Original Research: Historical Thought and Source Interpretation

‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers few’: Reflecting on the verisimilitude of Q 10.2

Llewellyn Howes
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies | Vol 78, No 4 | a7912 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v78i4.7912 | © 2022 Llewellyn Howes | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 07 July 2022 | Published: 20 October 2022

About the author(s)

Llewellyn Howes, Department of Languages, Cultural Studies and Applied Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

Abstract

This study considers the verisimilitude of the harvest saying in Matthew 9.37–38 and Luke (Q) 10.2, specifically the opening statement that the harvest is plentiful but the workers few. By ‘verisimilitude’ is meant the tradition’s tendency to be viewed as realistic in its original socio-historical context. In other words, would the first listeners have nodded their heads in agreement at the claim that the harvest is plentiful but the workers few? The focus here is not on the logion’s possible metaphorical application, but on the literal saying, which involves ancient agriculture. To address the verisimilitude question, the study will consider some individual features of the logion itself, as well as the socio-historical context of farming and harvesting in 1st-century Palestine and the Roman Empire.

Contribution: This study attempts to determine the verisimilitude of the literal claim that the harvest is plentiful but the workers few. The author is not aware of any other study that attempts to answer this verisimilitude question about Matthew 9.37–38 and Luke (Q) 10.2. Answering this question is sure to contribute to the understanding and interpretation of the chosen logion in the future.


Keywords

agriculture; harvest; literal; mission discourse; reapers; Sayings Gospel Q; workers.

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