ARAMAIC WORD STUDY – A SPARROW’S FALL – TSAPARA NEPHALA – צפרא נפלא  

Matthew 10:29, “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.”

Both the Greek and the Aramaic clearly say that one sparrow will not fall without your Father.  It does not say, without your Father’s notice.  If any translation adds the word notice they are merely paraphrasing the passage.  Actually, the passage does not even say if a sparrow dies, it just says fall.  The word in Greek for fall is peseitai which is a word meaning to fall down or fall prostrate, it is does not mean to die.  The passage in Luke 12:6 says that not one of them is forgotten by God.  That does not suggest that the sparrow dies.

The word used for fall in the Aramaic is nephal which comes from a Semitic root word used by the Akkadians, a warlike people, to describe a soldier that is killed in battle because he has become so terrified that he fails to use his skills and proper common sense.   We all know how fearful people tend to do foolish things.  That is the idea behind the Semitic root NF which is rendered in English as fall.

According to ornithologist it is not uncommon for a baby sparrow to fall from its nest as it grows older and spends a few days on the ground before it can fly. During this time it is open to predators and very vulnerable and may squawk fearfully.  They say it is best you leave them alone and not try to rescue them as the mother bird is watching and still carrying for it. If you attempt to pick one up and you hear a lot of squawking, nearby, then you know the mother is close and having fit over your interference. The idea that touching a baby bird will cause it to be abandoned by its mother is a myth.

I read something interesting in Jewish literature in Bereshit Rabba 69:3,  “A bird without God is not hunted or taken, neither will the soul of man (be hunted or taken without God).”  In Jewish tradition an animal is not slaughtered for meat without first asking God for His approval. In other words an animal is not to be slaughtered for food without the Father. The words without God is a very common Hebraic expression or idiom which means, without God’s permission.  It is believed by orthodox Jews that God created certain animals to provide nourishment for man and the animals have this understanding.  However, killing the animal is done only by a skilled shocket (butcher) who performs the slaughter as a religious ritual where the animal is slaughtered in the most humane and painless way possible.

If not even a sparrow is allowed to fall from a nest, yet still closely guarded by the mother bird without God’s approval, then how much more is His loving, watchful caring for us.