Reading Log #2

Jesse Harmon

RELIG 330

October 14, 2013

Reading Log #2

            I decided that since I was reading the synoptic gospels in the King James Version of the Bible, I wasn’t going to focus on reading the gospels as a specific implied reader, or even focus on specific aspects.  (I will not refer to this version as the Authorized Version, to avoid confusing who authorized it, since no records exist as to who actually authorized it.)  Instead, I was going to focus on what I think the Lord has told me to pay attention to (what I would highlight or underline).  I read all through Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  For some reason, I caught more out of Matthew than I did for Mark and Luke.  I guess since all three gospels have similar arrangements, the things that caught my attention in Matthew probably would have caught my attention in Mark or Luke, had I started with Mark or Luke.

            Reading the King James Version was a unique experience.  I have a copy that I found in the Kerns Religious Life Center at Capital University that someone must have donated, and was forgotten about.  It’s a giant edition with “red-lettering,” meaning the words that Jesus spoke were printed in red letters.  I first noticed how some of the names have pronunciation markings.  For example Rahab has turned into Rā’-chãb.  I also noticed how there are no quotation marks in this version of the the Bible.  It is also written in bullet point form.  Take Matthew 2:2 for example:

¹Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,

²Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

(From this point on, all quotation marks are added by me.)  I also find it interesting that after certain questions, the next word is not capitalized.  I’m not used to that as I was always taught in school to capitalize the first letter after every sentence.  I have always believed that question marks are full stops in sentences, much like periods.  Commas and semi-colons are not terminal punctuation.  So why did the translator decide that a question mark was not a full stop punctuation mark?  I’m not finding answers to that question.

            I also noticed something that is missing in the KJV.  There are no section headings.  Instead, the publishers decided to use this symbol  ¶, which is the symbol for “start new paragraph” when editing a document.  Because there are no section headings, I seemed to be reading each gospel as one smooth, coherent story, instead of several chunks of little stories pasted together, which is what I (unfortunately) tend to do with other translations.  However, I would like to see the section headings, as they help me in remembering what part of the gospel I’m in. 

There are certain words that are italicized, and after looking up why certain words are italicized, it makes sense:  These italicized words were not in the original Greek manuscripts, and were added later by the translators for clarification purposes.  Here’s an example from Matthew 5:3:  “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” 

Now that we’ve gone through some of the “housekeeping” of the King James Version, I want to go through and look at what the Bible is saying.  I would like to start with Matthew 5:45, which is during the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus says, “[⁴⁴But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you…]⁴⁵That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”  This struck me.  This verse is saying that God, who is almighty and powerful, created the sun, and the sun rises and sets on everyone, no matter how “good” that person is or how “bad” that person is.  God, who is almighty and powerful, created the rain, and the rain falls on everyone, no matter how good or how bad. 

I was shocked by what I read in Matthew 7:27, not because of what it says, but because half of the verse is completely missing!  It’s been stylized like this:

I did not mistakenly cut part of that verse out.  It is literally missing in my copy of the King James Version.  My version is in two columns.  Verse 27 is at the very bottom of the left column, and verse 28 is at the very top of the right column.  Verse 27 ends after the word “winds” in the bottom left column, and I assume was suppose to continue at the top of the right column.  However, there is a blank space at the top of the right column, like the verse was suppose to continue there, but was mistakenly left out by the printers.  How something like this could get past the editors, I don’t know.

            In my attempt at trying to put emotion into a rather emotionless translation of the Bible, I caught myself reading the words of Jesus as being satirical.  Matthew 9:12-13 says,

¹²But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.

            ¹³But go ye and learn what that meaneth...

I can’t help but laugh at how the italicized “that” was placed.  I can see Jesus putting his hand on his hip, and giving some sass when saying, “Go and learn what THAT means!”

            Because I’m no expert in Middle English, I find it intriguing that some of the grammar can change the meaning of a sentence.  For instance, take Matthew 10:4, “Simon, the Cã’-nã-ãn-īte, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.”  I’m interested in the word “also.”  The way this is worded says that Judas Iscariot “also” betrayed Jesus, as in someone else betrayed Jesus before Judas.  I find no evidence of this in the rest of the gospel of Matthew. 

            Right now, I’m going through a difficult time with school, work, and relationships.  I have recently had to set new boundaries for myself as I have fallen into some situations in life that I’d rather not be in.  I have had a hard time finding comfort in the words of the Bible, except one verse.  Jesus says in Matthew 11:28 says, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

            In Matthew 12:39-41, I find that Jesus is comparing his imminent death with Jonah being in the belly of the fish.  It says, “⁴⁰For as Jonas [Jonah] was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. ⁴¹The men of Nin’-e-vēh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it; because they repented at the preaching of Jonas…,” This is important, “…and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.”  Here, Jesus is saying that if the people of Nineveh repented because of the preaching of Jonah, then the people of Jesus’ time should definitely repent, because Jesus is someone who is greater than Jonah. 

            The stories of the feeding of the five thousand and four thousand have always intrigued me.  I noticed that in the King James Version, the author of Matthew wrote about the number of men, besides women and children.  “And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.” (Matthew 14:21).  The key word here is “besides.”  To me, this means that there were five thousand men, plus any number of women and children that were not included in the count of the five thousand.  Let’s simplify things, and say that every one of the five thousand men had one wife.  That means there were five thousand women as well.  Now, let’s say that each man/woman pair had three children.  That means there could have been fifteen thousand children there.  Now, let’s add the five thousand men, five thousand women, and fifteen thousand children.  We get a total of twenty-five thousand people being fed by five loaves of bread and two fish.  Now, add in the twelve disciples and Jesus, and we get twenty-five thousand and thirteen people being feed.

            Jesus did this twice!  We go to chapter fifteen’s account of the feeding of the four thousand.  We do the same math, and we get four thousand men, four thousand women, and twelve thousand kids.  That’s a total of twenty thousand and thirteen people.  Suppose none of the people from chapter fourteen’s account has been fed in chapter fifteen’s account, except the disciples.  That means, if my math is correct, there have been a total of forty-five thousand and thirteen people being fed by a few loaves of fish and bread at two separate instances.  Of course there are many variables such as widows, single people, childless couples, et cetera, but I think you get my drift.  Matthew was the only gospel to mention that five thousand men, besides women and children were fed.  Luke’s gospel doesn’t say that only men were counted.  “For they were about five thousand men.  And he said to his disciples, Make them sit down by fifties in a company.” (Luke 9:14). 

            When I read Matthew 16:1, (“The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven.”) I was instantly reminded about Satan tempting Jesus back in chapter four.  (“Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.”)  There are times in the gospels that I think the word “tempt” is inappropriate.  For example, let’s take Luke 4:12.  Again, Jesus was being taken into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  It says, “And Jesus answered unto him, saying, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.”  Again, I’m not an expert in Middle English, so word choices and grammar uses can confuse me.  I think the word “tempt” as a negative form of “test.”  “To tempt,” seems like trying to get someone to do something negative, and not simply a “test.”  I understand that “tempt” means “test,” but I just get a negative connotation from “tempt.”  It makes more sense to say, “I’m tempted to eat this whole bucket of ice cream.”  That would be doing something negative. 

            Matthew 28:11-15 is also interesting.  Matthew includes in his gospel how the chief priests paid the soldiers to tell the people that Jesus’ body was stolen from the grave, and his disciples simply claimed that he had risen when in fact he did not.  Matthew is the only gospel to mention this, and, from what I understand, nothing really came about that.  I haven’t heard any preaching on those few verses.  This shows me that the chief priests failed to keep the truth from getting out. 

            As we move into Mark, the shortest of the three synoptic gospels, the numbers of things that jump out at me are dwindling.  If Mark were a storyteller, why would he give away the fact that Judas was Jesus’ betrayer at the very beginning of the gospel (Chapter 3)?  To me, a good storyteller would keep this a secret until the very end, where, surprisingly, the truth is revealed in a dramatic way.  “Oh no!  We never expected that person to be the betrayer!” 

            Mark hits home when he writes these words of Jesus in 3:26: “²⁶And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.”  I am currently very divided on some issues in my life, and they have taken a toll on me personally.  While I don’t want to divulge in these issues through an essay, I do want to mention that Jesus’ words in Mark 4:39 are very comforting.  Jesus simply says to the storm, “Peace, be still.”  He asks his disciples as to why they have no faith.  I have noticed that all three gospels say that after someone touches Jesus, that person has been healed, not because of their actual touching, but because of their faith.  Take Mark 5:34 for example.  After Jesus felt his “virtue” had gone out of him, he said to the woman who touched him, “Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of they plague.”  This sentiment is emphasized just a few verses later in Mark 5:36.  Jesus again says this in Mark 10:52, Luke 5:50, Luke 8:48, Luke 17:19, and Luke 18:42.

            The story of Jesus driving the demon out of the man into the pigs always gives me a chuckle because I find the irony in the story.  In Leviticus 11:29-31, Moses writes that pigs are to be considered unclean animals.  When Jesus drives the unclean spirit out of the man into the unclean swine, I guess you can call these crazy swine “super-unclean.” 

            My favorite prayer of all time is a very simple one.  “Help!”  I was reminded of this when reading Mark 9:22, 24.  It says, “²²And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us…²⁴And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”  “Help.” 

            I really love it when I find things in the Bible that I have never seen before.  It goes to show much time and effort the writers of the gospels have put into them.  I’m sure that you are still discovering things in the Bible.  When I come across something like the young man in Mark 14:51-52, I get very interested and go online and search as much as I can about it.  People online have said that this young man may be Mark putting his signature into the story.  Others have said this young man is the same young man that is seen at Jesus’ empty tomb in chapter 16.  It just goes to show that there are many caverns and little details in the Bible that can catch one’s eye.  The next time I do a reading log, however, I think I may work backwards from Luke, just to see what I can find in Luke that I haven’t already seen in Matthew and Mark.