Blowing the Horn on a Dilemma -

written by Ijaz Ahmed

In Matthew 6:1-2 (NIV) we read:

"“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full."

Usually the verses are taught to convey the idea that boasting about doing good actions are a sin, but there is a curious case behind this passage historically. While modern translations use "righteousness" from the Greek word ΔΙΚΑΙΟΣΥΝΗΝ (dikaiosunen), the vast majority of Greek manuscripts actually read ΕΛΕΗΜΟΣΥΝΗΝ (elemosunen) which means the specific act of giving money in charity or almsgiving.

However the problem is that no scholar in history has been able to find where the Jews have ever blown a trumpet/ horn before giving charity in money/ almsgiving:

"...that the wealthy Pharisees had a trumpet literally blown before them, to give notice to the poor of the neighbourhood that they were distributing their alms;"

"the best scholars have found no trace of any such practice in Jewish literature, and it is hardly credible that such a thing could have been done in the synagogues;"

Source: Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers.

Another commentary, the Pulpit Commentary, cites many scholars including John Calvin as thinking this was a literal claim and not a metaphorical one, whilst also quoting another famous commentator of the Gospels who indicates there was no historical evidence for a literal blowing off a trumpet before giving charity/ almsgiving:

"Others (e.g. Calvin, Bengel) have taken it of a literal trumpet; but of this practice there is no evidence whatever. "I have not found, although I have sought for it much and seriously, even the least mention of a trumpet in almsgiving" (J. Lightfoot, 'Hor. Hebr.')."

Source: Pulpit Commentary.

What is problematic here is that if taken to mean that the Jews literally blew a trumpet before doing any righteous act was a wrong and sinful act (according to the Jesus of the New Testament), then it presents a problem as the Old Testament records the Jews of having been commanded to blow a trumpet/ horn at specific times by God in Leviticus 23:24 and in Exodus 29. This would lead to the problem of missionaries believing in a God-Jesus rebuking the Jews for an act they were commanded to do by the same God in the Bible.

If taken to mean metaphorically, then there would not have been any reason to change the text from saying any good act: ΔΙΚΑΙΟΣΥΝΗΝ (dikaiosunen) to an act of specifically giving money for charity/ almsgiving: ΕΛΕΗΜΟΣΥΝΗΝ (elemosunen), as the majority of manuscripts read.

This leaves us with:

1. The Bible contradicting itself,
2. Jesus as a God condemning God for commanding the blowing off the horn in the first place,
3. Jesus was lying about the Jewish people,
4. The scribes and translators maliciously tampering with the Bible.