Mammon. Matt. 6:24. No one is able to serve two masters: for he will hate the one and will love the other, or he will be devoted to one and he will despise the other. You are not able to serve God and wealth. The Latin word Mammona is sometimes not translated, using the Latin spelling. Mammon is from a Hebrew word, Emonah, with an M prefix. The Greek text in Matt. 6:24 also has Mamona, which was not a Greek word. The Hebrew Mamone means believer, faithful, steadfast, referring to what is trusted in. In Matt. 6:24 it refers to anything coming between you and God. In the context of that verse, wealth fits, so the lexicons define Mammon as wealth or riches, but it really is deeper than that because whatever you put your faith in other than God makes it impossible for you to serve God. Someone’s faith can be in a person, talent, real estate, stock portfolio, job, fame, physical strength, or any number of other things.
That the word Mammon came from a Hebrew word is part of the evidence that the book of Matthew was originally written in Hebrew as many scholars believe.
Mary is another name taken from Latin since the Greek is Mariam and the Hebrew is Miriam, the name used in this Bible.
Matthew 28:19 in the Greek text contains a reference to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is considerable evidence that this phrase was added at the Nicean Council in 325 AD. Several early Christian theologians, who had seen the complete book of Matthew, attested that the early copies of Matthew did not contain the phrase. Eusebius of Caesarea was one of those and even though he believed in the Trinity, he wrote that the phrase, “immersing in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost” was not in the early texts. Today there are only two copies of Matthew earlier than the 4th C and the last page of the Codex of each of those was destroyed many centuries ago.
William R. Connor, Litt.D. writes, “While no manuscript of the first three centuries is in existence, we do have the writings of at least two men who did actually possess, or had access to manuscripts much earlier than our earliest now in existence. These bring forward evidence from the following, either to direct quotation from their writings, or indirectly through the writings of their contemporaries, viz. Eusebius of Caesarea, the unknown author of De Rebaptismate, Origen, Clement of Alexandria, Justin Martyr, Macedonius, Eunomius and Aphraates.” Dr. Connor’s discussion of these covers twenty-one pages so it is not included here, but the evidence he cites is overwhelming that the original Matt. 28:19 did not include the phrase “immersing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” For that reason the phrase does not appear in the text of this translation.
Meat from their flocks and herds was not eaten often while the children of
Israel were in the wilderness. At the time when they cried for meat they
expected to be in the Promised Land in only a matter of weeks, but knew that they would also be likely to lose animals on such a long trip through wilderness. The animals were stressed by the travel, lack of rich pasture and at times scarcity of good water. Although they did not expect to be in the wilderness so long, this stress would keep the birth rates low, so there would not be the usual increase in the flocks and herds. The animals were the means of exchange in a barter economy, so to use an animal for meat was expensive. The animal that was eaten represented a quantity of salt, or some other necessity that could not be obtained otherwise. For this reason the people cried out to God for meat, Exod. 16:2-8.
Memorization of Scripture is needed to read the scrolls in the synagogues. While today’s Hebrew Bibles have vowels added, the synagogue scrolls still do not have vowels. Before Y’shua’s time the Torah scholars had determined that it was not proper to quote Scripture without looking at the scroll because the one quoting could make a mistake. For that reason the Scripture references cited in the New Testament are not absolutely consistent. It was important to convey the meaning of the Scripture but to be clear that it was not a quote. A good example of not quoting word for word is in Rev. 13:10, using Jer. 15:2.
Rev. 13:10.
If someone is (to go) into captivity,
he is taken into captivity:
if someone is to be killed by means of a sword
he is killed by a sword.
(Referring to Jer. 15:2b)
Jer. 15:2b is
Such as are for death, to death
and such as are for the sword, to the sword
and such as are for the famine, to the famine
and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity.
Mitsvah, the plural is mitsvot, means religious and moral obligations. These obligations include all commandments, statutes, ordinances, observances, teachings and testimonies. Rabbi Eliezer Ben-Yehuda wrote “The Hebrew word ‘Mitzvah’ – which has no exact translation, and is rendered in different contexts as ‘good deed,’ ‘law’ or ‘command,’ can also be taken to mean ‘duty’ or ‘obligation’ – a concept which becomes the key to Jewish law.”
The expression in the Greek is normally translated either good deeds or good works, but can include righteousness, because doing righteousness is a common usage. Charitable giving, as in Matthew 6:2, in the Hebrew language is either Ts’dakah or Mitsvah. Ts’dakah is from the root ts-d-k, to do right, to be just, and today often refers to charitable giving, going beyond the tithe. In Biblical Hebrew Ts’dakah is translated Acts of Loving Kindness, meaning going beyond what is required (righteousness) by God. Our salvation is not the result of our works, but it is the cause of our works. You are not made righteous by your works, but you do good works because you are righteous. Mitsvot are evidence that you have been made righteous by faith (Gen. 15:6). Good deeds are the evidence of our relationship with God. Y’shua said, You will recognize people by their fruit (Matt. 7:16). Paul said, defending himself in Acts 26:19. For which reason, King Agrippa, I have not been disobedient to the heavenly vision
20. but first to those in Damascus and then in Jerusalem, and in every region of Judea and to the heathens, bringing a call to repent and to turn back to God, doing works worthy of repentance. Works worthy of repentance are also called mitsvot or righteousness. See Matt. 7:21; 16:27, Lk. 3:8, Jn. 5:29, Acts 26:20,
Rom. 2:10,13, 1 Cor. 3:8, Eph. 2:10, 2 Tim. 4:14, Ti. 1:16; 2:14; 3:8,
Heb. 10:24, Jcb. 2:14-26, 2 Pe. 1:5; 3:10, 1 Jn. 2:4; 3:16-18,22; 5:2,3,
Rev. 2:5; 19:8; 20:12,13; 22:12. See Righteousness elsewhere in this Glossary. See Ts’dakah under Hesed in this Glossary.