or, ANTE-YOKE.
Pro’-to-zeug’-ma, from πρώτον (prōton), the first, or the beginning, and Zeugma: meaning yoked at the beginning; because the verb, which is thus unequally yoked, is placed at the beginning of the sentence.
Hence, it was called also ANTEZEUGMENON, i.e., yoked before (from the Latin, ante, before), or ante-yoked.
Another name was PROEPIZEUXIS (pro’-ep’-i-zeux’-is), yoked upon before (from προ (pro), before, and ἐπί (epi), upon).
The Latins called it INJUNCTUM, i.e., joined, or yoked to, from in, and jugum a yoke (from jungo, to join).
Gen. 4:20 —“And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents and cattle.” Here the verb “dwell” is placed before “tents” and “cattle”, with both of which it is yoked, though it is accurately appropriate only to “tents”, and not to “cattle”. The verb “possess” would be more suitable for cattle. And this is, why the figure is a kind of Ellipsis, for the verse if completed would read, “he was the father of such as dwell in tents [and possess] cattle.” But how stilted and tame compared with the figure which bids us throw the emphasis on the fact that he was a nomade יׇכׇל a wander or nomade, and cared more for wandering about than for the shepherd part of his life!
The A.V. has supplied the verb in italics:—“[such as have] cattle,” as though it were a case of ordinary Ellipsis. The R.V. supplies the second verb “ have.”
It may be, however, that the sense is better completed by taking the words וְאָהֳלֵי מִקְנֶה (vahaley michneh), tents of cattle, as in 2 Chron. 14:15, i.e., cattle-tents, i.e., herdsmen. Or, as in Gen. 46:32, 34, by supplying the Ellipsis:—“Such as dwell in tents and [men of] cattle,” i.e., herdsmen. So that the sense would be much the same.
Ex. 3:16 —“I have surely visited you, and that which is done to you in Egypt.” We are thus reminded that it was not merely that Jehovah had seen that which they had suffered, but rather had visited because of His covenant with their fathers.
The A.V. and R.V. both supply the second verb: “[seen] that which is done to you, etc.”
It may be that the verb פָּקַך (pachad), though used only once, should be repeated (by implication) in another sense, which it has, viz.: “I have surely visited (i.e., looked after or cared for) you, and [visited] (i.e., punished for) that which is done to you in Egypt).” The two senses being to go to with the view of helping; and to go for or against with the view of punishing, which would be the figure of Syllepsis (q.v.).
Deut. 4:12 —“And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the lire: ye heard the voice of words, but saw no similitude, only a voice.”
The A.V. and R.V. supply the second verb “[heard] only a voice,” The figure shows us that all the emphasis is to be placed on the fact that no similitude was seen; thus idolatry was specially condemned.
The word “idol” means, literally, something that is seen, and thus all worship that involves the use of sight, and indeed, of any of the senses (hence called sensuous worship), rather than the heart, partakes of the nature of idolatry, and is abomination in the sight of God.
2 Kings 11:12 —“And he brought forth the king’s son, and put the crown upon him, and the testimony.” (2 Chron. 23:11).
Here the A.V. and R.V. supply the second verb, “gave him the testimony.” If it were a simple Ellipsis, we might instead supply in his hand after the word “testimony.” But it is rather the figure of Zeugma, by which our attention is called to the importance of the “testimony” under such circumstances (see Deut. 17:19) rather than to the mere act of the giving it.
Isa. 2:3 — “Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob,” i.e., [and let us enter into] the house of the God of Jacob.
Luke 24:27 — “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”
Here the verb “beginning” suits, of course, only “Moses”; and some such verb as going through would be more appropriate; as he could not begin at all the “prophets.” This figure tells us that it is not the act which we are to think of, but the books and the Scripture that we are to emphasize as being the subject of the Risen Lord’s exposition.
(Note: the Greek Textus Receptus includes the preposition at (ἀπὸ – apo), before “all the prophets”, further strengthening the point Dr. Bullinger is making.)
1 Cor. 3:2 — “I have fed you with milk, and not with meat.” Here the verb is potizo, to give drink, and it suits the subject, “milk,” but not “meat.” Hence the emphasis is not so much on the feeding as on the food, and on the contrast between the “milk” and the “meat.” The A.V. avoids the figure by giving the verb a neutral meaning. See how tame the passage would have been had it read; “I have given you milk to drink and not meat to eat”! All the fire and force and emphasis would have been lost, and we might have mistakenly put the emphasis on the verbs instead of on the subjects; while the figure would have been a Pleonasm (q.v.) instead of a Zeugma.
1 Cor. 7:10 — “And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord.” Here the one verb is connected with the two objects: but we are, by this figure, shown that it is connected affirmatively with the Lord, and only negatively with the apostle.
1 Cor. 14: 34 —“ For it is not permitted them to speak; but to be under authority.”
This has been treated as a simple Ellipsis: but the unequal yoke (Zeugma) is seen, the one verb being used for the two opposite things; thus emphasizing the fact that it is not so much the permitting, or the commanding, which is important, but the act of speaking, and the condition of being under authority.
1 Tim. 4:3 —“Forbidding to marry and to abstain from meats.”
This has been classed already under Ellipsis; but the Zeugma is also seen; emphasizing the fact that it is celibacy and abstinence which are to be noted as the marks of the latter times rather than the mere acts of “forbidding” or commanding. The latter verb, which is omitted, is supplied by Paronomasia (q.v.), “ forbidding (κωλυόντων, kōluontōn), to marry, and [commanding (κελευόντων, keleuontōn)] , etc.”
From “Figures Of Speech Used In The Bible” by E. W. Bullinger,
(Public Domain) page 131. Adapted for website compatibility.
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