Matthew 5 the meek will ...

Matthew Chapter 5 Verse 5

Blessed for the meek for they will inherit the earth

μακάριοι οἱ πραεῖς, ὅτι αὐτοὶ κληρονομήσουσιν τὴν γῆν

πραΰς is a 3^rd declension adjective with a U stem if Masculine or Neuter but behaves if if it had an e stem if feminine or plural. Meek humble gentle of low rank.

Jesus was not just preaching to the elite or religious fanatics or cultists.

Verses like this are why the Gospel is described as inclusive.

They will inherit the earth. Κληρονομέω. They will receive a share not just of an estate or property but of the earth as a whole. Note that γῆ is used not KOSMOS.

When this will happen is … an exact time is not given.

I am not going to speculate on how thus relates to Revelations or various OT prophecies. Too many people have done that already.

I will say this the “little people” the poor are as important as the rich and the elite.

Remember what is recorded elsewhere about the rich and salvation.

Remember also if you're reading this at home and have easy access to a family computer or own one yourself however simple in many parts of the world that makes you well off and wealthy.

Work to be humble.

I've received no comments yet but I do hope these posts are of some use and help to those who don't know New Testament Greek or perhaps have just started studying it and can't afford commentaries or dictionaries of their own. I was blessed with receiving a Liddell and Scott lexicon as a gift many years ago so I have a print copy at home thankfully. Its getting harder and harder to find second hand copies so I hope these notes and other metousia blog posts are helping?

Antiphanes on the Muses and Skill

Antiphanes on the Muses and Reason and Criticism

Antiphanes is one of several dramatists we know only by name and quotes in other works.

This quote comes from Athenaeus 1.3.b

ἀεὶ δὲ πρὸς Μουσαισι καὶ λόγοις πάρει,

ὅπου τι σοφίας ἔργον ἐξετάζεται.

Always the Muses and Reason(ings) are together / present

whenever any skilled work is tested

Matthew 5 verse 4 COMFORT and ew verbs

Matthew Chapter 5 Verse 4

μακάριοι οἱ πενθοῦντες, ὅτι αὐτοὶ παρακληθήσονται

blessed those who are mourning for they will be comforted

noteworthy features

both verbs are εω verbs whose stems end in an e so they follow this contraction pattern ε + ω = ω ε + ει(ς) =εῖ(ς) ε + ο = οῦ etc.

πενθέω lament mourn grief here in 3^rd person plural participle form

παρακληθήσονται is the future passive 3^rd person plural of παρακαλέω

the same verb from which paraklete and para kleetos derive

summon call to help encourage exhort

however receiving help from the divine does not excuse us from our human obligations to try and help others so  remember what is written in James about faith and works.

Dative Spirit Matthew Chapter 5 Verse 3 some notes

DATIVE SPIRIT

MATTHEW Ch. 5 Verse 3

μακαριοι οἱ πτωχοι τῷ πνευματι

Blessed (are) the poor in spirit for theirs is the realm of the heavens

The parallel section in Luke 6. 20 – 23 omits pneumati

Now πνευματι is dative rather than genitive. Why?

Greek can use dative without a preposition.

This could be a dative of place, cause, means, or respect.

Matthew stresses poverty of spirit but the other kind of poverty is meant as well.

As a matter of style the use of the dative also contrasts with the genitive forms in the secondary subordinate clause.

Was Jesus bilingual in Greek? Could the minor differences between verses from Gospel to Gospel reflect jesus speaking first in Greek or Aramaic depending on his audience and then repeating himself in the other language?

However the primary message is the important one.

BLESSED ARE THE POOR

and it is a lovely example of the dative form too!

BREAD more than Artos

Some Names for Various Types of Bread

BREAD is Usually Ἄρτος in Classical Greek.

This word refers to loafs of wheat and bread in general if PLURAL.

However Bread was not made of wheat alone.

Bread baked from Barley was called μάζα and also Ἄλφιτον a word also used to refer to groats and porridge made from barley meal.

Unleavened bread was Ἄζυμον the opposite of leavened bread raised by yeast ζυμίτης

χονδρίτης was a kind of very coarse bread probably similar to our “wholegrain” very rough and coarse which the Greeks would have regarded as being low quality.

Hearth or Brasier Bread was something like Turkish gozleme a thick soft pancake cooked on a hot surface.

The Greeks also had a kind of bread baked in an oven or on hot coals in an earthenware covered vessel called κριβανίτης.

Fine white bread rolls were κόλλαβος possibly shaped like “knot” rolls.

ATHENA Athens and Pottery

ATHENA ATTICA AND POTTERY

Athenaeus 1. 28c records a myth about Athena and Attic Pottery and her invention of the potters' wheel

τὸν δὲ τροχὸν γαίας τε καμίνου τ̓ ἒκγονον

κλεινότατον κέραμον, χρησίμον οἰκονόμον,

ἡ τὸ καλὸν Μαραθῶν καταστήσα τρόπαιον

and the potters wheel clay and oven she discovered / begot?

Noblest pottery useful for housekeeping

she who (at) marathoon  raised fine trophy

καὶ ἐπαινεται ὄντως ὁ Ἀττικὸς κέραμος.

and Attic pottery is held in high esteem

I wonder if there were ancient kilns near Marathon?

A note on Makarios

The Beatitudes section of Matthew's Gospel derive their name from the Latin translation of this adjective used frequently  in the opening lines.

     MAKARIOS

blessed happy fortunate

ΜΑΚΆΡΙΟΣ

 μακάριος

it is derived from the stem  * mak make large long great a cognate of makros.

Note that the Gospels and Jesus uses this word rather than other more literary terms like eudaimonos. 

Ares god of War

This is the oldest vase painting image I could google showing Ares.
 Its Attic dating about 570 bc. Notice the eye depicted in Archaic Greek style.

Another detail of interest is the attempt to use slip to suggest a lighter hair color and that he seems to be carrying two spears not one.

FOLLOW ME Matthew 4 : 19

Your Sunday Bible Verse  from the Greek Gospels

I use the Bible Society edition and  the Liddell and Scott Lexicon 

Matthew 4 :19

and he said to them ( the fishermen Simon Peter and his brother Andrew )

Δεῦτε ὀπίσω μου, καὶ ποιήσω ἁλιεῖς ἀνθρώπων.

Plural form of Δεῦρο (come) here 

then a  preposition opisoo is not a verb  that takes genitive meaning  after 

so come here after me( as he walks along the beach)  of / with / behind me

 and I will make future form ποιέω

 you plural accusative fishers

 plural of ἁλιεύς

 of men genitive plural

Mark 1:6 adds γενέσθαι become

No unusual forms but a simple powerful command and a promise.

Follow me and you will become fishers of men.

Look at his choice of followers. Two strong willed fishermen used to manual labor one with the nickname in Greek of the Rock and the other called Manly. We're never told Andrew's Hebrew or Aramaic name or how they got their Greek names. Did Greek colonists work and socialise with the local Jewish fishermen?

Was it normal for everyone to be bilingual in Greek?