Onkelos Exodus 18:21

Targum

20 and thou shalt admonish them in the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which to walk, and the work that must be done. 21 And thou, look out from the whole people men of ability who fear the Lord, men of truth who abhor to take mammon; and superappoint them chiefs of thousands, and chiefs of hundreds, and chiefs of fifties, and chiefs of tens. 22 And they shall judge the people at any time, and every great matter they shall bring to thee, but every small thing they shall judge; and they will lighten it from thee, and bear it with thee.

Matthew 6:24

New Testament

23 But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t there more to life than food and more to the body than clothing?

 Notes and References

"... It concludes with the application: 'You cannot serve God and mammon.' Here 'mammon' is personified as an idol, the service of whom is the rejection of God. Betz interprets: 'Materialism ... is a pseudo-religious way of life, the service of a pseudo-god identified by the name of Mammon.' Mammon is not found in the Old Testament. At Qumran it is found with the sense of 'property' (1 QS 6:2; CD 14:20). It has much the same neutral sense in Pirke Avot 2:12. In Targum Onkelos on Genesis 37:26, it refers to the wicked 'gain' of Joseph's brothers. In Targum Onkelos on Exodus 18:21, the honest judge is one who 'abhors mammon.' In the New Testament it is used only in Matthew 6:24 and in Luke 16:9, 11 (modified by adikia). (Compare 2 Clement 6:1, which reflects dependence on Matthew) The sentiment expressed is similar to that of others both in ancient Judaism and among pagan writers ..."

Talbert, Charles H. Reading the Sermon on the Mount: Character Formation and Decision Making in Matthew 5-7 (p. 123) University of South Carolina Press, 2004

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