Matti 23:8

[Larry Kelsey]

Andrew Gabriel Roth ""Bad idiom transfer" in Matti 23:8?"
Oct-29-2002 at 02:47 AM (GMT3)

Shlama all--

I was thinking about a fairly subtle proof, and to my knowledge this is the one place where I am sure it is, although I would welcome suggestions as to other candidates.

I do not know the scholarly name for this kind of proof, but I call it a "bad idiom transfer". Perhaps Rob can give me a better title later, but for right now let me explain what I am talking about.

A "bad idiom transfer" is when an Aramaic word that is meant to be taken literally is instead translated as its idiom into the receiving language. I am also looking for an example where the reverse also happens.

However, for this first case, such a situation I believe is in Matti 23:8: "And call no man RABBI because you have one Rabbi and all of you are brothers..."

Now of course no one need know Hebrew or Aramaic to know what "Rabbi" means, as even the GNT interprets it as "teacher" repeatedly. However, if any of you thought that was the LITERAL MEANING, you are mistaken. I will get to that aspect shortly, but for now let us look at why that literal reading may not be correct.

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, TEACHING them to observe all that I commanded you..."

Matthew 28:19-20

So, if Y'shua is saying "call no one TEACHER (rabbi)", why does he seem to reverse himself here by commanding these same disciples to teach?

The answer, I believe, is the LITERAL meaning of "rabbi".

RAB=great
I= my

When combined, the literal meaning is "MY GREAT ONE", and NOT "teacher". Now if we turn back to a few lines earlier, this context clearly emerges:

"The scribes and the Pharissees have seated themselves in the seat of Moses...and they love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats at the assembly and to be greeted in the streets by men as RABBI (my great one)."

Matti 23:1,6-7

So it looks like to me that Zorba was so busy showing off how he THINKS he can translate and Aramaic word like "rabbi" into Greek as "teacher" that he neglected-as usual--to observe the full breadth of meaning of the word--as well as make the critical distinction between figurative and literal meanings.

Thoughts anyone?

Shlama w'burkate
Andrew Gabriel Roth

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