08-08-2015, 02:02 PM
It is generally believed that Luke was a gentile, and wrote his gospel in the Greek language to a gentile named Theophilus.
This post will investigate Semitic idioms, especially ones that do not occur in Greek. One may say that, concerning a quote either from Yeshua, or the Hebrew Scripture, that Luke might have chosen to carry over a literal, wooden translation of those words, including any purely semitic thought pattern, so I wish to look at an example of a place in his gospel where he himself is writing his own thoughts to his audience.
Here we would not expect to see him writing purely semitic idioms, because his Greek speaking audience would not understand him. For example, in writing to the vast majority of you here, I would never write, 'there is no cow on the ice'; or 'I blow little ducks'. Why? Because you, the reader, would have no clue what I am talking about. The first one is a Swedish idiom meaning 'There is no need to worry', and the second is a Latvian idiom meaing 'I am talking nonsense'.
So here we have a little snippet in Luke's gospel, where, again, he is writing his own thoughts to his reader, Theophilus. How many purely Semitic idioms can you spot here? There are several.
And it happened in the fulfilling of the days of His taking up, even He set His face to go to Jerusalem. And He sent messengers before His face. And going they went into a village of Samaritans, so as to make ready for Him. And they did not receive Him, because His face was going toward Jerusalem. And seeing, His disciples, James and John, said Lord, do You desire that we tell fire to come down from Heaven, and to destroy them even as Elijah did? 2 K. 1:10-12 But turning He rebuked them. And He said, You do not know of what spirit you are. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save. And they went to another village.
(Luk 9:51-56)
Ronen
This post will investigate Semitic idioms, especially ones that do not occur in Greek. One may say that, concerning a quote either from Yeshua, or the Hebrew Scripture, that Luke might have chosen to carry over a literal, wooden translation of those words, including any purely semitic thought pattern, so I wish to look at an example of a place in his gospel where he himself is writing his own thoughts to his audience.
Here we would not expect to see him writing purely semitic idioms, because his Greek speaking audience would not understand him. For example, in writing to the vast majority of you here, I would never write, 'there is no cow on the ice'; or 'I blow little ducks'. Why? Because you, the reader, would have no clue what I am talking about. The first one is a Swedish idiom meaning 'There is no need to worry', and the second is a Latvian idiom meaing 'I am talking nonsense'.
So here we have a little snippet in Luke's gospel, where, again, he is writing his own thoughts to his reader, Theophilus. How many purely Semitic idioms can you spot here? There are several.
And it happened in the fulfilling of the days of His taking up, even He set His face to go to Jerusalem. And He sent messengers before His face. And going they went into a village of Samaritans, so as to make ready for Him. And they did not receive Him, because His face was going toward Jerusalem. And seeing, His disciples, James and John, said Lord, do You desire that we tell fire to come down from Heaven, and to destroy them even as Elijah did? 2 K. 1:10-12 But turning He rebuked them. And He said, You do not know of what spirit you are. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save. And they went to another village.
(Luk 9:51-56)
Ronen