‘Till Death do us Part’ ? or the Continuation of Marriage... 73 Pol. 310.c.10, “and as much as they can, they marry wives [γαμοῦσί] of this type, and in turn they send [ἐκπέμπουσι] those given in marriage [τὰς ἐκδιδομένας] by them off to such kind”; Resp. 2.362b.3, “then marrying [γαμεῖν] from whatever (family) he desires, (and) giving in marriage [ἐκδιδόναι] to whomsoever he chooses”42. Although the com- bined idiomatic component seems to be absent in these examples, an idiomatic meaning—“arranging marriages”—is defensible for Leg. 5.742.c (γαμοῦντα δὲ καὶ ἐκδιδόντα). a. Analysis of the Continuity It should not be considered unusual that two patriarchal cultures with similar marital customs would have an occasional intersection of vocabu- lary and idioms as well43. Therefore, any substantive connection between the Gospels and these examples should not be pursued— primarily be- cause the origin of γαμέω-γαμίζω can more easily and more plausibly be located in indigenous literature. Perhaps a limited case for linguistic interference could be made on the following grounds. Conceivably, the OT idea could have been contracted to the formula γαμέω καὶ γαμίζω (à la Herodotus, Hist. 5.92, etc.) under Greek influence. (But even here, the companion expressions in Luke 17,27-28 indicate that compact, paired constructions are entirely at home in a Semitic milieu44.) Additionally, γαμέω-γαμίζω may be an innovation (Christian?) modeled on the pair γαμέω-γαμέομαι, which is abundantly attested in Greek literature45. Within these options, however, the possibility of Greek inspiration for γαμέω-γαμίζω appears to be exhausted. It only remains to be observed that the semi-literal γαμέω-γαμίζω was selected rather than the literal and popular λαμβάνω-δίδωμι (e.g., LXX)—or variations thereof cited 42 See Herodotus, Hist. 4.145 (γαμέω-ἐκδίδωμι); Theophrastus, Char. 30.18-19 (γαμέω- ἐκδίδωμι); Demosthenes, Leoch. 9.8-10.4 (γαμέω-ἐκδίδωμι); Isocrates, Aeginet. 46.5-6 (ἐκδίδωμι- λαμβάνω); Aeschylus, Fr. (Mette) Tetralogy 15.d.131.4, 6 (γαμέω-γαμέομαι). See also the contractual and legal sense of ἐγγυάω, “give a bride in marriage”, which in the middle voice means “receive a bride in marriage”. LSJ 468; Wolff, “Marriage Law”, 51-53. The combination occurs in Herodotus, Hist. 6.130 (ἐγγυάω-ἐγγυάομαι). 2 Cor 11,2 has the synonym ἁρμόζω, “betroth”. 43 Note that “eating and drinking” is also attested in Greek antiquity, evidently inde- pendent of any Semitic influence. See, P.G. Bolt, “What Were the Sadducees Reading? An Enquiry into the Literary Background of Mark 12:18-23”, TynBul 45 (1994) 381-382. 44 See Y. Avishur, Stylistic Studies of Word-Pairs in Biblical and Ancient Semitic Literature (AOAT; Kevelaer 1984). 45 Plato, Leg. 11.926.c.1-3; Aeschylus, Fr. (Mette) Tetralogy 15.d.131.4, 6; Euripides, Med. 288; Diodorus Siculus, Biblio. hist. 1.27.2; 19.33.2; Plutarch, Arist., 20.6; Plutarch, Apoph. lac. 228.a.