Hebrew Word Study – Be Open – Ethpatch Aleph Taw Pei Taw Hei
Mark 7:34 – And he looked up to heaven, and sighed, and he said to him, Ethpatakh, which means, Be opened
The word in the Aramaic or be open is ephphatha in the Greek manuscript. Why does the Greek manuscript use an Aramaic word? The reason the scribes who wrote and/or translated the Greek manuscript did this is because Jesus did not speak in Greek but spoke the language of the people of that day which was Aramaic and that is why we find many Aramaic words in the Gospels. This is a strong argument that the Gospels were originally written in Aramaic for that is the language that Jesus and the disciples spoke. But why do the Greek manuscripts use Aramaic words, why did the Greek manuscripts not simply read ana oigo or open rather than transliterate the Aramaic word ephphatha? Some commentaries say it was to maintain the sacredness or maintain the wonderful words of Jesus. If that were the case why not transliterate every word Jesus spoke into Aramaic. Some say it was to preserve the power in the words. But that is a little too mystical for most Christians (this one included). The power is in the one speaking the words not the words themselves. More than likely the reason for using the Aramaic word is that the scribes who wrote this account could not find a Greek word to adequately express the Aramaic word. For instance in Mark 5:41, rather than give the Greek words for little girl the Greek manuscripts use a transliteration of the Aramaic Talitha Koum which means little girl arise but could also mean in Aramaic “Little wounded lamb arise” there is no Greek equivalent to mean both like it does in Aramaic. This way if one also reads Aramaic he will get a deeper understanding and/or the deeper meaning to the words of Jesus that the Greek text which it could not give in one or two words. In this case the Aramaic shows the deep passionate and tender love of Jesus that the Greek would not show. Hebrew and Aramaic is a language of emotion and poetry where Greek is a cold precise language of mathematicians and scientists which can be very emotionless. Aramaic gives us a better picture of the love of Jesus than the Greek just by the difference in the nature of the language and the culture it grew out of.
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In this verse there is no Greek word to express the depth of ethpahtach. It is also a word used for menstruation where the endometrium is renewed so that it is in a suitable state to ensure the implantation of a fertilized egg, the first step to pregnancy. In other words it represents a begining to something that could be followed by something greater. In Talmudic Aramaic, as found in Yabamot 114b, it has the idea of someone with exceptional hearing. Jesus just didn’t restore the man’s hearing, he gave him exceptional hearing and gave it to him for a purpose more than just to have hearing but to use that for the glory of God to share to the world that God is a God of love not a cold heartless god of the pagans who were afraid of their gods and had no loving relationship with their gods.
If God is going to do something, He is not going to do it halfway. He is going to going to give the whole ball of wax. I mean would you expect any less from a God of total love? That miracle should be used for something greater that just to make you own life more comfortable, it should be used as a tool to declare to the world the awesome Love of God.
There are many other occasions in the NT where the Greek simply transliterates an Aramaic word and then when translated into English we have in the English text the Aramaic word followed by the scribe’s and or translators saying: “Which means!” That is all fine and dandy except Aramaic is more ambiguous than the Greek. The Aramaic may carry much more insightful and deeper meanings than expressed in just a one or two word translation.
Chaim’s publisher has presently commissioned him to work on an Aramaic commentary as a companion to the One New Man BIble that he publishes. Thus, our All Access subscription site will be taking a deep dive into the Aramaic New Testament this year. You can join us in this fantastic journey into this newest field of study at www.hebrewwordstudy.com
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