Aramaic Word Study – Woman – ‘Anath   -Ayin Nun Taw

(This Word Study is excerpted from Chaim Bentorah’s book: Aramaic Word Study: Exploring The Language Of The New Testament)

John 2:3-4,10: “And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. (4)Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. (10) And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: [but] thou hast kept the good wine until now.”

In the Aramaic, Jesus is not calling his mother in a harsh tone saying: “Woman.”  He uses the word ‘anath.  In that culture, by calling His mother ‘anath in Aramaic He was really showing a sign of respect.  There is a case built that Joseph was at least twice Mary’s age when they married and that he would have most likely died at this point but not before Mary had other children and would thus no longer be a virgin.  In a sense, Jesus was doing her honor by calling her an ‘anath as this would be declaring that she was a single mother, by the death of her husband, who raised her children under the hardship of widowhood. We really have no English word for ‘anath in this context, nor is there a Greek word for ‘anath.  It is a term of endearment which could have many translations.  I have heard successful men and women speak with pride for their mothers when they say: “My mother was a single mother and raised me.”  I think the NIV, which did a little paraphrasing, expressed it best – “Dear woman.”  But that doesn’t fit that well, nor would words like mother, momma, or mom.  We can only say that it is a tender, respectful response.

“What have I to do with thee?”  Again, there is no direct translation for this into English.  Jesus said in Aramaic: “ma li valaki ‘amath” which literally means “What for and to you dear woman.” Even the literal does not sound as harsh as “What do you want from me woman.”  In the Aramaic, I believe the best equivalent response is “What is it that you want me to do dear woman.”  This is explained with an understanding of the second word that causes confusion in this passage, which is the word – hour.

The expression “my hour has not yet come” is really an Aramaic idiom.  The word hour in Aramaic is the word shaa.  In the Greek, it is the word hors which means a period of time or hour. Everyone debates what Jesus meant by saying His time has not yet come. The most common explanation is that it was not yet time for Him to reveal Himself.  Yet He went ahead and turned the water into wine anyways.  I have never understood that. Did Jesus just up His timetable to please His mother?  That is what it sounds like.  However, Jesus was speaking Aramaic and not Greek and the Aramaic word shaa means – turn, rank or position.  Jesus literally said: “What do you want me to do dear woman as it is not yet my turn.”

A little cultural insight would explain this.  The BYOB concept was a common practice at oriental weddings with every male bringing his own brew and trying to show off that he had the best wine. Everyone would take their turn in offering their wine. Usually, the best wine or good wine was served first.  Now the best wine or good wine is not what it is today. I don’t drink so I have no idea what the difference between good wine and bad wine is, but I have studied the Jewish Talmud and good wine is often a wine that is freshly pressed and not yet fermented.  The Talmud or the Tradition of the Fathers as it was known in Jesus’s day specified just how many days freshly pressed wine or grape juice could be allowed to age before it was no longer proper to be served at a wedding. It was less than a week before any real fermentation took place.  Thus, those who had the good wine or wine that fell within the time period of aging would be anxious to serve their wine first.  The others who had older and fermented wine, bad wine, tended to delay their contribution until the end when people go so sauced that they did not care if it was bad wine. Bad wine was brought for the expressed purpose of getting the fellowship drunk.

Maybe the other women were starting to give Mary a hard time that her son did not bring any good wine to the wedding but the bad wine to get people drunk and they started to make fun of Mary that her son only brought bad wine.  Mary may have been keeping a little secret that her son was going to offer the best wine, totally within the specifications of the Tradition of the Fathers.  Jesus’ response to His mother in the Aramaic was literally: “What do you want me to do dear woman as it is not yet my turn.”  

She probably just shook her head as if to say: “Now is a good time.”  This would be likely the case as she had the servants prepare for the introduction of the wine Jesus offered.  Jesus was going to use the water in the vessels that the guest used to wash their hands and feet before the meal.  When he ordered the servants to fill the vessels he was saying to add water to replace the water splashed out during the bathing.  Keep in mind, that people did not wash their hands and feet for hygienic purposes in those days, they did it for ritualistic purposes as required by Jewish law to symbolize purification or cleansing.  Jesus was going to demonstrate His role as the Messiah by taking the filth and dirt and purifying it. 

Still, people washing their hands and feet after traveling through dusty roads can make the water pretty rank.  That is probably why Jesus waited until the last hour to introduce his BYOB.  In Oriental culture, it was a sign of good hospitality to get yourself totally bombed at a wedding and Jesus was probably waiting until the guests were too drunk to care if they were drinking bath water or not.

I suspect John recorded this story to declare to the world and future generations that Jesus came to this world to take all its grimy, stinking, filth and purify it into pure good wine.

(This Word Study is excerpted from Chaim Bentorah’s book: Aramaic Word Study: Exploring The Language Of The New Testament)

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