G1303 διατίθεμαι (diatíthemai)

Made (1303) (diatithemi from dia = through or as an intensive, root meaning = "two" + tithemi = to place or put) properly means, to place apart, to set in order, to arrange. If one considers the root meaning of dia ("two"), then the definition could be rendered "to place between two" as a covenant which is something that is placed between two, an arrangement between two parties. This verb is used in the NT only in the middle voice. In secular Greek usage, diatithemi meant to arrange each in their several places, to distribute, to dispose of, arrange as one likes, to dispose of one’s property, devise it by will, to make a will, to arrange or settle mutually. The idea of placing, laying, disposing, arranging, etc, enters into the word diatithemi--as to place wares or merchandize for sale, to arrange a contract, etc. Wuest has a lengthy comment on diatithemi writing that... the meaning of the word is that of a testament in the sense of a last will or testament, the legal instrument by which something is bequeathed to someone. Thus, the words “covenant” or “testament” refer in this epistle (Hebrews) to one thing, the act of God providing for the salvation of the believing sinner through the blood atonement offered on Calvary’s Cross by the Lord Jesus. It is a covenant in the sense that it is an agreement on God’s part that He will give salvation to the sinner who will receive it by faith in the High Priest He has appointed. It is a last will or testament in the sense that God bequeaths salvation to the sinner who will receive it on the terms of the will, faith in the blood of Jesus. God, the divine Testator, dies to make the will effective. The words “covenant” and “testament” are used of one thing in this book, viewed from two angles. (Hebrews Commentary) TDNT writes that diatithemi... This word has such varied meanings as “to distribute,” “to establish,” “to dispose,” “to handle,” “to put up for sale,” “to expound,” “to lecture.” The only senses that are important in relation to the NT are a. “to control by free choice,” b. “to make a testamentary disposition,” and c. “to make an arrangement.” The LXX mainly has sense c. but with a clear suggestion of disposing (cf. Gen. 9:17). (Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Eerdmans) Here are the 7 NT uses of diatithemi... Luke 22:29 and just as My Father has granted (appointed) Me a kingdom, I grant you (Behm says of this passage: "As the eschatological basileia (kingdom) is ordained for Jesus by the sovereign declaration of the will of God, so it is decided by the sovereign resolve of Jesus that the disciples should reign with Him" -TDNT, 2:105-6) Acts 3:25 "It is you who are the sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, 'And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.' Hebrews 8:10 (note) "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel After those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds, And I will write them upon their hearts. And I will be their God, And they shall be My people. Hebrews 9:16 (note) For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. Hebrews 9:17 (note) For a covenant is valid only when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives. Hebrews 10:16 (note) "This is the covenant that I will make with them After those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws upon their heart, And upon their mind I will write them," He then says, There are 78 uses in the Septuagint (LXX) (Gen. 9:17; 15:18; 21:27, 32; 26:28; 31:44; Exod. 24:8; Deut. 4:23; 5:2f; 7:2; 9:9; 29:1, 12, 14, 25; 31:16; Jos. 7:11; 9:6f, 11, 15f; 24:25; Jdg. 2:2; 1 Sam. 11:1f; 22:8; 23:18; 2 Sam. 3:12f, 21; 5:3; 1 Ki. 5:12; 8:9, 21; 15:19; 20:34; 2 Ki. 11:4, 17; 17:35, 38; 23:3; 1 Chr. 11:3; 16:16; 19:19; 2 Chr. 5:10; 6:11; 7:18; 16:3; 21:7; 23:3, 16; 29:10; 34:31; Ezr. 10:3; Neh. 9:8, 38; Ps. 50:5; 83:5; 84:5; 89:3; 105:9; Isa. 55:3; 61:8; Jer. 11:10; 31:31ff; 32:40; Ezek. 16:30; 17:13; 34:25; 37:26; Hos. 2:18; 10:4; 11:8; 12:1; Zech. 11:10) Who are the heirs of God's last will and testament? Most urgently, are you an heir? Are you listed in God's last will and testament? Does he bequeath to you the eternal inheritance? Marvin Vincent has a lengthy note arguing for why diatheke should not be translated will or testament (as do most of the NT versions). The inclusion of this note is for completeness and does not necessarily indicate agreement with his conclusions. Be a Berean... Against the rendering testament for diatheke, and in favour of retaining covenant, are the following considerations: (a) The abruptness of the change, and its interruption of the line of reasoning. It is introduced into the middle of a continuous argument, in which the new covenant is compared and contrasted with the Mosaic covenant (He 8:6-10:18). (b) The turning-point, both of the analogy and of the contrast, is that both covenants were inaugurated and ratified by death: not ordinary, natural death, but sacrificial, violent death, accompanied with bloodshedding as an essential feature. Such a death is plainly indicated in ver. 15. If diatheke signifies testament, thanatos death in ver. 16 must mean natural death without bloodshed. (c) The figure of a testament would not appeal to Hebrews in connection with an inheritance. On the contrary, the idea of the kleronomia was always associated in the Hebrew mind with the inheritance of Canaan, and that inheritance with the idea of a covenant. See Deut. 4:20, 21, 22, 23; 1Chr. 16:15, 16, 17, 18; Ps. 105:8, 9, 10, 11. (d) In LXX, from which our writer habitually quotes, diatheke has universally the meaning of covenant. It occurs about 350 times, mostly representing covenant (beriyth). In the Apocryphal books it has the same sense, except in Sir. 38:33, where it signifies disposition or arrangement. Diathesthai to dispose or arrange represents karath, to cut off, hew, divide. The phrase karath beriyth (to make) a covenant, is very common. The verb marks a disposing by the divine will, to which man becomes a party by assent; while suntithesthai indicates an arrangement between two equal parties. There is not a trace of the meaning testament in the Greek O. T. In the classics diatheke is usually testament. Philo uses the word in the sense of covenant, but also shows how it acquired that of testament (De Mutatione Nominum, § 6 ff.). The Vulgate has testamentum, even where the sense of covenant is indisputable. See Ex. 30:26; Num. 14:44; 2Ki6:15; Jer. 3:16; Mal. 3:1; Lk 1:72; Acts 3:25; 7:8. Also in NT quotations from the OT, where, in its translation of the OT, it uses foedus. See Jer. 31:31, cit. Heb. 8:8. For diatithesthai of making a covenant, see Heb. 8:10; Acts 3:25; Heb. 10:16. (e) The ratification of a covenant by the sacrifice of a victim is attested by Gen. 15:10; Ps. 50:5; Jer. 34:18. This is suggested also by the phrase karath beriyth to cut a covenant, which finds abundant analogy in both Greek and “Latin. Thus we have horkia tamnein to cut oaths, that is, to sacrifice a victim in attestation (Hom. Il. ii. 124; Od. xxiv. 483: Hdt. vii. 132). Similarly, spondas temomen let us cut (make) a league (Eurip. Hel. 1235): philia temnesthai to cement friendship by sacrificing a victim; lit. to cut friendship (Eurip. Suppl. 375). In Latin, foedus ferire to strike a league: foedus ictum a ratified league, ratified by a blow (ictus). (f) If testament is the correct translation in vv. 16, 17, the writer is fairly chargeable with a rhetorical blunder; for ver. 18 ff. is plainly intended as a historical illustration of the propositions in vv. 16, 17, and the illustration turns on a point entirely different from the matter illustrated. The writer is made to say, “A will is of no force until after the testator’s death; therefore the first covenant was ratified with the blood of victims. (Vincent, M. R. Word Studies in the New Testament 4:494-495). 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