Sunday, May 22, 2005

Mat 10:25 It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more [shall they call] those of his household?

This is one of those verses where about half of the original meaning in Greek, including a central pun, is lost in the English translation. The basis of this verse and definition of "disciple, master, servant, and lord" are addressed in the previous post.

"It is enough" is arketos, which means "sufficient." It is the adjective form of arkeo, which means "to ward off," and "to keep off" and which is used to mean "to be strong enough," "to be a match for," and "to be satisfied with."

"Be" is ginomai, which means "to become," "to arise," and "to be finished."

"Master of the house" is oikodespotes, which means literally "house lord." Despotes is a synonym for kurios, the term translated here as "lord."

"Beelzebub" is from the Greek Beelzeboul, which is from the Hebrew ba‘al zbûb, which means "Lord [of the] Flies" which is a mockery of the Hebrew ba‘al zbûl, "Lord Prince." Ba'al, of course, was one of the pagan gods mentioned often in the Old Testament.

"How much" is posos, which means "how great," "how many," and "how much."

"Those of his household" is oikiakos, which means "a member of the household.

The root of both oikodespotes and oikiakos is oikia, which means both a physical house and a group living in a house, a family.

So the verse says that it is strong enough that the student and the slave becomes like the teacher and master. For some reason, the KJV often confusings the concept of "being" and "becoming,"but these ideas were central in Christ teaching. The nature of the Father is "being." His name means "the existing one." Christ describes the nature of the world as "becoming." Specifically in the Lord's Prayer, the Father's will "becoming" on earth and in heaven. In the previous verse, we had the recognition that people are not equal, but through the magic of time, they become like each other.

The verse then goes onto make a pun. it says that if people call "the lord of the house" the "lord of the flies" what will they call the "members of the house." Matthew recorded that Christ is frequently making little jokes like this that aren't captured in English. In the original, Christ seems more clever and witty and light-hearted about things than in translation. After all, here he is basically making a little joke while taking about being persecuted.