04-11-2013, 12:39 AM
Shlama,
This is sort of involved, but stay with me and I think you will appreciate the gem displayed in the Peshitta:
THE SETTING:
The story of the Messiah healing the paralytic man in Mattai 9:1-7
THE PLAYERS:
Messiah, the paralytic man, and the scribes
OVERVIEW:
A paralytic man is brought to Messiah by his friends to be healed. Messiah at first says, ?Your sins are forgiven you.? The scribes think to themselves ?Blasphemy!? Messiah asks why they think evil in their hearts, and then poses them a question with two options: What is easier? To say ?Your sins are forgiven you!? or ?Stand! Walk!? Then, to prove that He has authority to forgive sins, He heals the man and tells him to stand up and walk. THE END
THE COOL DETAILS:
To answer the silent charge of blasphemy in the hearts of the scribes, the Messiah asks them what is ?easier? to say The word in the Aramaic is [font="Estrangelo (V1.1)"]Qy4p[/font] and has the meaning of ?make plain / translate.? This is important because He is dealing with scribes, whose job it is to read the Word and interpret it / translate, etc..
With that as His preface, He then offers two options to decide which is ?easier? to say:
1 [font="Estrangelo (V1.1)"]<yh=x <l Nyqyb4[/font] ?Your sins are forgiven you!?
2 [font="Estrangelo (V1.1)"]<lh Mwq[/font] ?Stand! Walk!?
Technically, the answer is obvious: it is easier to say ?Stand! Walk!? in Aramaic than ?Your sins are forgiven you!? The first option spoken by Messiah has 3 Aramaic words, while the second option in Aramaic has 2 words. Remember also that Messiah is talking to scribes ? the very name of these fellas means ?counters? in Aramaic and Hebrew. That?s what they did ? count the letters, strive for constancy in copying, etcetera.
However, the reality of saying ?Your sins are forgiven you!? carries with it a divine-right that no man possesses on his own, so that anyone can just ?say it? without true authority, while telling someone to ?Stand! Walk!? implies that you actually have that power to give them mobility. So basically, on one hand, it is technically easier to say the second option, while physically harder to make it happen.
So Messiah implies it is easier to ?say? the second option, while everyone, including the scribes, knows it is harder to do it. He picks the easiest and the hardest, though, and then says to the paralytic:
[font="Estrangelo (V1.1)"]<tybl Lzw <sr9 Lwq4 Mwq[/font] ?Stand! Take up your bed, and go to your house!?
He shows that He can make the paralytic to walk, choosing the easy thing to say technically, yet the harder thing to actually do, meaning the harder thing to say is obviously easy for Him to do! And ironically, to those scribes keeping count, He uses 5 Aramaic words to make this happen: the amount of words in both of the initial options He gave!
He works this situation so brilliantly, healing a man in need of physical and spiritual restoration, and simultaneously handing it to the scribes who got played hard here. I just love the dynamics going on here and the choice of words Messiah used to make this happen! Thanks to Alaha for the Aramaic text!
Chayim b'Moshiach,
Jeremy
This is sort of involved, but stay with me and I think you will appreciate the gem displayed in the Peshitta:
THE SETTING:
The story of the Messiah healing the paralytic man in Mattai 9:1-7
THE PLAYERS:
Messiah, the paralytic man, and the scribes
OVERVIEW:
A paralytic man is brought to Messiah by his friends to be healed. Messiah at first says, ?Your sins are forgiven you.? The scribes think to themselves ?Blasphemy!? Messiah asks why they think evil in their hearts, and then poses them a question with two options: What is easier? To say ?Your sins are forgiven you!? or ?Stand! Walk!? Then, to prove that He has authority to forgive sins, He heals the man and tells him to stand up and walk. THE END
THE COOL DETAILS:
To answer the silent charge of blasphemy in the hearts of the scribes, the Messiah asks them what is ?easier? to say The word in the Aramaic is [font="Estrangelo (V1.1)"]Qy4p[/font] and has the meaning of ?make plain / translate.? This is important because He is dealing with scribes, whose job it is to read the Word and interpret it / translate, etc..
With that as His preface, He then offers two options to decide which is ?easier? to say:
1 [font="Estrangelo (V1.1)"]<yh=x <l Nyqyb4[/font] ?Your sins are forgiven you!?
2 [font="Estrangelo (V1.1)"]<lh Mwq[/font] ?Stand! Walk!?
Technically, the answer is obvious: it is easier to say ?Stand! Walk!? in Aramaic than ?Your sins are forgiven you!? The first option spoken by Messiah has 3 Aramaic words, while the second option in Aramaic has 2 words. Remember also that Messiah is talking to scribes ? the very name of these fellas means ?counters? in Aramaic and Hebrew. That?s what they did ? count the letters, strive for constancy in copying, etcetera.
However, the reality of saying ?Your sins are forgiven you!? carries with it a divine-right that no man possesses on his own, so that anyone can just ?say it? without true authority, while telling someone to ?Stand! Walk!? implies that you actually have that power to give them mobility. So basically, on one hand, it is technically easier to say the second option, while physically harder to make it happen.
So Messiah implies it is easier to ?say? the second option, while everyone, including the scribes, knows it is harder to do it. He picks the easiest and the hardest, though, and then says to the paralytic:
[font="Estrangelo (V1.1)"]<tybl Lzw <sr9 Lwq4 Mwq[/font] ?Stand! Take up your bed, and go to your house!?
He shows that He can make the paralytic to walk, choosing the easy thing to say technically, yet the harder thing to actually do, meaning the harder thing to say is obviously easy for Him to do! And ironically, to those scribes keeping count, He uses 5 Aramaic words to make this happen: the amount of words in both of the initial options He gave!
He works this situation so brilliantly, healing a man in need of physical and spiritual restoration, and simultaneously handing it to the scribes who got played hard here. I just love the dynamics going on here and the choice of words Messiah used to make this happen! Thanks to Alaha for the Aramaic text!
Chayim b'Moshiach,
Jeremy