ARAMAIC WORD STUDY –  LITTLE CHILD – ARAMAIC – טלא   Teth Lamed Aleph

Matthew 18:3:“And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. (4) Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

As a rabbi, Jesus used many little educational tools to instruct his disciples.  One tool is the use of word plays. There are a number of different types of word plays.  There are puns: “For instance, I may talk about reigning kings and then show a picture of a rainstorm with hundreds of kings falling to the earth.  This is a play on the word reign meaning to rule which has the identical sound of the word for rain. In conversation, we know what a person means when they use the word reign or rain in a certain context.  We sometimes play off a word which has an identical spelling, like the word trunk.  Only in the context can we know if the speaker is referring to a piece of luggage, an elephants nose or a portion of a tree.   You can play off that word with a cartoon showing someone going through customs wanting to declare a trunk.  In the context, you automatically think of a piece of luggage and then the next slide of the cartoon shows a man carrying a log. Sometimes a word has an identical sound like a word from another language and we make a play off of that as we have in Matthew 18:3.

In Matthew 18:3 Jesus is saying that unless we become as little children.  We cannot determine the wordplay from the Greek as it only works in a Semitic language. The word used in the Greek for little children is paidai which is the word for a little child or infant.  Unless you become as a little child you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.   We rightly think that Jesus is telling us that we must have the faith of a child.  At this time of year we see the example of the faith of a little child as they visit the local mall and sit on the lap of some old boy in a red suit, fake white beard and goes Ho Ho.  That little kid will actually believe he flies through the air in a sleigh with eight reindeer. (Note how reindeer is spelled rein and not rain  – never mind).  Does God expect us to have a faith so naïve? Next month my book, Journey Into Silence will be released, read that and you will see how naïve an adult can get in His relationship with God.

But Jesus spoke these words in the Aramaic and in the Aramaic you have two words that could be used for a child. The most common word is yalad which is a child or small infant. But you also have another word which is a play off the word in Hebrew which is talitha.  In Aramaic, it means a child.  But in Hebrew, it means a wounded lamb.  I think Jesus chose to use talitha from the root word tela rather than yalad to give a little wordplay.  The disciples would be familiar with the Biblical Hebrew as it was used as a ceremonial language much as Latin is used in the Catholic church.  It was not used as a spoken language unless you were speaking with Jews from another land who spoke, say Greek but not Aramaic, yet they would have the Hebrew language as a common ceremonial language and could accomplish some simple conversation using ceremonial Hebrew much as they do at the Vatican where many different languages are represented but all have the Latin in common so they often speak to each other in Latin. Even their ATM’s are in Latin.

In Mark 5:41 when Jesus raised the little girl from the dead he said: Talitha Koum.  This is in a feminine form in the Aramaic and means little girl get up.   But it closely parallels the Hebrew word tela for a wounded lamb.  Jesus could have said yalid rise up which also means little child rise but instead, he chose to use a  word which plays off the Hebrew and people were not sure if Jesus was speaking Hebrew or Aramaic.  Did he say: “Little child arise?”  or was he speaking Hebrew and said more affectionately;  “Little wounded lamb, arise.”  People heard both, they heard a play on words.

We have the same here, Jesus may have said: “Unless you become as a little child you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but He used the word talitha and did a wordplay saying: “Unless you come as a wounded or sorrowful little child you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. In other words, unless you are really sorrow for your sins a like a little child is sorrowful because his mother corrects him and he climbs into his mother’s arms weeping and says: “Mommie, I’m sorry.” he will not enter the kingdom of heaven.  That is why Jesus further states that if you humble yourself as a child or wounded sorrowful child you will be great in heaven.  

We have been hearing in the news lately of many powerful men being accused of sexual harassment that occurred years ago.  Only when they were found out did they apologize or say they were sorry.  Some refuse to admit they were wrong but apologized anyways as they were hoping to salvage their careers.  That is not the kind of sorrow or repentance that makes you great in heaven.  It is the humility of a child who is not afraid to admit he is wrong and will even cry out of sorrow when his negligence is pointed out.

II Corinthians 7:10 “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.”   Trying to appear repentant and sorrowful after you’ve been caught doesn’t cut it with most people if they suspect you are repentant because you must face the consequences.  It is the same with God. True Godly sorrow is just that, Godly sorrow, sorrow over having wounded and broken God’s heart over your sins.  Repentance just to keep out of hell won’t cut it. The Holy Spirit will bring that sorrow.  Without the Holy Spirit convicting you of your sin you are no better off that than a politician who declares repentance just to save his own gizzard.  

When you realize just how much God loves you, that He sent His Son to die for you and has only brought good into your life, the Holy Spirit will make that awareness come to you and cause you to grieve. Just like a young man in a prison cell reflecting on how he hurt his father, mother, and siblings.  Many will sit in that prison cell and when alone will weep over the sin that sent them to prison, that is Godly sorrow. That is a tela, a wounded, sorrowful lamb.