Matthew 24:28: Difference between revisions

William Branham’s followers insist that he was Elijah of Malachi 4, and therefore had a divine right and supernatural ability to interpret the scripture. His interpretation of scripture is accepted over any other, no matter the source, even scripture itself. This is especially troubling because William Branham often paid little attention to context or even the simplest laws of grammar when interpreting a passage of scripture. One example is Matthew 24:28, a verse frequently repeated in message pulpits today:  

:''They claim as the--that some of them were vultures because they eat carrion, but that was wrong. I would just different with the man that wrote, '''because I know eagles.''' Eagles only eat live meat. Vultures eat--eat carrion. But a real eagle kills his own meat. He has to have it fresh, just like the grizzly bear and the black bear. The black bear is a scavenger. He--he eats carrion. But--but the grizzly bear, he has to kill fresh every night or when he's going to eat, he eats.

While William Branham stated that he knew eagles, he didn't.  It is well known and an accepted fact that all eagles eat carrion.<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bald_Eagle]</ref>

Though the context of the passage and the ambiguity of the Greek word ''aetos'' should be sufficient to refute William Branham’s repeated misinterpretation of this verse, the death knoll comes when we look a little closer at Branham’s treatment of the word ''carcass''.  

:πτῶμα (ptoma) means “fall,” “plunge,” “collapse,” Aesch. Suppl., 797, transf. “evil,” “defeat,” Aesch. Choeph., 13; Eur. Herc. Fur., 1228, then “what has fallen.” In relation to buildings “ruins,” Polyb., 16, 31, 8, in relation to living creatures “corpse” (from Aesch.), with gen., e.g., πτώματα νεκρῶν, Eur. Phoen., 1482, later (Polyb., etc.) without gen. (incorrect Suid., s.v. πτῶμα· σῶμα, ἄνευ τῆς κεφαλῆς). In the pap. only in the sense of “fall,” “collapse,” P. Oxy., I, 52, 12 (4th cent. A.D.), “windfall,” P. Fay., 102, 20 (2nd cent. A.D.; cf. Suid., s.v.), also a financial tt., P. Lond., I, 3, 37 (2nd cent. B.C.).1

:In the LXX 23 times, 8 in Job (only 11 also in Heb., almost as many Heb. equivalents): Is. 30:13 f. of the collapse of a wall, 2 Macc. 9:7 of the overturning of a chariot, Jdt. 8:19 of death in battle, predominantly for “overthrow,” “disaster,” “destruction” (as a punishment), with πρόσκομμα in Is. 8:14 (also ΘΣ); Σιρ. 34:16 vl., with σύντριμμα Is. 51:19; 30:14, with συντριβή Prv. 16:18, with ἀπώλεια Σιρ. 31·6. The meaning “corpse” occurs only in Judges 14:8 (carcass of a lion), perhaps also ψ 109:6 (this use gains ground somewhat in ἈΘΣ).

:The only meaning in the NT is “corpse,” the carcass of an animal in Mt. 24:28 (vl. σῶμα א; influence of Lk. 17:37), otherwise a human corpse: Mt. 14:12 (vl. σῶμα K) par. Mk. 6:29 of the body of John the Baptist, Rev. 11:8 f. of the bodies of the two witnesses (11:8, 9a collective sing., 9b plur.).<ref>Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley and Gerhard Friedrich, electronic ed., 166 (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964-).</ref>