NT in Hebrew, camels, needles, and riches

[tanwo at hotmail.com]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "Aberforth's Goat" 
<Aberforths_Goat at Y...> wrote:
> <chortling with glee>
> 
> At last, a chance to get exegetical! (Getting exegetical is very 
similar to
> going postal or running amok, only it's less exciting than the one 
and more
> time-consuming than the other.)

A man-of-the-cloth? Had to look exegetical up, but once I realised it 
was from exegesis ...

> 
 
> - In any case, the possible error in the needle's eye text is a 
*Greek*
> issue. _Kamelos_ means camel, _Kamilos_ means ship's rope.

Ah. Apologies to Yael for thinking it was the Hebrew.


 However,
> commentators consider this proposal about as probable as ... as ... 
er ...
> H/H. First, all three synoptics have the same needle's eye text, 
and there
> are no credible MSS which support the alternative reading. Second, 
there is
> some evidence that the saying may have been an old semitic standby 
(the
> Talmud employs a similar statement, only with an elephant).
> 

Shame. I love the idea of scribes altering things for all eternity! 
Think of the number of 'errors' (there's a word for it but I forget 
what) that have been "proved" in Shakespeare's works!


> - A rendering contextualized for the present readership might 
be: "Look
> boys: lawyers are about as likely to end up in heaven as Ginny is 
to end up
> in love with Draco." [<innocent look> Well, I had to get HP in there
> *somewhere* didn't I?]

I think Ginny and Hedwig is more likely than a lawyer heading 
upwards ...


W