The Concept of Togetherness in Jewish and Urhobo Children Play Songs:

A Contrastive Linguistic Study of Luke 7:32.

A Paper Presented
At the
3
rd
National Conference of The School of Languages
College of Education, Warri
Theme:
Culture Trends in Language, Literature and Communication
Date:
May 1
st
4
th
, 2012
By Akpobome Diffre-Odiete
Department of Languages and Linguistics
Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria
Correspondence:
Tel.:+234 (0) 805 3688 999, (0) 806 4199 464
Email: akposdiete@yahoo.com
Abstract
Like the Athenians of Apostle Pauls day, Nigerians are very religious people. If the religious
zeal of indigenous peoples is properly channeled it can be used to bring about the use of
indigenous Nigerian languages for human capital and national development. It is one thing to
study the Bible, another thing to understand what we study (Acts 8:30), and yet another to apply
what we understand in our daily lives (James 1:22). Thus Jesus rebuked the legalistic Jews
saying, You are mistaken, not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God (Matthew 22:29).
Therefore, it is the aim of this paper to study the virtuous lifestyles of children as portrayed in
both Jewish childrens play song of Jesus time and in Urhobo children play songs of the recent
past. This brief comparative linguistic study shall then look at how the virtuous lifestyles of
children and their love of songs as a method of communication can serve as a role model for
human capital and national development in modern Nigeria.


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I. INTRODUCTION
Togetherness, as meant in this study can best be defined by a comparative linguistic study
of the words used in the Greek, English and Urhobo Bibles. This we shall do in due course.
The term Jews have been defined as [A] corrupted form of Judah, and applied to the people
of the kingdoms of Judah and Benjamin (2 Ki.16:16; 25:25; 2Ch.32:18). After the dissolution of
the kingdom of Israel, the name was applied to all Israelites as well as to those of the two tribes
(Mt.27:11; Ac.2:5) (Strong, 1626).
The Urhobo people are a loose confederacy of twenty-three autonomous culturally and
geographically related kingdoms that occupy a major part of the Niger Delta region of
Nigeria. They inhabit an area located roughly within latitude 6 and 5 15 North and
Longitudes 5 40 and 6 25 East of present day Delta State (Otite, 11).
It is from these two distantly located peoples that we derive our subject of study because of
the similarity in the folklore in question.
II. BACKGROUND STUDY OF LUKE 7:32
The text reads thus, They are like children sitting in the market place. One group shouts to the
other, We played wedding music for you, but you wouldnt dance! We sang funeral songs, but you
wouldnt cry!(Good News Bible). In this speech, the they that were like children were the
men of Jesus generation who rejected the will of God for themselves (Luke 7:30, 31) by
accepting neither the message of John the forerunner nor that of Jesus the Messiah.
The legalism and hypocrisies of the lawyers, scribes and Pharisees were some major vices that
Christ vehemently opposed in the Synoptic Gospels. These men adored the graves of the prophets
whom their forefathers killed, but they themselves would also kill the prophets of their own time.
As the leaders of the theocratic nation of Israel, these men themselves made up the judiciary. They

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interpreted the Law of Moses correctly, hence Jesus asked His followers to observe what they said.
However, they were hypocritical in its application, hence Jesus forbade His followers from
emulating their lifestyles (Matthew 23:1-3). And worst of all, these leaders lacked the spirit of
social justice in executing the law (Matthew 23:23).
At that time, Israel as a nation was in political bondage to the Romans as well as in moral slavery
due to negligence in applying the word of God in daily living. The nation was therefore, in dire
need of spiritual revival and socio-political cum economic development just as Nigeria is today.

III. A LINGUISTIC STUDY OF THE GREEK AND ENGLISH TEXTS

The concept of togetherness is expressed in the English text quoted above with the use of
personal pronouns such as we and the plural you. The Good News version even refers to one
group and the other, meaning two groups. The New King James Version (NKJV) refers to
children calling to one another. The Revised Standard Version (RSV) says the same thing. And
the New International Version (NIV) uses one to another.
The terms we have piped (KJV), We played the flute (NKJV), we played wedding music"
(GNB) are translated or paraphrased from the Greek quqoocv ( transliterated eulesamen). This
term is a conjugation of the verb ouqo (aorist qucoo which means to play on the flute, pipe
(Thayer, 84) and the pronoun ocv (omen) which means we (Diffre-Odiete, 68). Thus, the we
that played the flute refers to a plurality of persons playing together. Likewise, the you to whom
the flute was played is a second person plural pronoun. It is uiv (humin) in the Greek, the plural
of ou (su) a second person pronoun (Strong, 1538).
The purpose of this grammatical study is to establish the concept of togetherness in the
context of the text. Although the reason for Jesus quoting the children is different, the spirit of the
song can be easily identified.

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IV. RENDERING OF THE SONG IN THE URHOBO BIBLE

The Urhobo Bible rightly portrays the concept of togetherness in the text by using plural
pronouns as found in the Greek text:
Avwanrehworo owanre k ovwan,
Ovwan se gbe eha-a;
Avwanrevi ke ovwan, ovwan sa vi-.
Avwanre is the first person plural pronoun of m, and ovwan is the second person plural pronoun
of w.
It is therefore, evident from this linguistic study of the text that plurality of persons seeking
unity and togetherness with a plurality of other persons is indicated in the Jewish children folklore
under study. A comparison of this song with a similar one in Urhobo would be necessary at this
point.


V. A COMPARISON OF JEWISH AND URHOBO CHILDREN FOLKLORE

Over two decades ago, this researcher was aware of and fully involved in evening children games.
One common song that the first people to arrive at the playground use to summon others from their
homes was this:
A yarhe a h eha
Ayen chidi uwevwi
A yarhe a h eha
Ayen chidi uwevwi
Ode t |k r ugborho

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M je ra, m je ra
Ikebe tamu ehwa
Kir eranvwe re dori
Translated, the song goes like this in English:
You, come let us play
(Yet) they sit at home
You, come let us play
(Yet) they sit at home
When it is time to tell on somebody
I want to go, I want to go.
(May your) buttocks stick to your bed
Like simmered meat.
The a before the yarhe in the above song is a second person plural. It is the short form of
avwan, the Eghwu dialect for second person plural you. The speaker or singer is calling on a
plurality of persons. However, if the reference were to one person, the a would not have been
there. The song would have begun as Yarhe a h eha. The second a however, is us in
English, the object form of we. What is implied in the song is that the singer (could be singular or
plural person(s)) is inviting others (plural) in order for us to play.

VI. CHILDREN AS A ROLE MODEL FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Jesus, in His ministry, was fond of referring to children. In another passage in the gospel of Luke,
He says, Let the children come to Me, and do not forbid them; For of such is the kingdom of God.
Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no
means enter it (Luke 18:16, 17; NKJV).

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Here, Jesus sets out children as a role model for entrance into the economy of salvation. The
same is applicable in our political economy. One child can hardly sit alone and play well as when
he is in company of others. And even if he does, observe the extraordinary joy that comes to his
heart when another child joins him in playing together.
Children do have their fights and disputes when they play. However, they do not let these to
mare their spirit of togetherness. When the next play time comes, they still jump out calling to one
another, a yarhe a h eha. And if there is a delay in responding, say because one has not
completed his chores, the singer(s) continue, ode t |ke r ugborho, m je ra, m je ra. Ikebe
tamu ehwa kir eranvwe re dori. At this point, the late comers will rush out of their homes.
Everybody wants to play together. Nobody wants his buttocks to stick to his bed.
What the country needs is children-like hearts to enable us move forward despite our
differences. We may have differences in ethno-linguistic affiliation, economic cum-political
ideologies, and even in religious beliefs. But we can still come together as one nation. What we
need is the spirit of togetherness which is inherent in Jewish and Urhobo childrens lifestyle.
CONCLUSION
A study of the Synoptic Gospels can prove effective in solving our socio-economic problems.
Ranging from personal to inter-personal, from national to international conflicts, the Synoptic
Gospels present a range of principles for conflict management and resolution. The concept of
togetherness as portrayed in the Jewish children play song of Jesus time is just one of such. The
Urhobo children play song, with its remarkable similarity to the Jewish children play song supports
the concept of the spirit of togetherness among children. It is left for adults to adopt the language of
children in promoting human capital development.



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REFERENCES
Baibol |fuafon Na. (1970). Lagos: Bible Society of Nigeria
Diffre-Odiete, Akpobome (n.d.). A Hand-Out for Bible Teachers, Preachers and Church

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Leaders. Effurun: Pepper-Kearly Institute.
New Life Good News Bible, 2
nd
Edition (1992).n.p.: The United Bible Societies.
Otite, Onigu (1973). Autonomy and Independence: The Urhobo Kingdom of Okpe in Modern
Nigeria. Ibadan: Ibadan University Press.
Strong, James (2001). The Strongest Strongs Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Grand
Rapids: Zondervan.
Thayer, Joseph (1977). A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. Grand Rapids:
Baker.
Zodhiates, Spiros (1992). The Complete Word Study New Testament with Parallel Greek.
Chattanooga, TN.: AMG Publishers