J. Dick Fleming. AMAZEMENT.— The interest of this word to students of the Gospels is twofold, and arises out of its employment, on the one hand, as one of the terms used to express tlie effect upon the people of our Lord's supernatural manifestation, and on the other, in one unique instance, to describe an emotion which tore the heart of the God-man Himself.
The nominal form, 'amazement,' is of rare occurrence in EV (only Ao31», 1 P 36 [for TTi^o-,,-] in A V ; Jlk SJ^, Lk 4^6 5=6, Ac 310 in RV); the passive verb, 'to be amazed,' occurs not infrequently in the narrative books of NT (rarely in OT, e.g. Ex 1515). xhey are especially characteristic of the Synoptic Gospels, and are currently employed in their narratives, along with several kin- dred terms, to describe the impression made by our Lord's wonderful teaching and His miraculous works. In the AV they translate In these narratives a number of Gr. words: HifA^o;, )cdx^i3iofAxi ; txiTTxtnt, i^a-ToifjMt ; lxT>^r,cff6,uMK But ; EV, studying greater uniformity of rendering, omits ixTX-f.ir- irofjMi from this list, and makes ' amazement,' ' to be amazed,' the stated representatives of the other two groups [exceptions are : Mk 168 where s«£rT«iri,- is rendered 'astonishment'; Ac 3iof- where fla/A^o?, ly.Qx.jj.&oi are represented bv ' wonder ' : passages like Mk 3'-ii, 2 Co S", and again Ac 10i« Ills o^" are, of course, not in question]. To lxT\r,ircrof^xt it uniformly assigns 'aston- ish,' * astonishment ' ; and to the accompanying terms of kin- dred implications similarly appropriate renderings : to Bxv^ocZai
''-° '' ""■ '"'■" generally 'to marvel' (but 'to wonder,'
'-^1, also Ac 7^1), and to tpoi3iofx,a
(.ixBxufi.
Mtl631, Lk 218 4-*^ •241'^ 1426, Mk 4J1, Lk 5-^0 71t Mk 108, ^,,-„„ Jill r.-3,
™ Mt H*, Mk 65", T,.iM« S") ' to be afraid,' varied to ' to fear.' in the Synoptic narrativ
another of these terms as a comment upon the effect of Lord's teaching or works, imparts to the reader a vivid sense of the supernaturalness of His manifestation and of the deep ■ ' h it made as such on the people.
Sometimes it appears to have been the deme or bearing of our Lord which awoke wonder or struck with awe (Mt 27" || Mk 15^ Mk 9'^ lO^^ . cf. Lk 2^8). Sometimes the emotion was aroused rather by the tone of His teaching, as, with His great ' I say unto you' He 'taught them as hav- ing authority, and not as the scribes' (Mk V^ \\ Lk 4^2, Mt 7-' ; cf. Mk 1 1'8, Mt 22^\ At other times it was more distinctly what He said, the matter of His discourse, that excited the emotions in question — its unanticipated literalness, or its unanticipat- able judiciousness, wisdom, graciousness, or the radical paradox of its announcements (Lk 2"- ■•* i~; Mt 13=^ II Mk 6=; Jn 7'^^ ; Mt 19'^5 || Mk 10="; Mt 22=2 II Mk 12", Lk 20=«). Most commonly, how- ever, it was one of His wonderful works which brought to the spectators the dread sense of the presence of the supernatural (Lk 5' ; Mk 1^ || Lk 436 . Ml- ovi II Lii 5*^ sit 98 ; Lk 7'« 11" || Mt 12** ; Mt 8" II Mk 4«, Lk 8'-^ ; Mk 5'= || Lk 8^=-^' ; Mk 530. 33. 42 II Lk 8^'^ ; Mt 9'« ; Mk 6''' ; Jn 6'" || Mt 14* ; Mk 7" ; Lk 9« ; Mt 21=»), and filled the country with wonder (Mt lo^').
The circle att'ected, naturally, varies from a single individual (Mk 5^^), or the few who happened to he concerned (Lk 2-'s 5^), or the body of His immediate followers (Mt 17^ Mk lO^^-^^, Mt 19=^ 2I-"), up to a smaller or larger assemblage of spec- tators (Lk 2" 422 . Mk V"- 11 Lk 432 ; Mk r-' II Lk 43"; Mk 2'^ Lk 71" 825- ", Mk 5^=, Mt 13-'«, Mk 6^' ; Jn 6'» II Mt 14=«, Mk 6=» ; Mk 7=', Lk 9«, Mk 16' ; Mt 22'!2 II Mk 12", Lk SO^"). These spectators are often expressly declared to have been numerous : they are described as ' the multitudes ' or ' all the multi- tudes,' 'all the people of the country,' or quite generally, when not a single occasion but a sum- iiultitudes '
Mk 8»; Mt 9^ 153', Mk 9'^ Jn 7'^ Mk 11
Mt
The several terms employed by the Evangelists to describe the impression on the people of these super- natural manifestations, express the feelings natural to man in the presence of the supernatural. In their sum they leave on the reaih'r's mind a very complete sense of the_ reality and .Ici.lli (if the impression made. Their detailid m ihhin my is not always, however, perfectly ck'ar, 'I'lir .~i mliiit will find discriminating discussions .jf the (wn groups of terms which centre resiicriixcly ar.nuid the notions of 'wonder' and 'fear in .1. II ilriiirich Schmidt's well-known Synonyniil: tin- (/i-ochixc/ien Sprache, at Nos. 168 and 139. It will probably suHice here to indicate very briefly the fundamental impli- cation of each term in its present application.
9a[>/i«?iu is a broad term, primarily expressing the complete engagement of the mind with an object which seizes so power- fully upon the attention as to compel exclusive occupation with it. It is ordinarily used m a good sense, and readily takes on the implication of'' admiration'; but it often occurs also when the object contemplated arouses internal opposition and dis- pleasure. What it always implies is that its object is remark- able, extraordinary, beyond not so much expectation as ready comprehension, and therefore irresistibly engages a'"" '