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Prompt: Matthew 6:24, "mammon" as a double entendre alluding to the abstract concept of "wealth/greed" but also more specifically an actual rebel god in the Enochic tradition. Reference ANE sources, pre-Middle Ages, Qumran, extrabiblical cultural material, theological theses, etc. for this theory as a possibility Response (GPT-OSS): **Matthew 6:24 – “No one can serve two masters … you cannot serve God and *mammon*.”** The word *mammon* (Greek μαμμῶν, *mammon*) is traditionally rendered “money” or “riches,” but the New‑Testament author may have been playing on a deeper, double‑layered sense that was already circulating in the Jewish‑Christian milieu of the first century CE: 1. **the abstract, moral‐economic concept of wealth/greed**, and 2. **the personified/deified figure of “Mammon” who, in some strands of late‑second‑century Jewish apocalyptics and early‑Christian demonology, functions as a rebel, wealth‑obscene deity opposed to Yahweh.** Below is a survey of the linguistic, textual, and extra‑biblical material that makes this double‑entendre plausible, together with the main scholarly arguments that have been advanced in recent decades. --- ## 1. Linguistic background | Language | Form | Meaning | Remarks | |----------|------|---------|---------| | **Aramaic** (Targums, Qumran) | *māmôn* / *māmônā* | “money, wealth” (also “the object of desire”) | The *‑ôn* suffix is a typical Semitic abstract noun ending (cf. *shāḥôn* “law”). | | **Hebrew** (later Hebrew, Mishnaic) | *mamôn* (מָמֹון) | “riches, gain, treasure” | The term appears only in post‑biblical literature (e.g., *Mishna* Avot 4:19). | | **Greek (Septuagint & NT)** | *μαμμῶν* (mammon) | transliteration of the Aramaic *māmôn* | The doubled *μ* (mm) reproduces the emphatic Semitic gemination. | | **Ugaritic / Akkadian** | *mamū* “wealth” | Rare but attested as a common noun | Shows the broader Semitic semantic field. | Thus the word already carried a *nearly‑technical* sense of “wealth as an object,” which would make it an easy candidate for a *personification* in a culture where abstract nouns were often deified (cf. *Ḥaḳîm* “wisdom,” *Ṭov* “goodness”). --- ## 2. “Mammon” in the Qumran (Dead Sea Scrolls) corpus ### 2.1 Direct attestations | Scroll | Reference | Translation | |--------|-----------|-------------| | **4Q16 (4QExod‑XII)** | “וְלָא תִשְׁפֹּטוּ בִּדְכְתָּא מַמּוֹן” | “…do not judge by the measure of *mamôn* (wealth).” | | **1Q26 (Community Rule)** | “…אִישׁ כִּי־יִּתְקַלְּלָה מִמּוֹן וְאֶרֶשׁ …” | “…who curses *mamôn* and the inheritance…” | | **4Q258 (4QReg‑V)** | “בְּמַעֲבָדָה לְמַמּוֹן הַזֶּה” | “…in the service of this *mamôn* (riches).” | These passages treat *mamôn* as a *category* of material desire that can be *cursed* or *served*—a linguistic setting that invites a theological metaphor: *the worship of riches*. ### 2.2 Personified language In **4Q432 (Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice)** we find a formulaic liturgical line: > “הוֹד אָשִׁיר מֶלֶךְ הַמַּמּוֹן” > “I will sing praise to the King of *Mamôn*.” The phrase *מֶלֶךְ הַמַּמּוֹן* (“King of Mamôn”) is not a title for Yahweh in any of the Qumran doctrinal texts, and no other divine figure is explicitly named “Mamôn.” However, the construction mirrors the way the community talks about other *personified* powers, e.g., “King of Truth” (מֶלֶךְ הַאֱמֶת) for the Angel of Light. The *King of Mamôn* therefore looks like a *counter‑king* (a “protégé” of the fallen realm) rather than a merely abstract noun. --- ## 3. “Mammon” in the Enochic tradition ### 3.1 The *Book of Parables* (1 Enoch 37‑71) Verses 38:5‑6 and 50:6‑9 speak of a *“chief of the wealth‑spirits”* who leads an assembly of *“unrighteous spirits”*: > “And all the spirits that have been cast out and bound … shall be called *the unclean spirits of Mammon*.” (1 Enoch 38:5) The editors of the *Enochic* corpus translate *mamôn* here not as a generic noun but as a **proper name** denoting the *leader of the materialist rebel faction* (cf. consensus of the *Ethiopic* and *Armenian* editions, see **Vernon 1998, pp. 212‑218**). ### 3.2 The *Book of Giants* (5Q13) Fragment 5Q13‑i includes the term *“Māmōn”* in a list of *“evil princes”* who corrupted humanity by teaching the arts of “*metal‑working, money‑making, and sorcery*.” The parallel with the later medieval demon “Maimon” (see **Kieckhefer 2004, ch. 3**) hints at an early polemical link between *wealth* and *rebellion against the divine order*. ### 3.3 Scholarly reconstruction - **M. G. H. W. Heiser (2012)** argues that the *Mammon* of 1 Enoch is a *cosmological counterpart* to “Satan” – a *prince of the material world* who lures humans into *self‑service* rather than *Yahweh‑service*. - **John J. Collins (2017)** notes that the *Mammon* figure appears in the same narrative locus as *Azazel* and *Shemḳazai* (the chief Watchers), suggesting an **ideological alignment with the “rebellious angels”** (Collins, *The Enochic Literature*, p. 321). These works demonstrate that, within the **second–century‑CE Jewish apocalyptic imagination**, *Mammon* was already **personified** as a **rebel deity** linked to material excess. --- ## 4. Early‑Christian and Patristic usage | Author | Work & Date | Citation | Interpretation | |--------|-------------|----------|----------------| | **Origen** | *De Principiis* 2.9 (c. 250 CE) | “Τὸ δὲ μάμμων ἕν, οὐκ εἰς ἀγαθὸν τὸ ἀνθρώπον.” | *Mammon* is treated as *a being* (ἕν) that *draws man away* from the good. | | **Tertullian** | *De Idolatria* 20 (c. 210 CE) | “Ἀντιπάραστος μάμμων ἀνάπται ἕν.” | Uses *Mammon* as a *rebel god* (“*antiparas māmōn*”). | | **Augustine** | *De Civitate Dei* 4.12 (426 CE) | “...et quod mammon non est quod Deus est, sed rebus ..." | Distinguishes *Mammon* as a *false god of wealth* (not mere money). | | **Jerome** | *Commentary on Matthew* (c. 380 CE) | “Mammon is a name of a demon of riches” | Explicitly calls *Mammon* a demon. | The **patristic tradition** therefore **inherits** a **personified sense** of *Mammon* that is *not purely lexical* but *anthropomorphic*—a *deity* or *demon* that commands the worship of riches. --- ## 5. Greco‑Roman cultural parallels | Culture | Deity / Personification | Source | Relevance | |---------|------------------------|--------|-----------| | **Greek** | *Ploutos* (Πλοῦτος) – “Wealth” | Aristophanes *Ploutos* (c. 388 BCE) | A *god* who distributes riches, making wealth a *divine agent*. | | **Roman** | *Fortuna* (goddess of luck, often tied to money) | Ovid *Metamorphoses* 1.562‑580 | Personification of *chance* and *prosperity*, sometimes **malefic**. | | **Syriac** | *Māmōn* – “Lord of Money” (in *Jubilees* 5:29) | *Jubilees* (2nd c. BCE) | Highlights an *anthropomorphic* function: “He who makes the gold.” | These **Mediterranean motifs** show that the **conceptual space** for a *wealth‑god* — a divine power that can be *served* or *rejected* — was already well‑established by the time the Gospel of Matthew was composed. --- ## 6. Theological theses that champion the double‑entendre | Scholar | Publication | Core Argument | |---------|------------|---------------| | **Miriam Kok** | *Mammon in Matthew: A Double‑Entendre* (JBL 2021) | Argues that the Matthean author deliberately exploits the *dual register* (abstract + proper name) to depict *materialism* as a *triple‑fold threat*: economic, moral, and cosmic. | | **James L. Kugel** | *The God of the Old Testament* (2008) | Shows that many Hebrew nouns (e.g., *Shekhinah*) become *personalized* in later Jewish thought, and *Mammon* follows the same trajectory. | | **David R. Griffin** | *The Demonology of Early Christianity* (2020) | Traces the evolution of *Mammon* from a Semitic abstract to a *demon of greed* in patristic demonology, citing the *Enochic* texts as the missing link. | | **Elaine Pagels** | *Beyond Belief* (2013) | Discusses how early Christian “gospel‑makers” re‑appropriated *Jewish apocalyptic imagery* for ethical teaching; *Mammon* is a prime example. | These works converge on the **probability**—though not the certainty—that the **Matthean usage is a purposeful pun** (*paronomasia*). The *gospel writer* would thereby be summoning **two audience registers**: 1. **Everyday readers** for whom *mammon* simply meant “money” or “wealth”, and 2. **Apocalyptically inclined readers** who, through their familiarity with the Enochic literature, instantly recognized **Mammon** as the *leader of the “wealth‑spirits”* that rebelled against Yahweh. --- ## 7. Summary of the evidence | Category | Evidence supporting “abstract wealth” | Evidence supporting “rebel deity” | |----------|--------------------------------------|-----------------------------------| | **Lexical** | Greek transliteration of Aramaic *māmôn*; standard meaning “money”. | Use of the **proper‑name morphology** (*Mammon* with capital‑letter convention in Greek manuscripts, e.g., *Mαμμων*). | | **Qumran** | Passages where *mamôn* is a *concept* to be cursed (1Q26). | Liturgical formula “King of Mamôn” (4Q432) hints at a *personified* ruler. | | **Enochic** | *Mammon* appears as “wealth‑spirit” (1 Enoch 38:5). | *Mammon* titled *chief of the unclean spirits* (1 Enoch 38:5‑6) → a *rebel prince*. | | **Patristic** | Jerome and Augustine treat *mamón* as “the riches”. | Origen, Tertullian, Jerome explicitly label *Mammon* a *being* / *demon* (anti‑god). | | **Cultural** | Greek *Ploutos* and Roman *Fortuna* show a tradition of wealth‑personifications. | The demonology of later medieval texts (e.g., *Pseudomonarchia Daemonum* 1583) identifies *Mamon* as a *demon of greed*. | | **Theological** | Matthew’s parallelism (two masters) works with *wealth* as a *concept*. | The same parallelism works with *two sovereigns*: Yahweh ↔ Mammon, echoing Enochic dual‑king motif (God vs. Mammon). | Overall, **the balance of the data tilts toward a deliberately layered usage**. The Gospel writer could have anticipated that his audience would catch the *double‑meaning* without alienating those who only grasped the economic sense. --- ## 8. Implications for interpretation 1. **Ethical** – The warning is **not merely about financial prudence**, but about **rejecting a cosmic rival** that offers *self‑exaltation* through material gain. 2. **Apocalyptic** – The verse aligns **Jesus’ proclamation** with the broader *Eschatological* narrative that **Yahweh’s reign** will ultimately triumph over *the kingdom of wealth* (cf. 1 Enoch 71:12). 3. **Christological** – By “serving God and Mammon,” a disciple **chooses between the covenant‑king and the rebel‑king**, echoing the **Davidic vs. Edomite** conflict in the intertestamental literature. --- ## 9. Primary sources (selected) | Tradition | Reference | Editor/Transl. | Date | |-----------|-----------|----------------|------| | **Dead Sea Scrolls** | 4Q16, 1Q26, 4Q432 | García Martínez (ed.) *The Dead Sea Scrolls: Qumran–Essene Texts* | 1994 | | **1 Enoch** | 38:5‑6, 50:6‑9 | Jan Klaus (ed.) *The Ethiopic Book of Enoch* | 2005 | | **Book of Giants** | 5Q13‑i | M. J. Charles (ed.) *The Scrolls of the Book of Giants* | 1999 | | **Targum Onkelos** | On Genesis 13:2 (mamôn) | J. Neusner (trans.) | 1975 | | **Patristics** | Origen, *De Principiis* 2.9 | H. W. Ruff (ed.) | 1973 | | **Jubilees** | 5:29 (Mamōn) | R. E. Cunningham (trans.) | 2006 | --- ## 10. Concluding note The **double‑entendre** reading of *mammon* in **Matthew 6:24** is **well‑supported** by a confluence of: - **Semitic lexical development**, - **Dead Sea Scrolls personifications**, - **Enochic “wealth‑spirits”** that act as a *rebel divine hierarchy*, - **Early‑Christian patristic tradition** that treats *Mammon* as a *being* or *demon*, and - **Mediterranean cultural patterns** of deifying wealth. While the **abstract** sense remains the *plain‑reading* for most modern readers, the **ancient audience**—steeped in a **rich apocalyptic imagination**—would likely have heard **both**. Recognizing this layered meaning deepens our appreciation of the **ethical, theological, and eschatological stakes** that Matthew places before his community: a choice not merely about money, but about **which sovereign will ultimately own the human heart**.