: should the text perhaps read [ἡμέρᾳ] | παρα[σκευῆς]? At Il. 4-6 on the stone the wording λόγ(ον) δώση τῷ κ(υρίο)υ (sic) alludes to Rom. 14.12.
A phrase like "day of Preparation" can hardly negate your instinct that the noun can at least sometimes mean the activity occurring before the Sabbath, not necessarily the name of the day itself, since the presence of the term "day of" automatically turns whatever follows into a makeshift title (much as, for modern Christians, Sunday is the "day of rest").
Notice that this entry refers to the previous year's edition of
New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity, entry 67 (παρασκευή), page 93:
Although this noun is employed in the NT, Jewish writers and ECL to refer to Friday as a specifically Jewish and Jewish Christian usage, no documentary occurrences of the word with this meaning have been noticed hitherto. No examples occur in either CIJ or CPJ; nor do WB and Spoglio provide any help. SEG 728 is a short inscription in a cave from Benler in Ionia (n.d., ed. pr.) whose wording runs: Μητρᾶς (vac.) τῇ ἀγα- | θῇ ΠΑΡΑ | ΣΚΗ
Ed. pr. raises the possibility - it is no more than that - that the capitalized letters may be an abbreviation for παρασκευή and mean 'Friday'.
Not much help there; and the "n.d." abbreviation stands, I think, for "no date", so we cannot even place this inscription in a chronological context, apparently.
2. "Jos.,
Ant. 16, 163" = Josephus,
Antiquities 16.6.2 §162-163, which of course you already brought to light and I reproduce here only for convenience:
Caesar Augustus, high priest and tribune of the people, ordains thus: Since the nation of the Jews hath been found grateful to the Roman people, not only at this time, but in time past also, and chiefly Hyrcanus the high priest, under my father Caesar the emperor, it seemed good to me and my counselors, according to the sentence and oath of the people of Rome, that the Jews have liberty to make use of their own customs, according to the law of their forefathers, as they made use of them under Hyrcanus the high priest of the Almighty God; and that their sacred money be not touched, but be sent to Jerusalem, and that it be committed to the care of the receivers at Jerusalem; and that they be not obliged to go before any judge on the sabbath day, nor on the day of the preparation to it [ἐν σάββασιν ἢ τῇ πρὸ αὐτῆς παρασκευῇ], after the ninth hour.
3. "Synes., Ep. 4 p. 161d" =
Synesius, Epistle 4:
[11] Well, we were perforce satisfied with his explanation so long as daylight lasted and dangers were not imminent, but these failed not to return with the approach of night, for as the hours passed, the seas increased continually in volume. Now it so happened that this was the day on which the Jews make what they term the "Preparation" [ἡμέρα μὲν ἦν ἥντινα ἄγουσιν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι παρασκευήν], and they reckon the night, together with the day following this, as a time during which it is not lawful to work with one's hands. They keep this day holy and apart from the others, and they pass it in rest from labor of all kinds.
Synesius is pretty late (overlapping century IV and V), so of course this may not reflect common usage from century I, but this reference is the most interesting so far, I think, when it comes to evaluating your idea. This instance, despite BDAG using it in order to support the noun as the name of a day of the week, seems to denote the actual activity: "the day on which the Jews make preparation."
I do not (yet) know whether this activity, preparation (for the Sabbath), is ever associated with any day other than Friday, however. But, at any rate, there are some references to chew on.
Ben.