The term avkolouqei/n occurs in the LXX only on a few occasions: seven times in the canonical books and six times in Apocrypha. Predominantly, it is used in reference to going somewhere with or after someone. Balaam’s going with the messengers of Balak (Num 22:20); Abigail’s going after the messengers of David (1 Sam 25:42); Ruth’s following (in its literal meaning in Hebrew, clinging tightly to) Naomi on her return to Bethlehem (Ruth 1:14); the foreign captives’ walking in chains behind Israel in triumph (Isa 45:14); the walking of all men of Israel behind the triumphal procession of Judith (Jdt 15:13). All these occurrences indicate going after or with someone to somewhere. However, some movements of the followings do not end with a simple geographical move. Abigail’s following the servants of David leads her to be a wife of King David, which ushers her life into a family of God that functions in the mainstream of Messianic Kingdom. Especially, Ruth’s following Naomi doesn’t simply convey the meaning of physical following. The Hebrew corresponding verb
qb;D
, which is translated as avkolouqei/n, means to cleave or to cling tightly to (HB'( hq'b.D”ï tWrßw>
). Therefore, the verb avkolouqei/n indicates that Ruth’s resolute action (of staying together permanently with Naomi) goes beyond the simple description of an outward action. It reflects the decisive turning point that draws her whole life journey toward the people of God: She becomes the great grandmother of King David (Ruth 4:13-22) and eventually one of the important female figures in the genealogy of the Messiah (Matt 1:5). Ruth’s action of “following” Naomi, the action of clinging tightly to one of the significant figures of the people of God, is well contrasted with Orpah’s turning back to her own people, that is, outside of the Kingdom of God. In this case, the verb avkolouqei/n implies spiritual connotation.Second, on two occasions, the verb avkolouqei/n is used in the context of following pagan
268
Ibid.
269
Ibid.
gods. One is in Hos 2:7,270 where the sinful act of Israel’s going after heathen gods is depicted in the analogy of a whore who, leaving her husband behind, is “going after her lover” (avkolouqh,sw ovpi,sw tw/n evrastw/n mou). Here, going after does not simply mean going with someone to somewhere, but it includes the action of following someone in love, that is, giving one’s heart to the other in a negative context. The other usage occurs in Judith 5:6-8 and describes the life of “following” other gods in Mesopotamia in the legacy of the forefathers. Here the verb avkolouqei/n includes the denotation of “serving and worshipping” other gods as it is contrasted with the action of worshipping the God of heaven.271
Third, as the verb avkolouqei/n is used in the meaning of “to comply with or obey” in ancient Greek documents, for example, to refer to the one who “follows an orator in thought (gnw,mh|)” as presented above, in Judaism literature also it is used in the same meaning of “obey.” Two occasions of the usage are found in the Old Testament apocrypha. Characteristically, the verb is used here in relation to “command” (lo,goj) and “laws” (no,moj): One, in the context of “keeping the command” (hvkolou,qhsan tw/| lo,gw) of Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians (Judt 2:4); the other is in relation to obeying the laws of God, namely, the Jews became invulnerable because they followed the laws ordained (dia. to. avkolouqei/n toi/j u`pV auvtou/ protetagme,noij no,moij) by their great Defender in heaven (2 Macc 8:36).
Fourth, the verb avkolouqei/n is employed to convey the meaning of “turning to someone to get help.” As the only occurrence in the Old Testament, the verb is used in Ezek 29:16272 to portray Israel’s sinful deed of turning to the military power, Egypt, to get help from them instead of trusting the divine help of God.
Fifth, the verb avkolouqei/n appears to refer to “all other things that follow.” When the delicacies of the Assyrians were prepared on the table, Judith said, “I will have enough with the things I brought with me” (evk tw/n hvkolouqhko,twn moi corhghqh,setai, Judt 12:2). Here tw/n hvkolouqhko,twn is employed to simply refer to “the things” that she brought with her.
Lastly, the verb avkolouqei/n appears with spiritual significance, that is, with a 270
Hos 2:5 “For their mother has played the whore; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, “I will go after my lovers (avkolouqh,sw ovpi,sw tw/n evrastw/n mou); they give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.”
271
Jdt 5:6-8 “These people are descended from the Chaldeans. At one time they lived in Mesopotamia, because they did not wish to follow the gods (avkolouqh/sai toi/j qeoi/j) of their ancestors who were in Chaldea. Since they had abandoned the ways of their ancestors, and worshiped the God of heaven, the God they had come to know, their ancestors drove them out from the presence of their gods. So they fled to Mesopotamia, and lived there for a long time.”
272
Ezek 29:16 “The Egyptians shall never again be the reliance of the house of Israel; they will recall their iniquity, when they turned to them for aid...,” (kai. ouvke,ti e;sontai tw/| oi;kw| Israhl eivj evlpi,da avnamimnh,|skousan avnomi,an evn tw/| auvtou.j avkolouqh/sai ovpi,sw auvtw/n...).
connotation of discipleship (1 Kgs 19:19-20). It is the scene where the Prophet Elijah called Elisha to be his successor. It is to be regarded as a divine call from God through Elijah because it was the LORD God who commanded Elijah to call him as his replacement for the ministry of divine judgment (19:16-17). Though Elisha was not informed about God’s calling for him to be the successor of Elijah’s prophetic office, Elisha instantly recognized it by the symbolic action of Elijah’s throwing the mantle over him. It is a symbol of the call to the prophetic office. Also, the mantle is depicted as the instrument of spiritual power (2 Kgs 2:8). After Elijah’s departure, it was given to Elisha and he performed the same miracle that Elijah did (2:13-14). Therefore, Elisha’s action of “following” (avkolouqei/n) as the response to the call is not a mere action of going after a respected teacher. It obviously has a religious and spiritual connotation. Kittel’s opinion that in the Old Testament, “following” has no religious significance, and that this act of “following” expresses little more than a relationship of respect is unconvincing. Furthermore, the spiritual implication and gravity of the term “follow” in kai. avkolouqh,sw ovpi,sw sou from Elisha’s own lips are well intimated in the subsequent decisive actions that he slaughtered the oxen he has used for plowing in his past life and burned his plowing equipment to cook the meat and had a farewell feast with his parents and friends and then followed the Prophet. By noting that, “Behind Luke 9:57-62 par. Matt 8:19-22 (and Mark 1:16-18) stands the call of Elisha to be a disciple of Elijah (1 Kgs 19:19-21),”273 G. Schneider rightly shows that the term avkolouqei/n is used in spiritual and
religious connotation in the text.
C. Conclusion
As shown by the above appearances of avkolouqei/n in classical Greek literature and the LXX, what determines the meaning of the term avkolouqei/n is not the verb itself, but the associating words and motifs that surround the term as a semantic network. The implication communicated by avkolouqei/n is determined by the literary context. In both Greco-Roman and Judaism literature, the term is employed to communicate diverse implications according to the object that comes after and the literary context in which it occurs. It is used both in the context of warning against backsliding of apostasy and in the context of calling someone into the prophetic office. It is employed to express literal, philosophical, religious, and spiritual meanings—from a simple action of going after or together with someone to a geographical
273
G. Schneider, “avkolouqe,w,” EDNT 1:49-52.
location to profound and decisive action of following that leads one into a whole new dimension of life in relation to God’s economy and his ministry. All those diverse meanings and imports are created by the juxtaposed or associated words and motifs within the literary contexts. It indicates that the meanings and theological implications communicated by the employment of avkolouqei/n in the Fourth Gospel, which will be investigated in PART II of the thesis, is certainly dependent upon its associated words and motifs and the intended logic of the literary context. In the hands of John, the skillful craftsman of language with a profound theology, the plain term avkolouqei/n is open to impart distinct meanings and even abstruse implications according to how vocabularies and motifs surrounding it are combined.
As for the idea of following a divine being, while the term avkolouqei/n is hardly used to convey the idea of following God in Judaism literature, in Greek literature it is used to communicate the idea of following the gods of rational man in philosophical life. Before the Fourth Gospel used the verb avkolouqei/n in religious and spiritual connotation, “[a]lready in secular Greek the ordinary sense of ‘following’ or ‘going behind’ someone has given rise to that of following in an intellectual, moral or religious sense.”274 Yet, in what distinct religious and spiritual connotation the fourth evangelist employs the term is the problem to be investigated in the present thesis.