LAME.—This word, perhaps originally meaning bruised,
signifies a crippled or disabled condition caused by injury to or defect of
a limb or limbs; specifically walking with difficulty, inefficient from injury
or defect, unsound or impaired in strength. It is applied metaphorically to all
kinds of inefficiency, such as inadequate excuses, or verses which offend against
the laws of versification. The term embraces all varieties of defect in walking
arising from various causes, and includes halting and maimed (see
artt.), which are separate and distinct species of lameness.
The Greek word is χωλός, from obsolete χάω or
χαλάω (to loosen, slacken), which is tr. ‘lame’ in Mt 11:5
15:30, 31 21:14, Lk 7:22
14:13; but in other passages for no
apparent reason the same word is translated ‘halt.’ In Jn 5:3 χωλῶν
is rendered ‘halt’ without any indication that a special species of lameness is
intended, where the description is quite general as in the above passages. In Mk
9:43-45 it is used synonymously with κυλλός, where ἀνάπηρος
might have been expected in both cases, seeing that the injury referred to is the
definite cutting off of the hand or foot, κυλλός is, however, most commonly
associated with the hand, while χωλός more specifically has to do with lameness
in the foot or feet. In Mt 18:8 we have χωλὸν ἢ κυλλόν—transposed
in the authorities followed by RV, making the correspondence between χείρ
and κυλλόν, and ποὺς and χωλόν.
Healing of the lame was a characteristic work of Christ.
Among the multitudes that gathered round Him seeking restoration for various ailments
were probably sufferers from many different kinds of lameness (as Mt 15:30,
Lk 7:22). Jn 5:3 gives a comprehensive list of such sick persons,
including the feeble, the blind, the lame, and the withered (πλῆθος τῶν ἀσθενούντων,
τυφλῶν, χωλῶν, ξηρῶν). Probably
these miscellaneous cases would include those suffering from chronic rheumatism
and from infirmities having a nervous origin, many of which resulted in a withering
of the limbs and of the bodily frame. It is significant that Jesus is never said
to have restored the ἀνάπηροι, the badly mutilated—deprived of their
limbs (see Maimed).
T. H. Wright.
