Lenten Devotional 04: YHWH Alone

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Scripture reading: Deuteronomy 6:1-25

For the Yahwhist, Elohist, Deuteronomist, priestly writers and final redactors of the Primary History (Genesis-Kings) the text of Deuteronomy is the centerpiece. The core of the book of Deuteronomy is in these words, “The LORD is our God, the LORD alone” (6:4, NRSV).

Why does the passage revere YHWH as God alone? The Lord has rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and will fulfill the promise made to their ancestors; by bringing them into the land of promise. In the same way, Christ is God alone, having rescued all of humanity from the bondage of deception’s curse on our will, and has fulfilled the law. All are given the grace of God’s promise (by way of the cross, in the death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ) many will receive it, some will reject it, and the rest is a mystery of God.

“The LORD is our God, the Lord alone.” Only by the work of God, are the promises of God fulfilled.

In YHWH alone we receive the land of promise; one of milk and honey (vv.1-3).

YHWH alone, we love; by YHWH alone, we do all things (vv. 4-9).

YHWH alone, gave us everything, and YHWH alone we shall not forget (vv. 10-15).

The promise of YHWH alone, we shall remember, and not challenge (vv. 16-19).

The covenant of YHWH alone is, “our lasting good” – YHWH alone, we revere –

And, by YHWH alone we are justified (vv. 20-25).

Lord, you are God alone, “hallowed be your name;” for, you are the LORD alone. All thanks be to you for the promise you made and kept for the Israelites. All thanks be to you for the promise you made for us (through the cross event) that has been fulfilled in death and resurrection. We remain in the hope of Christ’s resurrection; for, resurrection is our promise, by the work of the LORD alone. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Bible Says, but What if Mine Doesn't?

Exegesis is not for the timid or the lazy. What do we do when our two major English formal translations (NASB and NRSV) have very different content? In Proverbs 11, there is a verse that could alter interpretation of the whole passage depending on which translation we use. Why were the versions different? In the passage at hand, the NRSV uses an ancient Syriac Greek manuscript. Conversely, The NASB, NIV, KJV, and other English translations rely only on the Hebrew Massoretic Text. However, this is not a case of majority rules.

Many of us have heard the phrase, “The Bible says,” but what if yours or mine doesn’t say something? In the case of Proverbs 11, v.16 has the ability to change how we read the rest of the chapter. Not to worry, there’s nothing wrong with the Massoretic Text (Hebrew). But, there’s nothing wrong with the Syriac Greek text either; in fact, it may predate the Hebrew in this case.  

Hebrew based translation: “A gracious woman attains honor, And ruthless men attain riches” (Proverbs 11:16, NASB). 

Greek based translation: “A gracious woman gets honor, but she who hates virtue is covered with shame. The timid become destitute, but the aggressive gain riches” (Proverbs 11:16, NRSV).

As you can see, these two versions of the same verse are a more than a little different.

           

Honestly, the main reason that the Greek manuscript could change the meaning of the chapter’s context is that the NRSV uses the word timid, which means hesitant and/or afraid; whereas, the word lazy might make more sense (as used in the Good News paraphrase). The flow of parallelism in Proverbs 11 and elsewhere is very important to its interpretation. English translations of Proverbs using the Massoretic or Greek text don’t tell us that one Bible is right and the other Bible is wrong. Instead, they tell us that we need to ask questions as we read the biblical text in any translation because there is always more to good exegesis than, “The Bible says….”