368 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 234. 



model of rank dressed according to the present fashion." 

 — Vanity Fair, note to p. 55. 



And, certainly, when one looks at a fashion- 

 book published some twenty years ago, one cannot 

 feel surprised at Mr. Doyle, or any other man of 

 taste, preferring to commit an anachronism, rather 

 than depict frights and monstrosities. 



Cuthbert Beds, B.A. 



CEPHAS, A BINDER, AND NOT A ROCK. 



Some of the multifarious readers of " N. & Q." 

 may feel interested in the suggestion of an ori- 

 ginal solution on Matt. xvi. 16-19. I submit it 

 (not presumptuously, but hopefully), that its exa- 

 mination and discussion, by your learned readers, 

 may throw more light upon my humble endeavour 

 to elucidate a passage which seems to have been 

 darkened " by a multitude of words." 



The solution I propose is an extract from my 

 MS. annotations on the Hebrew Old Testament, 

 and forms a portion of a note on Habakkuk ii. 11. 

 It will be desirable, for the readier comprehension 

 of my exposition, to give the original, with a literal 

 translation, of the verse alluded to : 



pyrn -ppo pa >a 

 : mjjr j»y» d^ddi 



" For the [Ebhen~\ stone shall cry out of the wall, 

 And the [Caphis] fastening shall testify out of the 

 timber."* 



This verse has passed into a proverb amongst 

 the Jews in every part of the world. It is in- 

 variably quoted to express the impossibility of 

 secrecy or concealment; or to intimate the in- 

 evitable publicity of a certain fact. In short, the 

 proverb implies the same meaning which our 

 Lord's answer to the Pharisees expressed, viz., 

 " If these should hold their peace, the stones 

 would immediately cry out" (Luke xix. 40.). 

 I have myself heard the words under note used 

 as a proverb, in this manner, amongst the Jews 

 of Europe, Asia, and Africa. I am, moreover, 

 inclined to believe that it was already one of the 

 national proverbs in the days of our Lord. 



All this may appear irrelevant to the critical 

 exposition of this verse ; but the consideration 

 may help to clear up an apparently obscure pas- 

 sage in the New Testament, namely, Matt. xvi. 

 16-19. When Simon made the declaration in 

 verse 16., "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the 

 living God," he might have thought of or ex- 

 pressed the inspired proverb : 



pym ^pn p« »3 



" For the \_Ebhen\ stone shall cry out of the wall, 

 And the [Cap/its'] fastening shall testify it out of the 

 timber." 



. * See also the marginal readings. 



Thinking, or expressing, that concealment of the 

 Messiahship of Jesus was impracticable. 



" And Jesus [to whom word, thought, and deed 

 were alike patent] answered and said unto him. 

 Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona ; for flesh and blood 

 hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which 

 is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art 

 Caphis ; and upon the Ebhen I will build my Church, 

 and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And 

 I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of 

 heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall 

 be bound in heaven," &c. 



The play (if so common an expression might be 

 used in so sacred a theme) is not on the word 

 Peter, but on the word D^DD (Caphis), which sig- 

 nifies a rafter, a cross beam, a binder ; or, as the 

 margin (on Habak. ii. 11.) has it, "a fastener,'* 

 from the verb DSD (Caplias), to bind, to connect, 

 to join. 



That our Lord never used the Greek word 

 av el Tlerpos all must admit ; that Kycpas is not the 

 Syriac word for stone is well known to every 

 Oriental scholar. The proper Syriac word for 

 stone is KQK3. However, there is a resemblance 

 between the respective words, which may have 

 been the origin of Simon's second surname — I 

 mean to that of Cephas — Peter. 



The import of Matt. xvi. 16-19. seems to me to 

 be this : Christ acknowledges Simon to be part 

 and parcel of the house, the Church ; nay, more. 

 He tells Simon that He intends him to be a 

 " master-builder," to join, or bind, many mem- 

 bers to that Church, all of which would be owned 

 of Him. But the Church itself must be built 

 upon the Ebhen, the Stone ; by which Jesus evi- 

 dently alluded to Ps. cxviii. 22. : 



D^nn idxd pK 

 : rue wtrb rnvn 



" The Ebhen which the builders refused 

 Is become the head stone of the corner." 



(Compare Matt. xxi. 42.) 



May I ask whether the words o epfj.7]vevrcu Tlerpos 

 are to be considered as the words of St. John, or 

 of his transcribers ? The question may appear 

 startling to some, but my copy of the Syriac New 

 Testament is minus that sentence. 



Moses Margoliouth. 



Wybunbury, Nantwich. 



EPITAPHS, ETC. 



Epitaphs. — There is, or was, one at Pisa which 

 thus concludes : 



" Doctor doctorum jacet hac Burgundius urna, 

 Schema Magistrorum, laudahilis et diuturna ; 

 Dogma poetarum cui littera Graeca, Latina, 

 Ars Medicinarum patuit sapientia trina. 



