In
another post I listed instances of the verb ὁρίζω from the LXX and the Greek NT. But I had not fully gone through them yet. The time has come.
The question here is how good a word ὁρίζω is for expressing that some contingency
which is already the case is now being declared, shown, made known, proven, or acknowledged. For the interpretation to which Bernard is subjecting this word in Romans 1.4 is that Jesus was already, in fact, the son of God, but he was finally
declared to be the son of God by his resurrection. The other interpretation on the table is that this word is expressing a new state of affairs: Jesus was not the son of God all along, but now, at his resurrection, he is.
The following instances from that list of instances of ὁρίζω involve binding oneself with an oath:
Numbers 30.2 (30.3 LXX): "If a man makes a vow to the Lord, or takes an oath to bind himself with a binding obligation, he shall not violate his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth."
Numbers 30.3 (30.4 LXX): "Also if a woman makes a vow to the Lord, and binds herself by an obligation in her father's house in her youth...."
Numbers 30.4 (30.5 LXX): "...and her father hears her vow and her obligation by which she has bound herself, and her father says nothing to her, then all her vows shall stand, and every obligation by which she has bound herself shall stand."
Numbers 30.5 (30.6 LXX): "But if her father should forbid her on the day he hears of it, none of her vows or her obligations by which she has bound herself shall stand; and the Lord will forgive her because her father had forbidden her."
Numbers 30.6 (30.7 LXX): "However, if she should marry while under her vows or the rash statement of her lips by which she has bound herself...."
Numbers 30.7 (30.8 LXX): "...and her husband hears of it and says nothing to her on the day he hears it, then her vows shall stand and her obligations by which she has bound herself shall stand."
Numbers 30.8 (30.9 LXX): "But if on the day her husband hears of it, he forbids her, then he shall annul her vow which she is under and the rash statement of her lips by which she has bound herself; and the Lord will forgive her."
Numbers 30.11 (30.12 LXX): "...and her husband heard it, but said nothing to her and did not forbid her, then all her vows shall stand, and every obligation by which she bound herself shall stand."
I do not think that what is in view here is an oath already taken and now finally being recognized. No, the person is making an oath here and now. There was no oath in effect before, but now there is one. This usage is consonant with Jesus becoming the son of God at his resurrection, not merely being recognized as such.
The following instances involve the setting of boundaries or borders around land:
Numbers 34.6: "As for the western border, the Great Sea shall mark it off, that is, its coastline; this shall be your west border."
Joshua 13.7: "Now therefore, apportion this land for an inheritance to the nine tribes, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. From Jordan to the great sea westward thou shalt give it them: the great sea shall mark it off."
Joshua 13.27: ...and in the valley, Beth-haram and Beth-nimrah and Succoth and Zaphon, the rest of the kingdom of Sihon king of Heshbon, and the Jordan shall mark it off, as far as the lower end of the Sea of Chinnereth beyond the Jordan to the east.
Joshua 15.12: "And the Great Sea shall mark off the western border, even its coastline. This is the border around the sons of Judah according to their families."
Joshua 18.20: Moreover, the Jordan shall mark it off on the east side. This was the inheritance of the sons of Benjamin, according to their families and according to its borders all around.
Joshua 23.4: "See, I have apportioned to you these nations which remain as an inheritance for your tribes, with all the nations beginning at Jordan; and some I have destroyed; and the Great Sea shall mark it off westward."
Ezekiel 47.20: "This part of the Great Sea marks it off, till one comes opposite the entrance of Emath. This is the west side."
Again, I think the sense is clearly that previously unmarked land is being marked off. There is no phase in view during which the land is marked off but not yet recognized as such. The borders are not being discovered in these verses; they are being created, and once created they will continue to mark off the land in perpetuity.
The following instance involves the casting of lots:
Proverbs 18.18: The lot puts an end to contentions and decides between the mighty.
There is a period before the decision is made; the lot is cast; and then there is a period in which the lot's decision prevails. I do not see a time period during which the decision has been made but nobody knows it yet.
The following instance is similar, but instead of a lot making the decision it is a person:
3 Maccabees 5.42: The king, just like another Phalaris, a prey to thoughtlessness, made no account of the changes which his own mind had undergone, issuing in the deliverance of the Jews. He swore a fruitless oath, and determined forthwith to send them to Hades, crushed by the knees and feet of the elephants.
The following instances involve the issuing of decrees:
Daniel 6.12: Then they approached and spoke before the king about the king's injunction, "Did you not issue an injunction [determine] that any man who makes a petition to any god or man besides you, O king, for thirty days, is to be cast into the lions' den?" The king answered and said, "The statement is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be revoked."
3 Maccabees 6.36: They made a public ordinance to commemorate these things for generations to come, as long as they should be sojourners. They thus established these days as days of mirth, not for the purpose of drinking or luxury, but because God had saved them.
Again, I do not see these verses as implying a period during which the decree is unknown, finally to be declared publicly. First there was no decree. Then the decree was issued (determined, made). And now there is a decree in force.
I am honestly not sure about this next instance:
Proverbs 16.30: And the man that fixes his eyes devises perverse things, and marks out with his lips all evil: he is a furnace of wickedness.
Is the evil already there, and now being revealed by the man's lips? Or are the lips actually creating evil (in the form of ill-meant words)? The Hebrew seems to mean someone who pinches or presses his lips together, so the Greek is not very close in meaning here.
This brings us to the New Testament instances:
Luke 22.22: "For indeed, the Son of Man is going as it has been determined; but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!"
Acts 2.23: "...this Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death."
Acts 10.42: "And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead."
Acts 11.29: And in the proportion that any of the disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution for the relief of the brethren living in Judea.
Acts 17.26: "And He made from one, every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times, and the boundaries of their habitation...."
Acts 17.31: "...because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead."
Hebrews 4.7: He again fixes a certain day, "Today," saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, "Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts."
Note that, every time the translation "determine" is used of the verb in question, it means a decision and
not a discovery; it is speaking to the moment when something new is put into play, not to any moment when something already in play is merely being declared or acknowledged or demonstrated. Where the translation is "appoint", it is God doing the appointing; it seems highly unlikely that God is discovering or merely declaring/acknowledging Jesus to be the eschatological judge; no, God is
making him the judge, deciding that he
will be the judge. In Acts 17.31 the appointment or determination is specifically distinguished from the proof of it to all humankind. Jesus was appointed (time unspecified), and then his appointment was proven by the resurrection. By contrast, Romans 1.4 places the appointment
itself at the resurrection.