01-22-2014, 09:20 PM
Brother Steve also mentions a word used Luke 23:46 that is absent in Galilean Aramaic. This assumes (in error) that if Luke wrote in Aramaic that he would have written in the Galilean or Judean dialect of Aramaic. Being a Syrian from Antioch, if he wrote in Aramaic (which I believe he did), he would have wrote in the Assyrian Aramaic (Syriac) dialect. Historians in the 1st century were also not concerned with the exact words used by their subjects, but sought to capture the meaning of their words. This shows that the Gospel writers did not feel the necessity to capture every single word of Jesus exactly as it was spoken. The assumption that Jesus had to have used a wordplay when he spoke the quote from Matthew is also erroneous.
Many wordplays are preserved in the Peshitta, more than in any other ancient version of the Gospels. If you translate the Gospels into Hebrew I am sure you will get some similar wordplays to the Peshitta because of how similar Hebrew and Aramaic are, but I don't think you will get as many. You hardly ever hear talk of wordplays in the Greek or Latin Gospels! The fact that there are so many wordplays in the Aramaic Gospels is not only evidence that Jesus spoke His teachings in the Aramaic language, but also adds evidence to the possibility that the Gospels were written in Aramaic. The Gospels and Acts have a stronger case for Aramaic Primacy than any other parts of the New Testament. The fact that the Galilean Aramaic words we have preserved in the Greek Gospels are so similar to the Assyrian Aramaic words shows a great affinity between the two dialects.
Many wordplays are preserved in the Peshitta, more than in any other ancient version of the Gospels. If you translate the Gospels into Hebrew I am sure you will get some similar wordplays to the Peshitta because of how similar Hebrew and Aramaic are, but I don't think you will get as many. You hardly ever hear talk of wordplays in the Greek or Latin Gospels! The fact that there are so many wordplays in the Aramaic Gospels is not only evidence that Jesus spoke His teachings in the Aramaic language, but also adds evidence to the possibility that the Gospels were written in Aramaic. The Gospels and Acts have a stronger case for Aramaic Primacy than any other parts of the New Testament. The fact that the Galilean Aramaic words we have preserved in the Greek Gospels are so similar to the Assyrian Aramaic words shows a great affinity between the two dialects.