Without recourse. All Rights Reserved. Tree of Life©
Statement of
belief: “Sanctify them through thy
truth: thy word is truth.” (John 17:17 KJV)
Created 5941[(?)]11
30 2027 [2011-03-06]
Last edited 5941[(?)]12 04 2027
[2011-03-10]
Revised 5925[(*??*)] 04 08 2029
[2013-07-18] – Reviewed this entire article. Revised three translations of an
Aramaic word by adding “the.” Added footmote #3.
“εν μια των ημερων”
“on a certain day”
Are those Words a Date Stamp or not?
Dating the Healing of the Man with
the Palsy by Forgiving of His Sins…
- A Scripture word study in
conjunction with my calendar findings thus far… -
Abstract:
To what extent were the
New Testament authors intent upon dating their writings? To what extent is most
every available translation blind to the extant date stamps built into the
language of the original documents? To what extent can one discern and
correctly understand the built in date stamps of those NT documents? To what
extent are we being limited by our very limited access to original Hebrew New
Testament manuscripts?
In this article, and one more, I am
considering especially the words being used for dating the event being recorded
in Mark 2:1-12 and its parallel passages in Luke 5:17-26 and Matthew 9:1-8.
Obviously the English words “on a certain day,” without more, are not much of a
date stamp.
Luke 5:17 GNT-TR “εν μια των
ημερων”
Luke 5:17 KJV And it came to pass on a certain day,
as he was teaching…
REYI @ED SLN CK @ZNEI ON CGA @EDE Luke 5:17 Syriac Peshitta New Testament
As it turns out from my
study as recorded in this brief article, at first I found no basis for
improving upon the time references provided in Luke 5:17; 8:22; and 20:1 as
rendered in KJV, in Dr. Lamsa’s translation of the Syriac Peshitta, or in the
Greek translation provided in GNT-TR, that is, except for possibly adding the
root meaning of the Hebrew word for ‘day,’ that is, ‘hot,’ as in “a hot summer
day.”
Accordingly, the timing
suggested by the within referenced calendrical and contextual evidence seemed
at first to suggest at least that the event recorded in Mark 2:1-12 and Luke
5:17-26 most likely took place in the earlier part of the first month, Aviv, 16
CE and certainly before Aviv 21, 16 CE.
Being thus, at that
point in my study, about ready to consent with the translators of the extant
Bible versions re this particular, it suddenly came to me that there might be
more to be found in the Aramaic word “ליומתא” as
recorded in Mark
2:1.
Indeed, upon further
considering the fact that that word, including especially the prepositional
letter “ל-,”
I conclude that Yeshua arrived at Capernaum just prior to the hot
season, that is, just prior to Aviv 1, 16 CE, or since Aviv 1 began at
sunset on a Shabbat, he most likely arrived there before the beginning of
Sabbath on the evening before (but cf. below!...)
Combining that bit of information with the info in Luke 5:17 referencing the
point in time indicated by the use of the Aramaic words, “בחד מן יומתא,” pointing to a time within and after the
beginning of that same hot season I am forced to place the timing of the
healing of the man with the palsy at the very beginning of Aviv.
Now, that conclusion
fits well with the fact that that most important time, the beginning of Abib,
is being used for attaching the calendar year to the seasons, that is by means
of the aviv, the ripening of the barley. In other words, I find that the man
with the palsy was more than likely being healed on Saturday night, after
nightfall, after the end of Sabbath, and after the beginning of the New Moon, Abib
1, 16 CE.
While focusing upon
this particular event and studying carefully the Scriptures pertaining to these
details I discovered, among other things, that the Aramaic word “בחד” is being elsewhere in the Scriptures used for indicating
“foremost.” Thus was derived my emphasis above upon this point in time being in
some sense of particular importance and value. I also found, in this passage,
further support for understanding the plural word “יומתא” in terms of “the hot days,” “the
hot season,” or “the summer” (cf. Strong’s H3117-H3118!) Lastly, recognizing
the well known fact that the preposition “ב-” means “in”
and that the Hebrew word “מן” means “after,” it becomes quite
obvious to me that the least common denominator of these Bible passages allows
us to date this event within a very narrow time frame, that is, between the
time of Yeshua’s arrival at Capernaum and the point in time when the man with
the palsy was healed shortly thereafter. Please find more detailed
considerations re the linguistic details of this matter at this link!
Matthew 9:1
KJV
“And he
entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city.”
Now considering also Matthew 9:1 and
the fact that Matthew is telling us that Yeshua arrived into Capernaum by ship,
rather than by traveling by foot, I can easily see that such a journey by ship
might well have been a Sabbath event, thus narrowing the above mentioned space
of time even further, and while adding even further support to my within
contention that this[1] event took place after nightfall at the beginning of
Aviv 1 [Saturday night March 28,] 16 CE.
Indeed, spending the
Sabbath afternoon in a ship while arriving towards Capernaum at nightfall would
afford Yeshua a most favorable and restful way of observing the New Moon, as it
was setting in the west, with an unobstructed view of the western horizon. I
find this last consideration being, in and of itself, while recognizing also
the importance to Yeshua of timing this particular New Moon correctly, a
powerful support for the above said placement in time of this event!
Accordingly, I would
find it proper to suggest an improvement upon current translations of Luke 5:17
thusly:
Luke 5:17 TLT “And it came to pass that on a most important day at the beginning of summer while Yeshua was
teaching…”
Luke 5:17
KJV “And it came to pass on a certain
day, as he was teaching…”
Luke 5:17 GNT-TR “εν μια των
ημερων”
REYI @ED SLN CK @ZNEI ON CGA @EDE Luke 5:17 Syriac Peshitta New Testament
An acknowledgement
Thank you Lasse, for
giving me, by means of your sermon this last Sabbath,[2] an
incentive to look a little further into the Bible passages dealing with this
particular event, which event, until
now, I had not found a date for!
Perhaps you’ll find something of value by means of the light from above
shed upon the time dimension as provided in this dated
Synopsis of the Four Gospels... Yes, including also the Gospel of John!
Indeed, in a sense, I
feel as though your sermon has had the effect of addressing even to me the
words of Yeshua: “Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.” Thanks!
Praise the Lord of
Hosts, Yahweh Elohim!
Considerations:
Until I did this study,
I’ve understood the Greek words “μια των ημερων” as a reference to Day One [of the week] or possibly
as a reference to the first day of the month (cf. this
link!) However, I’ve also learnt that the word “μια”is frequently used as a literal translation of the
Hebrew word “ראשון”meaning
“foremost” (cf. this
link!) The question in my mind then is this: Are these Greek words, “μια των ημερων,” ultimately derived
from Hebrew words pointing either to the first day of the week, the first day
of the month, the first day of Omer [the 50 days of counting towards
Pentecost,] or else pointing to the first day of the hot season, the summer, as
suggested by my findings thus far re the timing of Yeshua’s baptism by John in
the Jordan as uniquely date stamped in Shem Tov’s Hebrew Matthew (cf. my
footnote at this
link to Matthew 12:9?)
(Matthew 12:9 Shem Tov’s Hebrew
Matthew)
Matthew 12:9 TLT And it came to pass at the point of the beginning of the summer that Yeshu passed on from there and
entered into their Synagogues.
:OEDZYEPKL @Z@E REYI ONZ ON IPYE Matthew 12:9 Syriac
Peshitta New Testament
Matthew 12:9
KJV And when he was departed thence, he went into their
synagogue:
Could it be that those
who translated the original Hebrew into Aramaic did not perfectly understand
those words of timing and that they accordingly either totally ignored those
Hebrew words, as in the Syriac
Peshitta and KJV of Matthew 12:9 above, or else translated them with words
such as “בחד מן
יומתא”as found in Syriac Peshitta Luke
5:17;
8:22;
20:1?
(Cf. the quotes in the images
below!)
Luke 20:1 is recording
an event which I have previously associated with Day Two or Three of the week,
Aviv 13 or 14, 19 CE, that is, the beginning of Passover (cf. this link and this link.)
Luke 8:22 is recording an event which I have previously associated with Day One
of the week, and with the first day of the month: Elul 1, 16 CE. Luke 5:17 is
recording an event that I have, until before this study, placed between events
occurring on Tishri 1, 15 CE and Sabbath #1 [of 8] of Omer, Aviv 21, 16 CE.
Accordingly, at the time of doing this study, I find no strong calendar support
for associating any specific day or time with either the Aramaic words “בחד מן יומתא” or with
the Greek words “μια των ημερων.” That is, nothing besides what’s inherent in the
corresponding Hebrew words themselves, i.e. ‘one’ and ‘warm.’ Thus, in each of
the passages within, a reference to “a hot summer day” would seem appropriate
both by the extant calendrical and contextual context. Consider for instance
the issue of what time of the year that, more than at any other time, it would
be acceptable for someone to open up the roof of someone else’s home!
:ED @ZIAAC ERNY CKE @ZNEIL MEGPXTKL REYI AEZ LRE Mark 2:1 Syriac Peshitta New Testament
Mark 2:1 TLT
And again Yeshua entered into Capurnakhum just before the summer;
and when they heard that he was home…
Mark
2:1 KJV And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in
the house.
Upon considering also
the Syriac
Peshitta New Testament rendering of Mark
2:1 above, this matter of the summer season becomes even more clear, and,
indeed, in re to Mark 2:1, I believe an improvement upon the extant
translations is being called for (cf. the TLT translation above!) That is, such
that the Aramaic word “ליומתא”is pointing
to the hot season of the year, summer, beginning with Aviv. Considering the
primary meaning of the Hebrew prepositional letters “ל-” “ב-” and “מ-,”that is, “towards,” “in,” and
“from, after,” respectively, it seems reasonable for me to conclude that Yeshua
arrived at Capernaum just prior to the beginning of the summer season, that is,
just prior to Aviv 1 [beginning at sunset Sat March 28,] 16 CE, or more likely,
in time for the beginning of the Seventh-day Shabbat at sunset Friday March 27,
16 CE. It follows too, that most likely the healing of the man with the palsy
took place on Saturday night after the end of the Shabbat, that is, given that
in this instance there is no arguing about healing on the Sabbath.
Interestingly, given
these particular calendar circumstances, it so happens that this event, if
indeed so it was, did take place on Day One of the week as well as on the 1st
day of the month, that is, on the evening of the New Moon of the Scriptural
month Aviv, 16 CE, albeit on the New Moon day of Adar II of the
Jews, 16 CE. Thus, indeed, the above Aramaic and Greek, “εν
μια των ημερων,”
terms do indeed, in this instance, point both to Day One of the week and to the
New Moon day!
Quoting the three[3] NT
passages using the Aramaic NT term “בחד מן יומתא”
I.
Luke
5:17 KJV
And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and
doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee,
and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
Luke 5:17 GNT-TR
και εγενετο εν μια των ημερων και αυτος ην διδασκων και ησαν καθημενοι φαρισαιοι και νομοδιδασκαλοι οι ησαν εληλυθοτες εκ πασης κωμης της γαλιλαιας και ιουδαιας και ιερουσαλημ και δυναμις κυριου ην εις το ιασθαι αυτους
II.
III.
Quoting the Aramaic version of
Mark 2:1-3 and Lamsa’s translation of the same
Mark 2:1 KJV And again he
entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house.
Mark 2:1 GNT-TR
και
παλιν εισηλθεν
εις καπερναουμ
δι ημερων
και
ηκουσθη οτι εις
οικον εστιν
Comments and
donations freely accepted at:
Tree of Life©
c/o General Delivery
Nora [near SE-713 01]
eMail: TreeOfLifeTime@gmail.com
…
…
The GateWays into Tree of Life Chronology Forums©
The
GateWays of Entry into the Tree of Life Time Chronology Touching upon the Book
of Daniel©
Pearls & Mannah – “I found it!”
Feel free to use, and for sharing freely with others,
any of the truth and blessings belonging to God alone. I retain all the
copyrights to the within, such that no one may lawfully restrain my use and my
sharing of it with others. Including also all the errors that remain. Please
let only me know about those. I need to know in order to correct them. Others
don’t need to be focused upon the errors that belong to me alone. Please
respect that, and please do not hesitate to let me know of any certain error
that you find!
Without recourse. All Rights Reserved. Tree of Life©