CEPHAS, A BINDER, AND NOT A ROCK.

Some of the multifarious readers of "N. & Q." may feel interested in the suggestion of an original solution on Matt. xvi. 16-19. I submit it (not presumptuously, but hopefully), that its examination and discussion, by your learned readers, may throw more light upon my humble endeavour to elucidate a passage which seems to have been darkened "by a multitude of words."

The solution I propose is an extract from my MS. annotations on the Hebrew Old Testament, and forms a portion of a note on Habakkuk ii. 11. It will be desirable, for the readier comprehension of my exposition, to give the original, with a literal translation, of the verse alluded to:

כי אבן מקיר תזעק

‎

וכפיס מעץ יעננה׃

‎

"For the [Ebhen] stone shall cry out of the wall,

And the [Caphis] fastening shall testify out of the timber."[^[1]]

This verse has passed into a proverb amongst the Jews in every part of the world. It is invariably quoted to express the impossibility of secrecy or concealment; or to intimate the inevitable publicity of a certain fact. In short, the proverb implies the same meaning which our Lord's answer to the Pharisees expressed, viz., "If these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out" (Luke xix. 40.). I have myself heard the words under note used as a proverb, in this manner, amongst the Jews of Europe, Asia, and Africa. I am, moreover, inclined to believe that it was already one of the national proverbs in the days of our Lord.

All this may appear irrelevant to the critical exposition of this verse; but the consideration may help to clear up an apparently obscure passage in the New Testament, namely, Matt. xvi. 16-19. When Simon made the declaration in verse 16., "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," he might have thought of or expressed the inspired proverb:

כי אבן מקיר תזעק

‎

וכפיס מעץ יעננה׃

‎

"For the [Ebhen] stone shall cry out of the wall,

And the [Caphis] fastening shall testify out of the timber."

Thinking, or expressing, that concealment of the Messiahship of Jesus was impracticable.

"And Jesus [to whom word, thought, and deed were alike patent] answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Caphis; and upon the Ebhen I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven," &c.

The play (if so common an expression might be used in so sacred a theme) is not on the word Peter, but on the word

כפיס

‎ (Caphis), which signifies a rafter, a cross beam, a binder; or, as the margin (on Habak. ii. 11.) has it, "a fastener," from the verb

כפס

‎ (Caphas), to bind, to connect, to join.

That our Lord never used the Greek word σὺ εἶ Πετρος all must admit; that Κηφᾶς is not the Syriac word for stone is well known to every Oriental scholar. The proper Syriac word for stone is

כאפא

‎. However, there is a resemblance between the respective words, which may have been the origin of Simon's second surname—I mean to that of Cephas—Peter.

The import of Matt. xvi. 16-19. seems to me to be this: Christ acknowledges Simon to be part and parcel of the house, the Church; nay, more, He tells Simon that He intends him to be a "master-builder," to join, or bind, many members to that Church, all of which would be owned of Him. But the Church itself must be built upon the Ebhen, the Stone; by which Jesus evidently alluded to Ps. cxviii. 22.:

אבן מאסו הבונים

‎

היתה לראש פנה׃

‎

"The Ebhen which the builders refused

Is become the head stone of the corner."

(Compare Matt. xxi. 42.)

May I ask whether the words ὅ ερμηνεύται Πετρος are to be considered as the words of St. John, or of his transcribers? The question may appear startling to some, but my copy of the Syriac New Testament is minus that sentence.

Moses Margoliouth.

Wybunbury, Nantwich.

Footnote 1:[(return)]