Multiply—Week 15

Luke is the only Gospel writer that tells us how large the crowds were that were following Jesus at this time. Adding bold print to words of interest in several popular translations of Luke 12:1 gives the following: the CSB translates, “Meanwhile, a crowd of many thousands came together, so that they were trampling on one another.” The ESV translates, “In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another.” The NASB95 translates, “Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of people had gathered together that they were stepping on one another.” The NIV84 translates, “Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another.” The NKJV translates, “In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another.” Using your YouVersion app you could easily get even more translations of this verse and then compare them to make your own translation. If you do so, try to stick with translations made within the past 50 years so you’ll have a translation where you are part of the intended readers. Comparing the bold print added to the translations above, it would seem the best translation for the number of people in the crowd would be ‘many thousands’ and that they were ‘trampling’ on one another. If we did a word study of the Greek word translated ‘many thousands’ we would find it to be myrias and our English word ‘myriad’ is derived from it, and it literally means ‘ten thousand.’ In Acts 19:19 this word is found with the Greek word for five modifying it and is translated ‘50 thousand.’ But this word can also be used less precisely as most translators understand its meaning here. If we think about it these translations were done by committees containing numerous Biblical scholars. The CSB team that revised the HCSB contained 21 members while the HCSB original team contained 101 members, the NKJV had 130 people helping with that translation. But, if we assume just 20 members per committee (obviously too low) by comparing these five translations, we have just consulted 100 Biblical scholars as to the meaning of these words. If our ‘word study’ comes up with something different than what we can get from this comparison of translations, we might just want to rethink our study. We read in Luke 9:14 about Jesus feeding five thousand men and the women and children weren’t even counted, but often we don’t realize Jesus had such large crowds following Him at other times. With these huge numbers of people trying to get close enough to hear Him teach or have Him heal them it’s no wonder that some are ‘trampled’ upon, and this was of interest to Luke the physician.

Also, in chapter 12:13-21 we find Jesus teaching this crowd of ‘many thousands.’ Notice that Jesus’ teaching is initiated by a person in the crowd wanting Jesus to ‘tell’ his brother to divide the inheritance. Notice that this individual isn’t asking Jesus to mediate a dispute he is having with his brother over an inheritance but rather to ‘tell’ his brother to divide the inheritance. Tell his brother to do what he wants done. We would assume that this is the younger of the brothers. The CSB has Jesus responding to what seems like a somewhat ‘rude’ request by addressing this person as “Friend.” Do the translation comparison ‘word study’ on this word and then ask yourself ‘why’ the CSB translators might have translated it this way?

Notice in verse 15 that Jesus is no longer addressing the man but is now addressing the crowd. How many people fall into a trap thinking their life is bound up in their possessions. This individual was not the only person in the crowd with a greed problem. Jesus then illustrates the teaching with a parable about a ‘Rich Fool.’ We do well to heed His teaching.