Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Luke: Chapter 5].
fame of Jesus kept going. {Came together} (\sun•rchonto\).
Imperfect tense again. The more the report spread, the more the
crowds came.
5:16 {But he withdrew himself in the deserts and prayed} (\autos
de •n hupoch•r•n en tais er•mois kai proseuchomenos\).
Periphrastic imperfects. Literally, "But he himself was with
drawing in the desert places and praying." The more the crowds
came as a result of the leper's story, the more Jesus turned away
from them to the desert regions and prayed with the Father. It is
a picture of Jesus drawn with vivid power. The wild enthusiasm of
the crowds was running ahead of their comprehension of Christ and
his mission and message. \Hupoch•re•\ (perhaps with the notion of
slipping away secretly, \hupo-\) is a very common Greek verb, but
in the N.T. occurs in Luke alone. Elsewhere in the N.T.
\anach•re•\ (to go back) appears.
5:17 {That} (\kai\). Use of \kai\ = \hoti\ (that) like the Hebrew
_wav_, though found in Greek also. {He} (\autos\). Luke sometimes
has \autos\ in the nominative as unemphatic "he" as here, not "he
himself." {Was teaching} (\•n didask•n\). Periphrastic imperfect
again like our English idiom. {Were sitting by} (\•san
kath•menoi\). Periphrastic imperfect again. There is no "by" in
the Greek. {Doctors of the law} (\nomodidaskaloi\). A compound
word formed after analogy of \hierodidaskalos\, but not found
outside of the N.T. and ecclesiastical writers, one of the very
few words apparently N.T. in usage. It appears here and Ac 5:34;
1Ti 1:7. It is not likely that Luke and Paul made the word, but
they simply used the term already in current use to describe
teachers and interpreters of the law. Our word "doctor" is Latin
for "teacher." These "teachers of the law" are called elsewhere
in the Gospels "scribes" (\grammateis\) as in Matthew and Mark
(see on ¯Mt 5:20; 23:34) and Lu 5:21; 19:47; 21:1; 22:2. Luke
also employs \nomikos\ (one skilled in the law, \nomos\) as in
10:25. One thinks of our LL.D. (Doctors of Civil and Canon
Law), for both were combined in Jewish law. They were usually
Pharisees (mentioned here for the first time in Luke) for which
see on ¯Mt 3:7,20. Luke will often speak of the Pharisees
hereafter. Not all the "Pharisees" were "teachers of the law" so
that both terms often occur together as in verse 21 where Luke
has separate articles (\hoi grammateis kai hoi Pharisaioi\),
distinguishing between them, though one article may occur as in
Mt 5:20 or no article as here in verse 17. Luke alone
http://www.ccel.org/r/robertson_at/wordpictures/htm/LU5.RWP.html (5 of 10) [28/08/2004 09:05:09 a.m.]