I just read Isaac Soon article “The Little Messiah.”[1] I was curious about how Soon was going to demonstrate that Luke could be saying that Jesus was the one who was short and not Zacchaeus, based on Luke 19:3, “And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature.”[2] Is “he” Zaccheaus or Jesus? Is Zacchaeus the short one or is it Jesus?
The whole issue here is that “he was small in stature” can be referring to either Jesus or Zacchaeus. I agree with Soon to a certain degree because reading Luke 19:3 in English or some other languages may cause that issue. In fact, in Spanish can be understood either way, “trataba de ver quién era Jesús; pero no podía a causa de la multitud, ya que él era de pequeña estatura.”[3] The pronoun “él” can be referring to Jesus or Zachaeus. One final example, the Korean can also bring that ambiguity, “그가 예수께서 어떠한 사람인가 하여 보고자 하되 키가 작고 사람이 많아 할 수 없어.”[4] “하되 키가 작고” does not necessarily indicate if the adjective is referring to Jesus or Zacchaeus.
Soon, therefore, explores many kinds of literature to see if it is clear that Zacchaeus is the short one, as is universally agreed, or if there is a possibility that Luke was describing Jesus as the short one. Soon is very thorough reviewing historical material from different kinds of literature. He compares with works of different Greek philosophers, Roman Historians, and Philo to make the case that not all ancient documents necessarily described their main subjects, but many did give a description.
Soon also argues that Luke has given some descriptions of Jesus. Scripture says that there are descriptions of his feet and knees and Jesus having flesh, bone, and blood. However, he also acknowledges that those descriptions have a purpose. Since Jesus’s height is not relevant to his ministry theologically, it is possible that none of the gospel writers considered it necessary to give a description. In fact, it could be assumed that the listeners of the early church would consider Jesus to have looked like any average Jew of that time.
Soon finishes his article by saying that he has given exegetical and historical reasons for the plausibility to understand that Jesus could be the subject of “he was small in stature.” However, I am not convinced that he gave enough exegetical evidence. He has a section in which he disagrees with Mikeal C. Parsons in that Zacchaeus is the subject of all the verbs.[5] Soon argues that there are verbs that are Jesus’s actions, not Zachaeus.[6] It is disappointing, nevertheless, that this section is all his exegetical work.
J. Alexander Findlay seems to be an important source for evidence of the possibility of Luke describing Jesus as the one short in stature. Howard Marshall, in his commentary on Luke, also mentions Findlay.[7] Therefore, I looked for Findlay’s commentary. I was disappointed to see that Findlay also did not give any exegetical evidence to his claim that Jesus could have been the short one.[8]
In Greek, Luke 19:2-3 reads, “Καὶ ἰδοὺ ἀνὴρ ὀνόματι καλούμενος Ζακχαῖος, καὶ αὐτὸς ἦν ἀρχιτελώνης καὶ αὐτὸς πλούσιος καὶ ἐζήτει ἰδεῖν τὸν Ἰησοῦν τίς ἐστιν καὶ οὐκ ἠδύνατο ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄχλου, ὅτι τῇ ἡλικίᾳ μικρὸς ἦν.”[9] Now, I am not a New Testament scholar. However, any seminary student who has a notion of basic koine Greek will be able to understand what I am about to say, and hopefully, they will agree with me.
First, verse 3 is not enough in our Greek grammar analysis. We need verse 2. Keep in mind that the Greek does not dive these sentences with punctuation signs. Koine Greek did not have punctuation signs. For this reason, punctuation signs differ from translation to translation. Punctuation signs are provided in the NA28 for modern readers. Subjects are provided as needed in the translation to understand the grammar of English or other languages adequately. Therefore, a more strictly literal translation would be, “And, behold, a man called by the name Zacchaeus, and he was a chief tax collector, and he was rich, and he wanted to see who Jesus was, but he was not able because of the crowd, for he was short in stature.”[10]
Second, having set the whole sentence in Greek, we can see that “Zachaeus,” Ζακχαῖος (Zachaeus), is in the masculine/nominative/singular form, while “Jesus,” Ἰησοῦν (Iesun), is in the masculine/accusative/singular form. Now, “short,” μικρὸς (micros), is in the masculine/nominative/singular form. According to the rules of grammar of the Greek language, adjectives must agree with their nouns in gender, case, and number. Therefore, “short,” μικρὸς, agrees with “Zachaeus,” Ζακχαῖος, and not with “Jesus,” Ἰησοῦν. For “short” to modify “Jesus” should say, “μικρὸν,” masculine/accusative/singular. Luke should have said, “τῇ ἡλικίᾳ μικρὸν ἦν” to indicate that Jesus was the one who was short in stature, not Zacchaeus.
As I mentioned before, I am amazed to see that Soon did not do his homework in analyzing the grammar. My expectation when I started to read the article was for Soon to give a compelling grammatical argument. As I mentioned, I am not a New Testament scholar. I thought Soon was and would give some grammatical insight that I missed as I read the Greek text.
Now, I wonder, am I overlooking something? Is my grammatical analysis correct? If I am missing something, please point it out.
[1] Isaac T. Soon, “The Little Messiah: Jesus as τῇ ἡλικίᾳ μικρὸς in Luke 19:3,” Journal of Biblical Literature 142, no. 1 (2023): 151–70.
[2] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations in English are from ESV.
[3] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations in Spanish are from LBLA.
[4] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations in Korean are from NKRV.
[5] Soon, “The Little Messiah,” 156.
[6] Soon, 157.
[7] I. Howard Marshall, The Gospel of Luke: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Exeter, UK: Paternoster Press, 1978), 696.
[8] J. Alexander Findlay, “Luke,” in The Abingdon Bible Commentary, ed. Frederick Carl Eiselen, Edwin Lewis, and David G. Downey (Nashville: The Abingdon Press, 1929), 1052.
[9] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations in Greek are from NA28.
[10] My translation.