Mt. 23:24 Waiter there's a camel in my soup!

Forum rules
Please quote the Greek text you are discussing directly in your post if it is reasonably short - do not ask people to look it up. This is not a beginner's forum, competence in Greek is assumed.
Post Reply
Stephen Hughes
Posts: 3323
Joined: February 26th, 2013, 7:12 am

Mt. 23:24 Waiter there's a camel in my soup!

Post by Stephen Hughes »

Matthew 23:24 wrote:οἱ διϋλίζοντες τὸν κώνωπα
τὴν δὲ κάμηλον καταπίνοντες
Am I reading this right, "You see a fly in your wine (or some other liquid you are about to swallow) and you make great efforts to get rid of it, but then you see a camel floating there and you do nothing, just take it down with the draught."?

Is the image of a camel in one's wine (or some other liquid) supposed to be as funny as it seems to me, or am I too affected by fly-in-soup humour?
Γελᾷ δ' ὁ μωρός, κἄν τι μὴ γέλοιον ᾖ
(Menander, Γνῶμαι μονόστιχοι 108)
Jean-Michel Colin
Posts: 17
Joined: August 15th, 2013, 4:54 pm

Re: Mt. 23:24 Waiter there's a camel in my soup!

Post by Jean-Michel Colin »

Stephen Hughes wrote:
Matthew 23:24 wrote:οἱ διϋλίζοντες τὸν κώνωπα
τὴν δὲ κάμηλον καταπίνοντες
Am I reading this right, "You see a fly in your wine (or some other liquid you are about to swallow) and you make great efforts to get rid of it, but then you see a camel floating there and you do nothing, just take it down with the draught."?

Is the image of a camel in one's wine (or some other liquid) supposed to be as funny as it seems to me, or am I too affected by fly-in-soup humour?
I not even remembered this word ! Thank you to bring it back to mind, very amusing indeed !

My (serious) 2 cents (!) : the camel is at the time the biggest "thing" you can act on, in the present case move. There are bigger things, like rocks, houses, towns, but nobody can act on them.
Well there is a bigger thing than a camel thet you can act on : a tree or a mountain (if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,'), but this is in specific circumstances which are not those of Mt 23:24 scene : you should "not doubt in their heart". Is this something you are going to do when you are going empty your glass of wine ? ;) .
Stephen Hughes
Posts: 3323
Joined: February 26th, 2013, 7:12 am

Re: Mt. 23:24 Waiter there's a camel in my soup!

Post by Stephen Hughes »

For years now, I had glossed over the "liquidity" of καταπίνειν assuming that perhaps the meaning had somehow shifted to mean "swallow" solid food as well as drinks. But now, on the assumption that it does refer to liquids, it would mean swallow what was floating or suspended in a drink.
Is this something you are going to do when you are going empty your glass of wine ? ;) .
Both wine and the boiled water from soup would be healthy drinks.

Amos 6:6 refers to drinking wine strained:
οἱ πίνοντες τὸν διυλισμένον οἶνον
Γελᾷ δ' ὁ μωρός, κἄν τι μὴ γέλοιον ᾖ
(Menander, Γνῶμαι μονόστιχοι 108)
gshogren
Posts: 12
Joined: October 21st, 2015, 11:29 am
Location: San Jose, Costa Rica

Re: Mt. 23:24 Waiter there's a camel in my soup!

Post by gshogren »

Back to your original question - imo it was meant to be a humorous hyperbole.
Gary Shogren
Profesor de Nuevo Testamento
Seminario ESEPA
San José, Costa Rica
Post Reply

Return to “New Testament”