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The "Hypocrisy" of the Pharisees

Without reading the Scriptures carefully, and without a familiarity with Second Temple-period extra-biblical sources, a simple reader of the New Testament might assume that a majority of the Pharisees were hypocrites and that the Pharisees as a movement were a "brood of vipers."

Cataloging the New Testament's Hebraisms: Part 1 (Luke 14:26; 15:18-22)

The most frequent question Jerusalem Perspective receives from readers is: "Have you published a list of Hebraisms in the New Testament?" In an attempt to respond to JP readers' interest, we launch a series of blogs on Hebraisms in the New Testament. In this series, David Bivin identifies and clarifies the meaning and personal, practical significance of hundreds of Hebraisms buried in the Greek of the New Testament.

Cataloging the New Testament's Hebraisms: Part 2 (Luke 9:51-56)

This time, rather than looking at isolated words or expressions that appear to be Hebraisms, or, rather than examining a category, or type, of Hebraism, let's take a complete story from the life of Jesus: Luke 9:51-56, a story found only in the Gospel of Luke. This approach will allow us to gain an impression of the density of Hebraisms that often exists in Gospel passages.

Cataloging the New Testament's Hebraisms: Part 3

Awareness of even the simplest Hebrew grammatical structure can bring to life a vague, or difficult-to-understand, saying of Jesus. Since potential Hebrew idioms are so dense in the Greek texts of Matthew, Mark and Luke, one has to ask, Could these apparent Hebrew idioms be evidence that the synoptic Gospels are descendants of an ancient translation of a Hebrew "Life of Jesus," the gospel that the church father Papias (ca. 70-160 A.D.) spoke of when he wrote: "Matthew...arranged the sayings [of Jesus] in the Hebrew language"; Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., 3.39)? The Hebrew work Papias mentions is not extant. It is not the Greek Matthew of the New Testament -- scholars agree that canonical Matthew is not a direct translation of a Hebrew source. However, the text Papias mentions might be an ancestor of canonical Matthew, a Hebrew source that was translated to Greek. The authors of canonical Matthew, Mark and Luke may have used this Greek translation in writing their accounts.

Cataloging the New Testament's Hebraisms: Part 4 (Parallelism)

Doubling, or repeating, is a characteristic feature of Hebrew. Hebrew loves to say things twice (or more!) by adding equivalents. Words, phrases, sentences, and even stories, are doubled (or tripled). One of the most important Hebraisms is known as "parallelism," expressing the same thought in two or more different, though synonymous, ways. "Parallelism" is the hallmark of Hebrew poetry.

Cataloging the New Testament's Hebraisms: Part 5 (Parallelism)

"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.

Cataloging the New Testament's Hebraisms: Part 6 (Parallelism)

Parallelism is a beautiful and central feature of Hebrew poetry. Scholars have identified three types of Hebrew parallelism. In the previous blog, David Bivin discussed the first of these types: Synonymous Parallelism. In this new blog, he discusses the second type: Antithetical Parallelism. An antithetical parallelism is composed of balancing couplets, each of which is the antithesis of the other, for example: "They collapse and lie fallen, but we rally and gather strength" (Ps. 20:8).