Saturday 25 July 2015

ZYGONS!

ZYGONS!

What does #biblestudy #historicallinguistics and maybe some #doctorwho aliens have in common?
No I'm not trying to create a false linkage as an excuse for tags. There is a link.
I will admit to trying to make this post a little more lighter than usual?

Last week I looked at the Take up my yoke verse in Matthew.

It occurs to me some of you raised with tractors or no knowledge of farming may have no idea what a yoke is? Yes you can look up details on Wikipedia but before you do ...

Basically a yoke is device for joining one or two or more animals to a plough or carriage. The animal can and has been cattle donkeys horses mules even elephants since the Indian Army used them for hauling large artillery!

Now the rise of protestantism and missionary activities by various religions lead to a need for dictionaries and word lists for translation from Aramaic Hebrew Greek and Latin into other languages  and since yoke is a word that appears several times in the bible ...enough times so that its not common but distinctive...

Scholars first noted that Greek Zugon and Latin Jugum had a g in the middle and seemed similar to European words like Lithunian jungas and German Joch  and then there's Old English geoc and Old Church Slavonic igo.

Then European scholars got access to Sanskrit and Persian texts and lo and behold Sanskrit had yuga and Farsi had yug.

This and other studies lead to to the sciences of philology and historical linguistics. It also lead to YOKE being a standard common textbook example even high schoolers might be aware of.

So how does this tie in with bible study and ZYGONS!

Yoke as a noun or verb is used used to describe a forced burden being imposed or lifted. The verse in matthew talks about lightening a load and some of you may recall the phrase yoke of slavery?

Zygons are oppressive conquerors.

Now I don't know if this is what happened but I'm wondering if some script writer who'd heard the word ZYGON at school or university and heard the word YOKE during a sunday sermon or bible study as a child or teenager and some subconsciousness processing merged the two?

So the next time the Zygons appear on Doctor Who consider things Hellenic or Biblical and that a study and knowledge of historical linguistics and Greek can add in understanding biblical verses or get the fans in your congregation paying more attention during sermons if you want to use this idea?

Possibly something a more more serious next week!

I'm still enduring the final symptoms of that virus I mentioned previously  as a  lingering cough.






Monday 20 July 2015

Primary Texts for Greek Mythology

Mythology and Literature are intertwined.

Whether you're reading them for the story or the literary values here's a hopefully useful list in chronological order of Greek and Latin texts.

Home the Iliad and Odyssey

The Homeric Hymns

Hesiod Theogony

The greek dramatists Aeschylus Sophocles Euripides and Aristophanes

Callimachus

The Greek Pastoral Poets

Apollonius Rhodius Argonautica

Catullus

Virgil  the Eclouges Georgics and Aeneid

Horace

Ovid the Metamorphoses Heroides and Fasti

Apollodorus


Saturday 18 July 2015

matthew resumes

#health #biblestudy #newtestamentgreek
Now that I've almost after three weeks  finished spewing toxic acid waste from my sinuses and elsewhere weekend bible study posts resume.
A note to GooglePlus followers I have two other blogs (metousia and glyphika) and if you're not interested in New testament greek please refer this particular blog to someone who might benefit from it? Also note I have some new ideas for Greek mythology posts but have been unable to write up my notes due to illness.

Severe Bronchitis sinusitis rhinitis all painfully combined ...

Back to Matthew after a short break for more coughing ...

Matthew 11 25-30

25 in this time or on this occassion declared (aorist passive participle made this statement) Jesus said

I thank / acknowledge / praise  exxomologeoo middle ) to you father lord of the heaven and the earth  that you hide these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to infants

26 yes father that such was your grace/ good will

27 all things to me have been delivered by the father of me and no one knows  the son if not the father nor does one the father know if not the son and who ever / anyone to whom whenever he chooses the son reveals

28 here then towards me alllwho work hard and are heavily burdened and I will  give you release / rest  (verb anapausoo) you

29 take up my yoke / harness for ploughs upon you  ( the very poor who owned no livestock would have to yoke themselves to a plow) and learn from me that gentle I am and humble in the heart and you will find rest for your souls

30 for the yoke mine is loving and the burden mine light is.

One should remember this was an era in which iron plows were rare and plowing truly was manual labour !


Saturday 11 July 2015

Jesus Cares Poster

Metousia is currently sick and not getting any paid work and due to the nature of my ailment and the local weather  probably will not be working for at least another two weeks.

Going outside just to do food shopping is literally going to be painful due to the risk of the cold wind aggravating things

Anyway if you have found metousia useful could you please considering helping out by sharing this link?

This is to a poster print mugs tees decals stickers etc also available

http://www.cafepress.com/voxyvisions.1587689863

Thank You

Please support thtis blogger while she's sick

If you've found any of my metousia useful please consider supporting this blogger while she's sick. I currently have a SEVERE rhinitis / sinusitis infection and my doctor could me on a double dose of steroids fearing I'll get pleurisy.

Anyway that means I'm having trouble concentrating and literally cant focus on the screen so if anyone would care to use the tip jar...

I've been in and out of bed for a fortnight and given the way they way my bronchitis flares up after any cold or sinusitis ... you might maybe just get a fresh blog post next weekend though how I'm going to make up for the month of work I've lost ...

There's a paypal tip jar ... will someone please use it?

Meanwhile I'm going to bump some older posts.

Saturday 4 July 2015

Health hiatus

There will no metousia posts until Ive seen the doctor and get some medication that actually works for my current severe bronchitis / sinusitis