spin wrote: ↑Thu Nov 16, 2017 5:02 pmSorry, Steven, the Greek idiom
εν οικω is quite clear, = "
at home", note no "his" (see 1 Cor 11:34). (When you comment on this sort of issue, you must look at the Greek.)
To illustrate what spin is talking about here....
Many if not most times the word οἶκος ("house") is used, the noun is modified in some way, letting us know whose house it is. For example:
Mark 8.3: 3 "...and if I send them away hungry to their home [εἰς οἶκον αὐτῶν], they will faint on the way; and some of them have come from a distance."
In such cases there is no ambiguity. The phrase "the house of the Lord" is used constantly in the historical books of the LXX, referring to the temple. But what happens if there is no modifier?
Mark 2.1: 1 And when He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home [ἐν οἴκῳ].
Mark 3.20: 20 And He comes home [ἔρχεται εἰς οἶκον], and the multitude gathers again, to such an extent that they cannot even eat a meal.
Mark 7.17: 17 And when leaving the multitude He had come into the house [εἰσῆλθεν εἰς οἶκον], His disciples questioned Him about the parable.
Mark 9.28: 28 And when He had come into the house [εἰσελθόντος αὐτοῦ εἰς οἶκον], His disciples began questioning Him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?"
Well, usually such a phrase is referring to the home of whoever is in focus at the time. Two of the translations above use "at home" to gloss the Greek phrase, while the two that do not use that translation probably refrain from doing so in order to capture the force of the prefixed εἰσ- before the participle in addition to the participle εἰς itself, and "into home" does not work in English.
Mark 2.1 uses the Greek phrase ἐν οἴκῳ. This is how that phrase fares in translations of other literature:
Deuteronomy 6.7: 7 "And you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house [בְּבֵיתֶ֙ךָ, "in your house," with the masculine second-person singular suffix; LXX ἐν οἴκῳ, "at home"] and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up."
Deuteronomy 11.19: 19 "And you shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house [בְּבֵיתֶ֙ךָ, "in your house," with the masculine second-person singular suffix; LXX ἐν οἴκῳ, "at home"] and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up."
1 Samuel 19.9: 9 Now there was an evil spirit from Yahweh on Saul as he was sitting in his house [בְּבֵית֣וֹ, "in his house," with the masculine third-person singular suffix; LXX ἐν οἴκῳ, "at home"] with his spear in his hand, and David was playing the harp with his hand.
Psalm 68.6 (67.7 LXX): 6 God makes a home for the lonely [ὁ θεὸς κατοικίζει μονοτρόπους ἐν οἴκῳ]; He leads out the prisoners into prosperity; only the rebellious dwell in a parched land (NASB). / God gives the desolate a home to dwell in [ὁ θεὸς κατοικίζει μονοτρόπους ἐν οἴκῳ]; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity; but the rebellious dwell in a parched land (RSV).
Psalms of Solomon 12.5 (translation by R. H. Charles): 5 May the Lord preserve the quiet soul that hateth the unrighteous; and may the Lord establish the man that followeth peace at home [ἐν οἴκῳ].
1 Corinthians 11.34: 34 If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home [ἐν οἴκῳ], so that you may not come together for judgment. And the remaining matters I shall arrange when I come.
1 Corinthians 14.35: 35 And if they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home [ἐν οἴκῳ]; for it is improper for a woman to speak in church.
Strabo, Geography 13.1.38 (translation by H. C. Hamilton): 38 .... (It was at this time that the poet Alcaeus, as he himself says, when in danger in some battle, threw away his arms and fled. He charged a messenger with injunctions to inform those at home [τοῖς ἐν οἴκῳ] that Alcaeus was safe, but that he did not bring away his arms. These were dedicated by the Athenians as an offering in the temple of Minerva Glaucopis.)
Especially instructive are those examples in which the Hebrew expressly uses a pronominal suffix ("your" or "his") but the Old Greek translates using the simple, unmodified phrase ἐν οἴκῳ, assuming that the noun would be understood as the person's home.
Mark 3.20 uses the Greek phrase εἰς οἶκον. This is how that phrase fares in translations of other literature (I have included one instance of the similar ἐπ᾽ οἴκου, as well):
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4.2.1 (translation by Charles Henry Oldfather): 1 The Greek account of Dionysus runs like this: Cadmus, the son of Agenor, was sent forth from Phoenicia by the king to seek out Europê, under orders either to bring him the maiden or never to come back to Phoenicia. After Cadmus had traversed a wide territory without being able to find her, he despaired of ever returning to his home [εἰς οἶκον]; and when he had arrived in Boeotia, in obedience to the oracle which he had received he founded the city of Thebes. Here he made his home and marrying Harmonia, the daughter of Aphroditê, he begat by her Semelê, Ino, Autonoê, Agavê, and Polydorus.
Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War 1.87.5 (translation by Thomas Hobbes): This done, their confederates went home [ἀπεχώρησαν ἐπ᾽ οἴκου]; and so did also afterwards the Athenians when they had dispatched the business they came about. [Benjamin Jowett has it that "the allies returned home." Richard Crawley has it that "the delegates returned home."]
Sophocles, Philoctetes, lines 239-240a (Neoptolemus speaking, translation by Sir Richard Jebb): 239 My birthplace is the island 240a Scyros, and I am sailing homeward [ἐς οἶκον].
Aeschylus, Eumenides, lines 454-461 (Orestes speaking, translation by Herbert Weir Smyth): 454 As to my family, you will soon learn. 455 I am an Argive; my father — you rightly inquire about him — 456 was Agamemnon, the commander of the naval forces; 457 along with him, you made Troy, the city of Ilion, 458 to be no city. He did not die nobly, 459 after he came home [μολὼν εἰς οἶκον]; but my black-hearted 460 mother killed him after she covered him in 461 a crafty snare that still remains to witness his murder in the bath.
1 Samuel 6.7: 7 "Now therefore take and prepare a new cart and two milch cows on which there has never been a yoke; and hitch the cows to the cart and take their calves home [εἰς οἶκον], away from them."
1 Samuel 6.10: 10 Then the men did so, and took two milch cows and hitched them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home [εἰς οἶκον].
1 Kings 13.7: 7 Then the king said to the man of God, "Come home [εἰς οἶκον] with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward."
Susanna 1.13: 13 They said to each other, "Let us go home [εἰς οἶκον], for it is mealtime (RSV)."
Once again, the assumption is in play that, if the expression is not modified, the house is actually the home for whoever is in focus.
When the noun for "house" is modified by so much as a direct article, this idiom may no longer apply. The article may be there to refer the reader back to a domicile previously mentioned or assumed.
The sibling noun οἰκία does not always seem to have the same homey "feel" to it:
Mark 6.10: 10 And He said to them, "Wherever you enter a house [εἰσέλθητε εἰς οἰκίαν], stay there until you leave town."
Mark 7.24: 24 And from there He arose and went away to the region of Tyre. And when He had entered a house [εἰσελθὼν εἰς οἰκίαν], He wanted no one to know of it; yet He could not escape notice.
Neither the hypothetical house in 6.10 nor the actual house in 7.24 can be Jesus' home in Capernaum.
But phrases with an unmodified οἶκος are pretty clear, I think. There may be exceptions, but the usual meaning is that the noun refers to the home of the character in focus.
ETA: Just for reference, here is every instance of οἶκος and of οἰκία in the standard critical text of the gospel of Mark:
οἶκος
Mark 2.1: 1 Καὶ εἰσελθὼν πάλιν εἰς Καφαρναοὺμ δι᾽ ἡμερῶν ἠκούσθη ὅτι ἐν οἴκῳ ἐστίν.
Mark 2.11: 11 σοὶ λέγω, ἔγειρε ἆρον τὸν κράβαττόν σου καὶ ὕπαγε εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου.
Mark 2.26: 26 πῶς εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπὶ Ἀβιαθὰρ ἀρχιερέως καὶ τοὺς ἄρτους τῆς προθέσεως ἔφαγεν, οὓς οὐκ ἔξεστιν φαγεῖν εἰ μὴ τοὺς ἱερεῖς, καὶ ἔδωκεν καὶ τοῖς σὺν αὐτῷ οὖσιν;
Mark 3.20: 20 Καὶ ἔρχεται εἰς οἶκον· καὶ συνέρχεται πάλιν [ὁ] ὄχλος, ὥστε μὴ δύνασθαι αὐτοὺς μηδὲ ἄρτον φαγεῖν.
Mark 5.19: 19 καὶ οὐκ ἀφῆκεν αὐτόν, ἀλλὰ λέγει αὐτῷ· ὕπαγε εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου πρὸς τοὺς σοὺς καὶ ἀπάγγειλον αὐτοῖς ὅσα ὁ κύριός σοι πεποίηκεν καὶ ἠλέησέν σε.
Mark 5.38: 38 καὶ ἔρχονται εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ ἀρχισυναγώγου, καὶ θεωρεῖ θόρυβον καὶ κλαίοντας καὶ ἀλαλάζοντας πολλά....
Mark 7.17: 17 Καὶ ὅτε εἰσῆλθεν εἰς οἶκον ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄχλου, ἐπηρώτων αὐτὸν οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ τὴν παραβολήν.
Mark 7.30: 30 καὶ ἀπελθοῦσα εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτῆς εὗρεν τὸ παιδίον βεβλημένον ἐπὶ τὴν κλίνην καὶ τὸ δαιμόνιον ἐξεληλυθός.
Mark 8.3: 3 καὶ ἐὰν ἀπολύσω αὐτοὺς νήστεις εἰς οἶκον αὐτῶν, ἐκλυθήσονται ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ· καί τινες αὐτῶν ἀπὸ μακρόθεν ἥκασιν.
Mark 8.26: 26 καὶ ἀπέστειλεν αὐτὸν εἰς οἶκον αὐτοῦ λέγων· μηδὲ εἰς τὴν κώμην εἰσέλθῃς.
Mark 9.28: 28 Καὶ εἰσελθόντος αὐτοῦ εἰς οἶκον οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ κατ᾽ ἰδίαν ἐπηρώτων αὐτόν· ὅτι ἡμεῖς οὐκ ἠδυνήθημεν ἐκβαλεῖν αὐτό;
Mark 11.17: 17 καὶ ἐδίδασκεν καὶ ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς· οὐ γέγραπται ὅτι ὁ οἶκός μου οἶκος προσευχῆς κληθήσεται πᾶσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν; ὑμεῖς δὲ πεποιήκατε αὐτὸν σπήλαιον λῃστῶν.
οἰκία
Mark 1.29: 29 Καὶ εὐθὺς ἐκ τῆς συναγωγῆς ἐξελθόντες ἦλθον εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν Σίμωνος καὶ Ἀνδρέου μετὰ Ἰακώβου καὶ Ἰωάννου.
Mark 2.15: 15 Καὶ γίνεται κατακεῖσθαι αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ αὐτοῦ, καὶ πολλοὶ τελῶναι καὶ ἁμαρτωλοὶ συνανέκειντο τῷ Ἰησοῦ καὶ τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ· ἦσαν γὰρ πολλοὶ καὶ ἠκολούθουν αὐτῷ.
Mark 3.25: 25 καὶ ἐὰν οἰκία ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτὴν μερισθῇ, οὐ δυνήσεται ἡ οἰκία ἐκείνη σταθῆναι.
Mark 3.27: 27 ἀλλ᾽ οὐ δύναται οὐδεὶς εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν τοῦ ἰσχυροῦ εἰσελθὼν τὰ σκεύη αὐτοῦ διαρπάσαι, ἐὰν μὴ πρῶτον τὸν ἰσχυρὸν δήσῃ, καὶ τότε τὴν οἰκίαν αὐτοῦ διαρπάσει.
Mark 6.4: 4 καὶ ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν προφήτης ἄτιμος εἰ μὴ ἐν τῇ πατρίδι αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐν τοῖς συγγενεῦσιν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ αὐτοῦ.
Mark 6.10: 10 καὶ ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς· ὅπου ἐὰν εἰσέλθητε εἰς οἰκίαν, ἐκεῖ μένετε ἕως ἂν ἐξέλθητε ἐκεῖθεν.
Mark 7.24: 24 Ἐκεῖθεν δὲ ἀναστὰς ἀπῆλθεν εἰς τὰ ὅρια Τύρου. Καὶ εἰσελθὼν εἰς οἰκίαν οὐδένα ἤθελεν γνῶναι, καὶ οὐκ ἠδυνήθη λαθεῖν·
Mark 9.33: 33 Καὶ ἦλθον εἰς Καφαρναούμ. Καὶ ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ γενόμενος ἐπηρώτα αὐτούς· τί ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ διελογίζεσθε;
Mark 10.10: 10 Καὶ εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν πάλιν οἱ μαθηταὶ περὶ τούτου ἐπηρώτων αὐτόν.
Mark 10.29-30: 29 ἔφη ὁ Ἰησοῦς· ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, οὐδείς ἐστιν ὃς ἀφῆκεν οἰκίαν ἢ ἀδελφοὺς ἢ ἀδελφὰς ἢ μητέρα ἢ πατέρα ἢ τέκνα ἢ ἀγροὺς ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ καὶ ἕνεκεν τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, 30 ἐὰν μὴ λάβῃ ἑκατονταπλασίονα νῦν ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τούτῳ οἰκίας καὶ ἀδελφοὺς καὶ ἀδελφὰς καὶ μητέρας καὶ τέκνα καὶ ἀγροὺς μετὰ διωγμῶν, καὶ ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τῷ ἐρχομένῳ ζωὴν αἰώνιον.
Mark 12.40: 40 οἱ κατεσθίοντες τὰς οἰκίας τῶν χηρῶν καὶ προφάσει μακρὰ προσευχόμενοι· οὗτοι λήμψονται περισσότερον κρίμα.
Mark 13.15: 15 ὁ [δὲ] ἐπὶ τοῦ δώματος μὴ καταβάτω μηδὲ εἰσελθάτω ἆραί τι ἐκ τῆς οἰκίας αὐτοῦ....
Mark 13.34-35: 34 Ὡς ἄνθρωπος ἀπόδημος ἀφεὶς τὴν οἰκίαν αὐτοῦ καὶ δοὺς τοῖς δούλοις αὐτοῦ τὴν ἐξουσίαν ἑκάστῳ τὸ ἔργον αὐτοῦ καὶ τῷ θυρωρῷ ἐνετείλατο ἵνα γρηγορῇ. 35 γρηγορεῖτε οὖν· οὐκ οἴδατε γὰρ πότε ὁ κύριος τῆς οἰκίας ἔρχεται, ἢ ὀψὲ ἢ μεσονύκτιον ἢ ἀλεκτοροφωνίας ἢ πρωΐ....
Mark 14.3: 3 Καὶ ὄντος αὐτοῦ ἐν Βηθανίᾳ ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ Σίμωνος τοῦ λεπροῦ, κατακειμένου αὐτοῦ ἦλθεν γυνὴ ἔχουσα ἀλάβαστρον μύρου νάρδου πιστικῆς πολυτελοῦς, συντρίψασα τὴν ἀλάβαστρον κατέχεεν αὐτοῦ τῆς κεφαλῆς.