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"Now when Jesus was in Bethany,
in the house of Simon the leper," -Matthew
26:6
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The bold area in Greek reads "Σιμωνος
του λεπρου" (Simônos
tou leprou), which litterally means "Simon the Leper" or
"Simon the Skin-Diseased" ("λεπρου"
(leprou, or lepros in the nominative case) can
stand for various skin diseases like it's Hebrew-Aramaic counterpart).
This seems strange, because according to the Law laid down in
Leviticus, Lepers are not allowed within the city:
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"And the leper who has the disease
on him is to go about with signs of grief, with his hair
loose and his mouth covered, crying, "Unclean, unclean!"
While the disease is on him, he will be unclean. He
is unclean: let him keep by himself, living outside the
town." -Leviticus 13:45-46
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Now, taking a look at the Aramaic in the Sinaitic
Palimpsest, we find that Simon is addressed as "ܐܒܪܓ
ܢܘܥܡܫ" which would most likely
be as recorded in the Peshitta/o: "ܫܺܡܥܽܘܢ
ܓܰܪܺܒܳܐ" (Shim'un
Gériba). Now things start to become clearer. "ܓܰܪܺܒܳܐ"
(Gériba) can easily be confused with "ܓܰܪܳܒܳܐ"
(Géraba) since Aramaic at that time was written
without vowel markers.
-"ܓܰܪܺܒܳܐ"
(Gériba) means POTTER or JAR MERCHANT where,
-"ܓܰܪܳܒܳܐ" (Géraba)
means LEPER or SKIN DISEASE
But both are spelled with the same consonants:
Gamal - Rish - Beth - Alap
In addition, why was there no record of Eesho'
(Jesus) healing Simon? If he were a leper, it would be very
dangerous for His disciples and other people in the house. Leprosy
is a very contagious disease and not worth the risk of catching.
Here the Aramaic sheds some light.
