[B-Greek] Hebrew to Greek

Ken Penner pennerkm at mcmaster.ca
Tue Oct 14 11:32:37 EDT 2003


Richard Smith asked about the accuracy, methodology, and conclusions
presented in the 
Passages quoted from the Jerusalem Perspective.

First, let me note that the quality of scholarship coming from the Jerusalem
Perspective varies greatly.

Re: Matt 13:17 (prophets and righteous ones) // Luke 10:24 (prophets and
kings), in which the discrepancy is traced to the Hebrew word ML)KYM. IMO,
the hypothesis that both Matthew and Luke are translating from a Hebrew
original is very unsatisfactory here. First, of course It does not explain
the presence of DIKAIOI in Matthew; we should expect Matthew to have
AGGELOI, if he read ML)KYM. Second, although It does offer an explanation
for the mention of "kings", I would rather propose an allusion to Isaiah
52:15; the allusion could be attributed either to Jesus or to Luke.

Re: Mt 6:22-23, in which the Greek hAPLOUS and PONHROS as applied to eyes
are traced back to the Hebrew idioms for generosity and stinginess. This
interpretation is well accepted among scholars (see Allison's commentaries).
It is not even necessary to posit a Hebrew original; the "evil eye" idiom is
translated literally in the Septuagint (Deut. 15:9). But because hAPLOUS is
a very unusual translation of TOV or YAFEH, the case that this passage is
translated from Hebrew independently by both Matthew and Luke is IMO
extremely unlikely. I don't doubt the authenticity of the saying, but Jesus
could have spoken it in Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek. What I am most confident
about is that Matthew's and Luke's versions are not independent; they
probably share a common Greek source (whether you call it Q or something
else).

Ken Penner, M.C.S. (Regent College), M.A. (McMaster)
Ph.D. (cand.), Religious Studies, 
Biblical Field (Early Judaism major)
McMaster University
Hamilton, Canada
pennerkm at mcmaster.ca
Vocabulary Memorisation Software: 
http://socserv.socsci.mcmaster.ca/westerholm/flash or http://sensoft.nav.to




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