sitting+day

τρῐώβολ-ον, [dialect] Dor. [full] τριώδελον (q. v.), τό, ([etym.] ὀβολός)

A three-obol-piece, half-drachma,

οὐκ ἄξιος τριωβόλου Nicopho 12

, cf. Ar.Pl. 125;

ὀψωνεῖν μέχρι τριωβόλου Eub.88

, etc.—At Athens, this was

1 pay of the dicasts or jurymen for a day's sitting in court, Ar.Eq.51, 800, etc.

2 pay given to the members of the ἐκκλησία whenever they chose to attend, first given about 392 B.C., Id.Ec. 292, 308.

3 pay of the marine soldiery ([etym.] ἐπιβάται), Th.8.45, X.HG1.5.7, etc.

4 a tax paid by μέτοικοι (or perh. by freedment who became such), Men.35.

II a weight of three obols, Sor.1.63.

μέσος, η, ον (Hom.+). The distinction between ‘middle’ and ‘among’ for μ. is sometimes rather fluid, and some of the passages here cited may fit equally well under 1 or 2.

① pert. to a middle position spatially or temporally, middle, in the middle.

ⓐ as adj. (of intermediate terms: Pla., Rep. 330b, Pol. 303a) ὁ μέσος αὐτῶν ἀνήρ the man in their midst, apparently surrounded by them Hs 9, 12, 7. μέσης νυκτός at midnight (3 Km 3:20.—B-D-F §270, 2; Rob. 495; Lobeck, Phryn. p. 53; 54; 465) Mt 25:6. ἡμέρας μέσης at midday (Jos., Bell. 1, 651, Ant. 17, 155) Ac 26:13. εἰς μέσην τὴν οἰκοδομήν into the middle of the building Hs 9, 7, 5; cp. 9, 8, 2; 4; 6 (cp. Philo, Fuga 49 εἰς μέσον τὸν ποταμόν; Jos., Ant. 4, 80 εἰς μέσον τὸ πῦρ). ἐσταύρωσαν … μέσον τὸν Ἰησοῦν they crucified Jesus between (them) J 19:18. ἐσχίσθη τὸ καταπέτασμα μέσον the curtain was torn in two Lk 23:45 (cp. Artem. 4, 30 τὸ ἱμάτιον μέσον ἐρρωγέναι). ἐλάκησεν μέσος Ac 1:18 (cp. Aristoph., Ran. 955). ἐν μέσοις τοῖς ὀργάνοις τοῦ διαβόλου in the midst of the tools of the devil 2 Cl 18:2 (for the syntax cp. Gen 2:9 ἐν μέσῳ τῷ παραδείσῳ).

ⓑ as subst. neut. τὸ μ. the middle (on the absence of the art. s. B-D-F §264, 4; cp. Rob. 792) ἀνὰ μέσον τινός (s. ἀνά 1) ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν ὁρίων within or through the region Mk 7:31. ἀνὰ μ. αὐτῶν between them GPt 4:10; Hs 9, 2, 3; 9, 15, 2. ἀνὰ μ. ἐκκλησίας ἁγίων B 6:16; 4:10; διακρῖναι ἀνὰ μ. τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ between one (congregation) member and another 1 Cor 6:5 (s. ἀνά 1b. Perh. μέσος prompted a shortening of the sentence tending to obscurity; cp. the Stoic expr. μέσα καθήκοντα = καθήκοντα ἃ ἐν μέσῳ ἐστὶ κατορθωμάτων κ. ἁμαρτημάτων: MPohlenz, D. Stoa II ’49, 73f). τὸ ἀρνίον τὸ ἀ. μ. τοῦ θρόνου the lamb who is (seated) on the center of the throne Rv 7:17. ἀνὰ μ. τῆς ὁδοῦ (they made) half their journey GJs 17:3.—διὰ μέσου αὐτῶν through the midst of them (X., An. 1, 4, 4; Aesop. Fab. 147 P.=247 H./201a Ch./152 [I, II] H-H.; Am 5:17; Jer 44:4; Jdth 11:19; 1 Macc 5:46; Ath. 18, 3 ‘between’) Lk 4:30; J 8:59 v.l. διὰ μέσον Σαμαρείας καὶ Γαλιλαίας Lk 17:11 prob. can only mean through Samaria and Galilee; but this raises a practical difficulty, since we should expect to find the provinces mentioned in the opposite order. Perh. the text is damaged (cp. the vv.ll. διὰ μέσου and μέσον; s. B-D-F §222; Rob. 648; JBlinzler, AWikenhauser Festschr. ’54, 46ff. If the v.l. διὰ μέσου Σ. καὶ Γ. should be correct, we could compare Maximus Tyr. 28, 4a διὰ μέσου πίστεως κ. ἀπιστίας=throughout between). For the view that μέσον signifies the area betw. S. and G. s. the comm. Cp. δια B1.—εἰς τὸ μέσον into the middle or center (X., Cyr. 3, 1, 6; Dio Chrys. 19 [36], 24; 3 Km 6:8; Jos., Ant. 9, 149) Mk 3:3; Lk 4:35; 5:19; 6:8; J 20:19, 26 (ἔστη εἰς τὸ μέσον as Vi. Aesopi G 82 P.); Hs 9, 8, 5; also in the middle 9, 6, 1. W. gen. (X., An. 1, 5; 14a; Jer 21:4; 48:7; Sb 6270, 13) εἰς τὸ μ. αὐτῶν in the midst of them 9, 11, 7. Without the art. (LXX; Jos., Vi. 334; SibOr 3, 674) εἰς μ. τοῦ πεδίου in the middle of the plain Hs 9, 2, 1 (εἰς μ.=‘in the middle’, as Ps.-Clem., Hom. 3, 30 p. 44, 21 Lag.). τί … τὸ ἔριον εἰς μ. τῶν ἀκανθῶν τιθέασιν; Why do they place the wool in the middle of the thorns? 7:11. ἀναστὰς εἰς μ. he arose (and came) forward Mk 14:60 (cp. Theocr. 22, 82 ἐς μέσον=into the middle; Himerius, Or. 63 [=Or. 17], 2 εἰς μέσον ἔρχεσθαι=come into the open; X., Cyr. 4, 1, 1 στὰς εἰς τὸ μ.).—ἐν τῷ μ. among, before (more closely defined by the context, or = in public [so Clearch., Fgm. 45 οἴκοι καὶ μὴ ἐν τῷ μέσῳ; Appian, Liby. 15 §63]) Mt 14:6 (Dio Chrys. 30 [79], 39 ὀρχεῖσθαι ἐν τῷ μέσω; Lucian, Pereg. 8) and into the middle, before (them) (Vi. Aesopi W c. 86 στὰς ἐν τῷ μέσῳ ἔφη) Ac 4:7. Without the art. (LXX) ἐν μέσῳ (on the spelling ἐμ μέσῳ, which occurs several times as v.l., s. B-D-F §19, 1; Mlt-H. 105) abs. into the middle, before (someone) (Appian, Hann. 16 §67, Liby. 14 §59; Jos., Ant. 7, 278) J 8:3; MPol 18:1 and in the middle (Pla., Rep. 558a; Herm. Wr. 4, 3; PLille 1 recto, 5 [259 B.C.]; GrBar 13:4) J 8:9. W. gen. of place (Aeneas Tact. 1529; 1532; TestAbr A 12 p. 90, 21 [Stone p. 28], B 8 p. 113, 3 [St. p. 74]; ParJer 1:2; GrBar 10:2) τῆς θαλάσσης (En 97:7) in the middle of the lake Mk 6:47. τῆς πλατείας through the middle of the street Rv 22:2. ἐν μ. τῆς αὐλῆς in the middle of the courtyard Lk 22:55a; τοῦ τάφου GPt 13:55. ἐν μ. αὐτῆς within it (the city of Jerusalem) Lk 21:21; cp. Dg 12:3; MPol 12:1; 12:2(?). ἐν μ. τοῦ θρόνου καὶ τῶν τεσσάρων ζῴων on the center of the throne and among the four living creatures Rv 5:6a (w. double gen. also between: Appian, Hann. 14 §60, Bell. Civ. 5, 23 §92; Arrian, Anab. 1, 20, 2; 3, 28, 8 al.; Lucian, Fugit. 10 ἐν μ. ἀλαζονείας κ. φιλοσοφίας). ἐν μέσῳ τ. θρόνου around (on every side of) the throne 4:6 (but between the throne and a more remote point: RBrewer, JBL 71, ’52, 227–31).—ἐν μέσῳ ἐκκλησίας Hb 2:12 (Ps 21:23); cp. Ac 17:22. κατὰ μέσον (Jos., Bell. 5, 207; SibOr 3, 802 κατὰ μέσσον=‘in the middle’ [of the day]) κατὰ μ. τῆς νυκτός about midnight Ac 16:25 D; 27:27.

ⓒ The neut. μέσον serves as adv. (e.g., Appian, Bell. Civ. 3, 43 §175 μ.=meanwhile) ἦν μέσον ὡς he was in the center of it as MPol 15:2; and is used as prep. w. gen. (B-D-F §215, 3; Rob. 644. Cp. Hdt. 9, 107, 2; Polyb. 8, 25, 1; Epict. 2, 22, 10; LXX, TestSol; TestAbr A 4 p. 80, 31 [Stone p. 8]; JosAs 24:21; Jos., Ant. 6, 65; SibOr 3, 319) μ. τῆς θαλάσσης in the middle of the lake Mt 14:24 v.l.; μ. γενεᾶς σκολιᾶς in the midst of a crooked generation Phil 2:15 (cp. Maximus Tyr. 36, 5a ἐν μέσῳ τῷ σιδηρῷ τούτῳ γένει).

② pert. to a position within a group, without focus on mediate position, among.

ⓐ as adj. ἐκάθητο ὁ Πέτρος μέσος αὐτῶν Peter was sitting among them Lk 22:55 (the point being not as center of attention but inconspicuously in the group; cp. Jos., Ant. 9, 107). μέσος ὑμῶν ἕστηκεν J 1:26 (Jos., Ant. 14, 23). τοῦ πύργου μέσου Hs 9, 8, 2. εἶδον … μέσον αὐτῶν τὸν Παῦλον AcPl Ha 11, 14.

ⓑ as subst. neuter ἀνὰ μέσον τινός (s. ἀνά 1) among someth. Mt 13:25. W. gen. pl. (TestJob 32:6 ἐν μέσῳ τῶν τέκνων σου) in the midst of, among in answer to the questions where and whither (B-D-F §215, 3 app.) Mt 18:2, 20; Mk 9:36; Lk 2:46; 24:36; Ac 1:15; 2:22; 6:15 D; 27:21; Rv 5:6b; cp. 6:6. Of close personal relationship ἐν μέσῳ ὑμῶν among you = in communion with you Lk 22:27; 1 Th 2:7.—ἐν μ. λύκων among wolves Mt 10:16; Lk 10:3; 2 Cl 5:2.—W. gen. pl. of things (Alciphron 3, 24, 3) Lk 8:7; Rv 1:13; 2:1. ἐκ (τοῦ) μ. from among (X., An. 1, 5, 14b; oracular response in Diod S 9, 3, 2; LXX=מִתּוֹךְ): αἴρειν τι (or τινά) ἐκ (τοῦ) μέσου (τινῶν) Col 2:14; 1 Cor 5:2 (s. αἴρω 3). ἁρπάσαι αὐτὸν ἐκ μ. αὐτῶν Ac 23:10 (s. ἁρπάζω 2a). ἀφορίζειν τοὺς πονηροὺς ἐκ μ. τῶν δικαίων Mt 13:49 (s. ἀφορίζω 1). γίνεσθαι ἐκ μ. 2 Th 2:7 (s. γίνομαι 6b). ἐξέρχεσθαι ἐκ μ. αὐτῶν from among them Ac 17:33; cp. 2 Cor 6:17 (cp. Is 52:11). κύριος λαμβάνει ἑαυτῷ ἔθνος ἐκ μ. ἐθνῶν 1 Cl 29:3 (cp. Dt 4:34).—B. 864. DELG. M-M. EDNT. TW. Sv.

πρεσβύτερος, α, ον (Hom.+; comp. of πρέσβυς)

① pert. to being relatively advanced in age, older, old

ⓐ of an individual person older of two ὁ υἱὸς ὁ πρ. (cp. Aelian, VH 9, 42; TestJob 15:2 τῷ ἀδελφῷ τῷ πρεσβυτέρῳ; JosAs; Just., A II, 6, 1) Lk 15:25; of Manasseh (w. Ephraim) B 13:5. In contrast to the younger generation οἱ πρεσβύτεροι the older ones J 8:9. Opp. οἱ νεανίσκοι Ac 2:17 (Jo 3:1). Opp. νεώτεροι (s. νεός 3aβ) 1 Ti 5:1 (similar advice, containing a contrast betw. πρ. and νεώτ., from ins and lit. in MDibelius, Hdb. ad loc.); 1 Pt 5:5 (though here the πρεσβύτεροι are not only the older people, but at the same time, the ‘elders’; s. 2bβ). The same double mng. is found for πρεσβύτεροι in 1 Cl 1:3 beside νέοι, while in 3:3; 21:6, beside the same word, the concept of being old is the dominant one (as Jos., C. Ap. 2, 206). On the disputed pass. Hv 3, 1, 8 (οἱ νεανίσκοι … οἱ πρεσβύτεροι) cp. MDibelius, Hdb. ad loc.—Fem. πρεσβυτέρα old(er) woman (opp. νεωτέρα, as Gen 19:31) 1 Ti 5:2.—With no ref. to younger persons, w. complete disappearance of the comparative aspect: πρεσβύτερος an old man (Jos., Ant. 13, 226; 292 [as a witness of events in the past, as Ps.-Pla., Virt. 3, 377b; 4, 377c]) Hv 3, 12, 2; cp. 3, 11, 3. The personified church is called λίαν πρεσβυτέρα very old 3, 10, 3; cp. 3, 11, 2. She appears as ἡ πρ. the elderly woman 2, 1, 3; 3, 1, 2; 3, 10, 6; 9 and has τὰς τρίχας πρεσβυτέρας the hair of an old woman 3, 10, 4; 5; 3, 12, 1.

ⓑ of a period of time (Petosiris, Fgm. 3 and 4 mention οἱ πρεσβύτεροι and οἱ νεώτεροι. In both instances the context shows that the reference is to astrologers from earlier and more recent times) οἱ πρεσβύτεροι the men of old, our ancestors Hb 11:2. ἡ παράδοσις τῶν πρεσβυτέρων the tradition of the ancients (cp. Iambl., Vi. Pyth. 35, 253 τῶν π. συγγράμματα) Mt 15:2; Mk 7:3, 5 (ELohse, D. Ordination im Spätjudentum u. NT, ’51, 50–56: scholars).

② an official (cp. Lat. senator), elder, presbyter

ⓐ among the Jews (the congregation of a synagogue in Jerusalem used πρεσβύτεροι to denote its officers before 70 A.D.: SEG VIII, 170, 9; cp. Dssm., LO 378–80 [LAE 439–41]).

α. for members of local councils in individual cities (cp. Josh 20:4; Ruth 4:2; 2 Esdr 10:14; Jdth 8:10; 10:6) Lk 7:3; 1 Cl 55:4.—Schürer II, 185.

β. for members of a group in the Sanhedrin (Schürer II, 206–8; JJeremias, Jerusalem z. Zt. Jesu II B 1: Die gesellschaftl. Oberschicht 1929, 88ff). They are mentioned together w. (the) other groups: ἀρχιερεῖς (Ac 4:5 has ἄρχοντες for this), γραμματεῖς, πρεσβύτεροι (the order is not always the same) Mt 16:21; 26:3 v.l.; 27:41; Mk 8:31; 11:27; 14:43, 53; 15:1; Lk 9:22; 20:1.—Only ἀρχιερεῖς (Ac 4:8 has for this ἄρχοντες τοῦ λαοῦ) and πρεσβύτεροι (τοῦ λαοῦ: cp. Ex 19:7; Num 11:16b, 24; 1 Macc 7:33; 12:35; Just., D. 40, 4 al.) Mt 21:23; 26:3, 47, 59 v.l.; 27:1, 3, 12, 20; 28:(11), 12; Lk 22:52 (here, as an exception, οἱ στρατηγοὶ τοῦ ἱεροῦ); Ac 4:23; 23:14; 25:15; cp. 24:1. Also οἱ πρεσβύτεροι καὶ οἱ ἱερεῖς GPt 7:25 (for this combination cp. Jos., Ant. 11, 83; 12, 406).—Only πρεσβύτεροι and γραμματεῖς Mt 26:57; Ac 6:12.—The use of πρεσβύτερος as a title among the Jews of the Diaspora appears quite late, except for the allusions in the LXX (cp. Schürer III/1, 102; MAMA III [Cilicia], 344; 448 [cp. ZNW 31, ’32, 313f]. Whether πρεσβύτερος is to be understood in the older Roman inscriptions [CIJ 378] as a title [so CIJ p. lxxxvi], remains doubtful).

ⓑ among the Christians (for their use of the word as a title one must bear in mind not only the Jewish custom, but also its use as a t.t. among the ἔθνη, in connection w. associations of the ‘old ones’ [FPoland, Geschichte des griech. Vereinswesens 1909, 98ff] and to designate civic as well as religious officials [Dssm., B 153ff=BS 154–57, NB 60ff=BS 233–35, also LO 315, 5; HHausschildt, ZNW 4, 1903, 235ff; MStrack, ibid. 213ff; HLietzmann, ZWT 55, 1914, 116–32 [=Kl. Schr. I ’58, 156–69]; MDibelius, exc. on 1 Ti 5:17ff; RAlastair-Campbell, The Elders, Seniority within Earliest Christianity ’94.].—BGU 16, 6 [159 A.D.] πρεσβύτεροι ἱερεῖς θεοῦ Σοκνοπαίου; 347, 6; PVindBosw 1, 31 [87 A.D.].—As honorary title: Iren. 4, 26, 5 [Harv. II 238, 3]. The Engl. word ‘priest’ comes fr. πρεσβύτερος via Lat. presbyter; later Christian usage is largely, if not entirely, responsible for this development; s. OED s.v. ‘priest’ B).

α. Ac 11:30; 14:23; 15:2, 4, 6, 22f; 16:4 (in all the places in Ac 15 and 16 mention is made of οἱ ἀπόστολοι καὶ οἱ πρεσβύτεροι in the Jerusalem church); 20:17; 21:18; 1 Ti 5:17, 19 (Nicol. Dam.: 90 Fgm. 103a Jac. νεωτέρῳ πρεσβυτέρου καταμαρτυρεῖν οὐκ ἔξεστι); Tit 1:5; Js 5:14; 1 Pt 5:1, 5 (s. 1a above); 1 Cl 44:5; 47:6; 54:2; 57:1. WWrede, Untersuchungen zum 1 Cl 1891, 8ff.—Acc. to 2 Cl 17:3, 5 exhortation and preaching in the church services were among their duties.—In Ign. the πρεσβύτεροι come after the bishop, to whom they are subordinate IMg 2; 3:1; 6:1, or betw. the bishop and the deacons IPhld inscr.; 10:2; IPol 6:1, or the higher rank of the bishop in comparison to them is made plain in some other way ITr 3:1; 12:2 (s. πρεσβυτέριον b; cp. Hippol., Ref. 9, 12, 22).—Polycarp—an ἐπίσκοπος, accord. to the title of the Ep. bearing his name—groups himself w. πρεσβύτεροι in Pol inscr., and further takes the presence of presbyters in Philippi for granted (beside deacons, though no ἐπίσκοπος is mentioned; cp. Hdb. on Pol inscr.) Pol 5:3.

β. Just how we are to understand the words ὁ πρεσβύτερος, applied to himself by the author of the two smallest Johannine letters 2J 1; 3J 1, remains in doubt. But in any case it is meant to indicate a position of great dignity the elder.—HWindisch, exc. on 3J, end; ESchwartz, Über den Tod der Söhne Zebedaei 1904, 47; 51; HWendt, ZNW 23, 1924, 19; EKäsemann, ZTK 48, ’51, 292–311; DWatson, NTS 35, ’89, 104–30, rhetorical analysis of 2J.—ὁ πρ. and οἱ πρ. are mentioned by Papias in these much-discussed passages: 2:3, 4, 5, 7, 14, 15. For some of the lit. s. the note on JKleist’s transl. ’48, p. 207 n. 18.

γ. In Rv there are 24 elders sitting on thrones about the throne of God; they form a heavenly council of elders (cp. Is 24:23) 4:4, 10; 5:5–14; 7:11, 13; 11:16; 14:3; 19:4. The elders have been understood as glorified human beings of some kind or astral deities (or angels) (for the var. views s. RCharles, ICC Rv I 128–33; JMichl, D. 24 Ältesten in d. Apk. d. hl. J. ’38); the number 24 has been referred to the following: the 24 priestly classes of the Jews (1 Ch 24:7–18; Jos., Ant. 7, 365–67) whose heads were called ‘elders’ (Yoma 1, 5; Tamid 1, 1; Middoth 1, 8); the 24 stars which, according to Babylonian belief, stood half on the north and half on the south of the zodiac (Diod S 2, 31, 4; POsl 4, 19: HGunkel, Z. religionsgesch. Verständnis des NT 1903, 42f; Boll 35f); the 24 hours of the day, represented as old men w. shining garments and w. crowns (acc. to the Test. of Adam [ed. CBezold, TNöldeke Festschr. 1906, 893–912]: JWellhausen, Analyse der Offb. Joh. 1907, p. 9, 1; NMorosof, Offb. Joh. 1912, 32); the 24 Yazatas in the state of the gods in heaven, acc. to Persian thought (Bousset). It is certainly an open question whether, or how far, the writer of Rv had any of these things in mind.—On the presbyters, and esp. on the question how ἐπίσκοπος and πρεσβύτερος were originally related to each other (a question which is raised particularly in the pastorals; cp. MDibelius, Hdb. exc. after 1 Ti 3:7 section 2 [w. lit.] and before 5:17), s. the lit. s.v. ἐπίσκοπος.—BEaston, Pastoral Epistles ’47, 188–97; WMichaelis, Das Ältestenamt ’53; GBornkamm, πρεσβύτερος; RCampbell, The Elders ’94.—B. 1472. DELG s.v. πρέσβυς. M-M. EDNT. TW.