1 Timothy 5:18
Helen Willis hhiwater@BRIGHT.NET
Fri, 06 Mar 1998 23:43:31 -0800 (00889278211, 3500FAA3.18BE@bright.net)
D.R. Edwards wrote:
>
> D R EDWARDS
> I'm sure this has come up before, but what's the take on 1 Tim 5:18? The
> writer refers to the phrase "The worker deserves his wages" as scripture,
> when this saying is recorded in the bible only in Luke 10:7. The
> bibliolaters (well, the better read ones, anyway) like to cite this as
> evidence that GoL was in circulation and regarded as scriptural in Paul's
> lifetime.
>
> I do not believe this. I hold to the view of the pastorals being
> pseudo-Pauline; at the time of their writing, GoL could well have been in
> circulation and regarded as authoritative. If 1 Timothy should happen to
> be Pauline, then the addition of the phrase in question could represent a
> scribal addition introduced some decades after its composition.
HELEN
I don't know the exact date but the Talmud or some Jewish source tells
of a major fight between the Jewish courts and the Roman courts over the
rights of workers. It occurred after the fall of the Temple, but before
the Bar Korba revolt, I think. Basically, if I remember the case some
Jewish workers for a Jewish boss in a Jewish part of Palestine agreed to
do a job. (I think it may have been tan skins.) The boss was very
abusive and the worker quit after half a day leaving the work half done.
Because they left in the middle of the job, the product was ruined. The
workers took the boss to the Sanhedrin which rule that the boss had to
pay them half a day wages, but the boss took the case to a Roman court
which ruled that the workers not only should not be paid, but that they
had to pay for the ruined product. The Roman ruling was enforced by
force. The boss was ostracized by the Jews. The Romans got very upset
because the Jews held their religious court in greater respect than the
Roman court. The Romans got very ugly. Very repressive. I believe this
is supposed to be one of the causes of a major revolt. (Bar Korba, I
think.)
It would seem to me that a Greek speaking pagan like Timothy alive at
the time of this event might well have believe that the scriptures said,
"The worker deserves his wage", but I think that this was derived from
the oral tradition. I think a lot of later Jewish law on the rights of
workers is derived from this case.
I will try to remember and track down were I got this from, if your
interested.
Helen
hhiwater@bright.net