σαββατων

Dr. Jeff Trostle

I'm not sure who to contact at Logos, but I
need some guidance.  I'm finishing my doctoral dissertation and
currently focusing on Colossians 2.16.  The Greek word for sabbath in
this verse is σαββατων, which is plural.  There are 9 occurrences of
that form in the New Testament and all of them translate the plural
Greek noun with a singular English noun sabbath, the sabbath, the
sabbath day, or the first day of the week. 

What I've found so
far is that since the other coordinating nouns, festival and new moon,
are singular, σαββατων is also translated as singular.  Douglas Moo in
his commentary in the Pillar series states that σαββατων is regularly
translated as singular reflecting the underlying Aramaic word  שׂבתא

But that really doesn't explain it very well to those of us less initiated in the nuance of Greek and Aramaic/Hebrew.

Any insight?
Jeff Trostle

Alan Macgregor

Jeff

Does this extract from NIGTC on Colossians 2:16 help?

"Characteristically Jewish also is the practice of referring to the “sabbath” in the plural, τὰ σάββατα, as here (Lightfoot 192; BAGD s.v. σάββατον 1bβ). It is true that the most unusual practice of maintaining one day in seven as a day of rest proved attractive to sympathetic Gentiles (Philo, De vita Mosis 2:21; Josephus, Contra Apionem 2:282; Juvenal, Satirae 14:96), but a critical or judgmental attitude on the subject, as here, is much more likely to express a traditional Jewish attitude, defensive of identity and covenant distinctiveness.

But if sabbath is so clearly a distinctively Jewish festival, then the probability is that the “festival” and “new moon” also refer to the Jewish versions of these celebrations. The point is put beyond dispute when we note that the three terms together, “sabbaths, new moons, and feasts,” was in fact a regular Jewish way of speaking of the main festivals of Jewish religion (1 Chron. 23:31; 2 Chron. 2:3; 31:3; Neh. 10:33; Isa. 1:13–14; 1 Macc. 10:34; Ezek. 45:17, and Hos. 2:11 in reverse order, as here; see, e.g., Sappington 163; Aletti, Épître aux Colossiens 193 n. 112)." (Dunn, James D. G. The Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon : A Commentary on the Greek Text. Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle: William B. Eerdmans Publishing; Paternoster Press, 1996.)

Every blessing

Alan