SERIES III.7: THE LANGUAGE OF LINEAGE โ HIPPOLYTUS
Race โข Seed โข Tribe
Unlike portions of the Apostolic Tradition, Hippolytusโ Commentary on Daniel is substantially preserved in its original Greek. We are therefore able to examine his surviving Greek terminology directly rather than relying solely upon ancient Latin or other translations.
In III.6, Hippolytus describes the ancestry of the Anointed through the language of race, tribe, seed, forefathers, birth, and โaccording to the flesh.โ The language deserves to be examined lexically.
ฮณฮญฮฝฮฟฯ
genos
โrace โข stock โข family โข lineageโ
ฯฯฮญฯฮผฮฑ
sperma
โseed โข offspring โข descendantsโ
ฯฯ ฮปฮฎ
phylฤ
โtribe โข clanโ
ฮบฮฑฯแฝฐ ฯฮฌฯฮบฮฑ
kata sarka
โaccording to the fleshโ
These terms do not occur in isolation. Hippolytus places them within his discussion of Levi and Judah, the joining of two tribes, righteous seed, Matthew tracing the ancestry of the Anointed, successive generations, forefathers, and finally his birth.
This context governs the vocabulary. ฮณฮญฮฝฮฟฯ concerns lineage or stock; ฯฯฮญฯฮผฮฑ expresses seed or offspring; ฯฯ ฮปฮฎ identifies tribal descent; and ฮบฮฑฯแฝฐ ฯฮฌฯฮบฮฑ explicitly locates the discussion โaccording to the flesh.โ
Thus Hippolytusโ language of race and seed in this passage belongs to an explicitly genealogical argument concerning ancestry and descent, preserved for us substantially in the language in which he originally wrote.
Ad fontes.
III.6
