By now people should be (or we think readers on here Must be) familiar with places where the Greek Manuscripts (a big part of our Scriptures), quotes from a purest version of an ancient old African language. Think of it as IsiNguni, a language most likely without all the clicks and Ammorite and Kanaanaite influence. And what this article will try to get people to understand, even the Greeks got things wrong. And among other things, this is what we have inherited from the Griqua people, a people that we believe were indigenous black people also. And for everyone alive today, it is their writings and Greek manuscripts that keep popping up all over the world, long after they as a people seem to have disappeared. Aristotle, Plato and Pythagoras to mention a few. All these borrowed from the Egyptians to great extents, in Wisdom and science still it was to be Greek words that would travel so far, as SoNiNi knew they would.
Now as far as placing this people we know historically as the Greeks on a map, it gets tricky. We know all the things excavated in Greece, lots of historical buildings there, undeniable cultural traces. We are not denying that with the islands and all the unearthed buildings. So its a big thing to go into. But the Northern African desert that looks like a seabed would be a part of this theory, in that a whole people seemingly has vanished without a trace. Modern Greeks hail from what we know today as a small place in the Mediterranean. But really, are these the same Greeks as we think wrote all these wonderful observations and philosophies? No we don`t think so. There are traces, but we need more than that. We think they to would have their influence drawn from the continent of Africa. Remember when they came to see Christ, He said, now is the time. It was like He had been waiting for them to come and seek an audience with Him, as He knew they would not waste His words but rather write them down.
Now the historical location of Greece is up for debate, what we are asking Could the intellectual Greeks have gotten some things wrong here and there? We will suggest that they just may have gotten lost when it came to the translation of Aramaic language. Clearly an Nguni sounding language.
Before we move on, Let it be clear we are not trying to retranslate Scripture here, thats a job for the future certainly. It is something that needs to be done on account of the loss of some of the African idioms and cultural meanings when translating, especially to English. We may in time have to retranslate the whole Bible directly from the ancient African Hebrew, Aramaic and or Greek, and into either English or the source language itself. Perhaps an interlinear Bantu Bible. We have started but hey, this job needs at least 70 well trained multilingual Bantus, like the Septuagint, a large council. With representatives from each tribe, that also have an understanding of Nguni languages and English. A big job. But People will certainly start looking into it, when the time is right. Now, lets look into some of these moments of lost in translation, with one line of particular interest. Talitha kum(i) !
So from the famous line, Little Girl Arise, it does not seem to be all that accurate and should perhaps have been read differently (Mark 5,41):
41 He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha cum, which means, "Little girl, get up!"
Luckily a few instances in the Septuagint (Greek Scriptures) the translators felt, perhaps because they knew they had shortcomings in Aramaic (an Nguni sounding language), they might have felt a need to include the term and explanation of what the original phrase meant. We see this several places in the New Testaments, were it says, which means... Here we find a Greek word, metherméneuomenon (μεθερμηνευόμενον), this mouthful occurs in several the places where we find remnants of Bantu languages in our Bibles. This word is said to have the meaning of: translated, interpreted or simply that which means. Now this phrase in Mark 5,41 - could it have been wrongly translated, off course. Christ could have told the Girl to Rise up and she would have. But the fact remains that this particular wording and way of speech in Bantu (Nguni languages and others) will have a completely different meaning. Also, Christ did wake up another human from the dead (or just sleeping as He said), which was Lazarus. Why does the same wording not appear in Johns descriptions of Lazarus and when he was woken up from his sleep (declared dead for 3 days)?
Here comes the first part of the verse of Mark 5,41 (interlinear):
And having taken the hand of the child He says to her Talitha Koum
καὶ κρατήσας τῆς χειρὸς τοῦ παιδίου λέγει αὐτῇ Ταλιθὰ κούμ
There it is. Nicely preserved African language, in your very own Bible. Now Looking further into the Aram phrase, we find that Talitha koum or Talitha (Tabatha / take) kumi - will make sense and having an essence of something like this in Bantus, Take life or Take it (from Me). We can conclude even from the ancient African language interpreters perspective, this phrase is more likely what The Son of SoNiNi said. Christ was admonishing this sleeping soul to take life from Him, as The Son of The Most High, He had plenty to give. Now there is something very deep and beautiful about the way this is told and perhaps to be understood. Now when Immanuel wanted Lazarus to rise from the Dead, He told him to Come out of the Cave (John 11,38-44):
38 Immanuel, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odour, for he has been there four days.”
40 Then Immanuel said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of SoNiNi?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Immanuel looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, Immanuel called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Immanuel said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
Quite the scene. Another person, raised from the dead. Well, sleep anyway. So why is this piece of Scripture NOT translated in the same way? Why is there no literal wording from Aramaic. We know they all spoke Aramaic and most likely Hebrew. You might argue this is a different scene, and we might agree. We still will go back the fact that to whatever HE commands, it is so or will be so.
And now we will go for the inclusion of the Greek word metherméneuomenon, which should raise more question marks against the Greek translators. Could it be because He did not tell the little child to rise up, but to take Life from The Son of The Most High. He was and is well capable of giving life. Could it be an admonishment for us believers to also take life from Him when all things seem dark and we perhaps even have gone over to the other side (slightly or even fully. Dear we say it, even in death? Are you yourself alive? You see now, it gets deep very quickly (Isaiah 43,18-21):
18 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. 20 The wild animals honour me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, 21 the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise."
Behold, I make all things new right... Anyone else getting chills from those words? They should, its the life awaiting you in the Kingdom to Come. And the secret seems to be that you can draw from that life in the Kingdom to come, you can draw from it, into the very here and now. Can you see how deep this goes. We are beyond milk of the Gospel at this point. This is meat abantu bam. Eat it.
If you were able to let that sink it, lets get back to the Greeks. Because well one could argue that this exclusion from our Griqua brothers and sisters. The concept of taking life from SoNiNi by share belief, would be to much for a philosophers mind. A mind of logic and reason, built on Aristotles principles. It could be just to much for them to bare. They could not understand to write the phrase as it actually read and was to be understood in Aramaic... take life from Me. Tabatha kumi. Now as far as the Gospel goes, it Gives away a little bit to much neh? Makes you wonder, if you are divided that is, Who was this Man, that was in a position to give life to the Dead....? He is knocking now isn't it?
Again, one could argue for the Greeks here, and not attribute malice to what is ignorance. Perhaps they simply just make a mistake as they did not know Aramaic and was copying a text from of another language. We don`t know. The point is, whenever the Greek word metherméneuomenon, it seems they made more then just one mistake. Taking liberties perhaps the person or persons that wrote down the story, we are left with in Mark, was indeed Greek and not an Aramaic speaking person, at all. Perhaps not even a Bantu. Of course Much gets lost in translation then. Even for us, wanting to convey something in Zulu or Xhosa, we have the restraints of English. Language is a restraint in itself.
Back on track now, in our English Bibles we often find this phrase worded as talitha cumi or talitha koum, and is said to be a transcription of an Aramaic phrase. Now we know it was Jairus daughter that was indeed raised back from the dead (Mark 5,21-43), we can definitely conclude that the spoken word back in the day was Indeed Aramaic. Common everyday language, just as prevalent as English would be today, and that if you spoke a dialect of Xhosa or Zulu back then, you would have no problem in understanding and being understood in these times. Now the healing of the sleeping child, is also accounted for in Matthew 9 and Luke 8, but only Mark includes the Aramaic spoken, talitha cumi.
The backstory goes deeper though. You see, this all went down in Capernaum (we believe to be somewhere on the western cape areas, or simply parts of Cape Town), were uMsindisi was surrounded by a crowd of people. Then it was Jairus who was the Synagogue leader, that came and fell at Christ feet. Which would have been unheard of. But Jairus did plead earnestly with Immanuel, well because his daughter was gravely ill and Jairus wanted her to become well (whole) again (Mark 5,22-23). The crowds was a normal thing for Christ, they seemed to follow Him wherever He went, listening to his words but not necessarily understanding them or even doing what He taught. Just following Him. Sounds familiar right? That makes for 90% of believers today. Anyways, this time, it was not your average Joe that came to Him, but it was a Synagogue (Church) leader that recognised His authority and was even pleading for help. falling down at His feet.
Now, did Christ turn Jairus down? Of course not. So off they went to Jairus house. And it was on the way there that Immanuel encountered a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. She could not get healing from anyone. And as she came up behind uMsindisi, unnoticed by the crown that followed Him, she touched the corner of His garment (remembering the Tzitztit in the corners of your garments), and Immanuel felt the power go from out of Him. The woman admitted it was she, Immanuel called her daughter (Mark 5,33). This woman needed an affirmation from Christ, that it was okay for her to healed. As they arrive to Jairus house, the mood changes. Remember crowd is still with Him. They say Jairus daughter is dead, but Christ simply says, don´t be afraid; just believe (Mark 5,36). And now He even said she is not dead but sleeping, and as He took her by the hand he said to her: Talitha, Cumi! Take it, from me.
And after these words, she rose and started walking around. So now, authority even in death. Lets say Immanuel did say Little Girl arise, she would have done the same. But that is not the point. The point is Christ is the giver of life, He is the restorer of the lost connection to The Father. He holds they keys. And He opens all the doors. He decides between who is alive and who is dead. And what did He tell us about the dead? (Luke 9,59-60):
59 He said to another man, “Follow me.”
But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
60 Immanuel said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of SoNiNi.”