Bible Lexicons

";bring or gather together."; The verb is frequently used of the total amount, the full sum, received by sale or by purchase, e.g. P Oxy II. 285.19 (c. A.D. 50) διέσισέν με ἄλλας δραχμὰς τέσσαρες. . . μηνῶν ἕξ, κατὰ μῆνα δραχμὰς δύο, αἳ συναγόμεναι (δραχμαὶ) κ ̄δ ̄, ";he also extorted from me four more drachmae, and two drachmae each month during six months . . . : total, 24 drachmae"; (Edd.), P Tebt II. 296.3 (A.D. 123) τὸ συναγ [ό ]μενον τῆς πρ [ο ]σθήκης ἀνελήφθη, ";the total amount of the increase was received,"; or P Oxy I. 55.11 (A.D. 283) where two joiners ask for payment of 4000 drachmae as the total amount of wages due to them in connexion with the construction of a Street—τὰ συναγόμενα τῶν μισθῶν τοῦ ὅλου ἔργου. It would seem, therefore, that by συναγαγὼν πάντα in Luke 15:13 we must understand with Field (Notes, p. 68) that the prodigal converted his goods into money, sold all off and realized their full value, rather than that he ";gathered all together"; to take with him.

For the meaning ";hospitably receive,"; ";entertain,"; as in Matthew 25:35, Acts 11:26 (cf. Hort Ecclesia, p. 61), and in several places in the LXX (with εἰς τὸν οἶκον or the like), cf. OGIS 130.5 (B.C. 146–116) οἱ συνάγοντες ἐν Σήτει. . . βασιλισταί, where Dittenberger lakes the verb transitively, and thinks the reference is to a club gathering or festal meal. He compares Athenaeus VIII. p. 365c ἔλεγον δὲ συνάγειν καὶ τὸ μετ᾽ ἀλλήλων πίνειν καὶ συναγώγιον τὸ συμπόσιον, and Theophrast. Charact. 30 (= xxvi. 36, ed. Jebb) συναγόντων παρ᾽ αὐτῷ, ";a club dinner at his house."; See also Kennedy Sources , p. 128, and Menander Selections ad Ἐπιτρέπ. 195.

Other exx. of the verb are P Alex 48 (iii/B.C.) (= Witkowskia2, p. 51) ἔτι δὲ καὶ νῦν, εἰ μὴ τὴν μήκωνα συνάξεις, οὐδείς σε ἀνθρώπων μὴ ὠφειλήσηι, P Eleph 87 (iii/B.C.) τὸ συνα ̣γόμενον εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν ἀργύριον, P Tebt II. 389.15 (A.D. 141) σ ]υ ̣, ν ̣ ταῖς συναγομέναις τόκου αὐτῶν δραχμαῖς τετρακ [ο ]σίαις εἴκοσι, ";with the interest accruing upon it, 420 drachmae"; (Edd.), P Oxy XIV. 1701.18 (iii/A.D.) τοὺς ] δὲ συναχθέντας δραχμιαίους τόκους, BGU I. 9810 (A.D. 211) ὧν ἡ συναγ ̣ο ̣μένη τιμὴ ἐν ἀργυρίῳ ἔ [με ]ινεν.

[The originality in Luke 3:17 of the vulgar aor. συνάξαι so (אa) as an element traceable to ";Q"; has been discussed by J. H. Moulton in Exp VII. vii. p. 413 and Cambridge Biblical Essays, p. 485 f., in connexion with the Synoptic Problem.]