Post is long so I’m putting it behind a link.

I was looking up the Lord’s Prayer today for various reasons, I read the whole chapter it’s in, Matthew 6.  I’ve read parts of it before, especially the bit about praying in closets, but it’s much better as a whole.  It makes me wonder if numbering every sentence actually has some pretty bad unforeseen consequences, in encouraging people to look at things out of context.  Of course, people do that all the time with other books (for example, even simple things like “to be or not to be” being about suicide, off the top of my head), but it seems more acute with the Bible, where you don’t even have to repeat a phrase, just a numerical reference.

Anyway.  It’s part of kind of a tirade about not doing pious things for the sake of worldly gain, by making a big deal out of them so people know just how super faithful you are.  Not just prayer, but in general, with charity, fasting, and prayer as specific examples.  The charity thing reminded me of Tzedakah, the Jewish practice; according to a (very not mainstream) book on Kabbalah I have, it’s actually better if the person giving charity only does it ritualistically, even hating that they have to, to emphasize obeying God (I think, it’s been a while).  In Matthew the idea seems to be more like “your religiosity shouldn’t matter to anybody but God”, but that’s what it reminded me of nonetheless.  The fasting just makes me think of flagellants.  Good job, guys.

The sentence “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words,” is especially funny to me here.

There are bits about the importance of forgiving people and there being no point in worldly wealth, but I’m pretty used to that so I didn’t dwell on it.

I’m not entirely sure about this part:

“The eye is the lamp of the body.  If your eyes are healthy [the Greek implies ‘generous’ - NIV], your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eyes are unhealthy [the Greek implies ‘stingy’ - NIV], your whole body will be full of darkness.  If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

I can interpret it as metaphorically saying that you should look at things charitably, but it’s impossible to be as sure about that interpretation as one is about the straightforward commands around it.

I’m reading the New International Version, by the way, because that’s what Bible Gateway had by default.  The KJV is much harder to understand, and of course I don’t know if that’s because of the translation quality or the original text or what.  An example of a different connotation is “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.” for the sentence I quoted as funny; this version seems more easily read as just saying not to repeat things, not to eschew complicated prayers in general.

I do want to note the use of a repeated idiom I didn’t notice in the NIV, as in “Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.”  The last bit, about them having their reward, sarcastically.  The NIV has the repetition, but it’s not at the end of paragraphs like the KJV, and I think it’s less obvious for it.  I’m wondering if this is the source of that particular sarcasm.

Speaking of which, this also has the “no man can serve two masters” idiom.  It’s really amazing to me how many common phrases are from the Bible.  Of course I know that it’s the most printed book ever, etc etc, but I just keep running into more.

I had a dim idea that I knew it from Twain who in turn got it from the Bible.  But it’s the context that’s interesting:

“No one can serve two masters.  Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despite the other.  You cannot serve both God and money.”

The KJV has “mammon” for “money” but of course that’s the same intent.  I’ve never heard that the original referents were God and money before, ever.  Isn’t that interesting?  It’s a much more specific prohibition.  I’m sad that it mostly makes me thinks about jokes about polygyny.

The last section is aptly titled “Do Not Worry” in the NIV.  I don’t really have much to say about it, other than that I should remember to quote it to condemn the fashion world as heretical at some point.

This concludes my impromptu untrained exegesis.  Thanks for reading if you were silly enough to have done so, and uh, thanks for being around, otherwise.