AFORIZO in Matthew

Peter Clark peter_clark47 at hotmail.com
Thu Mar 30 07:58:25 EST 2000


Hello I am a new member. 

AFORIZO appears 3 times in Matthew, at 13:49 and twice at 25:32. The 
imagery clearly derives from Exekiel 34 (LXX) where Ezekiel's translator 
uses DIAKRINO; Mtt substitutes for this "philosophical" or mental 
distinction/judgement the more forceful or physical AFORIZO. Now since it 
is highly likely that Mtt was written in or destined for Antioch (a 
supposition at least partly confirmed by Ignatius to the Ephesians), and 
accepting that there would have been a sizeable Zoroastrian community in 
Antioch (as in Cappadocia, Parthia, Armenia and so on, see Strabo et al), 
could Mtt have been using AFORIZO here to appeal to the Zoroastrians whose 
eschatology, as laid out in the Gathas of Zarathustra,  was very much 
concerned with physical seperation. I suggest that for Mtt the word AFORIZO 
is used as an equivalent to the Gathic CI which also carried with it 
connotations of physical separation, as in the Cinvat Bridge, or Bridge of 
the Separator (cf Skt CI, to cut). There are, I maintain, other Zoroastrian 
signposts in Mtt (aside from the obvious MAGOI pericope) which I would be 
pleased to discuss.

Peter Clark
Walsall/Chester 
UK



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