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August 27th, 2022

8/27/2022

There is a very special ‘journey’ this very Sunday. Only a few Sundays in the three-year series have been given an Old Testament text from the book of Proverbs. This Sunday our journey with the Old Testament text takes us to Proverbs 25:2-10, and some helpful advice is given. But it may also be helpful to look at where this book started, its foundation point.

The beginnings of various books are too quickly passed over in this present age, and that is easily understood why that happens. With the advent of study bibles, there are often long, introductory notes, along with an outline of the work. But the text was originally just the text. And important things were usually given within those first words and sentences to help the reader or listener see a bigger picture—not just a lot of words.

What follows is a somewhat-literal translation of the first seven verses of the book from its original language; its format has been altered to help see the infinitives within the text:

(V. 1) Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:

(V. 2)    To know wisdom and discipline,

to understand words of understanding,

(V. 3)    to take discipline in cleverness, righteousness and justice and evenness;

(V. 4)    to give to the simple prudence, to the youth, knowledge and discretion;

(V. 5) the wise may hear and may add learning, and the man of understanding may acquire skills;

(V. 6)   to understand a proverb and a parable, words of the wise and their riddles.

(V. 7) Fear of Yahweh, beginning of knowledge; wisdom and discipline, fools despise.

In the above text, these five infinities were given: to know, to understand, to take, to give, and to understand. What is interesting is a comparison to the Greek translation of this section. This translation was probably done about a century before Christ was born; and to be helpful, this somewhat-literal translation is in English. (For more detail, see The T&T Clark Companion to the Septuagint, the chapter by James K. Aitken and Lorenzo Cuppi, p. 342f.; edited by James K. Aitken; published by Bloomsbury T&T Clark [New York] in 2015.)

(V. 1) Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, who reigned in Israel:

(V. 2)   To know wisdom and discipline, and

to understand words of insight, and

(V. 3)   to receive turnings of words, and

to understand true righteousness, and

to direct judgment,

(V. 4)   in order that he might give craftiness to the simple, and to the young child both discernment and knowledge.

(V. 5) For by hearing of these, a wise man will be wiser, and a man of understanding will gain direction;

(V. 6) he will understand both a parable and a word of darkness, both the sayings of the wise and riddles.

(V. 7) Beginning of wisdom, fear of the Lord; and good understanding to all who do it; and piety toward God is the beginning of discernment, but wisdom and discipline the ungodly despise.

Some of the various differences between the two translations could be called significant, and much could be written about them. (You may wish to compare these translations to other more familiar translations.) What I would like to focus upon is that there are also five similar infinitives in this Greek translation, but they are in a significantly different order: to know, to understand, to receive, to understand, and to direct.

Both texts have five infinitives, but they are in an obviously different order. In the Hebrew, to understand is the second and fifth; in the Greek, the word is second and fourth.

In the Greek translation, it must be admitted that there is a progression within these words that makes a structure. There is a beginning at to know, then there is a progression on to understanding, then to receiving, then on to more understanding, then to directing. To put it in basic terms, there is a receiving, and then there is a giving out.

For the Hebrew infinitives, I would like to propose a progression that follows the progression and structure of the first five books of the Old Testament, the books considered to be written by Moses; these are also named the Pentateuch.

It is admittedly difficult to summarize five large books into five words, but, again, this is a helpful connection to make before the era of study bibles and introductory notes. Even in this present age, is sometimes important to see the bigger picture, and it is sometimes helpful to have it summarized in just a few words. (Seeing this bigger perspective is especially helpful if all you have is the text and not the sometimes-artificial divisions of chapter and verse, along with those added summaries in italics of various sections that appear in most bibles.)

GENESIS lays out the start of everything, and this includes all creation, but the most space is dedicated to the growth of the nation of Israel. At Genesis 4:1, the text says that Adam knew his wife, and they had a son. Things like this, for one TO KNOW another, those things continue on so that, eventually, the earth is filled.

EXODUS is certainly about Israel’s exodus from Egypt. But they simply do not go to the Promised Land. An incredibly significant stop is made at Mount Sinai. And an awful lot of words are spoken by the Lord. And he wants his people TO UNDERSTAND those special words.

LEVITICUS continues with Israel at Mount Sinai, but they are given more things to do, especially regarding the sacrifices—the job of the Levites. There are also things that make a person clean or unclean, along with the special days to do these things. The people also did not have to deal with other groups of people at this special place. The people are TO TAKE away these things and do them elsewhere.

NUMBERS is so named because there is a census at the beginning and at the end of the book. There are a lot of problems in between, and those problems occur at various times. There is still some teaching. Within this book Israel moves away from Mount Sinai, and they have to deal with the other nations in their way. And so, the people are TO GIVE what has been given to them by God. Sometimes they are to destroy other people, and sometimes they are to let them go.

DEUTERONOMY is so named because it is the second giving of the law. A lot of it is a repetition of what was said earlier, especially in the book of Exodus. These are some admittedly long sermons of Moses. And so, again, the Lord wants his people TO UNDERSTAND his special words.

Having a reference to the first five books of the Old Testament at the beginning of the book called Proverbs is a good reminder that wisdom needs a good foundation. When people become wise, they can be tempted to look at themselves and think how wise they have become. But true wisdom basically happens because of a gracious God, the God so deeply described in the Bible.

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August 20th, 2022

8/20/2022

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Our ‘journey’ continues this Sunday with the Old Testament text from the book of the prophet Isaiah [66:18-23], and unlike last week, this time we will be focusing a bit more on the text itself. It contains all but the very last verse of the entire book. And some last words are often very important words.

In a way, though, these words are not the last of the prophet since the writer is quoted many times within the New Testament. This is also the case when it comes to Jeremiah and particularly the Gospel according to Matthew.

Last week I mentioned that the book of Jeremiah does contain a LOT of ‘Thus says the LORD…’ statements, many of which did not make it to the Greek translation of the book. The book of Isaiah has a lot of those same phrases as well. What is interesting about the Greek translation of Jeremiah is that, in chapters 1-28, these words were usually translated into Greek words which basically mean, ‘So SAYS the Lord’, but in the remaining chapters they are usually translated as ‘Thus SAID the Lord.’ So why the big difference in the verb tense?

Years ago, the simple solution proposed was that there were two different translators to this book. And that is certainly a possible solution when there is any sort of variety to a large work of translation. But more recent solutions have been of a literary nature. If it is recorded that someone SAYS something, and then it is recorded that they SAID something, what is emphasized is the things that were said at the beginning. The things said at the beginning are foundational. (For more detail, you may wish to look at The T&T Clark Companion to the Septuagint, the chapter by Andrew G. Shead, p. 471f.; edited by James K. Aitken; published by Bloomsbury T&T Clark [New York] in 2015.)

There is a message of comfort with both verb tenses. If something IS being said, or if something WAS said, if the one saying the thing is being helpful, then that is a good thing. Jeremiah is known for his being helpful, but, because of the bad news that he was given by the LORD and giving to the LORD’s people, he sometimes had some difficult times from the people who did not want to hear that bad news.

What is interesting about this almost-at-the-end text from Isaiah is that chapter sixty-six contains a lot of ‘The Lord said’ phrases. I thought it would be helpful to see those phrases in contrast to the last ‘The Lord says’ phrases that often come before. The order is very similar to what was given in Jeremiah. Below is a somewhat-literal translation of some of the last chapter of Isaiah from the Greek translation (and to be helpful, the words ‘say’ and ‘said’ are in bold print):

Verses 1-2       Thus says the Lord: The heaven, my throne; and the earth, the stool of my feet. What kind of house will you build for me? And what kind, the place of my rest? For all these things, my hand made, and all these things are mine, says the Lord; and upon whom will I look, but, on the contrary, upon the one who is humble and quiet and who trembles at my words?

Verses 4-5       And I myself will choose their mockeries, and the sins I will repay them, because I called them, and they did not listen to me; I spoke, and they did not hear, and they did evil before me, and they chose things that I did not desire. Hear words of the Lord, those trembling at his word; speak, our brothers, to those hating and abhorring you, in order that the name of the Lord may be glorified and seen in their joy, and those will be ashamed.

Verse 9            But I gave this expectation, and you did not remember me, said the Lord. Look! Did I not make the bearing and the barren? said your God.

Verse 12          For so says the Lord: Look! I myself am turning toward them as a river of peace, and as a torrent bringing upon them glory of the nations. Their children will be carried on shoulders, and upon knees they will be comforted.

Verse 17         Those cleansing and purifying themselves in the gardens and in the porches eating flesh of pigs, and the abominations, and the mouse altogether will be consumed, said the Lord.

Verses 20-23   And they will bring your brothers from all the nations, a gift to the Lord, with horses and chariots, in mule-drawn covered chariots with sunshades, into the holy city of Jerusalem, said the Lord, as though the sons of Israel would bring their sacrifices to me with psalms into the house of the Lord. And from them I will take the priests and Levites, said the Lord. For the way the new heaven and the new earth, which I am making, remain before me, says the Lord, thus your seed and your name will stand. And it shall be, month to month and Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh will come to worship before me in Jerusalem, said the Lord.

Hopefully you have enjoyed what was both said in the past and is still said today in congregations all over the world when God’s words are spoken; and HIS words are true.

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August 14th, 2022

8/14/2022

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Our ‘journey’ continues this Sunday with the Old Testament text from the book of the prophet Jeremiah [23:16-29], although there will be little reference to that text in this writing. Last week I did mention that the book of Jeremiah does contain a LOT of ‘Thus says the LORD…’ statements. Perhaps it is not at all surprising that some of these statements did not carry over into the Greek translation of the Old Testament (usually called the Septuagint) that was completed in the centuries after the Greek empire was at its height and before Jesus’ birth. Could it possibly be that people were getting tired of hearing what the LORD had to say???

Does the LORD get tired of saying the same thing over and over again? Obviously not, especially since there are four gospel accounts, and three of them are quite similar. And we ourselves get bad news not just from the devil, but from the world and our own sinful nature.

Last week I also mentioned that sometimes in the original text the verb is in the present tense when you would normally expect the past. Instead of the writer writing that Jesus ‘did’ something, he wrote that he ‘does’ something. This is called the historical present. And these historical presents occur in the four gospel accounts with four different emphases. That makes each of them special and important, even though some very similar things are repeated. (By the way, the only translation I know of that does point out these historical presents—and it is simply done with an asterisk after the verb given in the past tense—is the New American Standard Bible.)

To help make sense of these different emphases in the different gospel accounts, I thought it would be helpful to look a little bit more closely at the few occurrences of the historical present in the book of Genesis. The book of Genesis is an important one, and it is probably one of the first ones to be translated into Greek. Last week’s Old Testament text—in its translation into the Greek language—looked at the first occurrence of this phenomena in Genesis 15:2. According to Dr. Wim Hendriks (in his article “Das Praesens Historicum in der Septuaginta,” he gives a list of the historical presents that he has found in the Old Testament; see the Revue Biblique of 2017; volume 124, part 3, pages 381-420), the historical present appears in the book of Genesis only in these six places: 15:2, 15:12, 29:2, 32:7 (6 in the English), 33:17, 37:29, and 39:16.

The first occurrence was covered last week. After the LORD had spoken, Moses’ response was to say something in the present tense. How are the other occurrences similar? Below are the other occurrences (in a somewhat-literal translation of the Greek translation), given along with their context.

15:12    This chapter contains the oft-quoted statement that basically ‘Abraham believed the LORD and it was credited to him as righteousness.’ This was Abraham’s response to the LORD’s promise of many descendants. Then the topic turns to the ownership (or rather the STEWARDSHIP) of the land. The LORD is about to give another promise. And so the LORD has Abraham bring some animals, and he has him cut most of them down the middle, and then verse 12 reads as follows:

And about at the setting of the sun, an ecstasy fell on Abram, and, behold, a great gloomy fear falls on him.

29:2      Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, just had the significant dream at Bethel of the angels of God ascending and descending. He was running from Esau, his brother, whose birthright Jacob had stolen. And he was about to find a wife. The previous verse indicates that he was in the area of the ‘eastern peoples’, and Jacob finds someone who is related to him. The verse describes what he saw:

And he looks, and, behold, a well in the plain. And there were there three flocks of sheep resting on it; for out of that well they watered the flock. And there was a great stone at the mouth of the well.

32:7      Jacob ends up having a big family, and at the very end of the previous chapter Jacob and his father-in-law part company. After meeting some angels of God, Jacob is getting ready to meet his brother, Esau. He just sent some messengers to Esau, hoping that he is on good terms with Jacob. But he does not know what to expect. And verse 6 (in the English) is what the messenger has in his report back to Jacob:

And the messengers returned to Jacob saying, ‘We came to your brother, Esau, and, behold, he comes to meet you, and four hundred men with him.

33:17    In this chapter, Jacob finally meets Esau, and it seems to be a very positive thing. In fact, Jacob says that seeing Esau’s face is like seeing the face of God (see verse 10). Immediately prior to the verse with the historical present, the writer relates that Esau returned back to his home. Verse 17 is as follows:

And Jacob departs to his tents, and he made for himself homes there; and for his cattle he made booths; therefore, he called the name of that place ‘booths’.

37:29    With the twelve sons of Jacob, you can be sure there was a competitive nature among them. And Jacob, the father, did not help things by giving Joseph a special gift—and the LORD also gave him a special gift, that of interpreting dreams. Almost all of his brothers had first agreed to kill him, but then most of them decide to sell him to some Ishmaelites who were headed to Egypt. Verse 29 describes the situation when Reuben comes back—he was planning on rescuing Joseph:

And Reuben returned to the pit, and he sees not Joseph in the pit; and he tore his clothes.

39:16    We fast-forward to Joseph and some of the details while in Egypt. He was bought by Potiphar and was REALLY liked by his wife. Joseph tried to get away from her, and he left his clothes in her hand and ran out of the house. In the verses prior to 16, Potiphar’s wife was telling her side of the story—with an extremely slanted perspective—to her household servants. Verse 16 is as follows:

And she leaves the clothes by her, until the lord came into his house.

In the case of all of these examples of the historical present in Genesis, they all have a strong connection to what is going on around them. Did you notice the connections when it came to vocabulary? In the two occurrences in chapter 15, there was the duplication of speaking and falling. In chapter 29, there was a connection between looking and beholding. In chapter 32, there were the messengers coming and Esau coming. In chapter 33, Esau ‘returned’ and Jacob ‘departs’. In chapter 37, there was the duplication of the word ‘pit’—admittedly a noun and not a verb. And in chapter 39, Joseph left his cloak, and Potiphar’s wife also leaves it.

Although there is a connection to the events around it, having the verb in the present tense brings attention to the event. More specifically, there are significant ramifications for the event happening in the historic present. Some were positive, and some were negative.

It is significant that, in all of these occurrences, something important is about to happen. The LORD is about to say something important regarding Abraham’s future. Jacob is about to meet his wife, he is also about to meet up with Esau again, and then he leaves him—still alive! Joseph is about to go to Egypt, then he is about to go to jail—which starts the way to save the rest of his family from a famine.

In a concrete way, the similarity among all these instances is one of significance. And another way to look at significance is to speak of weightiness or heaviness. Something happens, and then something else happens that is strongly connected to that first event. The phrase ‘to throw one’s weight around’ may have some significance here.
And that idea of heaviness is closely connected to the word ‘glory’ in the Old Testament. It is very close to the Hebrew word for ‘heavy’. And this word ‘glory’ is strongly connected to the LORD and what he does.

The LORD has glory; he has weight; he has significance. If Jesus would have come down and thrown his weight around while he was alive, that would be a different thing. But he shows his significance in slightly different ways in the four gospel accounts. And each account leads to the cross. And that is when he truly threw his weight against sin, death, and all that the devil has to say. And that has some significance for right now, at this very moment in time.

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August 06th, 2022

8/6/2022

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Our ‘journey’ continues this Sunday, again with a Genesis text [15:1-6]. But this text is significantly different, at least in its historical terms.

Sometimes even the mention of ANY word related to ‘history’, and some people will immediately lose interest. Thinking of history as ‘His story’ may be a better starting point. It may also keep things in perspective, since it is so easy to focus on ourselves after a while. We would like history to be OUR story.

When it comes to the book of Genesis, there is a lot that could be said about its perspective. It has two creation accounts for a reason, even multiple reasons. Much could also be said about the start of the New Testament. Having four accounts about Jesus may be too much for some. Again, there is a possible loss of interest. With four different accounts, things can get too complicated quite easily.

The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, and the New Testament, in Greek. The Greek language was very popular right before the time of Jesus, largely due to Alexander the Great and the Greek conquests. In the centuries before the New Testament, the entire Old Testament was also translated into Greek.

I write all of this to make the point that, with the four accounts of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, there are very significant differences among these four accounts when it comes to the use of what is called the ‘historical present’. The historical present is when you would expect a verb to be in the past tense, but, amazingly enough, it is in the present. In other words, instead of reading that ‘Jesus said…’, the text would say that ‘Jesus says….’

An easy way to explain this away would be to say that the writer simply got caught up with the excitement of what he was relating and could not help but use the present tense in describing what happened. Such a perspective is understandable since the focus of these four accounts is the unique God-man, Jesus. But perhaps there could be at least another reason.

A fuller explanation might take into account more of the evidence. I write that because the Greek translation of the Old Testament contains historical presents as well, and these were written centuries before Jesus was born. And we know that at least some of the New Testament writers had a knowledge of this Old Testament translation because it is sometimes used when quoting the Old Testament.

Years ago I thought that the only occurrences of the historical present in the Old Testament were when this familiar text came up: ‘Thus says the LORD….’ That verb is certainly in the present text, but a historical present is when a past tense is EXPECTED, but a present tense occurs. We may be looking at some of those occurrences in other parts of the Old Testament in the coming weeks.

The first five books of the Old Testament are considered very important, and they were probably the first books to be translated into Greek. And the very first use of the historical present appears in the first part of the text for this Sunday. What follows is a somewhat-literal translation of the first three verses of the Hebrew, and then an attempt at the same thing for the Greek:

Hebrew:
After these things, the word of Yahweh was to Abram in the vision to say, “Do not fear, Abram, I, a shield to you, your reward, to make very great.”

And he said, Abram, “Lord Yahweh, what will you give to me, and I, going childless, and son of inheritance of my house, he, Damascus Eliezer.” And he said, Abram, “Behold, to me you have not given a seed, and behold, son of my house, one inheriting, me.”

And behold, the word of Yahweh to him to say, “He, this, will not be heir of you; specifically, rather who will come out from your body, he himself will be your heir.”

Greek:
And after these things, a word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I myself am shielding you; your reward will be very great.”

And he says, Abram, “Master, Lord, what will you give to me? And I myself am departing childless; and the son of Masek, of my homeborn, this Damascus Eliezer.” And he said, Abram, “Because you have not given a seed to me, but my homeborn will inherit me.”

And immediately a voice of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one will not inherit you; but on the contrary, the one who will come out of you, this one will inherit you.”

The use of the historical present has to do with a result of an important action rather than the important action itself. In the same way, the statement of ‘Thus says the LORD,’ can be considered a response as well. In that case, the LORD says something in response to something else that has happened.

In the case above, Abram says something in response to the LORD having said something. Responses are important, especially when it comes to the things of God

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