The first series of questions dealt with some of the details of A Reader's Hebrew Bible. The following questions probe the usefulness of studying the Scriptures in the original languages. I wanted to hear Dr Brown's take on this subject in light of some of my previous posts beginning with the discussion of John Piper's chapter, "Brothers, Bitzer was a Banker."A Reader's Hebrew Bible. Edited by A. Philip Brown II & Bryan W. Smith. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008. Italian Duo-Tone™, 1,680 pages.Q&A with Dr Philip Brown on A Reader's Hebrew Bible | Part Two
QUESTION: Would you be willing to share a lesson or two you learned from working through the Hebrew texts so closely, for so long? I'm wondering how this project has affected your estimation of the Hebrew text and/or how this project has affected your preaching and teaching. ANSWER: As Dr. Michael Barrett said on more than one occasion, "The niftiness of an exegetical insight is often inversely proportional to its exegetical accuracy. " I can't think of any "brand new" lessons, but my work has reinforced and provided experiential backing to numerous principles I learned in grad school.
Much of language learning is the erecting of exegetical guardrails to keep the exegete out of ditches and on the straight and narrow. A person, who merely dips into selected Hebrew texts and fails to expose himself to large segments of Hebrew prose and poetry (books!), is much more prone to discover "new (invalid) insights never before seen" than the person who has expended the effort to read widely.
For example, I was reading a book on child rearing recently, and the author asserted that the Hebrew verb gadal "really" means "to twist into greatness." Really? I've certainly never seen that. Where is he getting this? I checked Holladay, HALOT, BDB, DCH, NIDOTTE … nobody supports his contention. Then I thought to check Strong's Hebrew lexicon. It reads,
"A primitive root; properly to twist (compare H1434), that is, to be (causatively make) large (in various senses, as in body, mind, estate or honor, also in pride): - advance, boast, bring up, exceed, excellent, be (-come, do, give, make, wax), great (-er, come to . . estate, + things), grow (up), increase, lift up, magnify (-ifical), be much set by, nourish (up), pass, promote, proudly [spoken], tower."
I'm sure the author was well-intentioned, but not only did he assert something that is flatly untrue about the Hebrew word, he also misread Strong's entry, which I would argue is incorrect as well. Strong does not say that the word means to "twist into greatness." His phrase "properly to twist" most likely is a statement about his view on the etymology of the word. Even if Strong were right about the etymology of the word, its etymological meaning has nothing to do with its usage as a verb in the Hebrew Bible. Much less is there an implicit theological message that in order to be great in God' s eyes one must be twisted against the sinful nature!
Having issued the above caveat, here's one discovery I've made that has been significant to me:
Deut. 6:7 reads in the NASB "You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up." The concept of "diligent teaching" in my way of processing English calls to mind images of classrooms or tutorial sessions, earnest voiced exhortation, careful analytical explanation. As a father of a 1 year old and a 3 year old, with attention spans of 15 seconds (slight exaggeration), I was frustrated most every time I tried to put into practice my understanding of this verse.
When I read this in Hebrew, I discovered that instead of the standard Hebrew verbs for "instruct, teach" like lamad or yarah, Moses used the verb shanan. This is the only place where this lemma occurs in the piel. HALOT regards it as the only occurrence of this lemma and glosses it "repeat." This verb in combination with the verb dabar "talk," HALOT suggests means "to speak, or to recite again and again." Without addressing the question of whether this is really homonym 2 (Cf. NIDOTTE's discussion), this completely changed my conception of what I was supposed to do.
I take Moses' primary point to be that we are to repeat the commands of God constantly to our children. This implies Scripture memorization for the parents and children. As parents constantly recite the Word of God, it is ingrained in the children. As the children get old enough to ask questions about the meaning of Scripture, teaching will be the natural consequence. In response my discovery, we have embarked on a Scripture memory program for our 3 year old. We quote the verse together in the morning, my wife works on them through the day with Allan, and I pick up the mantra at supper and bedtime. I've been making up bedtime stories to illustrate the verses we are learning: Proverbs 3:5-7.
As to how this has affected my preaching and teaching: I now require this as a textbook for my Hebrew I students! If I were not very proficient in Hebrew, I imagine this would encourage me to check the Hebrew more frequently and carefully as I prepared. As it is, the most significant change has been the ability to sit down in my easy chair and read Isaiah. Without RHB, reading Isaiah would be a task to be tackled and worked at. With RHB, it is much less of a chore and more a joy and delight.
Q: Is it necessary for preachers to know the biblical languages in order to be effective interpreters? If not, why? If so, what argument(s) would you use to persuade a preacher of this need?
A: Is it necessary for a doctor to know human anatomy and physiology to practice medicine? Yes, of course, but intimate knowledge of the human skeleton, muscle names, layout of the nervous system, etc. probably won't play a significant role in diagnosing the common cold, stomach flu, or many other common ailments. But when a doctor has to deal with accident victims, infectious diseases, or strange symptoms, all of his/her knowledge of the human body becomes vitally relevant. The more doctors know, the less likely they will misdiagnose an illness or prescribe irrelevant remedies. There are good reasons for specialists in medicine—the scope of knowledge is too vast for a comprehensive knowledge of all relevant information. But a good doctor knows his limitations and refers his patients to those who know more.
Much of God's truth lies open to the diligent reader of good vernacular translations (English in our case). But when the pastor has to deal with the wreckage of sin in the forms of divorce, remarriage, homosexuality, incest, and the many ravages of sin, the more he knows of the original languages the more likely he is to provide an accurate remedy to the spiritually needy. God has not gifted all his servants equally with ability to learn languages. The good pastor will know his limitations and make good use of those who know more. But surely we should want the spiritual equivalent of an MD as the primary care physician of our soul. We should not be satisfied to have LPNs or RNs in primary care positions. Those who disdain knowledge of the original languages and sanctify ignorance do God and His Kingdom a deep disservice.
I would like to thank Dr Philip Brown for sharing these responses with me and allowing me to share them with you. Tomorrow, I will be continuing this discussion with Dr Bryan Smith. He has also responded to some similar questions and I will post them here for your consideration, too.
If you have any further questions or comments you would like to share, we'd love to continue the interaction on this subject. Please leave a comment below.
____________________
Related Sources:
A Reader's Hebrew Bible. Edited by A. Philip Brown II & Bryan W. Smith. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008. [WTS | CBD | Amazon]
Armstrong, Terry et. al. A Reader's Hebrew-English Lexicon of the Old Testatment, 4 volumes in one. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1989. [WTS | CBD | Amazon]
Kubo, Sakae. Reader's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975. [WTS | CBD | Amazon]
Goodrich, J., Richard & Albert L. Lukaszewski. A Reader's Greek New Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003. [CBD | Amazon]
____________________
Related Post:
- Forthcoming: A Reader's Hebrew Bible edited by Philip Brown & Bryan Smith
- Q&A with Dr Philip Brown on A Reader's Hebrew Bible | Part One
with the "twist" example in mind, and considering that many people who study the bible and teach it to others don't know hebrew, what steps can they take to avoid similar mistakes? i suppose having the self-awareness to know what you don't know is a good first step.
ReplyDeleteYes, keep to what you know best and can verify. The hardest thing for me to deal with when I began studying Greek was the sense of license. I've come to realize that knowing a little Greek and Hebrew can be just as dangerous as it can be helpful if used recklessly.
ReplyDeleteReally, the more I use my Greek and Hebrew texts, the better I understand the English translations we have available. We really are blessed to have some very good English translations. If you're a preacher and you don't have any training (or very little training) in the biblical languages, learn to read widely in the commentaries. Don't hold too tightly to one commentator. Read as many as you can. At least a handful at a time. This will help to confirm your own studies and provide a consensus of opinion on difficult exegetical and interpretational questions. Usually following this method will spare you the embarrassment and shame of "twisting" the Scriptures with "new" insights.
I hope this helps.