There are many expressions in the Greek texts of Matthew, Mark and Luke that seem to derive from Hebrew idioms. These are phrases that mean something different from the literal meaning of the words they use. Every language has its own idioms, many of which seem strange when translated literally out of their native setting.
By the Finger of God
Jesus’ ministry of miracles and deliverance occasionally brought him into conflict. One of the most intriguing controversies concerned the accusation by a group of Pharisees called “Jerusalem scribes” that Jesus had accomplished the healing of a dumb man with the aid of the prince of demons.
The Lord’s Prayer 9: “Lead Us Not Into Temptation”
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The Lord’s Prayer 8: “Forgive Us Our Debts”
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The Lord’s Prayer 6: “Thy Will Be Done”
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The Lord’s Prayer 5: “Thy Kingdom Come” (Part 2)
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The Lord’s Prayer 4: “Thy Kingdom Come” (Part 1)
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The Lord’s Prayer 1: Introduction
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Discovering Longer Gospel Stories
Research by Robert L. Lindsey has helped clarify the process by which gospel texts were preserved and transmitted. Luke desired, he said in his prologue, to present to Theophilus an “orderly” account. Such ordering is to be noted in Matthew and Mark, as well. These attempts at ordering help us understand why so many of the synoptic gospel stories appear in a different chronological order from gospel to gospel.
The “How Much More” Rabbinic Principle of Interpretation in the Teaching of Jesus
The use of simple-to-complex reasoning (kal vahomer in Hebrew) is as frequent in the teaching of Jesus as in the teaching of the sages.
The Queen of Teman
Why didn’t Jesus say “Queen of Sheba,” which is found in the Bible, instead of “Queen of the South”?
Matthew 5:17: “Destroy” the Law
When a sage felt that a colleague had misinterpreted a passage of Scripture, he would say, “You are canceling (or, uprooting) the Torah!” In other words, “You are so misinterpreting Scripture that you are negating or canceling part of it.” Needless to say, in most cases, his colleague strongly disagreed. What was “canceling” the Torah for one teacher was “fulfilling” it for another.
The Syndicated Donkey
Randall Buth may have discovered a significant idiom in the Greek text of Luke. This idiom could help us in determining the original language of Jesus’ biography. In Luke 19:33, did the donkey that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday have more that one owner as the Greek text states?
Hebrew Nuggets, Lesson 4: Jesus’ Hebrew Name (Part 4)
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Jesus’ Use of “Amen”: Introduction or Response?
It is not surprising to find the word “amen” attributed to Jesus in the Gospels. What is unusual is to find “amen” used as the beginning of a statement rather than as a response.
Discovering the Hebrew Undertext of the Synoptic Gospels
One may contend that there existed a basic text of Jesus’ life story written in Hebrew. One arrives at this assumption not merely on the basis of the church fathers’ writings, but because the Greek texts of the synoptic gospels show so much evidence of being “translation Greek,” that is, Greek that contains Hebrew idioms and sentence structures.
Hebrew Nuggets, Lesson 3: Jesus’ Hebrew Name (Part 3)
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Semitic Background to the Nain Story
The short account of the resurrection of the widow’s son in Nain has a very Semitic feeling. If the Nain story was written originally in Greek, it is a very semitically flavored Greek. Several linguistic features of this story suggest that it may have been written originally in Hebrew.