Why didn't the Jews understand Jesus when He said "Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani"?

[MockSock]

Why didn’t the Jews understand Jesus when He said “Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani” (sp)?

They were priests and would have been familiar with this verse, so why would they think He was calling for Elijah?

 

[Zaccheus]

My guess: “Eli/Elijah”. And they were convinced Jesus was a blasphemer. They’d be less willing to believe He was calling on God.

 

[MPat]

Why didn’t the Jews understand Jesus when He said “Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani” (sp)?

They were priests and would have been familiar with this verse, so why would they think He was calling for Elijah?

Haydock commentary writes (Matthew 27 - George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary - Bible Commentaries - StudyLight.org): “St. Jerome thinks these might be some of the Roman soldiers, who understood not Syriac, but who had heard of the prophet Elias. (Witham)”, “But if we understand it of the Jews, who could not possibly be ignorant of this word, we must suppose it was merely a stratagem of theirs, who wishing still to shew the weakness of our Redeemer, said that he called Elias to his aid. (St. Jerome)”, “The soldiers thinking that he called for Elias, wished to hinder any one offering vinegar, lest it should hasten his death, and prevent Elias from coming to assist him; which, from the darkness and other signs, they might think probable. (St. Augustine)”.

 

[MockSock]

wished to hinder any one offering vinegar, lest it should hasten his death,

Strange that they would think that since I read earlier today that the “vinegar” was a stimulant to keep Him from passing out and to increase His suffering.

Anyway, thanks for your answer. Very helpful.

 

[Vico]

MPat:

wished to hinder any one offering vinegar, lest it should hasten his death,

Strange that they would think that since I read earlier today that the “vinegar” was a stimulant to keep Him from passing out and to increase His suffering.

Anyway, thanks for your answer. Very helpful.

There were two drinks offered. The first drink, with myrrh, which Jesus refused (Mark 15:23), the second was a diluted drink (vinegar) that was commonly consumed, which he accepted (Mark 15:35).

 

[Vico]

Why didn’t the Jews understand Jesus when He said “Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani” (sp)?

They were priests and would have been familiar with this verse, so why would they think He was calling for Elijah?

The Jews expected Elijah to come before the Messiah, but Jesus had said that “Elijah has already come” (Matt 17:12) so all must not have known.

 

[Dan_Defender]

He actually said: ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ so the priests and scribes misunderstood Eloi for Eli.

 

[SPONP4US]

Might be off topic but since following this it reminded me that I have always wondered, what are the purposes of these two drinks to someone pre crucifixion and then near the finality of crucifixion? Was the first drink a sort of sedative/pain killer?

 

[MockSock]

On the Cross, Our Lord was offered wine to drink twice. The first (Mt 27:34) was mixed with
myrrh and was offered out of compassion as an anesthetic to dull some of the pain, but Our
Lord refused this, intent as He was on draining the cup of suffering to the last drop. The
second time (Mt 27:48) Our Lord was offered vinegar, that is, a rather sour, cheap wine
drunk by the soldiers, which was intended as a stimulant, and would have served to keep Our
Lord conscious while the crowd waited to see whether Elijah would come in answer to what
they thought was Our Lord’s call for help from the prophet. Our Lord drank this, not so much
to quench His thirst but to keep Himself awake during His agony. After all, when Our Lord
cried out, “I thirst” (Jn 19:28), He who is the well of salvation (Is 12:3 and 55:1; Jn 7:37) was
crying from the heart for our love. Sitit sitiri, as St Gregory the Great said. “He thirsts to be
thirsted for.”

That was part of the daily reflection for yesterday that my ex-parish sent out

 

[poche]

Probably because there was a distance between them. They only heard a part of what he was saying.

 

[qui_est_ce]

It was the fourth cup of the Passover - common wine.

 

[EndTimes]

Why didn’t the Jews understand Jesus when He said “Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani” (sp)? They were priests and would have been familiar with this verse, so why would they think He was calling for Elijah?

Because they knew not what Jesus meant by saying “Eli” which sounds like Elijah

They thought Jesus’ Death was a finality… So to them it made no sense.

Today some Jews who now know what’s being said, don’t accept His Resurrection

_

 

[pnewton]

How loud could he have been from the cross? The Romans were the ones doing the crucifixion. It is likely their understanding of Jews was rather sketchy.

 

[poche]

It is also likely that the bystanders were off in a distance.

 

[EndTimes]

How loud could he have been from the cross?

Loud enough to be heard by some non-Romans -
which is evidenced by and in accordance with/to - Sacred Scriptures Themselves…

_

 

[John_Martin]

The Jews, like Catholics, correctly appealed to Saints in heaven for help in petitioning the LORD.
Jesus, these Jews understood, was being crucified for being “the King of the Jews”, but all knew Elijah was to return to initiate the True Messianic rule. So the Jews were joking about Jesus still thinking he was the Messiah and blaming “Eli” (Elijah) for not showing up.

 

[MockSock]

pnewton:

How loud could he have been from the cross?

Loud enough to be heard by some non-Romans -
which is evidenced by and in accordance with/to - Sacred Scriptures Themselves

Indeed. St. Matthew who, if present at all, would probably have been further away than the Romans, says that Our Lord “cried out with a loud voice”.

 

[Hodos]

Why didn’t the Jews understand Jesus when He said “Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani” (sp)?

They were priests and would have been familiar with this verse, so why would they think He was calling for Elijah?

When this phrase is explained, it doesn’t say it was meant for the Jews, nor does it give a breakdown of the audience. One clue that we have is that the authors who include this in their account have to translate from Aramaic to Greek. It is likely that many of the witnesses who were there were not native Aramaic speakers, but Greek speakers and did not understand what Christ was saying. During the Passover festival you had people from all over the Roman Empire and beyond travel to Jerusalem, some of whom would have been Hellenistic Jews, and Greek speaking proselytes. So to them, hearing the Eloi (Eli) portion of Psalm 22 would sound as if Christ was invoking Elijah.

 

[EndTimes]

Why didn’t the Jews understand Jesus when He said “Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani” (sp)?

They were priests and would have been familiar with this verse, so why would they think He was calling for Elijah?

When this phrase is explained, it doesn’t say it was meant for the Jews,
nor does it give a breakdown of the audience.

The Question refers to the Jews.

Those gathered included some Romans and mainly Jews…
Jews who had followed Jesus
And Jews who were opposed to Jesus
Including those who condemned Jesus to Death

And as explained - pre-Resurrection,
no one gathered could have understood what "Eli! Eli!.. " referred to.
no matter what language they knew…

_

 

[pnewton]

Good point.

I do not know that any of the Jewish leaders would have been there. It was the preparation day for the Passover, after all. Would a Pharisee risk becoming unclean at this juncture of the year? Also, it may be that some did recognize what he was saying, and only the report of the one’s who thought he was calling for Elijah made the Gospels. So it might be an unfair assumption to say the Jews did not understand Jesus based on some standing near by not understanding him.