CORBAN
CORLAN
God (Lk 1232). His message is a gospel (Mt i"^). His ears are never closed to our cry (Mt 21^). All things are possible vnth Him (Mk 10").
To these higher thoughts may be added precious truths which have a like consoling power in the conflict with evil ever surging within and without. Our Lord knows our human nature through and through (Jn 2"). His purpose is to avert judg- ment and not to condemn whilst there is time for salvation (12^'). His condemnations were against hypocrisy and hardness of heart and contempt of His gospel. He came bearing our infirmities and saving us from our sins (Mt I-'- 8", Lk 19'»). What is done to tlie poor, sick, bereaved, afflicted, is done to Him ; and He will remember (Mt 25"). His blessing abides with the poor, meek, sincere soul, faithful to the end (Mt 5^"'- 10--). In this life the disciple must be content to expect little of worldly success, and yet he shall not be unconsoled (Mt 10», Mk lO*", Jn 16^). To His disciple Christ promises : ' I will love thee ' (Jn 14-'). See also art. Comfort.
LiTERATi'RE. — Hastings* 2>B, artt. * Paraclete,' 'Comfort.' Orimm-Thayer, Lex. s.v. TetpKxXv.s-is.
W. B. rR.\XKLAXD.
CORBAN is a Hebrew word (;3li3) which appears in the Greek of Mk 7", transliterated KOji^av or /top/3di', and in this form passes into the English Versions. The same word in a modified form occurs also in Mt 27°, ei'i rbv Kop^avdv, 'into the treasury.' The termination -os in Kop^avas is the Greek method of indicating the Aramaic determin- ative in KJ?-)!?. Codex B reads Kop^av for Kop^avav.
The word has three meanings : ( 1 ) An offering, both bloodless and otherwise. In this sense it occurs about 80 times in OT, always in Leviticus and Numbers, except twice in Ezekiel. In EV it is rendered 'oflering' or 'oblation,' but in LXX it is rendered by SCipov, ' a gift,' and this is the tr. given to Koppdv infllk7". (2) A vow-oflering, something dedicated to God. In this sense it occurs in the Heb. and Aram, portions of the Talmud, and also in Josephus. In his Antimtities, IV. iv. 4, Josephus says of the Nazirites: 'They dedicate themselves to God as a corban, which in the language of the Greeks denotes "a gift."' So also in c. Apion. i. 22, he speaks of corban as a ' kind of oath, found only among Jews, which denotes " a thing devoted to God."' (3) The sacred treasury into which the gifts for the Temple service were cast by the pious ; or, the treasure therein deposited. Thus, in BJ, 11. ix. 4, Josephus says that Herod ' caused a disturbance by spending the sacred treasure, which is called corban, upon aqueducts.' So in Mt 27* the high priests say to one another : ' It is not lawful to cast them (Judas' silver pieces) into tlie treasurj' [eU t6i/ Kop^avav, B* nop^dv), for it is the price of blood.'
The passage in which corban occurs in our Eng- lish Bible is Mk 7". Our Lord is there replying to the criticism of the Pharisees that the disciples ate food with hands ceremonially unclean. Christ's reply is a retort. He accuses the Pharisees of attaching too much value to the tradition of the elders, so as even in some cases to set aside in their favour the plain moral commandments of God. The words of Jesus are : ' Is it well for you to set aside the commandment of God, in order that ve may observe j-our tradition? For Moses said. Honour thy father ami tliy mother ; and. He tliat siieaketh evil of fath. r mi muili, i. let him die the
death. Butyrsay. 1; i ' ' li i to hisfatheror
mother, That wli'ii. v i ii i ulitest have been benefited from nu- i~ : i is, a gift, [he is
absolved]. Ye no l.mjr r .iIImn', lnm to do anything for his father or nn.ilni. I'Ih- same incident is recorded, with slight \ mi iti"!!-. in Mt 15''^
Commentators aie di\ia.Ml as to whether the
dedication was meant seriously, and the property actually given to God and put into the treasury ; or wliether the utterance of the word was a mere evasion, and when the magic word corban had been uttered over any possession, the unfilial son was able to 'square' matters with the Rabbis, so as to be free from obligation to support his aged parents (Bruce on Mt 15*). It must be admitted that the Jews were much addicted to making rash vows. One tractate in tlie Talmud, Nedarim, is specially devoted to tlie subject. We there find that the customary formula among the Jews for devoting anything to God was, ' Let it be corban ' ; though, to allow a loophole of possible escape from the vow if they regretted it afterwards, they were in the habit of using other words which sounded like corban. Nedarim, i. 2, says : ' When any one says " kondm, or kondh, or konhs (be this object, or this food)," these are by-names for korb&n.' These words came to be used as a mere formula of inter- diction, without any intention of making the thing interdicted ' a gift to God ' ; e.g. , a man seeing his house on fire, says, ' My tallith shall be corban if it is not burnt" (Ned. iii. 6). In making a vow of abstinence a man says : ' Kon6s be the food (vi. 1) or the wine (viii. 1) which I taste.' When a man resolves not to plough a field, he says, ' KoiiAs be the field, if I plough it ' (iv. 7), Repudiation of a wife is thus expressed, ' What my wife might be benefited by me is konhs ('S njri] "b^n oiip), because she has stolen my cup ' or ' struck my son ' (iii. 2). In viii. 11 we have the very same formula as in Mk 7", except that we have tlie subterfuge or substitute, cjip for jj-iB, •> njrrj ma ojip (Lowe's Mishnd, p. 88).