November 29, 2010
Cataloging the New Testament's Hebraisms: Part 5 (Parallelism)
As indicated in the last blog, “parallelism” is a central feature of Hebrew poetry. It permeates the words of biblical poet and prophet. The frequency with which parallelism occurs in the utterances of Jesus is surprising, and leads inevitably to the conclusion that the Greek source (or, sources) used by the authors of Matthew, Mark and Luke derive(s) from a Greek translation (or, translations) of Hebrew documents.
Scholars have investigated Hebrew poetry, including parallelism, for hundreds of years. They have classified parallelisms into 3 categories: 1) Synonymous Parallelism, 2) Antithetical Parallelism, and 3) Synthetical Parallelism. On the history of research into Hebrew parallelism, see, for example, C. F. Burney, The Poetry of Our Lord: An Examination of the Formal Elements of Hebrew Poetry in the Discourses of Jesus Christ (Oxford: Clarendon; 1925), 15-16. For an excellent article on Hebrew poetry, see James Muilenburg, “Hebrew Poetry,” Encyclopaedia Judaica (Jerusalem, 1972), 13:671-81. See also the superb online article, “Parallelism in Hebrew Poetry,” in the Jewish Encyclopedia (article written by the Editorial Board of the encyclopedia).
In this blog we will survey the first of the above three categories, Synonymous Parallelism. Synonymous parallelism is the repetition of a thought in different but synonymous, or equivalent, words. Let’s look at examples of synonymous parallelism in the Hebrew Scriptures before suggesting that similar structures are found in the New Testament.
The parallels are “portion” = “share,” and “David” = “Jesse’s son,” thus:
portion | David
share | Jesse’s son
roars | Zion
shouts aloud | Jerusalem
rejoice greatly | O daughter of Zion
shout aloud | O daughter of Jerusalem
In this parallelism, “gather you” is the synonym for “bring you home.”
your festivals | mourning
your songs | dirge
corrects | scoffer | gets himself |abuse
reproves | wicked man | incurs | injury
Now, let's turn to examples of synonymous parallelism in the Gospels:
my soul | magnifies | the Lord
my spirit | rejoices in | God my Savior
In this verse, “go,” that is, “travel,” is a synonym for “enter,” and “Gentile roads” is a synonym for “Samaritan cities.” Assuming a Hebrew undertext, the singular nouns “way” and “city” probably should be understood as carrying a plural sense: “ways” and “cities.” In Hebrew, the singular of a noun is often used with plural meaning. In Ezekiel 20:47, for instance, “tree” means “trees.” See Bivin, “Jesus and the Enigmatic ‘Green Tree.’”
killing | the prophets
stoning | those sent to you
covered up | revealed
hidden | known
dead | alive
lost | found
bread | stone
fish | snake
nation | against | nation
kingdom |against | kingdom
judgment you judge | you will be judged
measure you measure | it will be measured to you
widows in Israel | [the prophet] Elijah
lepers in Israel | the prophet Elisha
is not with me | is against me
does not gather with me | scatters
makes sun rise | on the evil and good
sends rain | on the just and unjust
In the Hebrew of Jesus’ time “ask” was a synonym for “tell.” That knowledge helps us understand this passage, and also helps explain the story about Jesus in the Temple at age 12: he was “sitting among the sages, listening to them and asking them questions; and all who heard him were amazed at...his answers” (Lk. 2:46-47). Strange, logically we would expect, “were amazed at...his questions.” However, in Jewish discussion and debate, asking the right question demonstrated knowledge of the answer! “Questions” were “answers”!
Synonymous parallelism is often more extended than just one couplet, for example:
Below are striking examples of extended synonymous parallelism found in the teaching of Jesus:
Here, in Luke 13:2, 4, as in the Lord’s prayer, “debtors” is the equivalent of “sinners.”
It is likely that the petitions Jesus taught his disciples, “hallowed be thy name,“ “thy kingdom come,“ and, “thy will be done“ (Mt. 6:9-13), constitute a three-part synonymous parallelism. If so, these three phrases would not be different requests, but rather, a 3-part parallelism, with the request repeated in typical Hebraic fashion in three nearly synonymous ways, with each of the three reinforcing the idea of the other two, or explaining more fully the implications of the other two. See Brad Young, “The Lord's Prayer (9): ‘Lead Us Not Into Temptation.’” Therefore, “May your kingdom come” would mean the same as “May your name be sanctified,” and “May your will be done.” If this threesome is a Hebraism, we would learn that “doing God’s will” is the same as “bringing His rule into the hearts of people as more and more persons accept His rule in their lives. “Thy Kingdom come” is not a petition for God to initiate Armageddon, but means the same as, “Hallowed be thy name” and “Thy will be done.”
In Psalms 1:1, we find a 3-part synonymous parallelism:
walks | counsel | the wicked
stands | way | sinners
sits | seat | scoffers
The Beatitudes (Mt. 5:3-10) are even more extended, an 8-part synonymous parallelism!
Each beatitude is equal to and has the same sense as the other seven. In eight ways Jesus says the same thing! For instance, “the meek” is the equivalent of “the poor in spirit,” and “be comforted” is another way of saying, “be satisfied.” Notice, too, that the 1st and 8th beatitudes end with “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” a nice way of bracketing Jesus’ beautiful, poetic creation. The Beatitudes all refer to kingdom people, members of Jesus’ movement. In order to be, and remain, in his movement, his disciples had to be the kind of people who continually seek God with all their heart, hungering and thirsting for His salvation.
In the next blog, we will expand our discussion to include Antithetical Parallelism.
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Posted by David Bivin at November 29, 2010 03:09 AM