᾿Ιουδαία in the Geographical List of Acts 2:9-11 and Syria as “Greater Judea” -- By: Martin Hengel

Journal: Bulletin for Biblical Research
Volume: BBR 10:2 (NA 2000)
Article: ᾿Ιουδαία in the Geographical List of Acts 2:9-11 and Syria as “Greater Judea”
Author: Martin Hengel


᾿Ιουδαία in the Geographical List
of Acts 2:9-11 and Syria
as “Greater Judea”

Martin Hengel

Tübingen University

The appearance of ᾿Ιουδαία in the geographical list presented in Acts 2:9- 11 has puzzled interpreters almost from the time of the publication of the book of Acts. It will be argued that this word should be retained in the text and should be understood in the light of traditional and especially messianic ideas about the extent of the promised land. The close association of Judea and Syria is especially important for understanding the meaning of ᾿Ιουδαία in Acts 2:9-11.

Keys Words: ᾿Ιουδαία, Syria, Diaspora, promised land / borders of Israel

Acts 2:9-11 still confronts interpreters with seemingly insoluble problems. This text constitutes a geographical list of nations and territories that extend from the east to the west (vv. 9 and 10), followed by four additional groups that appear in a rather curiously staggered fashion in v. 11. As a whole, this list seems rhetorically well composed in sound and content, and the textual witness is, despite select factual (sachliche) difficulties, on the whole surprisingly unified so that nothing speaks against the assumption that Luke composed the text just as it has been transmitted to us. Except for the beginning, the text falls mostly into pairs:

9 Πάρθοι καὶ Μῆδοι καὶ᾿Ελαμῖται,
καὶ οἱ κατοικοῦντες τὴν Μεσοποταμίαν
,
᾿Ιουδαίαν τε καὶ Καππαδοκίαν
,
Πόντον καὶ τὴν᾿Ασίαν
,
10 Φρυγίαν τε καὶ Παμφυλίαν,
Αἴγυπτον καὶ τὰ μέρη τῆς Λιβύης τῆς κατὰ Κυρήνην
,
καὶ οἱ ἐπιδημοῦντες῾Ρωμαῖοι

The list begins with the Parthians, the nation that rules the east, and appropriately ends with the Romans, who represent the actual world power in the west. These two powers provide a meaningful framework for this list of nations: the three nations mentioned after the Parthians are subjugated by them, the other areas by the Romans. Verse 11, by contrast, disturbs this framework. Although the phrase

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