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December 26th, 2020

12/26/2020

The Old Testament reading for the First Sunday after Christmas is from Isaiah AGAIN, but it will not show up too frequently after this Sunday. It is a very special book in the Old Testament, and much could be said about it.

The variety of the words used within this book is amazing. The text for this Sunday is Isaiah 61:10-62:3, and the last verse of that text is a good example of some of the variety that is within the book. Here is a somewhat-literal translation:

And you will be a crown of splendor in the hand of Yahweh and a diadem of royalty in the hand of your God.

This seems like a straightforward translation that deserves little comment. The description of ‘hand of Yahweh’ is somewhat similar to ‘hand of your God’. But what is the difference between a ‘crown of splendor’ and a ‘diadem of royalty’?

A good starting point may be to point out the difference between a crown and a diadem. Looking at these two words may be helpful, not only because we rarely have kings these days, but also because the kingship of God may be greatly misunderstood.
Although this does not work with many languages, to see what other words are similar to an unknown word may be helpful. And the words for crown and diadem are obviously different, but they do have some similarities.

The word ‘crown’ is similar to the verb ‘to surround’. [See The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon: With an Appendix Containing the Biblical Aramaic, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts, USA, 1996; page 742; hereafter BDB.] A crown surrounds the head. And the word ‘diadem’ is similar to the verb ‘to wrap’ or ‘to wind up’. And it is closely related to the word for ‘turban’ [BDB, page 857]. That would also surround the head.

What is interesting is that the word for ‘splendor’ is also connected to the word for ‘headdress’ or ‘turban’. It obviously means something like ‘beauty’ or ‘glory’, but for it to be connected to the same thing gives the idea that a crown or something significant on the head is an important item to be worn [BDB, page 802]. And the idea of surrounding or wrapping something is meant to be a powerful picture (see Isaiah 22:18 for a good example of this).

The king has a very important job. And to see the king’s face, to be in the presence of royalty, that is a very significant thing. God is the ultimate king, and we see the importance of his presence throughout the Old Testament, but also in the New.

It is also interesting that, on the Mount of Transfiguration, the only description of Jesus’ face in all three accounts was that it shown like the sun (Matthew 17:2). THAT would be something that you do not want to look at directly. It is also interesting that the only time Jesus accepts a crown on his head is when the cross will be his throne.

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December 19th, 2020

12/19/2020

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For all four Sundays in Advent in the ‘A’ series and for the first three Sundays in the ‘B’ series, the Old Testament texts have been from Isaiah. The Old Testament text for this Sunday, the Fourth Sunday in Advent, goes to a significantly different section of the Old Testament. The text for this week is from 2 Samuel [7:1-11, 16], but ultimately you might see a connection to Isaiah.

These four books of 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings are often simply seen as historical, but within them, there are more important things going on than simply history. Samuel is an important priest, and Israel’s desire to have a king is an important request—because it is clearly stated within the text that the LORD is their true king (see 1 Samuel 8). And the prophets show up to remind the ‘pseudo-king’ and the people who their true king is. And there are many ways in which they do this.

In Isaiah—but especially in Jeremiah and Ezekiel—there is sometimes the phrase, ‘Thus says the Lord.’ This verb is in the present tense. The emphasis is not on that the Lord said something in the past or that he will say something in the future, but that he is saying something in the present. It is therefore something important that is being said.
In the translation of the Hebrew text of these four books (1 Samuel-2 Kings) into Greek, there is a frequent use of this present tense, where one would normally expect the past tense. And the first occurrence of this in 1 Samuel is already in the first chapter!

The people involved are Elkanah and his wife, Hannah, and they have traveled to Shiloh, the special place where the LORD is to be worshipped. The priest there at that time, Eli, interacts with Hannah—although in the Greek text (verse 14) it says that Eli’s servant is the one who initially talks to her. But it is Eli who eventually promises that the Lord would grant what she was requesting—a child. And the following is a somewhat literal translation of the Greek text (verse 19) after Elkanah and Hannah are given this promise:

And they rise early, and they worship the Lord, and they go their way. And Elkanah entered into his house….

Those first three verbs are in the present tense instead of the past. This is something to which the translator is drawing our attention. The LORD has just promised to do something wonderful. And these verbs which follow that promise are in the present tense because there are ramifications or results of what the LORD does, especially what he does as our true king.

These historical presents are frequent in these books because the LORD’s existence as king is important, and that truth has many different ramifications for his people. As a throne would show that a king is important, there would be some texts where what the LORD is doing is certainly important. You can see that especially in the New Testament with Jesus.

For more information about the presence of these historical presents in this part of the Old Testament, you may wish to look at the following article. It is in German, but things could be worse. “Das Praesens Historicum in den griechischen Samuelbüchern,” in In the Footsteps of Sherlock Holmes: Studies in the Biblical Text in Honour of Anneli Aejmelaeus. Peters Publishing in Walpole Maryland, 2014.

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December 12th, 2020

12/12/2020

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The Old Testament text for the Third Sunday in Advent is again from Isaiah [61:1-4, 8-11], but the first part of this text is important enough to have found its way into the New Testament as well. Here are the first two verses of the Isaiah text in a somewhat literal translation of the Hebrew, and perhaps you remember seeing at least some of those words somewhere else:

The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is on me, because Yahweh anointed me to evangelize the afflicted, he sent me to bind up those broken of heart, to proclaim to the ones being captive liberty, and to the ones being bound complete opening, to proclaim the year of favor of Yahweh….

It might be helpful to see the Greek translation of these verses before looking at their use in the New Testament. The entire Old Testament (and more!) was translated into the language of the New Testament a few years before the New Testament was written, and that translation provides a good context for understanding many aspects of the New Testament, especially when it comes to the life of Jesus.

In the version that the following text is from, The Septuagint with Apocrypha: Greek and English, edited by Sir Lancelot C. L. Brenton [Published by Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA, 1980; page iii], in the introduction, this very broad statement concerning the Greek translation is given: ‘The Pentateuch is considered to be the part the best executed, while the book of Isaiah appears to be the very worst.’ The reason for the Isaiah translation being called ‘the very worst’ might be seen below, since this translation is also somewhat literal, but the Greek text has some significant differences from the Hebrew:

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he anointed me, he sent me to evangelize the poor, to heal the broken in heart, to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to call the acceptable year of the Lord….

There are obviously some small differences, but one significant difference between this text and the one above is that the Hebrew text nowhere mentions those who are blind. What text was used for the Greek translation? That question is difficult to answer, since the translator is no longer around.

Perhaps this translation should not be called the worst because Jesus, in his reading of this text in the synagogue in Nazareth, follows this translation at least in some places. If Jesus liked it, perhaps we should as well. Here is a somewhat literal translation of Luke 4:18-19:

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he anointed me to evangelize the poor, he has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and sight to the blind, to send away in release the ones having been crushed, to proclaim an acceptable year of the Lord.

Our same question might be what text did Jesus use? There might be other questions as well. What happened to the brokenhearted? (The phrase about the brokenhearted does appear in some ancient manuscripts.) And why is release mentioned twice? Unfortunately, there was not a record of ALL the details that happened that day. There are some questions about scripture that cannot be answered.

The important questions of the scripture are certainly answered. Who was sent with the Spirit? Who was anointed? Who ultimately evangelizes? Who ultimately saves? Those questions are answered in Jesus. And Jesus certainly emphasized good things when he was on earth, and he also brought a fuller meaning when he spoke the text. This good news (but not the gospel) is certainly emphasized by Jesus the word ‘release’. And it is not a coincidence that the word ‘release’ is also the word for forgiveness (see Luke 24:47).

What is similar between the Hebrew and the Greek is that both texts talk about a day of vengeance or revenge for God that is coming, and Jesus definitely left that out. He wanted the good news to predominate. And Jesus wants his followers to know what ‘release’ really means.

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December 6th, 2020

12/6/2020

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This Sunday, the Second Sunday in Advent, continues to look at the words of the prophet Isaiah for the Old Testament reading, but this Sunday takes us back to the beginning of the ‘gospel’ section of that book, chapter forty [verses 1-11]. And right at the beginning of this section there is the phrase—translated differently in different versions of course—‘says your God’. You might be familiar with the phrase, ‘Thus says the Lord.’ And you may not think so, but there is much that could be said about such a phrase.

This is not an appeal to be thankful for your grade school English teacher, but the tense of a phrase is an important thing. The above words are not just describing something that was true and happened in the past; they are also describing something that remains true and is important in the present.

The purpose of the scriptures is not just to say what God did and said in the past, but it is also important to know what he NOW does and says. This is especially true as we look forward to the end of time, when there will be a new heaven and new earth. We are like the people of the Old Testament, looking back at what happened in the past, but we are also looking forward to what has been promised in the future.

The Old Testament texts, originally written in the Hebrew language, were translated into the language of the New Testament, the Greek language, sometime after Alexander the Great. And it is interesting to note that there were times in that translation when the text was originally in the past tense, but it was translated into Greek and appeared in the present. This is called the ‘historical present’. The above example (‘Thus says the Lord’) does not apply because, in both languages, the text is in the present.

Here is an example of an historical present that seems to be the closest one to the beginning of the Old Testament (Genesis 15:1ff; the first paragraph is a somewhat literal translation of the Hebrew; the second, of the Greek):

After these words the word of Yahweh was to Abram in the vision to say, ‘Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you, your reward will be very great.’ And Abram said to the Lord Yahweh, ‘What will you give to me, and I am walking childless, and a son of the inheritance of my house, he is Damascus Eliezer.’

And after these things a word of the Lord happened to Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Do not fear, Abram, I am shielding you; your reward will be very great.’ And Abram says, ‘Master, Lord, what will you give to me? I am departing childless; and the son of Masek, my home-born, this is Damascus Eliezer.

There are obviously some small differences. A big difference to note is the change from Abram ‘said’ to Abram ‘says’. And it seems that the translator used the present tense because of what just came before. The Lord had just said ‘I am a shield to you.’ And the ramifications of being a shield are great.

The event having ramifications cannot be the only factor for having an historical present. If that were true, they would be much more frequent in that translation of the Old Testament. But being in the presence of the Lord is also an important factor and has significant ramifications for a sinful world. And the Lord’s presence is an issue when these special verbs appear.

The ramifications of the Lord’s presence in Jesus are also great. Most people see the four accounts as four historical documents from different perspectives, and this is most certainly true. But they are also four theological documents that describe the different and significant ramifications of what Jesus said and did.

The four accounts of Jesus have different historical presents, and that makes sense as well. The four accounts of Jesus have been connected to the four living creatures of the Lord’s throne, and a throne is a significant statement regarding the king’s presence. A throne shows both the king’s authority and his glory.

Both ‘authority’ and ‘glory’ have a chance to be misunderstood. Authority can have a negative connotation, and glory can be simply connected to Christmas, something that the angels mention when they are singing.

The word ‘authority’ is really a positive word; it directs us to the proper source. And the word ‘glory’ really means heaviness. Therefore, the significance or the weight of each account is important and slightly different. And all four accounts work together to make sure they are able to help a Christian in any difficulty. And they are to point us to our proper source.

This is a time in the three-year series when all four accounts are given within only five weeks. The Gospel text for the Last Sunday of the Church Year was from the Gospel according to Matthew. For the First and Second Sunday in Advent, the text is from the Gospel according to Mark. For the Third Sunday in Advent is from the Gospel according to John, and the text for the Fourth Sunday in Advent is from the Gospel according to Luke. It may be a good time to reflect on the four different and wonderful gifts that we have.

‘Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.’ The repetition is for emphasis.

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