O'Donoghue MTh_Thesis-FinalCopy.pdf - South African Theological ...

common to a teacher like Jesus would have made use of exaggeration or hyperbole,the point of which is to show preference for one option over another.Guelich (1982:326) points out that the prohibition in verse 19 to not store up treasureon earth is followed by two justifications for the prohibition. The first being that mothand rust destroy, i.e. there are “destructive natural forces.” Moth comes from ses(Brown 1975:119) It is being used here in Matthew 6:19 to depict “graphically thetemporary state of material possessions.” The imagery created by “rust” will makethe same point.Rust is translated from brosis (Hendrickx 1984:129). Brosis means literally, “eating.”It can also mean literally rust, and so can be referring to the rusting of metals(Carson 1994:83). Further, it could refer to corrosion of any kind including that maderesponsible by animals. Guelich (1982:326) affirms this when he notes that in the inthe Septuagint brosis is used in reference to an insect (Guelich 1982:326).The second justification for the command to not to lay up treasure on earth is thatthieves break in and steal i.e. “the destructive forces of evil persons (Guelich1982:327).” To break in is also translated as “dig through (Carson 1994:83).” Thismakes sense in the context as homes of poor people in ancient Palestine were madeof mud brick and someone (in this case a thief) could literally dig through into aperson’s house (Lioy 2004:167).The earthly treasures to which Jesus refers are clothes, precious metals andprobably anything that can perish (Matt6:19). Eiclher and Brown (1976:83) inaddressing what the earthly treasures would be affirms that the image created byMatthew includes “Oriental wealth, garments etc. stored in barbaric abundance, toonumerous for use.”Carson (1994:83) says the way the treasure is lost (or what the earthly treasure is) isnot the point Jesus’ is making. According to Carson what is important is the principlebeing conveyed i.e. that these treasures could be anything valuable that could belost to its owner. However, a significant point which Carson does not make clear isthat the context of the passage indicates that the earthly treasures that one would40