CORBAN (kCieban), (Gr. Kopftiv, kor-han' , an offering), a Hebrew word employed in the Hellen istic Greek, just as the corresponding Greek word (boron was employed in the Rabbinical Hebrew (Iluxtorf, Le.r. Rah. col. 570) to designate an obla tion of any kind to God. It occurs only once in the New Testament (Mark vii:11t, where it is ex plained (as also by Josephus, //nag. I, 4, C. 4. S.C. 4, Contra '115. I, t, sec. 22) by the word dorm.
The Jews sometimes swore by Corban, or gifts offered to God (Matt. xxiii :18). A person might interdict himself, or a child be interdicted by his parents, front the use of certain things lawful in themselves. The thing thus interdicted was considered corban. A person might thus ex empt himself from any inconvenient obligation It was with such practices that our Lord found fault (Matt xv :5; Mark vii :W. as destroy ing the spirit of the law. Grotiuc shows that this and similar formula• were not used to signify that the thing was actually devoted. hut was simply in tended to prohibit the use of it from the party to whom it was thus made (Mid'', as though it were said, ' If I give you anvthing or do anything lot you, tnay it he as thougli I gave you that wind( is devoted to t;od, and Way I be per mred and sacrilegious.' Thus the Jews permitted even debtors to defraud their creditors, by con secrating their debt to God; as if the property were their own, and not rather the right of their creditor. It would, indeed, seem surprising that
such a vow as this (closely analogous to the modern profanity of imprecating curses on one's self if certain conditions be not fulfilled) should be considered to involve a religious obligation from which the party could not be freed even if afterwards he repented of his rashness and sin. It appears, however, from Rabbinical authority that anything thus devoted, except within cer tain limitations, was irreclaimable (Grotius, An notationes in Matt. xv :5), and that even the hasty utterance of a word implying a vow was equivalent to a vow formally made.
Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrkanos (A.D. 9o), who felt in several ways the influence of Christianity, was apparently the first Rabbi to advocate retractation of vows. I render Nedarim ix :I thus : 'Rabbi Eliezer said that when rash vows infringe at all on paren tal obligations, Rabbis should suggest a retracta tion (lit. open a door) by appealing to the honor due to parents. The sages dissented. Rabbi Zadok said, instead of appealing to the honor due to parents let them appeal to the honor due to God; then might rash vows cease. The sages at length agreed with Rabbi Eliezer, that if the casebe directly between a man and his parents (as in Matt. xv :5), they might suggest retractation by appealing to the honor due to parents.'