The story of Zaccharias

[Archaea]

NOTE: I screwed up the name, Zacchaeus is the real name. A story which always touches me is the story of the rich tax collector from Jericho, read in Luke 19:1-10:

He entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax-collector and was rich. 3He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 4So he ran ahead and climbed a sycomore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 5When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.’ 6So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 7All who saw it began to grumble and said, ‘He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.’ 8Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.’ 9Then Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.’

You have the disliked outcast, who struggles to see the Lord, gets to see him and then offers to make atonement or recompense for any misdeeds. Jesus thereafter launches to Parable of the Ten Talents.

Laugh the rest of you, as I may have stumbled upon a meaningless point. What caught my eye in reading the Greek is the last word of verse ten.

The entire pericope is:

καὶ εἰσελθὼν διήρχετο τὴν Ἰεριχώ 2 καὶ ἰδοὺ ἀνὴρ ὀνόματι καλούμενος Ζακχαῖος καὶ αὐτὸς ἦν ἀρχιτελώνης καὶ αὐτὸς πλούσιος 3 καὶ ἐζήτει ἰδεῖν τὸν Ἰησοῦν τίς ἐστιν καὶ οὐκ ἠδύνατο ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄχλου ὅτι τῇ ἡλικίᾳ μικρὸς ἦν 4 καὶ προδραμὼν εἰς τὸ ἔμπροσθεν ἀνέβη ἐπὶ συκομορέαν ἵνα ἴδῃ αὐτόν ὅτι ἐκείνης ἤμελλεν διέρχεσθαι 5 καὶ ὡς ἦλθεν ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον ἀναβλέψας ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτόν Ζακχαῖε σπεύσας κατάβηθι σήμερον γὰρ ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ σου δεῖ με μεῖναι 6 καὶ σπεύσας κατέβη καὶ ὑπεδέξατο αὐτὸν χαίρων 7 καὶ ἰδόντες πάντες διεγόγγυζον λέγοντες ὅτι παρὰ ἁμαρτωλῷ ἀνδρὶ εἰσῆλθεν καταλῦσαι 8 σταθεὶς δὲ Ζακχαῖος εἶπεν πρὸς τὸν κύριον ἰδοὺ τὰ ἡμίσιά μου τῶν ὑπαρχόντων κύριε τοῖς πτωχοῖς δίδωμι καὶ εἴ τινός τι ἐσυκοφάντησα ἀποδίδωμι τετραπλοῦν 9 εἶπεν δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὅτι σήμερον σωτηρία τῷ οἴκῳ τούτῳ ἐγένετο καθότι καὶ αὐτὸς υἱὸς Ἀβραάμ ἐστιν 10 ἦλθεν γὰρ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ζητῆσαι καὶ σῶσαι τὸ ἀπολωλός

The last word is a verbal substantive of some sort. They call them verb particle which act as verbs and nouns, having both verbal conjugations and noun declensions.

It's apolwlos, which the English translates as "lost."

Strong's points out the fuller meaning of the Greek word, at least fuller for me.

to destroy fully (reflexively, to perish, or lose), literally or figuratively

It's base verb is apollumi includes to perish, to lose, to be destroyed, to die.

So Christ comes not to just save the lost, but those who have died, perished and been destroyed. It makes it a bit richer for me. Thanks for indulging me.

This really should be Chapel Hill, Solon and AA doing this so I apologize for my clumsiness and bad translations skills. But if any find it useful, besides me, I hope it means something.

[jay santos]

Originally Posted by Archaea

NOTE: I screwed up the name, Zacchaeus is the real name. A story which always touches me is the story of the rich tax collector from Jericho, read in Luke 19:1-10:

You have the disliked outcast, who struggles to see the Lord, gets to see him and then offers to make atonement or recompense for any misdeeds. Jesus thereafter launches to Parable of the Ten Talents.

Laugh the rest of you, as I may have stumbled upon a meaningless point. What caught my eye in reading the Greek is the last word of verse ten.

The entire pericope is:

The last word is a verbal substantive of some sort. They call them verb particle which act as verbs and nouns, having both verbal conjugations and noun declensions.

It's apolwlos, which the English translates as "lost."

Strong's points out the fuller meaning of the Greek word, at least fuller for me.

It's base verb is apollumi includes to perish, to lose, to be destroyed, to die.

So Christ comes not to just save the lost, but those who have died, perished and been destroyed. It makes it a bit richer for me. Thanks for indulging me.

This really should be Chapel Hill, Solon and AA doing this so I apologize for my clumsiness and bad translations skills. But if any find it useful, besides me, I hope it means something.

Thanks, I like that insight.

[PaloAltoCougar]

That's a useful point that I will share someday, without attribution.

[TripletDaddy]

Question: who is Chapel Hill? I have not been here for more than about 6 or 8 months, so I don't know everyone.

I just know that whenever someone posts something, everyone asks him to give his opinion. Yet, if I am not mistaken, he has not posted a single thing since at least October? Does he even still come here?

Anyone? Chapel Hill, feel free to jump in on this one.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by TripletDaddy

Question: who is Chapel Hill? I have not been here for more than about 6 or 8 months, so I don't know everyone.

I just know that whenever someone posts something, everyone asks him to give his opinion. Yet, if I am not mistaken, he has not posted a single thing since at least October? Does he even still come here?

Anyone? Chapel Hill, feel free to jump in on this one.

Chapel Hill is a scholar who studied at UNC Chapel Hill under the likes of Bart D. Ehrman and others. He has similar Greek skills to Solon, I think. I can't really judge not being in those three's ballpark as far as Greek skills. He also focused upon professional historian skills.