Letters

Dear Bro. Peter,

In the July 2015 Tidings there was a “filler” entitled “Did God Abandon Jesus?” by Bro. Tom Barling. He quoted John 16:32 “…yet I am not alone because the Father is with me”, but he did not fully explain Jesus’ seemingly disturbing utterance on the cross, namely: how is it that the Father abandoned his own Son at the time of his tribulation?

The answer to this dilemma is that Jesus never said, “Why have you forsaken me?” He said, “Why have you spared me?”1These words are straight from the Aramaic English New Testament (AENT), which is a translation of the oldest NT ever discovered, the Khabouris Codex written entirely in Aramaic. Regardless of whether the Gospels were first written in either Greek or Aramaic, no reputable person disputes that Jesus spoke to the people in Aramaic. Here’s the AENT text along with its footnote:

“And about the ninth hour, Y’shua cried out with a loud voice and said, My El! My El! [Lemana shabakthani] Why have you spared me?” (Matt 27: 46).

For many, Jesus’ last utterance is either understood as a cry of desperation, or a declaration of his Messiahship from Psalm 22:1; “My El, My El, why have you forsaken me.” Greek versions attempt to transliterate the Psalm as Eli, Eli lama sabacthani. However, the Aramaic Peshitta NT reads: “Eli, Eli lemana shabakthani,” while Psalm 22 reads: “Eli, Eli lama azbatani.” Both the Greek and Aramaic transliterations reflect the Aramaic as does the Peshitta. However, there is a key difference between azbatani, which only means “to forsake” and its Aramaic counterpart shabakthani which has multiple meanings including: (1) reserve (2) keep (3) spare (4) forgive. In Luke 23:34, Jesus uses the same word, “Father, shbak (forgive) them for they know not what they do.”

Therefore, I suggest that the most viable reading is: “My El, my El, why have you reserved/kept/spared me.” Since he fully knew the reasons for his suffering, the preferred choice is “why have you spared me” or namely: “I’ve been here for six hours and will die for this cause, but how much more time will this take?” In other words, “My mission has been accomplished.” In response to this question Scripture tells us that Jesus dies shortly thereafter, thus validating the context.

  1. [Editor]. Of course, in the Matthew account the Greek is quoting from the Septuagint of Psa 22:1, and the Greek in both places is best translated forsaken, as per almost all translations.