In the e r est B ogr ph c stor es ofJ mes the rother of Jesus, y Heges ppu s (c rc 150 .d.) nd wh ch s quoted y Euse us, he h s een g ven n nteres t ng t t e or n ckn me wh ch seems to h ve def ed m ny peop e’s exp n t ons. It w s supposed to h ve een Sem t c sed n me w th Greek tr nscr pt on. Wh e J mes, s the he d of the Be ever’s commun ty n Jerus em, h s sever t t es su ch s J mes the Just, The W of the Peop e nd the r Just f c t on, th s st t t e h s t now def ed exp n t on. Why I m not sure s t seems perfect y o v ous to me.
H s o scure t tew s O s or Ωβλιας n Greek. As I ooked t h s t t e t occurred to me th t t w s pro y tr nscr pt on of Herew word of some sort so I dec ded to do t of d gg ng to f nd out wh t m y e the s s for t. I chose to ook n the L dde nd Scott Greek Lex con f rst to determ ne f there were ny Gre ek words th t re even c ose to m tch ng up to th s word. There re not. I then went to the J strow’s D ct on ry of the T rgum m, T mud B , Yerush m , nd M dr sh c L ter ture. I f n y found on p ge 172 n nterest ng c t t on on the r oot word Be h or ( t re ds ckw rds n th s post ng-Uv eh n He rew wou d e O s n Greek) from P rke Avot or Eth cs of the F thers wh ch s ook centr to the te ch ngs of Jud sm. In P rke Avot 5:22 there s p ss ge wh ch s ys, “Ben B g B g used to s y, "Turn t, nd turn t, for everyth ng s n t. Ref ect on t nd grow o d nd gr y w th t. Don t turn from t, for noth ng s etter t h n t."
Yoch n n en B g B g s s d to h ve een d sc p e of H e (who P u w s so student of nd Jesus m n y fo owed h s te ch ngs except for the su ject o f m rr ge nd d vorce where he more c ose y fo owed Sh mm ), who ved n the f rst century nd w s cons dered to e n expert n Tor h. One tr d t on ho ds th t oth en B g B g nd en He He (P rke Avot 5:23) refer to the s me person , the potent convert to Jud sm who c me to H e nd sked the te cher to t e ch h m the Tor h wh e st nd ng on one foot. In re t on to th s p ss ge the comment ry on th s word s ys, “ Ref ect on t nd grow o d nd gr y w th t.” Me n ng the Tor h or Word of God.
So the Jews n the f rst century e eved th t person c n d scover th t everyt h ng s cont ned n the Tor h. One on y needs to t ke the t me to study t over nd over n order to se rch for ts me n ng. Th s process nvo ves more th n ju st re d ng the words of text, t nvo ves ref ect on nd nter ct on w th the text wh ch g ves us n opportun ty to renew ourse ves nd our m nds nd to grow s nd v du s, even s t strengthens our commun connect ons to one nother. As we ge oth n ye rs nd w sdom, our exper ences prov de new ns ghts to our underst nd ng of the text nd the text, n turn, gu des the cho ces we w m ke .
To the f rst century e evers, J mes pro y fo owed the tr d t on thoughts on th s p ss ge nd m y h ve so tr nsferred some me n ng to the Word M de F e sh or Jesus (Yeshu ) n th t we need to refect on H m nd grow o d w th H m n th s re t onsh p nd n th s commun ty of e evers, n other words we need to h ve f thfu ness to H m.
So, n the end we c n s y th t J mes’ t t e of O s or Ωβλιας n Greek tr nscr pt on from e He rew wordBe h or wou d me n one who ref ects on the Tor h, w se one who dou t ess wou d e Just n h s dec s ons nd wou d e the w for the peope s h s F th wou d e unsh k e nd who wou d e e to Just fy h s Peop e y show ng them n ex mp e of f thfu ness to the Word.
Baumgarten, Joseph M. The Book of Elkesai and Merkabah Mysticism,' Proceedings of The World Congress of Jewish Studies Vol. 8, Division C (1981), Pp. 13-18