Random Groovy Bible Facts
  • Home
  • F.A.Q.s
  • Seek & You Shall Find
  • Books by Jeremy C. Springfield
  • Recommended Reading
    • Biblical Resources
    • Mishnah & Gemara (Talmud)
    • Jewish Perspectives on the New Testament
    • The Jewish Messiah
    • Chassidut
    • Abraham Joshua Heschel
    • Kabbalah
  • Artículos en español
    • Ungir al Mesías
    • Sefer HaMoshiakh
    • Mesías El Gusano
    • Setenta Luces para las Naciones
    • Ley del la Corazón
    • Torás de Fuego Blanco y Negro
    • Muchas Coronas
    • Mana del Cielo
    • El Cuerpo de las Almas
    • El Shofar de la Ruptura
    • La Shin de Isaac
    • Yonah Kippur en español
    • La Sukáh del Centurión
    • Entre Querubines
    • El Tabernáculo Nublado
    • Discípulos del Mesías
    • Lo Que El Faraón Nunca Supo
    • El Evangelio de Golgotha
  • Audio Studies
  • 2013 Studies
    • Up A Tree
    • The Four Horsemen of the Torah
    • So Many Crowns >
      • Muchas Coronas
    • Why Did Jonah Run Away?
    • Walking On Water
    • The Number of the Beast in the Garden of Eden
    • Peter's Denial and the Cock's Crow
    • Laying Tefillin At the End of Time
    • The Debt of Love
    • Hard to Say or Hard to Do?
    • Finding the Ladder
    • When Satan Fell
    • Sometimes Reaping Takes a Lifetime
    • The Song of Moses
    • Purim in the Torah
    • Messiah the Worm >
      • Mesías El Gusano
    • The Temple Body
    • Anointing Messiah >
      • Ungir al Mesías
    • Law of the Heart >
      • Ley del la Corazón
    • David's Son is His Lord?
    • Faith-Based Foodie
  • 2014 Studies
    • The Seven Books of Torah
    • The Gospel of the Tanakh
    • A Life Laid Down
    • Bread and Water
    • Grafting Gentiles
    • Moving Beyond Kharan
    • The Word and the Lamp
    • Four Feathered Wings
    • The Sign of Blood
    • Love Your Neighbor
    • Disciples of Messiah >
      • Discípulos del Mesías
    • The Shofar of Brokenness >
      • El Shofar de la Ruptura
    • Manna From Heaven >
      • Mana del Cielo
    • Sefer haMoshiakh >
      • Sefer HaMoshiakh en español
    • Seventy Lights for the Nations >
      • Setenta Luces para las Naciones
  • 2015 Studies
    • Preserved with Pivots
    • Purim's Hidden Trees
    • Sons of ... Thunder?
    • What Pharaoh Never Knew >
      • Lo Que El Faraón Nunca Supo
    • Israel's Secret Descendant
    • Follow the Traditions?
    • The Virgin Birth in Torah
    • Two Hands for Benjamin
    • The Signs of Jonah
    • Wisdom's Works
    • In the Carpenter's Shadow
    • Voice of the Shofar
    • A Tabernacles Nativity
    • Crown of Sorrows
    • The Burning Coal
  • 2016 Studies
    • Looking at Leah
    • Elements of Faith
    • Tearing a Prophet Apart
    • The Spirit of Elijah and the Crucifixion
    • Never Spoke a Man Like This
    • Anointed for War
    • The Spirit at Shavuot
    • His Prayer for Us
    • The Pharisee Who Followed
    • A Time to Remember
    • Yonah Kippur >
      • Yonah Kippur en español
    • His Temptation
  • 2017 Studies
    • At the Door
    • Connecting the Dots
    • Fool Me Once
    • Spoken To
    • Yehoseyf
    • Moedim Tovim
    • The Bleeding Temple
    • String Theory Torah
    • Dedicate the House
    • Tongues in Torah
  • 2018 Studies
    • The Centurion's Sukkah >
      • La Sukáh del Centurión
    • Unnatural Forgiveness
    • Eyes of Flesh and Faith
    • Isaac's Shin >
      • La Shin de Isaac
    • What Satan Never Wanted
    • The Greatest and the Least
    • My Goodness
    • A High Priest in Hell
    • Kissing the Son
    • Atop the Skull
    • Lehadlik Ner Chanukah
    • The Hidden Spies
  • 2019 Studies
    • The Sword of Shema
    • Hastening the Day
    • Mashiach bat Avichayil
    • The Cloudy Tabernacle >
      • El Tabernáculo Nublado
    • What a Blessing
    • The Man in the Mirror
    • Of Such is the Kingdom
    • All Hail Caesar
    • Synoptic Tefillin
    • Few the Chosen
    • Waters of Unbecoming
    • Nittel Nacht
  • 2020 Studies
    • To Follow a Rebel Rabbi
    • Under A Tree
    • More Than Sparrows
    • Ruth's Vavless Verses
    • Expect the Unexpected
    • The Samaritan Messiah
    • The Baptist
    • Torahs of Black and White Fire >
      • Torás de Fuego Blanco y Negro
    • What the Shofar Says
    • The Nameless One
    • Descending to Ascend
    • The Chanukah Revelation
  • 2021 Studies
    • Release the Prisoner
    • Esther Unveiled
    • In His Image
    • The Narrow Way
    • Wings of a Dove
    • Your Mother's Torah
    • Word Made Flesh
    • Guf Haneshamot >
      • El Cuerpo de las Almas
    • Between Cherubim >
      • Entre Querubines
    • The Gospel of Golgotha >
      • El Evangelio de Golgotha
    • The Fullness
    • Simon Says
  • 2022 Studies
    • The Rock that Followed
    • Anochi
    • Honor of the Call
    • The Dog
    • The Advocate
    • The First and the Last
    • Not Giving to Dogs & Swine
    • Who is Good
    • The Prodigals
    • Verses Versus Verses
    • The Frogs
    • Let it Shine
  • 2023 Studies
    • The Gate of Tears
    • Bearing Fruit
    • The Two Witnesses

HARD  TO  SAY,  OR  HARD  TO  DO?



by Jeremy Chance Springfield


This study is brief, but rather involved, so please stay with me and I think you will appreciate the amazing gem in this story displayed stunningly in the Aramaic Peshitta text of the New Testament:

THE SETTING: 
The story of the Messiah healing the paralytic man in Matthew 9:1-7

THE PLAYERS: 
Messiah, the paralytic man, and the scribes

OVERVIEW: 
A paralytic man is brought to Messiah by his friends to be healed. Messiah at first says, “Your sins are forgiven you.” The scribes think to themselves “Blasphemy!” at this act of forgiveness, believing only the Holy One Himself can do such a thing.  Messiah asks why they think evil in their hearts, and then poses them a question with two options: What is easier?

#1  To say: “Your sins are forgiven you!”

or

#2  To say: “Stand! Walk!”

Then, to prove that He has authority to forgive sins, He heals the man and tells him to stand up and walk!   



THE END


THE COOL DETAILS:

To answer the silent charge of blasphemy in the hearts of the scribes, the Messiah asks them what is “easier” to say. The word "easier" in the Aramaic is P'SHEEQ and has the meaning of “make plain / translate.” This is important because He is dealing with scribes, whose job it is to read the Word and interpret it / translate, making it plain and simple for the people to understand, if help is needed.


With that as His preface, He then offers two options for them to decide which is “easier” to say, which I have included here in the Aramaic text, with transliteration and translation, because it is important to see the actual words He used:


Picture
  
Picture


Technically, the answer is quite obvious: it is easier to say “Stand! Walk!” / QUM H'LAK in Aramaic rather than “Your sins are forgiven you!” / SHAWEEQEEN LAK KH'TAHAK. The first option spoken by Messiah has 3 Aramaic words, while the second option in Aramaic has 2 words.



Remember also that Messiah is talking to scribes here – the very name of these fellas actually means “counters” in Aramaic and Hebrew. That’s a major facet of what they did – count the letters and strive for constancy in copying, in order to honor the Word and prevent error from creeping into the text.  Unfortunately, they themselves were in error at this point, not understanding that Yeshua's authority included the forgiveness of sins - a fact which the very Word they counted and copied makes clear.

The reality of saying “Your sins are forgiven you!” carries with it a divine-right that no man possesses on his own, so that anyone can just “say it” without true authority, while telling someone to “Stand! Walk!” implies that you actually have that power to give them mobility. So basically, on one hand, it is technically easier to say the second option, while physically harder to make it happen.

Picture




So, Messiah implies it is easier to “say” the second option, while everyone, including the scribes, knows it is harder to "do" it. He then proceeds to say the easiest and perform the hardest, by saying to the paralytic: "Stand! Take up your bed and go to your house!"

He shows that He can make the paralytic to walk, choosing the easy thing to say technically, yet the harder thing to actually do, meaning the harder thing to say is obviously easy for Him to do! If He can make the lame to walk, then He can forgive the sin!

And ironically, to those scribes keeping count, He uses 5 Aramaic words to make this happen, as the above graphic clearly displays: which happens to be the combined amount of words in both of the initial options He gave!  He works this situation so absolutely brilliantly, healing a man in need of physical and spiritual restoration, and simultaneously handing it to the scribes who got played hard here.  He showed them unequivocally that He had the right to say whatever He wanted, because He had the divine authority to back it up with righteous action!



All study contents Copyright Jeremy Chance Springfield, except for graphics and images, which are Copyright their respective creators.
Proudly powered by Weebly