[B-Greek] Mt 11:19 the works and the wisdom

Mark Lama markosl80 at yahoo.com
Mon Aug 18 17:54:52 EDT 2003


Hello Wieland,
 
I just saw this thread today (I missed the last week of B-Greek). Like you, I have been puzzled by this verse before. Once when I read it, an intruiging possibility occurred to me. Could this be the final witty stroke to Jesus' masterful retort to his detractors, in which he characterizes them as "little kids playing in the street" (PAIDIOIS KAQHMENOIS EN TAIS AGORAIS) 11:16? Certainly the parallel text in Luke 7:35 could support this idea. Luke 7:35: KAI EDIKAIWQH hH SOFIA APO PANTWN TWN TEKNWN AUTHS. (the Byzantine text has the same reading in Mt. 11:19) In Hebrew thought, typically the phrase "the children of x" means "those who are characterized by x". Thus, I have wondered if this might not mean something like "Wisdom is judged as such only by those who possess it," implying that the "children in the marketplace"  could have appreciated the wisdom of John's and Jesus' actions if they only had any themselves. The sly humor of the statement seen in this way seems to me typical of
 Jesus. 
 
Despite how attractive this interpretation of the verse is to me, it is only fair for me to admit that the verse lends itself to other perfectly good interpretations as well, and that the reading of the eclectic text in Mt. 11:19 (APO TWN ERGWN AUTHS) does not lend itself as well to it. (Though this could also, perhaps, be seen as a retort, but with a somewhat different meaning: "Wisdom is as wisdom does," i.e. by the absurd nature of their complaints they have exposed themselves as foolish children) 
 
Just thought I would suggest something interesting to chew on,
 
CARIS KAI EIRHNH,
 
Mark Lama

Wieland Willker <willker at chemie.uni-bremen.de> wrote:
Matthew 11:19
KAI EDIKAIWQH H SOFIA APO TWN ERGWN AUTHS.

1. Which/whose wisdom?
2. Who justifies by doing what?
3. What works?
4. Can APO mean "away from"?

Explain to the man on the street what is meant here.


Best wishes
Wieland
<><
------------------------------------------------
Wieland Willker, Bremen, Germany
mailto:willker at chemie.uni-bremen.de
http://www.uni-bremen.de/~wie
Textcritical commentary:
http://www.uni-bremen.de/~wie/TCG/index.html


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