[B-Greek] HLI vs. HLIAS in Matt 27:46

Bryant J. Williams III bjwvmw at com-pair.net
Thu May 20 01:07:51 EDT 2010


Dear Kenneth,

The following is from Commentary on the NT Use of the OT, edited by G. K. Beale
and D. A. Carson, "Matthew," by Craig L. Blomberg, pp. 98-100, specifically page
99, Parts C & D:

    "C. Use in Jewish Sources. The only extant pre-Christian Jewish reference
Ps. 22:1 appears to be the allusion in T. Sol. 6:8, in which Satan says, "If
anyone adjures me with the oath (called) 'the Elo-i,' a great name for [God's]
power, I disappear." The much later Targum to Ps. 22:1, of course, uses the
Aramaic, and thus it matches Matthew's ELI for "my God," rather Mark's Hebrew
ELWI. But, as noted above, this may reflect Jesus' actual wording; it is
impossible to know whether Jesus would have quoted the verse in the Hebrew form
of the Jewish Scriptures or in the Aramaic vernacular of common speech. Much
later, in medieval Judaism, the Midrash Tehillim makes the cry of Ps. 22:1 a
central prayer of Esther, showing how a different speaker or narrator could
reappropriate the text in a new but equally fitting context (Mean, 2000).

    D. Textual Background. The MT reads, "My God, My God, why have forsaken me?"
The LXX translates this literally, but adds "you protected me" after the
invocation and before the psalmist's question. Mark includes only the portion of
the text found in the MT, transliterates an Aramaic paraphrase, but follows the
LXX verbatim for the Greek translation of Jesus' words, except for a slight
alteration the expression for "why." Matthew mostly follows Mark but changes the
spelling of "my God" in transliteration and changes the Greek translation of the
same expression from the nominative used for direct address to the actual
vocative (QEE rather than hO QEOS)."

NOTE: Beware that Ps. 22 is Ps.21 LXX which is attributed to David in its
superscription.

Commentary on the NT Use of the OT, "Mark," by Rikk E. Watts, "15:24, 29, 34,"
pp. 235-237. He gives a whole list of information on the use of Ps. 22 in Qumran
Literature and Rabbinic/Targumic Literature.

En Xristwi,

Rev. Bryant J. Williams III

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kenneth Litwak" <javajedi2 at yahoo.com>
To: "B Greek" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>; "Randall Buth"
<randallbuth at gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 19, 2010 8:27 PM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] HLI vs. HLIAS in Matt 27:46




--- On Tue, 5/18/10, Randall Buth <randallbuth at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Randall Buth <randallbuth at gmail.com>
> Subject: HLI vs. HLIAS in Matt 27:46
> To: "Kenneth Litwak" <javajedi2 at yahoo.com>, "B Greek"
<b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
> Date: Tuesday, May 18, 2010, 10:23 PM
> Ken Litwak egrapse
> > I was looking tonight at Jesus' cry of dereliction in
> Matt 27:46 tonight
> . . .
> > Looking then at the Hebrew test of Ps 22:1, I do see
> )LY )LY, which
> > would explain the transliteration in Matthew 27, but
> it would not
> > explain the crowd's reaction, as the word in Hebrew
> for "my God" is
> > not equivalent to the name Elijah, )LYH. So I
> find this an interesting
> > puzzle, as I see no reason anyone should have confused
> the two,
> > especially given that, to my knowledge, there is no
> Second Temple
> > tradition of Elijah coming to help individuals.
> This is probably not a
> > B-Greek issue per se, but it is based upon the Greek
> text. I would
> > be interested in any thoughts others have on this
> puzzle. Thanks.
>
> Firstly, one needs to follow the sound. HLEI (Hebrew name)
> and HLEIA
> (Gk vocative and Hebrew name) are almost the same in both
> Hebrew and Greek. The only real difference is that the
> Hebrew name
> Eliya has an accent on the final 'a' sound, though even
> that may not
> have been true for the first century Hebrew dialect.
> The 'problem' only comes with Mark's ELWEI. (I am currently
> writing
> a paper arguing that Mark's ELWEI is a purposeful change,
> while
> the 'common view' is that Matthew's HLEI is a purposeful
> change.
>
> And there was a Second temple tradition that Eliya had to
> come
> before the Messiah.
>
Randall,

  Whether HLI or HLWEI sound very similar or not, it strikes me as odd that the
bystanders would not hear the Hebrew version of Ps 22:1 and know to whom Jesus
was calling out.  Surely they dealt with people who had similar-sounding but not
identical names all the time.  Did they always confuse those?

  On your final point, and related to this, and my last comment on it since it
is not about Greek per se, there is not so far as we know any Second Temple
tradition that places the coming of Elijah before the Messiah.  See Richard
Bauckham, "The Restoration of Israel in Luke-Acts", in James M. Scott, ed.,
Restoration:  Old Testament, Jewish and Christian Perspectives, 440-41.

Ken


---
B-Greek home page: http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek
B-Greek mailing list
B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek


-- 
Internal Virus Database is out-of-date.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.3/696 - Release Date: 02/21/2007 3:19
PM





More information about the B-Greek mailing list