A while back I was talking with ירמיה about the "weightier matters of the Law" as described in Mt. 23:23:
Οὐαὶ ὑμῖν, γραμματεῖς καὶ Φαρισαῖοι ὑποκριταί, ὅτι ἀποδεκατοῦτε τὸ ἡδύοσμον καὶ τὸ ἄνηθον καὶ τὸ κύμινον καὶ ἀφήκατε τὰ βαρύτερα τοῦ νόμου, τὴν κρίσιν καὶ τὸ ἔλεος καὶ τὴν πίστιν· ταῦτα [δὲ] ἔδει ποιῆσαι κἀκεῖνα μὴ ἀφιέναι.
Woe to you Torah scholars and Perushim, pretenders! For you give the tenth of mint, dill, and cumin; yet you have left undone the weightier matters of the Torah: justice, mercy, and faith. But it is necessary to do these things, and not to have left the others undone.
ירמיה, I remember you suggested that the ordinary translation might not be quite right — or else you had some other insight on the last part of the verse in the Jewish-Greek text, and how it should be interpreted. Could you share your thoughts again?
Sure, שוביה. The issue in this passage is the interpretation of βαρύτερα (from βαρύτης). According to my dictionary, its primary meaning refers to heaviness. Here the text features the comparative degree since Yeshua is contrasting the Pharisees' faithfulness in tithing ἡδύοσμος (mint), ἄνηθον (dill), and κύμινος (cumin) to their neglect of κρίσις (judgement), ἔλεος (mercy/compassion), and πίστις (faith/faithfulness). In comparison to the former three, Yeshua calls the latter βαρύτερα (though he later confirms that one set should be performed without neglecting the other!). My question is, what does Yeshua mean by the latter group being "heavier" than the former?
ReplyDeleteI performed a quick search for "difficult" on biblegateway. In several passages a word that translates somewhat as "overburdensome" is used, but I couldn't find βαρύτης again.
But anyhow, the interpretation of this word interests me because Christians and Mj's commonly understand βαρύτης to, in this instance, mean "more important." So "heavier," to them, means "of greater significance." But as far as I'm concerned, Yeshua could just as well be teaching something else, e.g. that keeping κρίσις, ἔλεος, and πίστις are more difficult (i.e. weightier = burdensome/challenging) than tithing spices (though such commands should likewise be fulfilled!).
Thanks, ירמיה! This is helpful.
ReplyDeleteI think the first step (as always) is to ask: what is this in Hebrew? To my mind, it has to be something from the root כ-ב-ד. Zalkinson translates as נכבדות, which has the meanings [extended from 'heavy']: respected, important, honored, substantial, considerable, eminent. I think this isn't bad. Certainly משפט, חסד ואמונה (justice/judgment, mercy/sympathy, and faith/faithfulness) are the most 'eminent', 'respected', 'substantial' parts of Torah. Tithing spices is one small part of carrying out these things in reality; there are many others.
Also, I think that from such passages as Mt. 15:16-20 we can see that it was indeed a component of Yeshua's teaching to describe the "weightiest" matters of Torah — whether dealing with good things or evil things. In those verses he similarly describes what is most necessary — purity of heart, mind, action — vs. the traditions of the Prushim (which are simply optional).
So although the traditional Christian interpretation is probably not quite correct (when is it?!) — I do think there is probably an element of 'importance' to what Yeshua is saying in Mt 23:23. Notice what he says in the next verse, 23:24 - "Blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!" So "importance" might not be exactly the right word. But there's clearly an element of something similar. Which is better, to miss a gnat or to miss a camel in your soup? Ideally you'd get both out! But he's pointing out the myopia & distortion in their thinking. If you can only get one out, wouldn't you want to get the camel out first? Wouldn't you notice the camel first?!
Incidentally, a friend recently told me of a contemporary example I consider remarkably similar. According to what he was saying, the Israeli rabbinate certified as kosher some hot dogs that had casings made originally from pig! The meat inside was actually kosher; but the casing clearly should not have been. But they certified it kosher on the basis that the casing was no longer "food". Meanwhile, they insist that cows go on "kosher for Passover diets" some x number of weeks before the holiday if their milk is to be considered "kosher for Passover" (which is a biblically meaningless concept with regard to milk that comes out of a cow!). Talk about straining out a (nonexistent) gnat and swallowing a camel! Or how about blatant racism, discrimination, even violent crime sometimes being "justified" by radical religious people, supposedly "in defense of Torah."
The kohanim g'dolim of Yeshua's day were quite similar. Just note that they had no problem paying money to Yehuda in order to shed innocent blood — that was perfectly ok according to their interpretation of "Torah" — but then they refused to receive that very same money, the money they themselves had paid, back into the treasury, saying it was forbidden to accept "blood money"! Those are the kinds of people Yeshua had to deal with, and to whom he spoke such things as Mt 23:23. Josephus gives a similar portrait of the chief priests of the time. I think this historical context of corruption and abuse of authority & religion should also be kept in mind when trying to understand Yeshua's statements to these politico-religious leaders. He generally spoke in a quite different tone to the common people.
I suppose my obsession in being careful with interpreting the meaning of "weightiness" in this verse is in reaction to Christianity's tendency to see Yeshua's teachings as ignoring the "less weighty" (tithing spices, gnats in soup) in favor of "heart matters" such as faith, justice, and mercy. I agree with you that a camel in the soup is a bigger issue than a gnat in the soup. But to me it's crucial that, as you put it, really we should get both out, which I think Yeshua affirms when he says, "You should do these without ignoring the others." By the way, interesting that the text (at least) doesn't specify which "these" he's talking about (the weightier ones, or the lighter ones). To me, the weightiness may not, as you've helped show me, lay in difficulty of fulfilling a command. But if the Hebraic sense of the term is "kavod" and I take into consideration all of what I know of Yeshua's teachings, then "importance" as a translation is for me still unclear. All of God's commands are important, after all. I would say that exhibiting faith, justice, and mercy better demonstrate godliness and should pervade all acts of obedience to God; tithing mint, thyme, and cumin can more easily be performed by a phony (but nevertheless, tithing is commanded!). Anyway, I think I'm just reaffirming your statements.
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