Part 3: The Greek NT & the Septuagint: Semitic Idiomatic Expressions

There are close to 28,000 Greek manuscripts or fragments containing all or part of the NT. The alarming fact is that “every one of these handwritten copies differs from every other one”! This being the case then, which one was the Greek manuscript breathed-out by the Almighty? (If we believe that the original autographs were inerrant and inspired).

For example, in the text of Ephesians 1:18, one Greek manuscript reads, “the eyes of your heart being enlightened”, whereas a different Greek manuscript reads, “the eyes of your understanding being enlightened”. Now which word represents the actual word which the “Almighty inspired to be written - “heart” or “understanding”?

If the original text was not Greek, but Hebrew or Aramaic, the different Greek readings are easily explained as being translations. In Hebrew idiom the heart is the seat of the mind or thoughts, whereas in Greek idiom (as with English) the heart is the seat of the emotions. Thus one translator rendered the Hebrew word for “heart” by the Greek word for “heart”, while the other rendered it by the Greek word for “understanding”. Both renderings then are valid; one as a “literal” translation of the Hebrew word (carrying also the danger of being misunderstood as “emotions” by the Greek or English reader); the other as a translation of the Hebrew concept. Thus variant Greek manuscripts may not necessarily be in conflict with one another if we consider them to be translations of an inspired Hebrew or Aramaic original.[1]

Evidence for a Semitic (and especially a Hebraic background) for the New Testament is the abundance of Semitic idiomatic expressions in the NT text.

Idiomatic expressions are phrases whose literal meanings are nonsense, but which have special meanings in a particular language. For example, the English phrase "in a pickle" has nothing to do with pickles, but means to be in trouble. When translated into Hebrew it is meaningless.

Several Semitic idiomatic expressions appear in the NT, the following are only a few:

• "good eye" meaning "generous" and "bad eye" meaning "stingy" (Mt.6:22-23; Lk. 11:34)

• "bind" meaning "prohibit" and "loose" meaning "permit" (Mt. 16:19; 18:18)

• Use of the word "word" to mean "matter" or "thing" (1Cor. 12:8)

“For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit;”

• Use of the word "Heaven" as a euphemism for "God" (Mt. 5:3; 21:25, Lk. 15:18; Jn. 3:27)

Here is a couple of examples which highlight the issues that arise from the somewhat poor quality of the Greek translations from the Hebrew and/or Aramaic originals:

Mt. 26:6 = Mk. 14:3

And when Y'shua was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper,

Lepers were not permitted to live in the city (see Lev. 13:46). Since ancient Hebrew and Aramaic were written without vowels, there was no distinction between the Aramaic words GAR'BA (leper) and GARABA (jar maker or jar merchant). Since in this story a woman pours oil from a jar it seems that Simon was most probably a jar merchant or jar maker and not a leper.

Acts 8:26

So he [Phillip] arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship.  Acts 8:27 NKJV

The man in Acts 8:27 appears to be a proselyte to Judaism since he seems to be making the Torah-required pilgrimage to Jerusalem (Deut. 16:16). The Torah, however, forbids a eunuch both from becoming a proselyte Jew, and from worshiping at the Temple (Deut. 23:1). This also raises the question of why one would become a eunuch (that is, be castrated) for the sake of the Kingdom of God. After all eunuchs are excluded from the assembly of Israel. (Deut 23:1).

The word for "eunuch" in the Aramaic manuscripts of both of theses passages can mean "eunuch" but can also mean "believer" or "faithful one". This is much more likely to be the intended meaning here.

Mt. 19:24 = Mk. 10:25 = Lk. 18:25

...it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.

The Hebrew word for "camel"  is "גמל” (gamel), The Hebrew word for ‘rope’ is the same word except with an aleph at the end. i.e.  an 'א'.

Thus it is quite likely that this phrase was originally in Hebrew and when translated an error was made.

The most conclusive evidence for Hebrew as the principal language behind not just the Synoptic Gospels, but the New Testament in its entirety, is the text itself. The New Testament is literally filled with Hebraic markers: Hebrew vocabulary, Hebrew syntax, Hebrew idioms, Hebrew thought patterns, and Hebrew theology.

Moulton and Howard have compiled an impressive 72-page-long list of Hebrew expressions and idioms found in the New Testament in their Grammar, Vol. 2, pgs. 413-485.

The late Professor David Flusser of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, who was also a member of The Jerusalem School for the Study of the Synoptic Gospels, has emphatically stated, "Of the hundreds of Semitic idioms in the Synoptic Gospels, most can be explained on the basis of Hebrew only, while there are no Semitisms which could only be Aramaic without also being good Hebrew."

Joining Professor Flusser are such notable scholars as Pinchas Lapide (Bar-Ilan University, Tel Aviv), Frank Cross (Harvard University), William Sanford LaSor (Fuller Seminary), Harris Birkland, and J.T. Milik. Even Moshe Bar-Asher, the prominent Aramaic scholar at the Hebrew University, has stated that he believes the Synoptic Gospels go back to an original Hebrew--and not Aramaic--document.

Many NT scholars fluent in both Hebrew and Greek, confirm that the Greek of the Synoptic Gospels; the first fifteen chapters of the Book of Acts; the Book of Hebrews; and the Book of Revelation; as well as vast portions of the remaining portions of the NT text, is not Greek at all, but Hebrew in Greek dress.

Matt 5:17-18

"Don't think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete. Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a yod or a stroke will pass from the Torah -- not until everything that must happen has happened”.

When Yeshua spoke of the permanency and unchanging nature of Torah in Matthew 5:17, he not only spoke in Hebrew but he spoke of Hebrew letters and pointing. While the terms have been translated into Greek and English, it takes very little digging to see that these terms derive from Hebrew as they represent the smallest letters and markings used in writing Hebrew.

Let us instead assume for a moment that the NT was indeed originally penned in Greek because the authors were Greek speakers and were writing the NT to address Greek speaking communities, especially outside of Israel.

Now with this assumption look at these 2 verses in John (remember as well, that John was most likely written as late as 96 CE).

Firstly John 1:41 (KJV)

"We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ."

This, at least, is the translation of the Greek into English (in 1611). Appreciating that ‘Christ’ is derived from the Greek term ‘Christos’ and ‘Messias’ or Messiah is a translation of the Hebrew term ‘Mashiach’, what jumps out at us as strange?

The term ‘Messias’ is a derivative of the Hebrew word for Messiah, ‘Maschiah’.

Thus a Greek speaker and writer would NOT have used this word and then clarified what it meant in Greek. Rather a Greek speaker and author, would much more likely have described Yeshua’s role in Greek (that is Christos, ‘Christ’) and then perhaps explained to his Hebrew readers as well that this term means ‘Mashiach’.

Given that the phrase is the other way round, it seems much more likely that it was first written in Hebrew and then when being translated into Greek, the editor/translator added the phrase ‘which is, being interpreted, the Christ’ to clarify to his Greek readers what the term ‘Messias’ actually meant.

The same argument and conclusion can be reasonably made from the story of the Samaritan women (she was not Greek either) at the well in John 4:25 "I know that Messias is coming, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things”

Clearly, no native Hebrew/Aramaic speaking women,  even if she knew Greek would make such a statement. It is again clearly a translators addition and again only really needed when the text is being translated from Hebrew to Greek.

Look at Acts 26:14-15 “We all fell to the ground; and then I heard a voice saying to me, in Hebrew, 'Sha'ul! Sha'ul! Why do you keep persecuting me? It's hard on you to be kicking against the ox-goads!' I said, 'Who are you, sir?' and the Lord answered, 'I am Yeshua, and you are persecuting me!”

How empathic is this that Yeshua spoke Hebrew (even after his resurrection). He had not become some Greek or Gentile ‘Christian’. He was, and IS, still an orthodox Jew.

Yeshua came to His People. 

His disciples, the authors of the NT were Jewish and primarily trying to continue his mission; that is, to bring the Good News of the Kingdom of God (Luke 4:43) to the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and to any, from amongst the Gentiles, who were willing to be grafted into the cultivated Olive Tree. The mindset and language of these sons of Abraham was Hebrew; the primary language of the Land of Israel in the first century was Hebrew.

It is also now clear that the original autographs of the NT were written in Hebrew and quoted from a Hebrew Tanakh (Torah, Writings and Prophets). While the NT authors may have been familiar with the Septuagint (at least the Apostle Paul, as he was a Torah scholar), they clearly did not quote from it.

Next: The redaction (editing) of the Septuagint to agree with the mis-translations of the NT - the conspiracy grows

[1] From Introduction to The Scriptures 1998 Copyright by the Institute for Scripture Research (ISR)