A Short Explanation of James’ Title Oblias or Ωβλιας n Greek
nd He rew

2011© Roy B  zz
rd III
 
In the e
r  est B ogr
ph c
 stor es ofJ
mes the rother of Jesus, y Heges ppu
s (c rc
150
.d.)
nd wh ch s quoted y Euse us, he h
s een g ven
n nteres
t ng t t e or n ckn
me wh ch seems to h
ve def ed m
ny peop e’s exp 
n
t ons. It w

s supposed to h
ve een
Sem t c
sed n
me w th
Greek tr
nscr pt on. Wh e
J
mes,
s the he
d of the Be  ever’s commun ty n Jerus
em, h
s sever
 t t es su
ch
s J
mes the Just, The W
 of the Peop e
nd the r Just f c
t on, th s 
st
t t e h
s t  now def ed exp 
n
t on. Why I
m not sure
s t seems perfect y o
v ous to me.
 
H s o scure t tew
s O 
s or Ωβλιας n Greek. As I ooked
t h s t t e t occurred to me
th
t t w
s pro
y
tr
nscr pt on of
Herew word  of some sort so I dec ded
to do
t of d gg ng to f nd out wh
t m
y e the
s s for t. I chose to ook
n the L dde 
nd Scott Greek Lex con f rst to determ ne f there were
ny Gre
ek words th
t
re even c ose to m
tch ng up to th s word. There

re not. I then
went to the J
strow’s D ct on
ry of the T
rgum m, T
mud B
 , Yerush
m ,
nd M
dr
sh c L ter
ture. I f n
y found
 on p
ge 172
n nterest ng c t
t on  on the r  
oot word Be 
h or ( t re
ds
ckw
rds n th s post ng-Uv eh n He rew wou d e O 

s n Greek) from P rke Avot or Eth cs of the F
thers wh ch s
ook centr
 to
the te
ch ngs of Jud
sm. In P rke Avot 5:22 there s
p
ss
ge wh ch s
ys,
“Ben B
g B
g used to s
y, "Turn t,
nd turn t, for everyth ng s n t.  Ref ect
on t
nd grow o d
nd gr
y w th t. Don t turn from t, for noth ng s etter t
h
n t."
 
Yoch
n
n en B
g B
g s s
d to h
ve een
d sc p e of H e  (who P
u w
s

so
student of
nd Jesus m
n y fo owed h s te
ch ngs except for the su ject o
f m
rr
ge
nd d vorce where he more c ose y fo owed Sh
mm
), who  ved n the
f rst century

nd w
s cons
 dered to e
n expert n Tor
h. One tr
d t on ho ds
th
t oth en B
g B
g
nd en He He (P rke Avot 5:23) refer to the s
me person
, the potent
 convert to Jud
sm who c
me to H e 
nd
sked the te
cher to t
e
ch h m the Tor
h wh e st
nd ng on one foot.
In re 
t on to th s p
ss
ge the comment
ry on th s word s
ys, “ Ref ect on t
nd
grow o d
nd gr
y w th t.” Me
n ng the Tor
h or Word of God.

So the Jews n the f rst century e  eved th
t
person c
n d scover th
t everyt
h ng s cont
ned n the Tor
h. One on y needs to t
ke the t me to study t over

nd over n order to se
rch for ts me
n ng. Th s process nvo ves more th
n ju
st re
d ng the words of
text, t nvo ves ref ect on
nd nter
ct on w th the
text wh ch g ves us
n opportun ty to renew ourse ves
nd our m nds
nd to grow

s nd v du 
s, even
s t strengthens our commun
 connect ons to one
nother.
As we
ge oth n ye
rs
nd w sdom, our exper ences prov de new ns ghts to our
underst
nd ng of the text
nd the text, n turn, gu des the cho ces we w  m
ke
.
  
To the f rst century e  evers, J
mes pro
y fo owed the tr
d t on
 thoughts
on th s p
ss
ge
nd m
y h
ve
so tr
nsferred some me
n ng to the Word M
de F e
sh or Jesus (Yeshu
) n th
t we need to refect on H m
nd grow o d w th H m n
th s re 
t onsh p
nd n th s commun ty of e  evers, n other words we need to
h
ve
f
thfu ness to H m.

So, n the end we c
n s
y th
t J
mes’ t t e of O 
s or Ωβλιας n Greek tr
nscr pt on from
e He rew wordBe 
h or wou d me
n one who ref
 ects on the Tor
h,
w se one who dou
t ess wou d e Just n h s dec s ons
nd wou d e the w
 for the peope
s h
s F
th wou d e unsh
k
e
nd who wou d e
e to Just fy h s Peop e y show
ng them
n ex
mp e of f
thfu ness to the Word.