Demoniac of Luke 4:33

[Eoghan]

Lenski suggests that from Mark's account, "this demoniac did not sit in the audience until Jesus was through teaching but burst into the synagogue with his yelling" (p262)

How indicative is the Greek of Mark's account?

 

[Eoghan]

Twelve years later and I may be answering my question of 2009!

 

[RamistThomist]

What do you mean by "indicative?"

 

[py3ak]

I take it Lenski is referring to Mark 1:23:
καὶ εὐθὺς ἦν ἐν τῇ συναγωγῇ αὐτῶν ἄνθρωπος ἐν πνεύματι ἀκαθάρτῳ καὶ ἀνέκραξεν

It sounds like an overinterpretation to say that the man burst into the synagogue with his yelling. Lenski asserts that in his commentary on Mark, but doesn't argue the point. However, here is a supportive comment:

Exegesis euthus ēn ‘immediately (there) was’: as it stands this phrase is difficult to translate RSV “immediately there was” is impossible English, unless was can mean ‘came,’ ‘entered’ (which Weymouth’s “all p 48 at once there was” actually means; cf. BFBS, Berkeley: “just then there was.” The weakened sense ‘now’ is adopted by some (Manson; “now … there was”); Moffatt connects ‘immediately’ with ‘cried out’: “who at once shrieked out.” Two alternatives offer themselves: (1) euthus may be understood in a general sense ‘now,’ ‘then’; (2) ēn ‘was’ may be taken as equivalent to egeneto ‘came,’ ‘appeared,’ The second is probably to be preferred, cf. Gould: “No sooner [was Jesus] in the synagogue than this demoniac appeared.” Cf. Brazilian: Nao tardou que aparecesse. A man with an unclean spirit would not normally be in attendance at the worship service in the synagogue.

Robert G. Bratcher and Eugene Albert Nida, A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 1993), 47–48.