Difference between revisions of "Corban"

<div> '''1: κορβανᾶς ''' (Strong'S #2878 — Noun Masculine — korban — kor-ban', <i> kor-ban-as' </i> ) </div> <p> signifies (a) "an offering," and was a Hebrew term for any sacrifice, whether by the shedding of blood or otherwise; (b) "a gift offered to God," &nbsp;Mark 7:11 . Jews were much addicted to rash vows; a saying of the rabbis was, "It is hard for the parents, but the law is clear, vows must be kept." The Sept. translates the word by doron, "a gift." See korbanas, under [[Treasury]] , &nbsp;Matthew 27:6 . </p>

<p> An offering to God in fulfillment of a vow; from which the temple treasury into which such gifts were east is called in Greek, korbanas (&nbsp;Matthew 27:6). Also whatever men by vow interdicted themselves from, as wine, etc., was called qorban (Leviticus 27; Numbers 30; &nbsp;Judges 13:7; Jeremiah 35). Undutiful children, under the plea of having consecrated as corban to the Lord whatever help they might otherwise have given to their parents, evaded their filial obligation; this Christ denounced as a "making the commandment of God of none effect by man's traditions" (&nbsp;Matthew 15:5; &nbsp;Mark 7:11-12). The rabbis allowed a youth even to pronounce corban upon his property, and retain it for himself, though withholding it from his own parents. This extreme case however was not immediately referred to by our Lord. </p>

<p> [[Corban]] (''Kor'Ban'' ), ''Offering,'' a word implying that the thing to which it applied was consecrated to God. &nbsp;Mark 7:11. </p>

<p> (κωρβᾶν, for קָרְבָּן, ''Korban''' , an [[Offering]] ), a Hebrew word (occurring frequently in the original of the O.T., but only in Leviticus and Numb., except in &nbsp;Ezekiel 20:28; xl, 43) employed in the [[Hellenistic]] Greek, just as the corresponding Greek word δῶρον was employed in the Rabbinical Hebrew (Buxtorf, ''Lex. Rab.'' col. 579) to designate an oblation of any kind to God, whether bloody or bloodless, but particularly in fulfillment of a vow (Jahn, ''Bibl. Arch'' . v, § 392, 394). It occurs only once in the New [[Testament]] (&nbsp;Mark 7:11), where it is explained (as also by Josephus, ''Ant.'' 4:4, 4; contra Ap. 1:22) by the word "gift." Money, lands, and houses, which had been made the subject of this vow, became the property of the tabernacle or the Temple, except that the land might be redeemed before the year of [[Jubilee]] (&nbsp;Leviticus 27:1-24). Among other false doctrines taught by the Pharisees, who were the keepers of the sacred treasury (κορβανᾶς, from [[Corban]] , &nbsp;Matthew 27:6), was this, that as soon as a person had pronounced to his father or mother this form of consecration or offering, "Be it (or, It is) corban [i.e. devoted] whatever of mine shall profit thee" (קָרְבָּן שְׁאָנַי נִהֲנָה לְָ), he thereby consecrated all he had spoken of to God, and must not thenceforth do anything for his indigent parents if they solicited support from him. Therefore our Lord reproaches them with having destroyed by their tradition not only that commandment of the Law which enjoins children to honor their father and mother, but also another divine precept, which, under the severest penalty, forbade that kind of dishonor which consists in contumelious words (&nbsp;Mark 7:9; &nbsp;Mark 10:13). They, however, proceeded even further than this unnatural gloss; for though the son did not give, or even mean to give, his property to the Temple, yet, if he afterwards should repent of his rashness, and wish to supply his parents with anything, what he had formerly said precluded the possibility of doing so, for, according to the Pharisaic doctrine, the sacred treasury had a claim upon him in preference to his parents, although he was perfectly at liberty to keep it to himself (see Lightfoot, Hor. Heb., and Grotius, Annot., on &nbsp;Matthew 15:5). The law laid down rules for vows, 1. affirmative; 2. negative. By the former, persons, animals, and property might be devoted to God, but, with certain limitations, they were redeemable by money payments. By the latter, persons interdicted themselves, or were interdicted by their parents, from the use of certain things lawful in themselves, as wine, either for a limited or an unlimited period (Leviticus 27; Numbers 30; &nbsp;Judges 13:7; Jeremiah 35; comp. Josephus, Ant. 4:4, 4; War, 2:15, 1; see &nbsp;Acts 18:18; &nbsp;Acts 21:23-24). (See Vow). </p> <p> Upon these rules the traditionists enlarged, and laid down that a man might interdict himself by vow, not only from using for himself, but from giving to another, or receiving from him some particular object, whether of food or any other kind whatsoever. The thing thus interdicted was considered as corban, and the form of interdiction was virtually to this effect; "I forbid myself to touch or be concerned in any way with the thing forbidden, as if it were devoted by law," i.e. "let it be corban." (The exact formula, קוֹנֵם שְׁאָנַי נִהֲנָה לְ,ָ "[that] has been given [to God], which [in respect to] me is beneficial to thee," of which the Evangelist's δῶρον, ὃ ἐὰν ἰξ ἐμοῦ ῶφεληθῇς seems a strict rendering, is cited by Schö ttgen, ''Hor. Heb.'' 1:138: from the Mishna, ''Nedarim'' , fol. 24, 1.) So far did they carry the principle that they even held as binding the incomplete exclamations of anger, and called them יָדוֹת, [[Handles]] . A person might thus exempt himself from assisting or receiving assistance from some particular person or persons, as parents in distress; and, in short, from any inconvenient obligation under plea of corban, though by a legal fiction he was allowed to suspend the restriction in certain cases (Surenhusius, Mischna, de Votis, 1:4; 2:2). It was with practices of this sort that our Lord found fault (&nbsp;Matthew 15:5; &nbsp;Mark 7:11), as annulling the spirit of the law. (See Offering). </p> <p> Theophrastus, quoted by Josephus (Ap. 1:22), notices the system, miscalling it a Phoenician custom, but in naming the word corban identifies it with Judaism. Josephus (War, 2:9, 4) calls the treasury in which offerings for the Temple or its services were deposited, κορβανᾶς, corbanas; and Matthew (&nbsp;Matthew 17:6) uses the same word to signify the treasury, saying that the chief priests did not think it lawful to put the money of [[Judas]] into it (εἰς τὸν κορβανᾶν ) (Bingham, ''Orig. Eccl'' . v. 4, 2). Origen's account of the [[Corban]] -system is that children sometimes refused assistance to parents on the ground that they had already contributed to the poor fund, from which they alleged their parents might be relieved. In the early Church, oblations were presented monthly, and they were always voluntarily placed in the treasury. Baronius thinks this treasury was called corban, because [[Cyprian]] uses the word when he speaks of the offerings of the people, rebuking a rich matron for coming to celebrate the [[Eucharist]] without any regard to the corban. (See [[Alms]]). </p>

<p> '''''kôr´ban''''' ( קרבּן , <i> '''''ḳorbān''''' </i> ; δῶρον , <i> '''''dō̇ron''''' </i> ; translated "a gift," "a sacrificial offering," literally, "that which is brought near," namely, to the altar): An expression frequently used in the original text of the Old Testament; in the English Bible it occurs in &nbsp;Mark 7:11; compare also &nbsp;Matthew 15:5 . It is the most general term for a sacrifice of any kind. In the course of time it became associated with an objectionable practice. [[Anything]] dedicated to the temple by pronouncing the votive word "Corban" forthwith belonged to the temple, but only ideally; actually it might remain in the possession of him who made the vow. So a son might be justified in not supporting his old parents simply because he designated his property or a part of it as a gift to the temple, that is, as "Corban" There was no necessity of fulfilling his vow, yet he was actually prohibited from ever using his property for the support of his parents. This shows clearly why Christ singled out this queer regulation in order to demonstrate the sophistry of tradition and to bring out the fact of its possible and actual hostility to the [[Scripture]] and its spirit. </p>