lördag 28 februari 2015

22. Is it possible to realize what was happening two thousand years ago?


I'm thinking of Jesus in the gospels. Of course it's not possible to decide that no one in the first centuries included erroneous information in the gospels. But there are fragments that, almost like self correcting codes, speak for it selves:

At the time the Israelite's talked Aramaic, a language related with Hebrew. It was everyday language spoken also by Jesus, the priests and almost everyone in Jerusalem. The uneducated crowd that didn't visit the synagogues on Sabbath wasn't familiar with Hebrew, the religious language.
From the gospel of Matthew:
27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? That is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
27:47 Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias.
27:48 And straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.
27:49 The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.
27:50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.

Due to Matthews Jesus said 'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?' which is Hebrew and a quote from Psalm 22:1. The mob that was enjoying the crucifixion had heard of the prophet 'Eli' but didn't recognize the well known psalm. In Aramaic the same phrase would have been 'Eloi, Eloi, lmana sbaktani?' which sounds rather different.

Judge for yourself: do this language problem come from reality or from fiction?