Oh Mercy!

I don't usually whine about translations (and I like the ESV), but in sermon preparation for this sunday I find myself asking;

Why has the ESV chosen to translate /hanan/ as 'mercy' in Psalm 123?

It seems so obviously connected to other uses of the word (and related) i.e.

Ex. 33:19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. (Note here how it is related to but distinguished from 'mercy')

Num. 6:25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;

Most of the time when translating the word the ESV goes for something to do with being gracious. Also, the few Hebrew wordy-books I've looked up always give a meaning more akin to being gracious than mercy. Mercy, certainly in our modern English usage, seems too narrow. It helpfully carries the idea of something being undeserved, but then so does 'graciousness'.

I suspect we usually associate mercy with 'not being punished even though you deserve it' rather than a broader concept of 'being shown undeserved compassion and favour' which is closer to /hanan/. Technically speaking 'mercy' can be used with this broader sense of an unmerited kindness (Sheila constantly performed small mercies for the poor in her neighbourhood) though I feel that's a little archaic and foreign to most people nowadays.

All of this makes the preacher's job harder.

Hebrew

Having just handed in a Hebrew paper it is good to reflect for a moment or two on why all the toil, fear, sweat, pain, prayer, angst and joy is worth it.

7 Reasons to study Biblical Hebrew

1. The Old Testament is the biggest part of the bible, covering the larger part of (revelatory) salvation history. And most of it is written in Hebrew.

2. The Old Testament has been too long neglected by evangelical scholarship and pulpits alike. Negatively this means we have more work to do. Positively, this means there is a lot to discover.

3. Many (good) bible translators make odd textual decisions about the OT, often going with the LXX (Greek translation of the OT) when more thought needs to be given to the Hebrew texts. This makes our English translations potentially less reliable, increasing the need for knowledge of the original language.

4. Hebrew is at the one time more simple and complex. A basic translation leaves open multiple options at a syntactical and discourse analysis level. This means a high level of 'interpretation' in translation, increasing the need for knowledge of Hebrew to properly weigh our English versions.

5. The Old Testament scriptures were the basic scriptures for Christ and the apostles (pretty early on however NT writings were beginning to be added). If we wish to understand the apostles we must understand the OT. The OT is written in Hebrew.

6.OT preaching has tended to emphasise the big picture over the detail (e.g. 'let's do Isaiah in four weeks but Romans over ten years'). A knowledge of Hebrew begins to unlock the God-glorifying, gospel-testifying, Christ-exalting detail.

7. We are not Marcionites (see here).

On the Joys of Greek study

Today is a day for Greek.

• A day for trying to memorise 50+ verbs and their principal parts.
• A day for realising you've forgotten more Greek vocabulary than you thought possible.
• A day for subjunctives, perfects, articular infinitives and participles of attendant circumstance.

The hottest July day on record and I'm inside studying Greek (ok, so I'm about to go outside and study, not the hardest afternoon of my life for sure, but I'm going for the sympathy vote here). A good day for remembering why studying NT Greek is worth it. Here are six reasons (if you are disappointed I couldn't get seven, you need to get out more) I can think of off the top of my head for three years of Greek-graft.

1. Knowing Greek means I can access, understand and evaluate the more technical commentaries on the market.

2. Knowing Greek means I am no longer a victim to those who do know Greek and use it for their wily purposes (I can make a measured assessment when someone 'pulls Greek' to try and prove a point).

3. Knowing Greek means I am more likely to spot the nuances even in english translations of the New Testament and understand the translation choices they've made (why do/don't they translate a particular phrase in a particular way etc.).

4. Knowing Greek should help me spot the particular emphases and stylistic properties of the different NT authors (e.g. what are Paul's favourite words and why?) and the different NT books (e.g. what phrases/grammatical constructions keep cropping up in Hebrews) in ways that english translations simply cannot.

5. Knowing Greek was apparently one of the boosts to the Reformation (studying Romans in Greek helped Martin Luther rediscover the gospel) and the achievements of the Puritan century and a half that followed.

And, in my view, the clincher...

6. Knowing Greek makes sense given the reality of a personal walk with the Lord. If I were married to someone from Estonia, you can bet I'd make the effort to learn Estonian, even if my wife spoke great english, simply because there would be a level of understanding my wife that would be unavailable to me except in Estonian, given that her thought patterns, humour etc. would all be shaped by that particular language. In the same way, although God does not 'speak Greek' in the same way (it's not his 'native tongue' - I don't think all the business of heaven is conducted in 1st century AD Greek), in a very real way God does 'speak Greek' - he has chosen to use Greek, with all its particularities, idioms, peculiarities and thought patterns, for his written revelation of himself.

Conclusion - Knowing Greek is by no means an essential for gospel ministry (but then again, the absolute bare essentials are really very few). That said, the real advantages are many. As in all things the issue is not 'what is the bare minimum on which I can get by in serving God?' but 'how far can I reasonably go in serving God?' - we should strive for godly excellence not mere survival. Since I am somebody who can do foreign language learning I should learn Greek since, whatever the trials along the way, it will be worth it.

Rats, that means away from the computer and back to the books...