Tag Archives: Psalm 51:5

Who Am I? Part 4

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I spend a large portion of my Christmas holiday with three post-Christian women I’ll call Grandmother, Mother and Daughter because of their relationship to one another.  I call them post-Christian because they were all professing Christians at one time.  Grandmother still calls herself a Christian.  She means a non-Buddhist, non-Hindu, non-Jew, non-Muslim who believes in Jesus.  Her ex-husband was a Baptist Sunday school teacher who abused her, and Mother as a child.  Daughter is the most non-Christian, vocally pagan of the three with Mother falling somewhere between.  Their transformation began with a desire for a more feminine God.  I regret now not taking Mother’s question more seriously.  I didn’t understand at the time that this desire would lead through Mother Earth to a Mother Goddess and on to full-fledged paganism.

I pointed out that yehôvâh (יהוה) created male and female: God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהים) created humankind in his own image, in the image of God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהים) he created them, male and female he created them.[1]  I talked about the meaning of El Shaddai (ʼêl, אל; shadday, שדי) and a few other references to God as feminine.  But I emphasized that the general understanding of God as masculine was due primarily to the fact that we are all feminine in relation to the operation of his grace through Jesus Christ.

I am accepted among them as the kindly, odd, somewhat benighted, old man who studies the Bible in his spare time, so ordinary conversation—what’ve you been up to?—offers many opportunities.  A recent conversation with Grandmother and Daughter turned naturally to Jesus’ dying thoughts on the cross.  I read Psalm 22 aloud.  Daughter was visibly, tearfully moved and vocally overwhelmed that David could write such exact knowledge so many centuries before Jesus was born.

I spoke of God having mercy on whoever he chooses to have mercy and hardening whoever he chooses to harden.  I said I had been considering how, and told them the story of two prophets, Nathan and John the Baptist.  When Pharisees and Sadduccees, religious leaders, came to be baptized for repentance (Matthew 3:11, 12; Mark 1:4-8; Luke 3:15-17) John said, You offspring of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?[2]  And he challenged them to put their works religion to the test: Therefore produce fruit that proves your repentance…[3]

What I didn’t say but will record here for my own memory’s sake, whether these particular Pharisees and Sadduccees were directly responsible or not, John’s words were not secret and would have tended to harden the resolve of the religious elite to kill Jesus: the Lord (yehôvâh, ויהוה) desired to crush him (e.g., Jesus).  On the other hand yehôvâh desired David’s repentance and sent Nathan to that effect.

He was sent after King David had committed adultery with Bathsheba and then had her husband killed to cover it up.  Nathan told David a story (2 Samuel 12:1-6) about a rich man who had entertained a traveler with a meal.  The rich man hadn’t served up any of his own sheep or cattle, but the one ewe lamb he took from a poor man.  Then David became very angry at this man.[4]  You are that man![5] Nathan said to him.

“Did he kill him?” Daughter asked.  I was actually surprised that she had forgotten the story.

No, I answered, I have sinned against the Lord![6] David said and then he wrote the 51st Psalm.  I got to read Psalm 51 aloud to them.  When I finished Grandmother responded to a look on Daughter’s face at the line—Look, I was guilty of sin from birth, a sinner the moment my mother conceived me.[7]

“I don’t believe that either,” Grandmother said.

This is a point to concede by the way.  If it offends or hurts your feelings, welcome to the human race.  Being guilty of sin from birth, a sinner the moment my mother conceived me is equivalent to being born of the flesh of Adam (Romans 5:12-21; 1 Corinthians 15:42-58).  You do not want a relentless God who will pursue you with goodness and mercy all the days of your life to spend that time convincing you the hard way that you are a sinner instead (John 16:7-11).

Goodness and mercy, by the way is the NKJV translation of Psalm 23:6a.  In the NET it was translated goodness and faithfulness (chêsêd , וחסד).

chêsêd Hebrew KJV NET Tanakh Septuagint
Psalm 23:6a וחסד mercy faithfulness mercy ἔλεός[8]


Daughter informed me that my religion has a lot of guilt in it as she praised me for my adherence to it, and insisted that we, she and her pagan friends, desperately need a canon (i.e., of written scripture).

On Yule I learned that Mother had been taking drugs.  I wasn’t personally that aware of the winter solstice.  Daughter and Mother wished one another happy Yule in the car as I drove them to rehab.  It’s probably the only reason I knew anything at all.

I hadn’t known the night before that Mother had informed Daughter she was abusing drugs.  Daughter called me the next morning when Mother hesitated to actually commit herself to rehab.  In the car on the way Daughter was jubilant and excited that Mother was doing the right thing.  Yes, rehab is better than sitting home alone shooting dope, but I was much more somber and subdued.

At her home I had sat with her, held her and listened to her enough to convince myself that Mother had no interest in repentance.  Daughter was right.  My presence alone persuaded Mother to shower, dress and leave with us for the rehab facility.  But in the car I felt like I was delivering her up for more hardening.  In my admittedly limited experience I know no one who has returned to faith in Christ from the higher power mysticism of a twelve-step program.  I watched sadly the full realization of incarceration creep across her face as she was taken from us.  No matter what I say or how much I protest, Mother and Daughter believe I live a life of rules, while they are free.

I gave them My statutes, yehôvâh explained in the philosopher’s dream chapter of Ezekiel the prophet, and informed them of My ordinances, by which, if a man observes them, he will live.[9] I call it the philosopher’s dream chapter because yehôvâh explained so much of his own understanding of Israel’s history there.  Then the twelve-year-old Jesus had this chapter at his disposal to renew and refresh his now human mind.

The Hebrew word translated My statutes was chûqqâh (חקותי).  It was translated προστάγματά in the Septuagint.  The Hebrew word translated My ordinances was mishpâṭ (משפטי), and δικαιώματά, a form of δικαίωμα, in the Septuagint.  This was translated the righteous requirements in: Therefore if the uncircumcised man obeys the righteous requirements (δικαιώματα, a form of δικαίωμα) of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?[10]

In the same chapter yehôvâh explained: I also gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live.[11]  Here the Hebrew word translated statutes was chôq (חקים); chûqqâh is the feminine of chôq according to Strong’s Concordance.  It was still translated προστάγματα in the Septuagint.  And again, the word translated ordinances was mishpâṭ (ומשפטים) in Hebrew and δικαιώματα in the Septuagint.  I don’t think these are different statutes or different ordinances.

The commandment…was intended to bring life.[12]  The law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.[13]  But if a law had been given that was able to give life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.[14]  God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh.[15]  For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it I died.[16]  For we know that the law is spiritual – but I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin.  For I don’t understand what I am doing.  For I do not do what I want – instead, I do what I hate.[17]

Also I gave them My Sabbaths, yehôvâh said in the philosopher’s dream chapter, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) who sanctifies them.[18]

In practice many professing faith in Jesus do not believe that yehôvâh/Jesus sanctifies[19] them.  We trust Him for justification only, primarily forgiveness.  We believe our sanctification is a measure of our own good works, obedience accomplished in our own strength for our own glory.  We do not believe that here and now a Sabbath rest remains for the people of God.  For the one who enters God’s rest has also rested from his works, just as God did from his own works.[20]  I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.  So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.[21]  Thus we must make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by following the same pattern of disobedience[22] (ἀπειθείας, a form of ἀπείθεια; literally, disbelief)  Do we then nullify the law through faith?  Absolutely not!  Instead we uphold the law.[23]

I want to consider the movie The Host as a Holy Spirit metaphor for one who does not yet experience Him.  There are many spoilers here and as a metaphor the film is fatally flawed.  But in the hope of communicating some small portion of the Ineffable, here goes.

“The earth is at peace,” a resistance leader named Jebediah (William Hurt) narrates the beginning of the film.  “There is no hunger.  There is no violence.  The environment is healed.  Honesty, courtesy and kindness are practiced by all.  Our world has never been more perfect.  Only it is no longer our world.  We’ve been invaded by an alien race.  They occupy the bodies of almost all human beings on the planet.  The few humans who have survived are on the run.”

Then we are introduced to Melanie (Saoirse Ronan) fleeing her enemies: honesty, courtesy and kindness.  Following her earthly father’s example, she attempts suicide but lives, despite her best efforts, only to be possessed by Wanderer (also Saoirse Ronan).  Melanie’s old human survives to fight Wanderer for control of their body.

The Seeker (Diane Kruger) interviews Wanderer to glean Melanie’s memories for knowledge of other old humans in the resistance underground.  When she decides that Melanie’s old human is too strong for Wanderer, she plans to put Wanderer in a more compliant host, search Melanie’s memories herself and then let Melanie die the death she wanted.  But Wanderer has begun to love Melanie.  They flee The Seeker together.

Melanie tricks Wanderer into the desert and leads her to Uncle Jebediah and the underground resistance.  Uncle Jeb uses all of his authority as a leader to keep others in the resistance from killing the obviously possessed Melanie/Wanderer.  Even Melanie’s lover Jared (Max Irons) has no sympathy for her at first.  In a get-to-know-you walk-and-talk Uncle Jeb shortens Wanderer’s name to Wanda.

Melanie begins to love Wanda as she witnesses Wanda’s concern for the people Melanie loves, even some she hates or is indifferent toward.  The metaphor breaks down, of course.  The holy spirits, called souls in the film, are many and varied, and some or not as holy as Wanda.  The Seeker ironically becomes almost human in her fears that she personally is losing control to her host Lacey (also Diane Kruger) and that the holy spirits may ultimately lose their possession of the humans.  In the end The Host becomes Satan’s wet dream as The Seeker’s fears become flesh: holy spirits collaborate with the resistance to rid humans of the holy spirits.

 

Mother is on the verge of bankruptcy.  I helped her in a similar position nearly twenty years ago.  She called me before I left for Christmas.  I offered to help again.  She accepted.  As I drove the hundred miles or so to my own mother’s house the evening after Mother committed herself to rehab I understood why we hadn’t met to review her finances yet.  I recalled the things I’ve said and done with Grandmother, Mother and Daughter, fretted over some things I hadn’t said or done and heard Darth Vader echoing in my head, saying, “Now his failure is complete.”

As far as I know I am the believer of record in their lives.  I will give an account of this stewardship before Jesus.  As the enormity of my failure to live a life that commends others to Jesus inundated me in crushing waves, the image of my mother scrubbing the basement floor on her hands and knees popped into my mind.  Of all the things she had said or done, of all the things I might have complained that she hadn’t said or done, this simple image stuck with me.

I had overdosed on some hallucinogen.  I had thrown up all night long on her basement floor.  My mother cleaning up after me became a living metaphor of my life.  I had returned to drugs because a simple taste a few days earlier brought back the feeling I had lost since my early days of trusting Jesus again.  I made many more bad decisions along the way.  But my mother never gave up on me.

As I drove through the dark hills thinking perhaps I had been spared from helping Mother again financially, the admonition of my penny-pinching father came to mind:

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

The words weren’t his but Rudyard Kipling’s.[24]  A man like me would be a fool to attempt Kipling’s vision of manhood apart from the Holy Spirit.  But the image of my mother’s loving persistence and my father’s words of counsel gave me some hope that I was there, the right person at the right place and time.  And that image and those words carried me through that dark night until the continuous infusion of the Holy Spirit’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and control took over again the next morning.

[1] Genesis 1:27 (NET)

[2] Matthew 3:7 (NET)

[3] Matthew 3:8 (NET)

[4] 2 Samuel 12:5a (NET) Table

[5] 2 Samuel 12:7a (NET) Table

[6] 2 Samuel 12:13a (NET) Table

[7] Psalm 51:5 (NET) Table

[8] In the Septuagint both chêsêd (וחסד) and ṭôb (טוב) were translated by the one Greek word ἔλεός.

[9] Ezekiel 20:11 (NASB)

[10] Romans 2:26 (NET) Table

[11] Ezekiel 20:25 (NASB)

[12] Romans 7:10 (NET)

[13] Romans 7:12 (NET)

[14] Galatians 3:21b (NET)

[15] Romans 8:3a (NET)

[16] Romans 7:11 (NET)

[17] Romans 7:14, 15 (NET)

[18] Ezekiel 20:12 (NASB)

[19] When I struggled the most with this concept my Pastor was from the Christian and Missionary Alliance.  Today, as I scanned their webpage titled “Sanctification,” nothing jumps out at me as problematic except my own spiritual tic.  My flesh and my religious mind hear obedience in step 3 “to A Spirit-Filled Life”—“We maintain a continuous relationship with Jesus through obedience to His Word”—as a trigger word, calling me back to a DIY works religion.  But now I just translate obedience back into Greek, ὑπακοή, attentive hearkening, and the trigger obey disappears.  I remain (μείνατε, a form of μένω) in Jesus through faith instead (which is the actual word used in John 15:1-11 the Scriptural source of step 3).

[Addendum 1/26/2017] I’m not so sure Paul would agree that 1 Corinthians 3:1-4 “clearly teaches that there are two kinds of Christians.”

[20] Hebrews 4:9, 10 (NET)

[21] Galatians 2:20 (NET)

[22] Hebrews 4:11 (NET)

[23] Romans 3:31 (NET)

[24] If, by Rudyard Kipling

Condemnation or Judgment? – Part 11

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My bias that—He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked[1]—prophesies Jesus’ return to earth to preach the Gospel effectively (as opposed to executing people for a thousand years) led me to investigate just who the wicked are.  I found a succinct definition of wicked sinners as those who would not Stop trusting in human beings, whose life’s breath is in their nostrils.[2]  Isaiah’s prophecy about the life these wicked sinners lead continued (Isaiah 3:12-15)

NET

 NETS

Tanakh
Oppressors treat my people cruelly, creditors rule over them.  My people’s leaders mislead them; they give you confusing directions. O my people, your extractors strip you clean, and your creditors lord it over you. O my people, those who congratulate you mislead you and confuse the path of your feet. As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.
The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) takes his position to judge; he stands up to pass sentence on his people.   But now the Lord will stand up to judge, and he will make his people stand to judge them. The LORD standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people.
The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) comes to pronounce judgment on the leaders of his people and their officials.  He says, “It is you who have ruined the vineyard!  You have stashed in your houses what you have stolen from the poor.   The Lord himself will enter into judgment with the elders of the people and with their rulers. But you, why have you burned my vineyard, and why is the spoil of the poor in your houses? The LORD will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
Why do you crush my people and grind the faces of the poor?”  The sovereign (ʼădônây, אדני) Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) who commands armies has spoken. Why do you wrong my people and shame the face of the poor? [In the Septuagint “This is what the Lord says” begins verse 16.] What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

The NET translators explained their word choices in verse 12 in a long note (29).  Perhaps only the leaders (zâqên, זקני) and officials (śar, ושׁריו) were the wicked sinners, but I’m not hearing it that way.  I think the leaders and officials merited special mention because they led and encouraged yehôvâh’s people to become wicked sinners, those who trust in human beings, who rebel (mârâh, למרות) against yehôvâh, both their words (lâshôn, לשונם) and their actions (maʽălâl, ומעלליהם).  This definition of wicked sinners more or less applies to all of us.  As a case in point I’ll quote from a blog I receive regularly.

John Wesley Reid ended a post with advice from his pastor:  “My pastor laid out a pretty solid approach to avoiding sexual temptation, while the model can be used for any form of temptation.”  It was essentially a to-do list: refuse, consider the consequences, focus on God and ignore the lies of the enemy, avoid/run, and accountability.  I asked Mr. Reid if this was presented as an alternative or adjunct to our death to sin and the fruit of the Spirit, but haven’t received a reply.  He may not remember.  It is exactly the kind of list I would have fixated on to the exclusion of everything else.

The list follows in detail with my comments:

Refuse
Just say no. Remember that you’re made for more than this.

“Just say no” from the Nancy Reagan anti-drug campaign reminds me of yehôvâh’s words to Cain (Genesis 4:6, 7 NET):

Why are you angry, and why is your expression downcast? [Table] Is it not true that if you do what is right, you will be fine?  But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door.  It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it [Table].

This is where sin (chaṭṭâʼâh, חטאת) enters the pages of the Bible, pictured as a four-legged beast about to pounce on its prey, Cain.  And this is yehôvâh at his most aloof.  He prophesies what is about to happen to Cain and says simply—rule (mâshal, תמשל).  As I’ve said before I don’t know Hebrew, but you must subdue it looks and sounds to me like a religious mind trying to turn a word into a law long before the law was given.  In fact, knowing what is about to happen and what He is not doing about it, yehôvâh seems to be actively not making a specific commandment for Cain to disobey.

Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”  While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.[3]

Though my religious mind wants to argue that Cain was more wicked than itself, Cain was a fair representative of the descendants of Adam.  Seth wasn’t the only one born in Adam’s own likeness, according to his image.  On the contrary, though Adam and Eve were made (ʽâśâh, עשׁה) originally in the likeness of God[4] (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהים) after he violated God’s command Adam had children in his own likeness, according to his image.  Look, I was guilty of sin (ʽâvôn, בעוון; Septuagint: ἀνομίαις, a form of ἀνομία) from birth, David confessed, a sinner (chêṭʼ, ובחטא; Septuagint: ἁμαρτίαις, a form of ἁμαρτία) the moment my mother conceived me.[5]  Paul explained (Romans 5:12-19 NET Table):

So then, just as sin (ἁμαρτία) entered the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all people because all sinned – for before the law was given, sin was in the world, but there is no accounting for sin when there is no law.  Yet death reigned from Adam until Moses even over those who did not sin in the same way that Adam (who is a type of the coming one) transgressed.  But the gracious gift is not like the transgression.  For if the many died through the transgression of the one man, how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ multiply to the many!  And the gift is not like the one who sinned.  For judgment (κρίμα), resulting from the one transgression, led to condemnation (κατάκριμα), but the gracious gift from the many failures led to justification.  For if, by the transgression of the one man, death reigned through the one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ!

Consequently, just as condemnation (κατάκριμα) for all people came through one transgression, so too through the one righteous act came righteousness leading to life for all people.  For just as through the disobedience of the one man many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of one man many will be made righteous.

Again Paul contrasted the image of Adam and the image of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:20-22, 45-49 NET):

But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also came through a man.  For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living person”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.  However, the spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and then the spiritual.  The first man is from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven.  Like the one made of dust, so too are those made of dust, and like the one from heaven, so too those who are heavenly.  And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, let us also bear the image of the man of heaven.

“I tell you the solemn truth,” Jesus said to Nicodemus, “unless a person is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must all be born from above.’”[6]

So if I am tempted to sin and the Holy Spirit reminds me—you are more valuable than many sparrows[7]—or— do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own[8]—or any other Scripture, and I hear and believe and turn from that sin, that is walking or living by the Spirit.  But to turn back then and say—I refused to sin; I just said no; I ruled—is to misunderstand what happened, mislead those who hear me and grieve the Holy Spirit.

Consider the consequences
Sin fosters sin and sexual sin carries implications of insecurity and a lack of self-worth.

This is Old Testament law plain and simple.  Today I invoke heaven and earth as a witness against you that I have set life and death, blessing and curse, before you.  Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live![9]  And, Then Joshua read aloud all the words of the law, including the blessings and the curses, just as they are written in the law scroll.[10]  We know how this worked out for Israel: not only did they fail to obey yehôvâh’s law, they rejected Him  when He came to forgive them for it and fulfill (πληρῶσαι, a form of πληρόω) the law and the prophets.

Is the law therefore opposed to the promises of God?  Absolutely not!  For if a law had been given that was able to give life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.  But the scripture imprisoned everything and everyone under sin so that the promise could be given – because of the faithfulness of Jesus Christ – to those who believe.[11]  Through the law comes the knowledge of sin.[12]  God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh,[13] born in the likeness of Adam, according to his image.  If I try to fulfill my desire for righteousness by obeying rules I play to sin’s strength; the power of sin is the law.[14]

For I don’t understand what I am doing.  For I do not do what I want – instead, I do what I hate.  But if I do what I don’t want, I agree that the law is good.  But now it is no longer me doing it, but sin that lives in me.  For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh.  For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it.  For I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want!  Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me.[15]

For God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh.  By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.[16]

So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you could be joined to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, to bear fruit to God.  For when we were in the flesh, the sinful desires, aroused by the law, were active in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.  But now we have been released from the law, because we have died to what controlled us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code.[17]

For those who live according to the flesh have their outlook shaped by the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit.  For the outlook of the flesh is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is life and peace, because the outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so.  Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.  You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.[18]

When Olive (Emma Stone) finally confessed her fake prostitution in the movie “Easy A”, her mother (Patricia Clarkson) shocked her daughter, confessing:

“I had a similar situation when I was your age.”

“What?” Olive asks incredulously.  “Everyone called you a slut?”

“I had a horrible reputation and people said awful things about me.”

“Why?”

“Because I was a slut.  I slept with a whole bunch of people.  A slew, a heap, a peck.  Mostly Guys.”

“Mom!”

“Sorry, I got around.  Before I met Dad, I had incredibly low self-worth.”

I can’t say that I think much about my self-worth.  I am not loved because I am worthy but because God is love (1 John 4:7-19).  I do consider whether He is getting what He is owed out of me.  Jesus said, So you too, when you have done everything you were commanded to do, should say, “We are slaves (δοῦλοι, a form of δοῦλος) undeserving of special praise; we have only done what was our duty.” [19] The Greek word translated was our duty is ὠφείλομεν (a form of ὀφείλω), literally “what was owed.”  Why is it owed?

Aren’t five sparrows sold for two pennies?  Jesus asked.  Yet not one of them is forgotten before God.  In fact, even the hairs on your head are all numbered.  Do not be afraid; you are more valuable than many sparrows.[20]  And my God will supply your every need according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus,[21] Paul wrote the Philippians, including the gift of righteousness, the love that is the fulfillment of the law, the fruit of his Spirit.  But I say, live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.[22]

I’ll pick this up again next time.

[1] Isaiah 11:4b (NIV)

[2] Isaiah 2:22a (NET)

[3] Genesis 4:8 (NET)

[4] Genesis 5:1 (NET)

[5] Psalm 51:5 (NET) Table

[6] John 3:5-7 (NET) Table

[7] Matthew 10:31b (NET)

[8] 1 Corinthians 6:19 (NET)

[9] Deuteronomy 30:19 (NET)

[10] Joshua 8:34 (NET)

[11] Galatians 3:21, 22 (NET)

[12] Romans 3:20b (NET)

[13] Romans 8:3a (NET)

[14] 1 Corinthians 15:56b (NET)

[15] Romans 7:15-20 (NET)

[16] Romans 8:3, 4 (NET)

[17] Romans 7:4-6 (NET)

[18] Romans 8:5-9a (NET)

[19] Luke 17:10 (NET)

[20] Luke 12:6, 7 (NET)

[21] Philippians 4:19 (NET) Table

[22] Galatians 5:16 (NET)

Jedidiah, Part 3

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Apparently God sent Nathan to forgive David while David still believed he had gotten away with his cover up.  God was certainly overreaching the limits of our contract.  More to the point, probably, He was shattering and prying away the pieces of the hard shell my contract had become, a shell that was preventing me from knowing Him.  After I saw God’s overreaching with David, I saw it with Jesus and Peter, too (Luke 22:31-34 NET).

Simon, Simon, pay attention!  Satan has demanded to have you all, to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail.  When you have turned back, strengthen your brothers [Table].  But Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death!”  And Jesus replied, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know me” [Table].

Was I going completely nuts?  Or had Jesus covered for Peter by transmuting foreknowledge of Peter’s three strike denial into a prophetic utterance as sure and certain as any prophecy in Scripture?

Cleanse me of my sin! David’s song continued.  For I am aware of my rebellious acts; I am forever conscious of my sin.  Against you – you above all – I have sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight.  So you are just when you confront me; you are right when you condemn me.1

Joshua said to Achan, My son, honor the Lord God of Israel and give him praise!  Tell me what you did; don’t hide anything from me!2  David amplified how confession of sin honors and praises God:  The repentant sinner agrees with God and proclaims in effect, you are just when you confront me; you are right when you condemn me.  Paul quoted this same verse in his letter to the Romans, so that you will be justified (δικαιωθῇς, a form of δικαιόω in your words and will prevail when you are judged (κρίνεσθαι, a form of κρίνω).3 Here again, Paul quoted from the Septuagint (LXX), the Greek translation of the Old Testament completed about 200 years before the birth of Jesus, but Bible translators have preferred the Hebrew text since about the fifth century.  Below is a comparison of the text from Isaiah 51:4b in the Septuagint and the Greek text of Romans 3:4b used for the NET translation.

Blue Letter Bible (Septuagint)

NET Bible (Greek parallel text)
ὅπως ἂν δικαιωθῇς ἐν τοῖς λόγοις σου καὶ νικήσῃς ἐν τῷ κρίνεσθαί σε

Isaiah 51:4b

 οπως αν δικαιωθης εν τοις λογοις σου και νικησεις εν τω κρινεσθαι σε

Romans 3:4b

I found a website by Bill Braun4 that is very helpful for these quotations from the Septuagint (except Acts).  He actually knows Greek, and wrote of these verses: “There is only one difference between the Greek texts.  This involves a change in the form of the verb νικάω.  The NT presents the verb in the future active indicative (νικήσεις), whereas the LXX uses the aorist active subjunctive form (νικήσῃς). This difference does not significantly effect the meaning of the passage.”

Though I haven’t read everything on his site yet, I get the impression that Mr. Braun is a peacemaker.  He sees the differences between the Hebrew and Greek texts as mostly insubstantial.  I am not so holy.  I see that at a specific point in time before Jesus was born the Hebrew was translated into Greek a certain way.  Then after Jesus was rejected as Messiah that translation can no longer be teased out of the Hebrew.  Am I being anti-Semitic or blaming the Jews?  On the contrary, I admire their faith.  I’ve practically admitted that I would do the same thing.  But this is how faith works.

One’s faith obviously effects one’s scholarship.  It chooses what one sees, why one pursues it, and how one interprets it.  The point isn’t will my faith make a fool of me.  Of course it will.  Eventually faith in anything or anyone will either make me foolish, or make me appear foolish to others.  That really isn’t the question.  The question is, Is Jesus worthy of my faith whether I am, or appear to be, foolish or not?  The keepers of the Hebrew language of the Old Testament have bet the farm on their faith that Jesus is not their Messiah.  I am betting that Jesus is Yahweh become human flesh.

To get back to David’s song, I’ve already mentioned what sense might be made of, So you are just when you confront me; you are right when you condemn me, as translated from Hebrew currently.  What possible sense could so that you will be justified in your words and will prevail when you are judged have made two centuries before Jesus was born?  Who judges God?  Well, every one of us judges God, every moment of everyday.  Granted, those of us with a philosophical bent of mind do it consciously more often than others.

Consider how cruelly Jephthah judged God when he sacrificed his daughter to keep a reckless vow.  How harshly might he judge God for forgiving David for adultery and murder if David did not confess, Against you – you above all – I have sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight, the very thing Jephthah refused to acknowledge about his oath?

Consider how foolishly the men of Ezra’s day judged the God who hates divorce, when they divorced their foreign wives and sent their children away to earn his favor.  How harshly might they judge God for forgiving David for adultery and murder if David did not pray, Wash away my wrongdoing!  Cleanse me of my sin!  For I am aware of my rebellious acts; I am forever conscious of my sin, the very thing the men of Ezra’s day did not do as they tried to establish their own righteousness according to the law?5  For ignoring the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking instead to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.6 

Look, I was guilty of sin from birth, David’s song continued, a sinner the moment my mother conceived me.7  David was not acknowledging that his mother was a uniquely sinful woman who gave birth to especially sin-filled children, but that all parents are sinners who give birth to sinful children like themselves.  [F]or all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans.  But they are justified (δικαιούμενοι, another form of δικαιόω) freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.  God publicly displayed him at his death as the mercy seat (ἱλαστήριον) accessible through faith.8

The mercy seat was the top of the ark of the covenant in the holy of holies in the temple in Jerusalem.  In this ark, the writer of the letter to the Hebrews explained, were the golden urn containing the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.  And above the ark were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat (ἱλαστήριον) [Table].9  The high priest entered into the most holy place once a year not without blood that he offer[ed] for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance.  The Holy Spirit is making clear that the way into the holy place had not yet appeared as long as the old tabernacle was standing.10

But now Christ has come as the high priest of the good things to come.11  He passed through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, and he entered once for all into the most holy place not by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood, and so he himself secured eternal redemption,12 the writer of Hebrews concluded.

This was to demonstrate his righteousness (δικαιοσύνης, a form of δικαιοσύνη), Paul continued in his letter to the Romans, because God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed.  This was also to demonstrate13 his righteousness (δικαιοσύνης, a form of δικαιοσύνη) in the present time, so that he would be just (δίκαιον, a form of δίκαιος) and the justifier (δικαιοῦντα, another form of δικαιόω) of the one who lives because of Jesus’ faithfulness.14

It is difficult to judge the Lord Jesus too harshly for forgiving David, or anyone else for that matter, since He accepted the death penalty in our place.  But forgiveness as a concept in the Bible doesn’t end here.

 

Addendum: December 16, 2019
A table comparing Psalm 51:4 translated from the Masoretic text and the Septuagint follows:

Masoretic Text

 Septuagint
Psalm 51:4 (Tanakh) Psalm 51:4 (NET) Psalm 50:6 (NETS)

Psalm 50:6 (Elpenor English)
Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Against you—you above all—I have sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight.  So you are just when you confront me; you are right when you condemn me. Against you alone did I sin, and what is eveil before you I did, so that you may be justified in your words and be victorious when you go to law. Against thee only have I sinned, and done evil before thee: that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

Here is the last clause—and be clear when thou judgest —as defined by Morfix.

Psalm 51:4d (51:6d)
Hebrew Tanakh Homographs English Definitions
תִּזְכֶּ֥ה תזכה and be clear זָכָה to win (lottery, prize); to achieve, to get
זִכָּה (law) to acquit; to grant (right, privilege, favor etc.); (accounting) to credit; to grant, to provide
זֻכָּה to be acquitted
בְשָׁפְטֶֽךָ when thou judgest שָׁפַט to judge; to sentence; (sports) to referee

Though Morfix recognized a passive form (“to be acquitted”) for תזכה (Tanakh: and be clear; NET: you are right), neither בְשָׁפְטֶֽךָ (Tanakh: when thou judgest) nor בשפטך (NET: when you condemn me) elicited any passive form.  The Greek κρίνεσθαί is a middle/passive form of κρίνω, but when I consider the definitions in the Koine Greek Lexicon—“to dispute, quarrel, debate; to contest a legal case; to contend with, contest with”—I begin to question whether when thou art judged is the most precise English translation.

Tables comparing Psalm 51:3; 51:4; Joshua 7:19; Ezra 10:3 and Psalm 51:5 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and tables comparing Psalm 51:3 (50:5); 51:4 (50:6); Joshua 7:19; Ezra (2 Esdras) 10:3 and Psalm 51:5 (50:7) in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor) follow.  Following those are tables comparing Hebrews 9:11 and Romans 3:26 in the NET and KJV.

Psalm 51:3 (Tanakh)

 Psalm 51:3 (KJV)

Psalm 51:3 (NET)
For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. For I am aware of my rebellious acts; I am forever conscious of my sin.

Psalm 51:3 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 50:5 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ὅτι τὴν ἀνομίαν μου ἐγὼ γινώσκω καὶ ἡ ἁμαρτία μου ἐνώπιόν μού ἐστιν διὰ παντός ὅτι τὴν ἀνομίαν μου ἐγὼ γινώσκω, καὶ ἡ ἁμαρτία μου ἐνώπιόν μού ἐστι διαπαντός

Psalm 50:5 (NETS)

Psalm 50:5 (English Elpenor)
because my lawlessness I know and my sin is ever before me. For I am conscious of mine iniquity; and my sin is continually before me.

Psalm 51:4 (Tanakh)

 Psalm 51:4 (KJV)

Psalm 51:4 (NET)
Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Against you—you above all—I have sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight.  So you are just when you confront me; you are right when you condemn me.

Psalm 51:4 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 50:6 (Septuagint Elpenor)
σοὶ μόνῳ ἥμαρτον καὶ τὸ πονηρὸν ἐνώπιόν σου ἐποίησα ὅπως ἂν δικαιωθῇς ἐν τοῗς λόγοις σου καὶ νικήσῃς ἐν τῷ κρίνεσθαί σε σοὶ μόνῳ ἥμαρτον καὶ τὸ πονηρὸν ἐνώπιόν σου ἐποίησα, ὅπως ἂν δικαιωθῇς ἐν τοῖς λόγοις σου, καὶ νικήσῃς ἐν τῷ κρίνεσθαί σε

Psalm 50:6 (NETS)

Psalm 50:6 (English Elpenor)
Against you alone did I sin, and what is eveil before you I did, so that you may be justified in your words and be victorious when you go to law. Against thee only have I sinned, and done evil before thee: that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

Joshua 7:19 (Tanakh)

 Joshua 7:19 (KJV)

Joshua 7:19 (NET)
And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me. And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me. So Joshua said to Achan, “My son, honor the Lord God of Israel and give him praise!  Tell me what you did; don’t hide anything from me.”

Joshua 7:19 (Septuagint BLB)

Joshua 7:19 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ εἶπεν Ἰησοῦς τῷ Αχαρ δὸς δόξαν σήμερον τῷ κυρίῳ θεῷ Ισραηλ καὶ δὸς τὴν ἐξομολόγησιν καὶ ἀνάγγειλόν μοι τί ἐποίησας καὶ μὴ κρύψῃς ἀπ᾽ ἐμοῦ καὶ εἶπεν ᾿Ιησοῦς τῷ ῎Αχαρ· δὸς δόξαν σήμερον τῷ Κυρίῳ Θεῷ ᾿Ισραὴλ καὶ δὸς τὴν ἐξομολόγησιν καὶ ἀνάγγειλόν μοι τί ἐποίησας καὶ μὴ κρύψῃς ἀπ’ ἐμοῦ

Joshua 7:19 (NETS)

Joshua 7:19 (English Elpenor)
And Iesous said to Achar, “Give glory today to the Lord, God of Israel, and make the confession.  And tell me what you have done, and do not hide it from me.” And Joshua said to Achar, Give glory this day to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession; and tell me what thou hast done, and hide it not from me.

Ezra 10:3 (Tanakh)

 Ezra 10:3 (KJV)

Ezra 10:3 (NET)
Now therefore let us make a covenant with our G-d to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of HaShem, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our G-d; and let it be done according to the law. Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law. Therefore let us enact a covenant with our God to send away all these women and their offspring, in keeping with your counsel, my lord, and that of those who respect the commandments of our God. And let it be done according to the law.

Ezra 10:3 (Septuagint BLB)

2 Esdras 10:3 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ νῦν διαθώμεθα διαθήκην τῷ θεῷ ἡμῶν ἐκβαλεῗν πάσας τὰς γυναῗκας καὶ τὰ γενόμενα ἐξ αὐτῶν ὡς ἂν βούλῃ ἀνάστηθι καὶ φοβέρισον αὐτοὺς ἐν ἐντολαῗς θεοῦ ἡμῶν καὶ ὡς ὁ νόμος γενηθήτω καὶ νῦν διαθώμεθα διαθήκην τῷ Θεῷ ἡμῶν ἐκβαλεῖν πάσας τὰς γυναῖκας καὶ τὰ γενόμενα ἐξ αὐτῶν, ὡς ἂν βούλη· ἀνάστηθι, καὶ φοβέρισον αὐτοὺς ἐν ἐντολαῖς Θεοῦ ἡμῶν, καὶ ὡς ὁ νόμος γενηθήτω.

2 Esdras 10:3 (NETS)

2 Esdras 10:3 (English Elpenor)
And now let us make a covenant with our God to cast out all the women and the issue from them, however you want.  Arise, and scare them with the commandments of our God, and let it be done according to the law. Now then let us make a covenant with our God, to put away all the wives, and their offspring, as thou shalt advise: [4a] arise, and alarm them with the commands of our God; and let [it] be done according to the law.

Psalm 51:5 (Tanakh)

 Psalm 51:5 (KJV)

Psalm 51:5 (NET)
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity; And in sin did my mother conceive me. Look, I was guilty of sin from birth, a sinner the moment my mother conceived me.

Psalm 51:5 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 50:7 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἐν ἀνομίαις συνελήμφθην καὶ ἐν ἁμαρτίαις ἐκίσσησέν με ἡ μήτηρ μου ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἐν ἀνομίαις συνελήφθην, καὶ ἐν ἁμαρτίαις ἐκίσσησέ με ἡ μήτηρ μου

Psalm 50:7 (NETS)

Psalm 50:7 (English Elpenor)
For, look, I was conceived in lawlessness, and in sin did my mother crave for me. For, behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins did my mother conceive me.

Hebrews 9:11 (NET)

Hebrews 9:11 (KJV)
But now Christ has come as the high priest of the good things to come. He passed through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Χριστὸς δὲ παραγενόμενος ἀρχιερεὺς τῶν γενομένων ἀγαθῶν διὰ τῆς μείζονος καὶ τελειοτέρας σκηνῆς οὐ χειροποιήτου, τοῦτ᾿ ἔστιν οὐ ταύτης τῆς κτίσεως χριστος δε παραγενομενος αρχιερευς των μελλοντων αγαθων δια της μειζονος και τελειοτερας σκηνης ου χειροποιητου τουτ εστιν ου ταυτης της κτισεως χριστος δε παραγενομενος αρχιερευς των μελλοντων αγαθων δια της μειζονος και τελειοτερας σκηνης ου χειροποιητου τουτ εστιν ου ταυτης της κτισεως

Romans 3:26 (NET)

Romans 3:26 (KJV)
This was also to demonstrate his righteousness in the present time, so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who lives because of Jesus’ faithfulness. To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ἐν τῇ ἀνοχῇ τοῦ θεοῦ, πρὸς τὴν ἔνδειξιν τῆς δικαιοσύνης αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ νῦν καιρῷ, εἰς τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν δίκαιον καὶ δικαιοῦντα τὸν ἐκ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ εν τη ανοχη του θεου προς ενδειξιν της δικαιοσυνης αυτου εν τω νυν καιρω εις το ειναι αυτον δικαιον και δικαιουντα τον εκ πιστεως ιησου εν τη ανοχη του θεου προς ενδειξιν της δικαιοσυνης αυτου εν τω νυν καιρω εις το ειναι αυτον δικαιον και δικαιουντα τον εκ πιστεως ιησου

1 Psalm 51:2b-4 (NET) Table

2 Joshua 7:19 (NET)

3 Romans 3:4 (NET) Table

4 Mr. Braun’s site is no longer accessible online.  This is a little like an author who quoted from a manuscript that is no longer extant.

5 Ezra 10:3 (NET)

6 Romans 10:3 (NET)

7 Psalm 51:5 (NET)

8 Romans 3:23-25a (NET)

9 Hebrews 9:4b, 5a (NET)

10 Hebrews 9:7, 8 (NET)

12 Hebrews 9:11, 12 (NET)

13 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had the article τὴν preceding demonstrate (πρὸς τὴν ἔνδειξιν; literally: “to the proof”).  The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

14 Romans 3:25b-26 (NET)