Matthew 16:18: The Petros-petra Wordplay—Greek, Aramaic, or Hebrew?

How to cite this article: David N. Bivin, “Matthew 16:18: The Petros-petra Wordplay—Greek, Aramaic, or Hebrew?” Jerusalem Perspective 46/47 (1994): 32-36, 38 [https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/2718/].

The recognition that the synoptic gospels are derived from a Semitic source or sources seems essential to any productive methodology of interpretation. Often, unless one translates the Greek texts of the synoptic gospels to Hebrew, one cannot fully understand their meaning. For example, when the Beatitudes are translated to Hebrew, one sees that they are not eschatological, but, like the beatitudes of the Hebrew Scriptures,^[17] speak of rewards in the here and now.

Greek Wordplay?

The Greek words πέτρος (petros) and πέτρα (petra) employed by Jesus in Matthew 16:18 make a nice wordplay.^[18] This Greek wordplay appears to be a direct contradiction to the assumption that Jesus taught in Hebrew. If Jesus delivered this saying in Hebrew, as many scholars in Israel assume, how could it have contained a Greek wordplay?

Some scholars have suggested an Aramaic background to Jesus’ saying. Joseph A. Fitzmyer, Professor Emeritus of The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and one of the world’s most distinguished New Testament scholars, suggests that Jesus employed an Aramaic wordplay (Kepha-kepha) in his response to Peter’s declaration.^[19] However, Fitzmyer acknowledges a difficulty: he wonders why the Matthean Jesus did not say, “On this petros I will build….”^[20] This difficulty is a product of Fitzmyer’s Aramaic reconstruction. He has been forced in Aramaic to reconstruct Jesus’ wordplay using only one word;^[21] therefore, he is unable to preserve the wordplay reflected in Greek, a play on two different words.

• ^[1] Paul gives us eight of the nine references to Cephas in the New Testament (1 Cor. 1:12; 3:22; 9:5; 15:5; Gal. 1:18; 2:9, 11, 14). The only other occurrence of "Cephas" is in John 1:42. ↩
• ^[2] See Shmuel Safrai, "Spoken Languages in the Time of Jesus," Jerusalem Perspective 30 (Jan./Feb. 1991), 5-6, 13. ↩
• ^[3] The Hebrew reconstruction פֶּטְרוֹס (Petros) for the Greek Πέτρος (Petros) was first put forward in Jerusalem Perspective magazine. See the entry "Peter" in "Comments on the Hebrew Reconstruction" under the heading "Matthew 19:27 = Mark 10:28 = Luke 18:28," "Jerusalem Synoptic Commentary Preview: The Rich Young Ruler Story," ed. David N. Bivin, Jerusalem Perspective 38 & 39 (May-Aug. 1993), 23-24; notes 76-84. See now, David N. Bivin, "Cost of Entering the Kingdom of Heaven" complex at A Reconstruction of the Conjectured Hebrew Life of Yeshua. In August 2014 a scholarly version of this article appeared as “Jesus' Petros-petra Wordplay (Matt 16:18): Is It Greek, Aramaic, or Hebrew?” in The Language Environment of First-century Judaea: Jerusalem Studies in the Synoptic Gospels 2 (JCP 26; ed. Randall Buth and R. Steven Notley; Leiden: Brill, 2014), 375-394. Jerusalem Perspective's Premium Content subscribers may click here to read the electronic version of the article. Purchase the print edition of the volume here. Purchase the electronic edition of the volume here. ↩
• ^[4] As rendered by the overly literal New American Standard Bible. ↩
• ^[5] The interpreter dug deep into Scripture to find the answer to the question, "Who is this rock [literally, 'rocks,' tsu·RIM, pl. of tsur] that God saw in advance [me·ROSH, taken to mean 'in advance' rather than 'from the top']?" The interpreter's answer: "Abraham." This he deduced from Isa. 51:1-2, which equates Abraham with "the rock"—"Look to the rock [tsur] from which you were hewn.... Look to Abraham, your father."

  Based on a knowledge of who "the rock" is, the interpreter then created a parable that illustrates the great esteem in which God held Abraham: "When God decided to create the world, he looked into the future and realized that his plans would be frustrated by evil persons. There was nothing solid on which he could build. However, he saw one faithful person—Abraham. This was the solid foundation God needed. God then went ahead with his plans." Compare the rabbinic saying, "On account of Abraham both this world and the world to come were created" (Tanhuma, Chaye Sarah 6 [ed. Buber, p. 60^a]).

  Abraham's identification as "the rock" may be confirmed in another source. In Mechilta de-Rabbi Shim'on bar Yochai to Exod. 18:12 (ed. Epstein-Melamed, p. 131, line 22), there appears the curious phrase אברהם בפינה (av·ra·HAM ba·pi·NAH, Abraham in [or, at] the corner). (See the discussion in M. B. Lerner, "Comments and Novellae on Mekhilta de Rabbi Simeon b. Yohai," Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple, Mishna and Talmud Period: Studies in Honor of Shmuel Safrai, ed. Isaiah Gafni, Aharon Oppenheimer and Menahem Stern [Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi, 1993], pp. 373-375 [Hebrew]). Shmuel Safrai suggests that this phrase should be read אברהם הפינה (av·ra·HAM ha·pi·NAH, that is, "Abraham the corner[stone]" (private communication). ↩

• ^[6] Note that the interpreter employs in Hebrew the Greek loanword פֶּטְרָא petra), although in the two Bible passages from which the midrash is derived (Num. 23:9 and Isa. 51:1-2), it is the Hebrew word צוּר (tsur) that is used. At the time this midrash was created, the biblical word tsur had fallen into disuse in Hebrew, having been replaced by other words such as the loanword petra.

  The Hebrew word petra appears elsewhere in rabbinic literature, for example, in the Jerusalem Talmud, Shevi'it 36^a top, chpt. 5, halachah 4; and Kilaim 27^b, chpt. 1, halachah 9. In the latter, as in Luke 8:6, 13, there is a sower who sows on petra, or bedrock. These examples prove that the word פֶּטְרָא (petra) had entered post-biblical Hebrew at least by rabbinic times. ↩

• ^[7] This occurrence of petra was already noted by Marcus Jastrow in his A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (repr. New York: Pardes Publishing House, 1950), p. 1162, entry "פִּיטְרָא III, פִּיטְרָה." ↩
• ^[8] The author of Yalkut Shim'oni identifies Midrash Yelamdenu as the source of the Abraham-petra midrash. According to Shmuel Safrai, Midrash Yelamdenu, which has survived in Tanhuma and other midrashic works, can be dated to the fifth century A.D. (private communication). However, Midrash Yelamdenu contains many traditions that are even earlier. This could be expected since the midrash is divided according to a triennial cycle of Torah readings, the division used in the land of Israel in the first century A.D. (cf. Encyclopaedia Judaica [Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House, 1971], 15:794). Further evidence for the antiquity of the Abraham-petra midrash is the occurrence of Greek loanwords: פטרא (petra) is the Greek πέτρα (petra), and תמליוס (temelyos), the word translated "foundations" in the Abraham-petra midrash, is the Greek θεμέλιος (themelios). The frequent occurrence of Greek loanwords in a rabbinic passage may be an indication that the passage dates from the Second Temple period when Greek still heavily influenced Hebrew. ↩
• ^[9] For an opposing view, see Shmuel Safrai, "The Value of Rabbinic Literature as an Historical Source.” ↩
• ^[10] It is very difficult to determine whether the petra in Jesus' saying refers to Peter's declaration or to Peter himself. Commentators, and theologians, are divided on this question. Two major suggestions have been put forward by scholars: that the petra is Peter; that the petra is Peter's declaration, "You are the Messiah of God" (Luke 9:20).

  In favor of petra being a reference to Peter: 1) Jesus hinted at the Abraham-petra midrash. Since this midrash speaks of God finding a man (Abraham) on whom he could build, then Jesus was probably hinting that he had found a man like Abraham (i.e., Peter) on whom he could build. 2) In the following verse (Matt 16:19), Jesus invests Peter with great authority in the kingdom of Heaven (Jesus' movement), giving Peter the "keys of the kingdom of Heaven." We learn from the book of Acts that Peter was indeed the leader and spokesman of the early church.

  In favor of petra referring to Peter's declaration: 1) The word "this" in the phrase "and on this rock" seems to indicate a switch to a subject other than Peter. By using עָלֶיךָ (alecha, on you [I will build]), for example, Jesus could have clearly indicated Peter had he wanted. The words "and on this rock" following "you are Peter" only make sense if Jesus was speaking about Peter to others. Since he is not, there must be a switch to a subject other than Peter. 2) Jesus may have alluded to the Num. 23:9 midrash, not to introduce the "dependable man" motif, but rather the "solid foundation" motif. 3) Jesus may have hinted at this midrash to indicate that he would build, not on a man, but rather on Peter's declaration. ↩

• ^[11] Genesis Rabbah 94:5 (ed. Theodor-Albeck, p. 1175), 62:2 (p. 672), 92:2 (p. 1139); Exodus Rabbah 52:3; Jerusalem Talmud, Moed Katan 82^d bot., chpt. 3; Avodah Zarah 42^c, chpt. 3, halachah 1; and elsewhere. ↩
• ^[12] In Tosefta, Demai 1:11, there is a reference to the marketplace of the town or village of Petros—שוק של פטרוס (shuk shel Petros). Shaul Lieberman comments that Petros is "apparently located in the vicinity of Antipatris" (Tosefta ki-fshutah to Demai 1:1, p. 199). Michael Avi-Yonah identifies the site Petros with Kh. Budrus (Palestine Grid 147 152), located about seven kilometers east of Lydda/Lod (Historical Geography of Palestine: From the End of the Babylonian Exile up to the Arab Conquest [Jerusalem: Bialik Institute, 1962], p. 107 [Hebrew]). ↩
• ^[13] There may now be an early example of Petros in Hebrew (or Aramaic). On a fragment of leather from Qumran Cave 4 (4QM130), James H. Charlesworth has identified what may be the first instance of Semitic Petros from the time of Peter ("Has the Name 'Peter' Been Found Among the Dead Sea Scrolls?" in Christen und Christliches in Qumran, ed. Bernhard Mayer [Regensburg: Friedrich Pustet, 1991], pp. 213-225). Petros, spelled פיטרוס, is found in a list of names that includes Magnus, Malkiah, Mephibosheth, Hyrcanus, Yannai, Aquila, Zakariel, Eli and Omriel. ↩
• ^[14] Σίμων (Simon [Luke 4:38; 5:3, 4, 5, 8, 10; 22:31; 24:34; Matt 10:2 = Mark 3:16 = Luke 6:14; Matt 16:16, 17]) and Συμεών (Simeon [Acts 15:14; 2 Pet. 1:1]), both used in the New Testament to refer to Peter, are apparently the transliterations of the Semitic שִׁמְעוֹן (Shim'on). Both Greek names were used by the authors of the Septuagint to transliterate שִׁמְעוֹן.

  Based on first-century literary and epigraphic sources, Shim'on was by far the most common Jewish male name of the period—approximately twenty percent of the Jews we know by name from the Second Temple period were named Shim'on (see Rachel Hachlili, "Names and Nicknames of Jews in Second Temple Times," Eretz-Israel 17 [1984], 188-211 [Hebrew]; Tal Ilan, "Names of Hasmoneans in the Second Temple Period," Eretz-Israel 19 [1987], 238-241 [Hebrew]). ↩

• ^[15] It is surprising, but the name Petros was apparently never used in Greek before its appearance in the New Testament (see the entry "Πέτρος" in A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, trans. and ed. William F. Arndt and F. Wilbur Gingrich [University of Chicago Press and Cambridge University Press, 1957], p. 660). ↩
• ^[16] My Hebrew-speaking Israeli neighbors in Mevaseret Zion (ten kilometers west of Jerusalem) had a dog named "Star." Like the Greek word petros (stone), the English word "star" is not usually a personal name. This Israeli family, however, for whom English is a second language, liked the word "star" and used it as a name for their dog. ↩
• ^[17] For example, Ps. 1:1-3. ↩
• ^[18] See my, “Hebraisms in the New Testament,” Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics (4 vols.; ed. Geoffrey Khan; Leiden: Brill, 2013), 198-201, and the JP version, “Hebraisms in the New Testament.” ↩
• ^[19] Joseph A. Fitzmyer, “Aramaic Kepha’ and Peter’s name in the New Testament,”Text and Interpretation: Studies in the New Testament presented to Matthew Black, ed. Ernest Best and R. McL. Wilson (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1979), pp. 121-132. Fitzmyer suggests that in Aramaic Jesus said: antah hu Kepha we’al kepha den ebneh… (You are Kepha[Cephas], and on this kepha [rock] I will build…). ↩
• ^[20] Substituting the Greek masculine petros for the Greek feminine petra, the reading of all Greek manuscripts. See Fitzmyer, ibid., pp. 130-131: “The problem that confronts one is to explain why there is in the Matthean passage a translation of the Aramaic substratum, which is claimed to have the same word kepha twice, by two Greek words, πέτρος and πέτρα… If the underlying Aramaic of Matt. xvi.18 had kepha twice, then we should expect σὺ εἶ Πέτρος, καὶ ἐπὶ τούτῳ τῷ πέτρῳ οἰκοδομήσω….” Cf. Fitzmyer’s recent comments in response to a magazine reader’s letter (“Queries & Comments,” Biblical Archaeology Review 19.3 [1993], 70). For Fitzmyer’s Aramaic reconstruction to be correct, the Greek text should read, “on this petros I will build….” ↩
• ^[21] The word כֵּפָא (kepha). The only difference between Kepha and kepha in Fitzmyer’s reconstruction is the capitalization of the former. This distinction, however, does not exist in Aramaic, since in Aramaic there are no capital letters. ↩