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Sleep (2)

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

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SLEEP (ὕπνος, καθεύδω, ἀφυπνόω, κοιμάομαι).—The mention of sleep is frequent in the Gospels, both in its literal and in its figurative meanings.

1. Literally, e.g. ‘Joseph being raised out of sleep’ (Matthew 1:24); ‘Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep’ (Luke 9:32); (Jesus) ‘findeth them asleep’ (Matthew 26:40-43); ‘Simon, sleepest thou?’ (Mark 14:37). Jesus, as is noted by all the Synoptists, fell asleep in the boat as He and His disciples were crossing to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (Matthew 8:24 || Mark 4:38 || Luke 8:23). Mk. adds the detail that He slept ‘on the pillow’ (ἐπὶ τὸ προσκεφάλαιον), probably a boat cushion, or a headrest made of wool. Lk. indicates that He was fast asleep (ἀφυπνόω), which accords with the fact that the severe storm which had burst forth while they were crossing did not awake Him.

2. Figuratively: (i.) As a metaphor for death, ‘The maid is not dead, but sleepeth’ (καθεύδει, Matthew 9:24 || Mark 5:39 || Luke 8:52); ‘Our friend Lazarus sleepeth’ (is fallen asleep, κεκοίμηται, John 11:11). No distinction is to be made between the verbs καθεὐδω and κοιμάομαι, for the disciples reply, ‘Lord, if he sleep (κεκοίμηται), he shall do well’ (John 11:12); cf. also Matthew 27:52 with Matthew 28:13 || Luke 22:45, and Acts 7:60; Acts 13:36 with Acts 12:6. St. Paul frequently uses κοιμάομαι to describe the dead (1 Corinthians 15:18; 1 Corinthians 15:20 || 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15), and to express the fact of death (1 Corinthians 7:39; 1 Corinthians 11:30; 1 Corinthians 15:6; 1 Corinthians 15:51; cf. also 2 Peter 3:4). The metaphor is very ancient. It is found in the OT, ‘Since thou art laid down’ (in the LXX Septuagint ‘fallen asleep’ [κεκοίμησαι], Isaiah 14:8; cf. Isaiah 43:17 || 1 Kings 11:43); and in classical literature (Hom. Il. xi. 241; Soph. Elect. 509). (ii.) As symbolizing the lack of watchfulness: ‘while men slept his enemy came’ (Matthew 13:25); ‘lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping’ (Mark 13:36). (iii.) The interpretation of the sleep of the virgins (‘while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered [νυστάζω, ‘nodded’] and slept,’ Matthew 25:5) is uncertain. Many of the ancient interpreters take it as the sleep of death which comes to all. By some modern writers it has been interpreted as the sleep of ignorance, symbolizing that the day of the coming of the bridegroom, i.e. of Christ, is unknown, or as a hint that that day is not immediately at hand. Others take it as the sleep of security, indicating that the wise and the foolish virgins, having made such preparation as they thought necessary, awaited the coming of the bridegroom with such calmness of mind that they fell asleep. Probably the best interpretation is that which regards the sleep as the natural and innocent unconsciousness or obliviousness of the future and the eternal, and especially of the coming of Christ, which inevitably creeps over the wise and the foolish alike. This forgetfulness, however, is full of danger to those who do not keep themselves in such a condition of readiness for any event that they are prepared for it when it comes. We are not to be always thinking of the Lord’s coming, but are to live so that that event will not come upon us in a state of unreadiness. ‘The tension of the mind may innocently and must naturally vary. It is enough that its intention is ever the same—that we live under the power of the future and the eternal even when not thinking of it’ (Bruce).

Literature.—Trench, Parables; Bruce, Parabolic Teaching of Christ; Winterbotham in Expos., 1st ser. ix. [1879] p. 76 ff.; Jülicher, Die Gleichnisreden Jesu; Goebel, Parables (T. & T. Clark); Wendt, Teaching of Jesus (T. & T. Clark), vol. i. p. 136; R. Rainy, Sojourning with God (1902), 95.

John Reid.