Daily Retreat 08/17/06
2006 Aug 17 Thu: Ordinary Weekday
Ez 12: 1-12/ Ps 77(78): 56-57. 58-59. 61-62/ Mt 18: 21 – 19: 1
From today’s readings: “Son of man, you live in the midst of a rebellious house; they have eyes to see but do not see, and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious house.... They tempted and rebelled against God the Most High, and kept not His decrees .... I say to you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times!”
How Many Times to Forgive?
To Peter’s question, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times!” Have modern translators arbitrarily discounted the demand for fraternal forgiveness? A few years back, when this present translation had just been published and I first read “seventy-seven times,” I thought it was a misprint since the versions I had heard in the past all read “seventy times seven times.”
In the virtual retreat reflections this past Monday, I raised objections to the NAB translation for that day, but in contrast, today’s revised translation of “seventy-seven” instead of “seventy times seven” is quite justified, even if it will take awhile to get used to it. For there is actually a good reason for this change, and the correction shows the fruits of biblical scholarship. For, in the original Greek for Matthew 18:22, the number given actually could be taken either way. A parallel ambiguity even is partially preserved in English, for if I say “Seventy, seven times” (meaning “70 x 7”), with only a minor change in punctuation and emphasis, it easily becomes, “Seventy-seven times.” Previous translators opted for “seventy times seven times” because it’s more common in Greek for compound numbers to be joined with a conjunction, so “77” usually would have been written out “seventy and seven.”
But the implications of an obscure passage from Genesis argue for “seventy-seven” instead of “seventy times seven.” Lamech, the great-great-great-grandson of Cain, is introduced in Genesis 4:18. Not much is recorded about him, except for the fact that he boasted to his two wives, not only of killing a man who had hurt him, but he even spitefully justified it just on the basis of vengeance, saying “If Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold!” In the original Hebrew, the number is clearly “77,” but the Greek translation is the same ambiguous phrase found in Matthew 18:22.
So, the reply Jesus made to Peter was probably a deliberate allusion contrasting Christ’s teaching about forgiveness to the avenging madness exemplified by Lamech. In any case, the basic question is not whether theoretically we forgive seventy-seven or seventy times seven times, but whether in practice we always forgive from our heart in order to approach God for the forgiveness we need, 7 raised to the power of 70 times!
Ez 12: 1-12/ Ps 77(78): 56-57. 58-59. 61-62/ Mt 18: 21 – 19: 1
From today’s readings: “Son of man, you live in the midst of a rebellious house; they have eyes to see but do not see, and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious house.... They tempted and rebelled against God the Most High, and kept not His decrees .... I say to you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times!”
How Many Times to Forgive?
To Peter’s question, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times!” Have modern translators arbitrarily discounted the demand for fraternal forgiveness? A few years back, when this present translation had just been published and I first read “seventy-seven times,” I thought it was a misprint since the versions I had heard in the past all read “seventy times seven times.”
In the virtual retreat reflections this past Monday, I raised objections to the NAB translation for that day, but in contrast, today’s revised translation of “seventy-seven” instead of “seventy times seven” is quite justified, even if it will take awhile to get used to it. For there is actually a good reason for this change, and the correction shows the fruits of biblical scholarship. For, in the original Greek for Matthew 18:22, the number given actually could be taken either way. A parallel ambiguity even is partially preserved in English, for if I say “Seventy, seven times” (meaning “70 x 7”), with only a minor change in punctuation and emphasis, it easily becomes, “Seventy-seven times.” Previous translators opted for “seventy times seven times” because it’s more common in Greek for compound numbers to be joined with a conjunction, so “77” usually would have been written out “seventy and seven.”
But the implications of an obscure passage from Genesis argue for “seventy-seven” instead of “seventy times seven.” Lamech, the great-great-great-grandson of Cain, is introduced in Genesis 4:18. Not much is recorded about him, except for the fact that he boasted to his two wives, not only of killing a man who had hurt him, but he even spitefully justified it just on the basis of vengeance, saying “If Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold!” In the original Hebrew, the number is clearly “77,” but the Greek translation is the same ambiguous phrase found in Matthew 18:22.
So, the reply Jesus made to Peter was probably a deliberate allusion contrasting Christ’s teaching about forgiveness to the avenging madness exemplified by Lamech. In any case, the basic question is not whether theoretically we forgive seventy-seven or seventy times seven times, but whether in practice we always forgive from our heart in order to approach God for the forgiveness we need, 7 raised to the power of 70 times!
posted by FrPitstick | 8/13/2006
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