ii. Korban—(korban ho estin dōron)
In Mark’s Gospel after rejecting
the position of the Pharisees and some scribes from Jerusalem regarding their
tradition on hand-washing, Jesus goes on to condemn “them” (Pharisees and some
scribes?) on another of their traditions, qorban.
The text of Mark 7:9–12 reads: “Then he said to them: ‘You have a fine way of
rejecting the commandments of God in order to keep your tradition! For Moses
said: “Honour your father and your mother”; and “Whoever speaks evil of father
or other must surely die.” But you say that if anyone tells father or mother,
“Whatever support you might have from me is Corban” (that is, an offering to
God) (korban ho estin dōron—) then
you no longer permit him to do anything for a father or mother.’ ”
It is noteworthy that Mark gives
both the Hebrew/Aramaic word qorban
and its Greek rendering: “Anything which I have which might be used for your
benefit is Corban, that is a gift” (Mark 7:11; NRSV), where dōron is given as a gloss on the
Hebrew/Aramaic word qorban. The fact
that Mark retains the Semitic as well as the Greek explanation might indicate
that the combined Semitic/Greek formula may have been current in first-century
Palestine. That this was so seems to have been borne out by Josephus who also
gives both (Antiquities 4,4,4, § 73):
“Such also as dedicate themselves to God as a corban, which denotes what the
Greeks call a gift (dōron).…” Again
in Against Apion 1,167 where he
mentions that the Greek writer Theophrastus among oaths used by foreign
(non-Greek) peoples mentions “korban;
which oath,” Josephus remarks, “will be found in no other nation except the
Jews, and, translated from the Hebrew, one may interpret it as meaning ‘God’s
gift’ (dōron theou).” (See also
Josephus, Antiquities 4, 73: “… a
korban to God—meaning what Greeks would call ‘a gift’ [dōron].”) The Greek Septuagint renders the Hebrew qorban as dōron without retaining the Hebrew term. It is worth noting that
the Greek term dōron exists as a loan
word in Aramaic (particularly in the Palestinian Targums), sometimes as a
rendering of the term mnhh (minḥah)
of the Hebrew text, but more often in free paraphrase. It can alternate with
the Aramaic qrbnh as a rendering of
the Hebrew minḥah, with or without
cultic connotations. Thus in a free paraphrase in Tg Pal Genesis 4, both in
Targum Neofiti and in the other Palestinian Targum texts.
The term korban (qrbn) is found in an inscription in a first-century Jewish
ossuary, which reads: “All that one may find to his profit in this ossuary is
an offering (qrbn) to God from him
who is within.” The Gospel text, however, occurring in the context of a
rabbinic discussion is to be understood against the background of rabbinic
tradition rather than that of a Jewish ossuary, even if this is roughly
contemporary with the Gospel texts. With regard to the Jewish practice of qorban (Mark 7:11) one may note the
related texts in the Mishnah, the date and relevance of which for New Testament
studies are to be evaluated. That taking oaths or vows by use of the term qorban was part of Jewish piety is clear
from the Mishnah tractate Nedarim
(“Vows”) where the practice is legislated for. Variants of the term were Konam, Konah or Konas. “If a man says to his fellow, Konam or Konah or Konas, these are substitutes for Korban, an Offering” (m. Ned. 1:2), that is, as a note in
Danby’s English translation says: “A thing forbidden to him for common use as a
Temple offering.” We have a formula similar to Mark 7:11 in m. Nedarim 8:7: “Konam (= Korban) be the benefit thou hast of me.…” The question as
to whether a vow could be dispensed by the sages by reason of “the honour due
to father and mother” was also discussed in the Mishnah (m. Nedarim 9:1)
These Mishnah texts illustrate
the Jewish institution of qorban, and
thus serve as a background to the Gospel texts. However, there is little or no
evidence for the precise form of the practice censured by Jesus. It may be that
it was known to characterise at least some groups of Pharisees or scribes.
(Martin McNamara, Targum and
Testament Revisited: Aramaic Paraphrases of the Hebrew Bible: A Light on the
New Testament [2d ed.; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2010], 229-31)
