Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar and Nevim Arith Hayomim:
Luke 11:13: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”
“To err is human, to forgive divine.” Alexander Pope (English Poet)
One reason I believe the Gospels were written in Aramaic and later translated into Greek is that I often run across verses that have troubled me in some way. By that I mean something deep within me seems uneasy about the rendering of a certain passage. Like most Christians I usually shrug it off and say: “Well it is Scripture after all, so it must be right and I must believe it.”
Taking the lead of my old mentor, a Hebrew professor I had in seminary, I formed the habit of studying the Bible for a minimum of two hours every morning in the original languages of Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic. That is a minimum and does not include my study throughout the day and into the evening hours. After almost forty years of such habits I have come to realize the Bible is truly the inspired and inerrant word of God. I use the word “inerrant” as I will refer to it later in this study. I also came to realize that the English translations we have reflect the true Word of God but bear the mark of the personal persuasions and mindsets of those who performed the translations. I believe God created His Word to carry many shades of renderings so that He may speak to each person individually.
Thus, I would never call the use of the word “evil” in Luke 11:13 as a mistranslation, because there can be many shades of color to the understanding of the word evil and some people will be just fine with that rendering. However, when I hear the word evil what comes to my mind are mass killers, dictators, warlords; you know the typical comic book villains. Being raised on a regular diet of comic book superheroes where white is white and black is black, good is good and evil is evil and never the twain shall meet, I have trouble with Jesus referring to these average, hardworking, people as evil. Sinful yes. Luke Skywalker was sinful, but he certainly was not evil like Darth Vader.
I know what you are thinking: “Get life, why get hung up on semantics. Evil, bad, sinful, it is all the same thing.” You are probably right, but I have learned in my years of studying that when I feel this unsettledness in my gut, it is often the Holy Spirit telling me to check it out, that God may just have a personal message here for me in some other worthwhile rendering.
So what does this word evil really mean in this context. The word in the Greek is poneroi which is the lessor of three evils (you can laugh, the pun is intended). The other two evils in Greek are kakoi which is a reference to one’s character. For instance I met a kakoi in the supermarket yesterday. He jumped ahead of me in the checkout line. He was not a bad person, just self-absorbed. It was just in his character to take advantage of a situation. I mean my posture could have easily be interpreted as one not in line, but rather than ask he just assumed I was not in line. The second evil in Greek is sapros this is the Darth Vader evil and I need say no more. Jesus, however, called us kakoi which is bad, hurtful, harmful, diseased, and malicious. You could also apply the word derelict which I believe is the correct application of kakoi in this context. Even though derelict is an uncommon usage for kakoi it is most likely the correct
rendering here as the Aramaic word that is used in the Aramaic Bible and most likely the word that Jesus actually spoke is: beesha which means to be in error.
I can picture Jesus saying: “You who have a tendency to be in error can still give good gifts to your children, how much more shall the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit if you just ask.” Remember I used that word inerrant. God is inerrant, He is incapable of committing errors where we as humans, this human especially, are prone to much error.
You see Luke 11:13 follows verse 11 and 12 where Jesus says that if your child ask you for a loaf of bread would you give him a stone? Actually, in the Aramaic this has the idea of bread with a stone in it. If you ever watch the making of bread in the Middle East on National Geographic you can see how easily it is for a small stone or pebble to find its way into a loaf of bread as it moves from the grinding, kneading and baking stage. One making bread must be very careful a small pebble does not wander into the dough during preparations. When making bread for her children, a mother takes extra care to make sure the bread is free of any harmful substance. However, mistakes do occur and many a broken tooth has resulted from such errors. Jesus also says that if a child asks for a fish you would not give him a serpent. The word “fish” in Aramaic encompasses all brands of water creatures, including eels or fishes that appeared like a snake. These
snakelike fishes are harmless and quite tasty to the Middle Eastern palette. Snakes were and are very common in Middle Eastern homes. The use of straw for roofs and other parts of the home make an ideal nesting place for snakes and Middle Eastern people think nothing of sharing their accommodations with the snakes. They don’t bother the snakes and the snakes don’t bother them, except when they start to find their way into the residents food supply. It is very easy, especially in the dark of the evening, to reach into the storage bin and pull out a snake instead of an eel. Again, a parent will be very careful to examine the food that he or she is giving the child. Finally Jesus says if a child asks for an egg, you will not give him a scorpion. Scorpions are very common in the Middle East and the nest of hens is made of straw and scorpions love to crawl into straw. Hence, a person has to be very careful when reaching into a hen’s nest
for an egg not to pull out a scorpion. You could quickly reach into the nest pull out an egg covered with straw and hand it to a child and embedded in the straw could be an angry scorpion. A parent will carefully take the egg, bushing away any straw and making sure it is only the egg that is handed to a child. Errors could occur and the result could be quite painful for the child.
So based upon this cultural understanding, it would appear that when Jesus used the Aramaic word beesha later translated into kakoi the intended meaning was one who is prone to make errors and not one who is evil. A parent can make a mistake with their children no matter how much they love that child; they can regret purchasing that video game or DVD for the child. Yet, when God gives a gift, particularly the gift of His Spirit, there is never the slightest hint of an error. We can always be sure if it comes from God through the Holy Spirit it will never be harmful.
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