12-29-2008, 11:43 PM
Very good question ..
I think the meaning of the discussed phrase is "because of him/her representing (me)" or "as if he/she represented me". Same as the "power of attorney" given by Stephen. It goes well with the context and also explains Mattai 10:41 (and 42) and other occurrences of "in the name". What do you think? It is only my guesswork from the context, and analysis of all occurrences of "in the name", no underlying knowledge of Aramaic idioms, but my gutt feeling tells me it is a proper understanding.
Btw, there is an expression in my mother tongue, which word for word goes "I greet you in the name of X" and the meaning is "greetings from X (and I'm just the messenger)". Or sometimes I can hear "please do A in my name" which simply means "please do A, as if I was doing it (because I physically can't but I give you my permission and authority to do it)". Those expressions must be directly borrowed from Latin, or ... the Bible <!-- s
--><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s --> .
This brings to mind also "blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord", Mt 21:9 , a quote from Psalm 118 (v26). Interesting that some Hebrew translations of Psalms twist the meaning of this verse to "May he who enters be blessed in the name of the Lord" but the meaning is "blessed is the one who comes representing the Lord", imho.
Finally, if I may add to the question ... How do you understand baptism "in the name" (see Mt 28:19)?
Shlama,
Jerzy
I think the meaning of the discussed phrase is "because of him/her representing (me)" or "as if he/she represented me". Same as the "power of attorney" given by Stephen. It goes well with the context and also explains Mattai 10:41 (and 42) and other occurrences of "in the name". What do you think? It is only my guesswork from the context, and analysis of all occurrences of "in the name", no underlying knowledge of Aramaic idioms, but my gutt feeling tells me it is a proper understanding.
Btw, there is an expression in my mother tongue, which word for word goes "I greet you in the name of X" and the meaning is "greetings from X (and I'm just the messenger)". Or sometimes I can hear "please do A in my name" which simply means "please do A, as if I was doing it (because I physically can't but I give you my permission and authority to do it)". Those expressions must be directly borrowed from Latin, or ... the Bible <!-- s
--><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s --> .This brings to mind also "blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord", Mt 21:9 , a quote from Psalm 118 (v26). Interesting that some Hebrew translations of Psalms twist the meaning of this verse to "May he who enters be blessed in the name of the Lord" but the meaning is "blessed is the one who comes representing the Lord", imho.
Finally, if I may add to the question ... How do you understand baptism "in the name" (see Mt 28:19)?
Shlama,
Jerzy