Bible Lexicons

";receive before"; : cf. P Petr III. 43 (2) recto i. 25 (iii/B.C.) τό τε ἀρ [γ ]ύριον ὃ ἂν π [ροειλη ]φότες ὦσιν, ";the money which they have received previously,"; P Cairo Zen I. 59120.2 (B.C. 256) διὰ τὸ προλαβεῖν παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ κερμάτιον εἰς ἐφόδια, ";because we have received from him in advance money for travelling expenses,"; OGIS 6.20 (iv/B.C.) ὁ δῆμος φαίνηται χάριν ἀποδιδοὺς ὧν προείληφεν ἀγαθῶν, and the immense inscr. of temple accounts from Eleusis Syll 587.11 (B.C. 328), money paid ἀρ ]χι [τ ]έκτονι, ὃ προέλαβεν Λυκούργου κελεύσαντος, ";to the architect, which he received in advance at the bidding of Lycurgus."; The sense of ";anticipate"; in Mark 14:8 which Souter (Lex. s.v.) regards as perhaps an Aramaism, is apparently to be found in IGSI 2014.1 Σουλπικία, εὐψύχι · προέλαβές με κτλ. (cited by Herwerden Lex. s.v.) In P Cairo Zen I. 59060.5 B.C.257) a boy athlete is described as τῶν νῦν ἀλιφομένων, οἳ προειλήφασιν χρόνον πολύν, πολὺ κρείττων, ";far excelling those at present being trained, who had anticipated him by a considerable time.";

For the derived meaning ";overtake,"; ";surprise,"; as in Galatians 6:1 (cf. Sap 17:17), see Field Notes, p. 190, and cf. P Oxy VI. 928.8 (ii/iii A.D.) ἵνα ἐὰν δοκιμάσῃς ποιήσῃς πρὶν προλημφθῆναι, ";that if you think fit you may act before she is entrapped";—said of a girl against whom a plot had been formed.

In Syll 804 (= .3 1170) (ii/A.D.) from the Asclepieum at Epidaurus this word occurs ter meaning ";eat"; (or ";drink";) : .7 τυρὸν καὶ ἄρτον προλαβεῖν, .9 κιτρίου προλαμβάνειν τὰ ἄκρα, and .15 γάλα μετὰ μέλιτος προλαβεῖν. Dittenberger quotes Wilamowitz to the effect that the temporal force of the προ – had worn off, and Baunack as finding the idea of praeferre, but he himself thinks προλαμβάνειν a mistake for προσλαμβάνειν, which is used in later Greek of taking food. One naturally thinks of 1 Corinthians 11:21, where no part of the point lies in the ";forestalling"; of others : the gravamen of Paul’s charge is that there was ";no Lord’s supper to eat,"; ";everyone devours his own supper at the meal"; (brought with him in a κίστη —cf. the last scene of Aristophanes’ Acharnians).

The subst. πρόληψις is used in the sense of ";preconception"; in P Fay 124.16 (ii/A.D.), as in Stoic philosophy. For πρόλημμα see BGU III. 775.18 (ii/A.D.)