Okay, I did a little dressing up of a Bible Study I led back in Oct. 2015. The result is a bit rambling, but that is how my brain works: The pondering sometimes triggers a trip down a rabbit trail for awhile. Anyway, my second example, on the blog, of trying to put ourselves in the audience with the first “hearers” of this story. What might be perceived with the insight of their cultural view and language nuances? Sometimes we wander around in the brier patch on our way back to the main road. <<— I think that is OK when we learn something in the process.
Let us digest the three versions of the story: first from Matthew 9:18-25 (keep in mind this is a synopsis of events):
18 While he told these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” 19 Jesus got up and followed him, as did his disciples.
20 Behold, a woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years came behind him, and touched the fringe of his garment; 21 for she said within herself, “If I just touch his garment, I will be made well.” 22 But Jesus, turning around and seeing her, said, “Daughter, cheer up! Your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that hour.
23 When Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw the flute players, and the crowd in noisy disorder, 24 he said to them, “Make room, because the girl isn’t dead, but sleeping.” They were ridiculing him. 25 But when the crowd was put out, he entered in, took her by the hand, and the girl arose. 26 The report of this went out into all that land.
World English Bible
Mark 5:22-43 tells an expanded version:
22 Behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, came; and seeing him, he fell at his feet, 23 and begged him much, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Please come and lay your hands on her, that she may be made healthy, and live.” 24 He went with him, and a great multitude followed him, and they pressed upon him on all sides.
25 A certain woman, who had an issue of blood for twelve years, 26 and had suffered many things by many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better, but rather grew worse, 27 having heard the things concerning Jesus, came up behind him in the crowd, and touched his clothes. 28 For she said, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be made well.” 29 Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. 30 Immediately Jesus, perceiving in himself that the power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd, and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 His disciples said to him, “You see the multitude pressing against you, and you say, ‘Who touched me?'” 32 He looked around to see her who had done this thing. 33 But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had been done to her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be cured of your disease.”
35 While he was still speaking, people came from the synagogue ruler’s house saying, “Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher any more?” 36 But Jesus, when he heard the message spoken, immediately said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Don’t be afraid, only believe.” 37 He allowed no one to follow him, except Peter, James, and John the brother of James. 38 He came to the synagogue ruler’s house, and he saw an uproar, weeping, and great wailing. 39 When he had entered in, he said to them, “Why do you make an uproar and weep? The child is not dead, but is asleep.” 40 They ridiculed him. But he, having put them all out, took the father of the child, her mother, and those who were with him, and went in where the child was lying. 41 Taking the child by the hand, he said to her, “Talitha cumi!” which means, being interpreted, “Girl, I tell you, get up!” 42 Immediately the girl rose up and walked, for she was twelve years old. They were amazed with great amazement. 43 He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and commanded that something should be given to her to eat.
World English Bible
Then there is Luke 8:41-56:
41 Behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. He fell down at Jesus’ feet, and begged him to come into his house, 42 for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying. But as he went, the multitudes pressed against him.
43 A woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her living on physicians, and could not be healed by any, 44 came behind him, and touched the fringe of his cloak, and immediately the flow of her blood stopped. 45 Jesus said, “Who touched me?” When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes press and jostle you, and you say, ‘Who touched me?'” 46 But Jesus said, “Someone did touch me, for I perceived that power has gone out of me.” 47 When the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared to him in the presence of all the people the reason why she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. 48 He said to her, “Daughter, cheer up. Your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
49 While he still spoke, one from the ruler of the synagogue’s house came, saying to him, “Your daughter is dead. Don’t trouble the Teacher.” 50 But Jesus hearing it, answered him, “Don’t be afraid. Only believe, and she will be healed.” 51 When he came to the house, he didn’t allow anyone to enter in, except Peter, John, James, the father of the child, and her mother. 52 All were weeping and mourning her, but he said, “Don’t weep. She isn’t dead, but sleeping.” 53 They were ridiculing him, knowing that she was dead. 54 But he put them all outside, and taking her by the hand, he called, saying, “Child, arise!” 55 Her spirit returned, and she rose up immediately. He commanded that something be given to her to eat. 56 Her parents were amazed, but he commanded them to tell no one what had been done.
World English Bible
Those are the stories — Now let us expand upon them — But, first, a little background information from an Old Testament book of the law – Leviticus 15:25-31
25 “‘If a woman has a discharge of her blood many days not in the time of her period, or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her period; all the days of the discharge of her uncleanness shall be as in the days of her period: she is unclean. 26 Every bed whereon she lies all the days of her discharge shall be to her as the bed of her period: and everything whereon she sits shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her period. 27 Whoever touches these things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
28 “‘But if she is cleansed of her discharge, then she shall count to herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean. 29 On the eighth day she shall take two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, and bring them to the priest, to the door of the Tent of Meeting. 30 The priest shall offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her before Yahweh for the uncleanness of her discharge.
31 “‘Thus you shall separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness, so they will not die in their uncleanness, when they defile my tabernacle that is in their midst.'”
World English Bible
So, this woman was a total outcast for 12 years, no one could touch the bed she used or the furniture she sat upon, or the dishes she touched without becoming unclean — and certainly she was excluded from any religious ceremonies or gatherings.
Numbers are VERY important in ancient Hebrew story telling — the Israelite nation roamed for 40 years in the desert, Jesus was tempted for 40 days after His baptism: Forty is not necessarily literal in this form of story telling — the original audience understood that it represents “how ever long it took to be complete” (basically complete in God’s eyes, and he is not bound by time, but rather spoke it into being).
Similarly, “12” reflects the whole of the Hebrew nation. Therefore, it is not a coincidence for the original hearers that the woman suffered for 12 years, and there are 12 tribes of the Israelites, and Jairus’ daughter was 12 years of age … nor even the contrast of a woman with an unending issue of blood vs a female child not yet of child bearing age. Ponder the potential hidden meanings of that — Did the original hearers of the story see the woman representing the suffering of all of Israel? Did the loss of life at 12 represent the death of all Israel? Neither “state” of Israel would allow for future generations of Israel, but Jesus resolved all aspects, in one day.
The numbers thing is very interesting: squaring a number can indicate completeness, raising a number by a power of ten can also, as a triple listing of a number — We have the 70 times 7 for how often we are to forgive someone (7 is the number of God, square that and raise it by a power of 10 = 490 = a complete number that doubly bears even the number of God — not a literal number, but the number ordained by God). Is it any wonder that the square of 12 is 144, and raising 144 by a triple power of 10 results in 144, 000. Hence, the number of those in Revelations sealed from the 12 tribes of Israel is 144,000: the “complete number” that God ordained.
Jairus is a leader of the synagogue in Capernaum — Meaning he serves as a religious leader by respected consensus: everyone there knows who he is and respects him. It explains how the crowd parted to give him access to Jesus. So, how big a risk is it for Jairus to come to Jesus (a poor carpenter acting as an unofficial rabbi who is on the Jewish leadership’s radar for execution by the Romans for the good of all)? He puts himself at extreme risk, for the love of his daughter.
Look at it from Jairus’ perspective … Mom is at home (as a mom would insist upon) comforting her daughter, and as a MAN, HE has to do something to “fix this” (that is “what we do” and human nature does not change) … He knows embracing Jesus could mean his downfall with the Jewish leadership … but he also knows Jesus performed miracles in his town just recently, and probably witnessed some of them —- Reference Matthew 8:5-17 (also Luke 7:1-10; John 4:43-54, and Mark 1:29-34; Luke 4:38-41)
Matthew 8:
5 When he came into Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking him, 6 and saying, “Lord, my servant lies in the house paralyzed, grievously tormented.” 7 Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 The centurion answered, “Lord, I’m not worthy for you to come under my roof. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I am also a man under authority, having under myself soldiers. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and tell another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and tell my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 10 When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to those who followed, “Most certainly I tell you, I haven’t found so great a faith, not even in Israel. 11 I tell you that many will come from the east and the west, and will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven, 12 but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way. Let it be done for you as you have believed.” His servant was healed in that hour.
14 When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother lying sick with a fever. 15 He touched her hand, and the fever left her. She got up and served him. 16 When evening came, they brought to him many possessed with demons. He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick; 17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying: “He took our infirmities, and bore our diseases.”
World English Bible
A thought to ponder on the side ——– This happened (above Matthew 8:5-17) before Jesus left Capernaum, and returned for the events involving Jarius. So does Jairus have the “Jesus if you had been here …” thing in his head that Mary and Martha had about Lazarus? Human nature really has not changed much, when we lose control, we blame the one we think could have prevented the event … so I think it is probable: Chronologically in Matthew — after the healings listed in Capernaum, Jesus leaves (Matthew 8:18), encounters the demon possession in Gergesenes (Matthew 9:28-34), and then returns to Capernaum (Matthew 9:1 stated as “his own city”, for that is where he was staying, probably at Peter’s house)
Matthew 8:18 Now when Jesus saw great multitudes around him, he gave the order to depart to the other side.
World English Bible
AND
Matthew 9:1 He entered into a boat, and crossed over, and came into his own city.
World English Bible
So, Jairus is really a desperate dad, risking all to save his daughter’s life. He comes out of desperation and love, NOT out of belief … Hence, Jesus’ “Do not be afraid any longer, only believe.” Does Jesus treat us any different today? We can run to him in desperation out of love for another, trying to believe, and receive that same “Do not be afraid any longer, only believe.” response (God is the same today, yesterday, and forever).
Another thought to ponder: Interesting tidbit that probably grabbed the original audience attention – The disciples are like “What are you nuts? Who ‘touched you’? EVERYBODY ‘touched you’, we are in a crowd of people that are about to trample us.” <<– Us “guys” have not changed much, in nature, so, yeah, I am convinced the “real men” responded with body language and spoken word in the same manner we would today, it just sounds more sanitized when written down in a language different than the conversation at the time, and then translated multiple times.
The inclusion of this response of the Disciples at Jesus “who touched me?”, by two of the authors, not only provides insight into their humanity, but also, at least in my mind, negates some of the criticism that “the Gospels do not agree with one another”: If 4 of “us” witnessed an event, it is highly unlikely that our stories of the event would match exactly (not just unlikely, but highly suspicious if they do). Oh, and that thing about John’s Gospel not aligning, nor even mentioning some events alongside the other Gospels — It was written much later, and the author certainly was aware what was in the other three Gospels, and most importantly his target audience and methods were much different. Basically, John was led by the Holy Spirit to write in terms of “the significance of a story element to the profound spiritual point to be made”, and, therefore did not really care much about chronological order when compared to the other Gospels.
What did Jesus call the woman who touched his cloak? “DAUGHTER” – The only time He uses this term — as in the Daughters of Jerusalem. Which would collectively be all 12 tribes of them: Realize we are looking at an English version of scripture originally written in Greek. However, the actual conversations of the time could have taken place either in Greek, Latin, Aramaic or Hebrew. Given the demographics and history we can use this mental model: Jews talking with each other, particularly about Biblical quotes or teachings would use Hebrew, conversations between Jews and the Romans would have been in Greek or Latin, most commerce or international communications would be in Greek, many lower educated Jews and locals to the areas around Judea would have spoken Aramaic (similar to Hebrew, but not identical — maybe think Spanish vs. Portuguese or Italian — like but not exactly alike), discussions between Jews and Samaritans would be in Hebrew, because the Samaritans had stayed more true to the language of their ancestors than the Jews. Jesus uses languages expertly — as in “if a good word play or rhyme will help get the point across, then YES, God will “go there”. Given the similarities between Hebrew and Aramaic, there are a lot of rhyming and word play options — Jesus the original rapper? Well yeah!!
So, for this happening in Capernaum, we read in English a translation of Greek that spells out specifically a quote in Aramaic … When the actual conversation was probably in Hebrew, with Jesus using Aramaic as a language tool that helped with the awesomeness of the story to the people at the time and with the early church. Meaning, we have to dig into the historical context to “get it” — not that the story has no value without this understanding, but rather the “extra” richness than may be gained from seeking additional understanding … Just “what” did the original witnesses experience????????????????
Exploring Jesus’ use of Aramaic:
The Aramaic word talitha, meaning young girl or young maiden, comes from the word talya, meaning young in general, which in turn comes from talay, meaning lamb. A related word is talyuta, meaning childhood or youth. Similar to the Hebrew word taleh, which also means lamb. But in Hebrew talya is a cloth used as a blanket = a root word to tallith meaning cover, sheet or cloak, which had evolved to a proper noun of Tallith, the cloak of honor, worn as a scholar’s or officer’s mantel of distinction. So the woman was healed by touching the “Tallith” of Jesus … and Jesus heals Jairus’ daughter uttering the command “talitha kum”. The Aramaic wording inserted into a Hebrew discussion gives it a twist it does not have in straight Hebrew, inserting the nuance of ‘lamb’ into a term of endearment for a ‘female child.’ *(1)
So, in modern English, Jesus basically said “My little girl Lambkin, ARISE!”. Makes one wonder if Talitha was Jarius’ nickname for his little girl.
Word play about lambs by “the Lamb of God” …. go figure…..
*(1) So, if it were today, Jesus might use “Spanglish” if needful to help us to better understand, or maybe just to make a rhyme we would recall.