Aramaic Word Study – Innocent or Wounded Lamb  – Tela  טלָא   – 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.”

First century teachers had a real disadvantage as they did not have projection devices, videos, audio recordings and all the other modern educational tools we have today. Another important thing they did not have was pen and paper for students to take notes. How could they remember important points? Well they had their tools. Jesus spoke in Aramaic and if you read the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic you find it has a little rhyme to it like we would say: “Now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep.” That rhyme helps you to remember that little prayer. Another tool very common in the first century is the use of word plays. Word plays are very common in Hebrew and Aramaic as they were a prime teaching tool. We have word plays in our English language today. There are puns: “For instance I may talk about reigning kings and then show a picture of a rain storm 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 a context can we know if the speaker is referring to a piece of luggage, an elephant’s 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 as a word from another language and we make a play off of that. Matthew 18:3 gives us such an example. 

In Matthew 18:3 Jesus is saying that unless we become as little children.  We cannot determine the word play 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 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.  

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 an innocent or  wounded lamb.  I think Jesus chose to use talitha from the root word tela rather than yalad to give a little word play.  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 the ceremonial Hebrew much like 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 arises?”  Nor 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 word play 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 sorrowful for your sins 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.  

Today in our cultural revolution a famous celebrity can use what they feel is a harmless word only to find themselves canceled for having offended someone. They are forced to make a public apology lest they find their celebrated status diminish and/or disappear. That apology may or may not be sincere and even if it is, it might have little effect as the ones demanding the apology as they are only trying to humiliate the celebrity in the first place. 

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. That celebrity might truly want to be sorrowful, but often due to the pressure and fears, just cannot work up that sorrow.  In the case of sin we have the Holy Spirit who will convict one of their sin and will cause that sorrow to come. Without the Holy Spirit  convicting you of your sin you are no better off than a politician who declares repentance just to save his own gizzard.  

You see, the Holy Spirit works with your mind helping you to  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, not because they are in prison but because of the sorrow they brought to the ones they love and loved them. That is Godly sorrow. That is a tela, a wounded, sorrowful lamb.  Still, it is your choice to embrace that conviction and truly repent or indulge in some activity to take your mind off of it. 

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