There is an odd linguistic moment in today's reading from Gospel Mk 7:31-37 that sticks out like a giant stone in Ohio, displaced by a glacier.
Jesus left the district of Tyre
and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
into the
district of the Decapolis.
And people
brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment
and begged him
to lay his hand on him.
He took him off
by himself away from the crowd.
He put his
finger into the man’s ears
and, spitting,
touched his tongue;
then he looked
up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
“Ephphatha!”
(that is, “Be opened!”)
And immediately
the man’s ears were opened,
his speech
impediment was removed,
and he spoke
plainly.
He ordered them
not to tell anyone.
But the more he
ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed
it.
They were
exceedingly astonished and they said,
“He has done
all things well.
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
That Aramaic word "Ephphatha" is particularly fascinating to me as it seems so out of place. It is used only once in the entirety of the Bible, only by Mark.
Strong's Number G2188 matches the Greek εφφαθα (ephphatha), which occurs 1 times in 1 verses in the Greek concordance of the KJV
Why? Most commentators I've read suggest either
a. the evangelist was present at the scene and took play by play notes on everything Christ did...b. the evangelist was emphasizing the original language of Christ in order to give some sort of meaning to his Greek speaking audience
These explanations seem weak to me. A better explanation might be that the author was including the word in a larger ritual of some sort and/or making a literary reference which we miss.
Why for instance, does the Christ “put his finger into the man’s ears” and why does he spit, touch his (the man’s) tongue, and then look up to heaven? There is some sort of ceremony going on here to which we are not party. Here is the Greek:
καὶ ἀναβλέψας εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἐστέναξεν, καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ Ἐφφαθά, ὅ ἐστιν Διανοίχθητι:
Here is Easton's Bible Dictionary
The Greek form of a Syro-Chaldaic or Aramaic word, meaning "Be opened," uttered by Christ when healing the man who was deaf and dumb (Mark 7:34). It is one of the characteristics of Mark that he uses the very Aramaic words which fell from our Lord's lips. (See 3:17; 5:41; 7:11; 14:36; 15:34.)
and
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
EPHPHATHA
ef'-a-tha, ef-a'-tha (Ephphatha):
Aramaic word used by Christ (Mark 7:34), the 'ethpa`al imperative of Aramaic pethach (Hebrew pathach), translated, "Be (thou) opened"; compare Isaiah 35:5. The Aramaic was the sole popular language of Palestine (Shurer, History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, IIg, 9) and its use shows that we have here the graphic report of an eyewitness, upon whom the dialectic form employed made a deep impression. This and the corresponding act of the touch with the moistened finger is the foundation of a corresponding ceremony in the Roman Catholic formula for baptism.
and this from the Wikipedia entry of "Language of Jesus"
Ephphatha (Ἐφφαθά)
See also:
Healing the deaf mute of Decapolis
Mark 7:34
Once again, the Aramaic word is given with the transliteration, only this time, the word to be transliterated is more complicated. In Greek, the Aramaic is written ἐφφαθά. This could be from the Aramaic ethpthaḥ, the passive imperative of the verb pthaḥ, 'to open', since the th could assimilate in western Aramaic. The pharyngeal ḥ was often omitted in Greek transcriptions in the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) and was also softened in Galilean speech.
Lamar Williamson writes that this is the last unit in a series of miracles concerned with the identity of Jesus, as subsequently confirmed by the Apostle Peter's christological affirmation in Mark 8:29, where Peter exclaimed: "You are the Messiah".
Two good
commentaries can be found here
and here
But looking at the text more in detail why does the Christ first “look up”, ἀναβλέψας, which is also to “open his eyes”?
And why “look up to heaven”, τὸν οὐρανὸν? Is it b/c “God” is in heaven? The same image appears in the play of Euripides, the Bacchae, when the blinding madness of the queen/mother Agave leaves her and she realizes her crime of prolicide.
Kadmos
Alas, alas! When you realize what you have done you will suffer a terrible
pain. But if you remain forever in the state you are in now, though hardly
fortunate, you will not imagine that you are unfortunate.
Agave
But what of these matters is not right, or what is painful?
Kadmos
First cast your eye up to this sky.
Agave
All right; why do you tell me to look at it?
Kadmos
Is it still the same, or does it appear to have changed?
Agave
It is brighter than before and more translucent.
Kadmos
Is your soul still quivering?
Agave
I don't understand your words. I have become somehow sobered, changing from my
former state of mind.
Was the act of looking at the heavens something of a panacea for the “crime” of madness?
Ziony Zevit, in
his article, "The Common Origin of the Aramaicized Prayer to Horus and of Psalm
20," has suggested that Psalm 20 has a close connection to a prayer to Horus in
Egypt. https://www.jstor.org/stable/604527
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2020&version=NIV
Perhaps there are similar connections here.
Is ethpthaḥ any relation to the Egyptian “Ptah”? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptah#Representations_and_hypostases
Is the “cleansing of the eye” at all related to the Egyptian concept of the Wadjet; the eye of Horus, god of the sky?
Is the “cleansing, or opening of the eye” related to the “opening of the mouth” ceremony from Egypt?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opening_of_the_mouth_ceremony
https://egyptcentrecollectionblog.blogspot.com/2020/06/ritual-and-magic-in-ancient-egypt.html
Parts of this ceremony certainly appear in the Bible; Psalm 51, for instance
O Lord, open
thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+51&version=KJV
and Psalm 119
Open thou mine
eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+119&version=KJV
Why then does he “sigh”, ἐστέναξεν? The same image of breath coming forth from the body is the ruah of YHWH working to create the world in Genesis. God breathed life into the nostrils of man. Yet this ruah is ascending to heaven almost like a votive smoke of some kind.
Then comes the
imperative, Ἐφφαθά, “be opened”.
