When Christ cried out Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachtani, some of the crowds though he was calling Elijah. Why?

Question

The bible says: Mark 15:34… “And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice saying ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ –which is being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 35 And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, behold, he calleth Elias…”

Now I’m supposing that this was said in Hebrew or Aramaic. Since these were the languages spoken at the time why would people not understand what Jesus was really saying? Why would they think that he was calling Elijah?

Also, does this calling have any special interpretation or was The Lord simple trying to recite the 22nd Psalm, when in his HUMAN nature, his strength failed him?

Answer 1

It was believed that Elijah never died. He was such a good man that he simply arrived in Heaven. Many felt that he would return to take others there as well.

Answer 2

Ps 22:1

"My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me?"

Ps 22 is the anguished prayer of David as a godly sufferer victimized by attacks of his enemies. No other Psalm fit quite so aptly the circumstances of Jesus at His crucifixion. The gospel writers, Matthew (27:46) and Mark (15:34) saw the fulfillment of His cry as the Righteous Sufferer.

Jesus did not ask this question in surprise or despair. He was quoting the first line of Ps 22 - the whole Psalm is prophecy expressing the deep agony of the Messiah's death for the sins of the world. Jesus knew that He would be temporarily separated from God the Father as He prayed in Gethsemane. The physical agony was horrible enough but the spiritual alienation from God the Father was the ultimate torture.

For He (God the Father) hath made Him (Jesus) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Cor 5:21

Answer 3

It is possible that being on the cross, crucified in great pain and thirsty that his words "eloi, eloi" could have been misheard as elijah, this would not really surprise me.

Being in his human nature, it is also very likely that he got scared at the prospect of being crucified and very shortly dieing. Dont forget also, something similar happened the night before when jesus praying in the garden of gethsemene asked for God to take this cup away from him so that he did not have to go through it. But he would do what was Gods will. So we can see from that his human side.

Answer 4

Actually, it was "Eyli Eyli, Lemana Shvaqth-ani?", as is written in the Aramaic Gospel of Matthew (check out Comparative Edition of the Syriac Gospels). "Lema" is Hebrew, while "Lemana" is Aramaic.

"Eyli, Eyli" (My God, My God) is the first part of "Eliyahu (Elijah's name). People would have thought Christ was calling out to Elijah since Yeshua (Jesus) himself taught that John the Baptist, his close friend and relative who had died or "left him" earlier on, was in fact "Elijah" (see Matt. 11:14). Of course, there are other interpretations, but this is one is the most likely.

I speak a more recent dialect of Aramaic, but we use the verb "sh-v-q" in the same way that the Ancients did. It can be used to mean "release", "abandon", and quite often "forgive". Whether the Messiah was just quoting King David, or seriously inquiring why his Father/Spirit had released him to his terrible fate...no one knows.

Shlam. (Peace)

Answer 5

jesus called to his father he is quoting ps 22v1 in its Aramaic form except that eloi mark 15v34 has been converted to the hebrew eli,this cry may reflect the separation from god as he was bearing the sins of the world 2 corinthians 5v21 some people took a poor guess and mistook that he was sayingelijah when in fact it was eli

Answer 6

Because some of them hoped that Jesus was truly the Messiah, the Son of David, who would be saved by Elijah - who was taken up into Heaven on a fiery chariot.

You are correct in stating that Jesus fulfilled the prophesy mentioned in Psalm 22 - but Jesus did not refer to God forsaking him.
http://www.aboutbibleprophecy.com/psalm_22_1.htm

Answer 7

In book of Malachi, Elijah is prophet that will in these days restore union with God, and than " Day of God " will arrive.
Jesus did read all that himself, so mentioning Elijah shouldn't be
a surprise.
He was calling on a man Elijah to grace His Father, who is son of
Man, today, according to Jesus.

Answer 8

Jesus always spoke with his fathers words, even when he was being executed, be cause they strangthened him. On this specific occassion, he felt what it was like to be out of his father's reach for the first time in his entire life, which includes the many millenia he spent in heaven with his father before coming to the earth. His father withdrew from him to partly to help him to fell what it was like for humans who don't have God so fully in their lives.
With regard to the crowds who thought he was cryin out for Elijah, they may simply have mis-heard him. The circumstances were chaotic and emotionsally charged and they may not have been paying enough attention to what he actually said.

Answer 9

His actual pronountiation was :

"Eli...Eli... Lama Sabak't ani.
Eli" Mi God (el=God, i=sufix denoting possesion "my")
lama= why
sabakh= to abandon, et (conjugation ending for 2nd person singular in past tense)
ani=me, I

In aramaic.

Elijah and "eli" share the first syllable, and could be heard as saying "eliyah" inintelligible on account of the torment inflicted bluring the words.

Answer 10

I don't think the Lord ever "tries" to do anything.

Maybe it is because of the strong similarity of the opening words that the crowds misheard? Or is that too far fetched?

You know how to ask hard questions.