To Light a Thousand Lamps - The Theosophical Society

98 / TO LIGHT A THOUSAND LAMPS
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice,
Ēlī, Ēlī, lāma sabachthānī, that is to say, My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? — 27:46
In the translation the significance of this Hebrew phrase,
inserted in the Greek original, is obscured. In reality, we
have what amounts to two cries: the one of agony, the other
of exaltation. The last Hebrew word, sabachthānī does not
mean to forsake or abandon as the King James Version has
it; on the contrary, it means to glorify, to bring peace, to
raise in triumph. Yet the Greek text immediately ‘‘explains’’
it as ‘‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’’ —
which actually is a direct translation of the well-known cry
of David in Psalm 22, ’Ēlī, ’Ēlī, lāmāh ‘azabthānī, the final
word indeed meaning ‘‘to forsake.’’
What is the reason for this? It has been suggested that
Matthew and Mark may have intentionally confused the
matter in order to conceal (and yet reveal for those having
eyes to see) what was in fact a Mystery-teaching. In short,
the Greek ‘‘explanation’’ of the Hebrew phrase, quoting
from the psalm, records the anguish felt by the human part
of Jesus when in utter loneliness he had to face the dread
regions of the netherworld and conquer all. Conversely, the
Hebrew cry as preserved in Matthew and Mark was a cry of
the Christos, Jesus triumphant: ‘‘O my God, how thou hast
glorified me, how thou hast brought me out of darkness
into the light!’’*
*The author is indebted to G. de Purucker, The Esoteric Tradition
1:69‒75; also to Ralston Skinner, The Source of Measures, pp. 300‒301,
and ‘‘No Error’’ by JRS (Skinner) in H. P. Blavatsky, Collected Writings
9:276‒9, with corroborative ‘‘Note’’ by HPB on p. 279.