RT Article
T1 Christ and Reproof (Matthew 7.1–5/Luke 6.37–42)
JF New Testament studies
VO 34
IS 2
SP 271
OP 281
A1 Derrett, J. Duncan M.
LA English
PB Cambridge Univ. Press
YR 1988
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/178573346X
AB The saying of the Mote and Beam (properly Chaff and Pole) has caused some difficulty; but alas an intricate and subtle saying, paradoxical (not absurd), has been domesticated by being seen as a trite commonplace. The obvious questions are why only one eye is involved: for only if both were affected could a foreign body not be extricated; and why does the seer of the Chaff have to have a Pole in his eye; why, again, does he take the initiative, offering to attend to his ‘brother’, whereas in a case of a foreign body the initiative comes from the sufferer; why is it assumed that a ‘casting out’ will occur (έκβάλλειν has a very sombre semantic scope); and whence comes that grotesque Pole (conventionally ‘beam’)? The answers must be sought in many quarters, viz. (1) a popular saying known in more than one culture, (2) the behaviour of the eye, (3) a common Jewish cluster of idioms, (4) the pious ideal in Israel on the subject of rebuke, reproof, and (5) the Law and the Prophets. Our saying has languished because information from these quarters has not been combined.
DO 10.1017/S0028688500020063