Note
The Stick You Write With
When we read the bible,what do we think about? Do we think about the writer being inspired by the Spirit of God? Do we look to the setting it was written in, the culture of the times, etc? Do we look at the style of writing as some scholars teach us to do?
These and more are often taught as the way to read the bible. In more modern education we are taught to think critically and what is being said and written. In other words what can we infer or deduce from the text we are reading?
Questions such as these, more often than not lead to an overly complicated mess of confusion that is sometimes hard to navigate. Complicating the simple way the people of the day actually thought. What is more is that the New Testament was written in Koine ( common Greek).
This Greek as written in the NT is often studied by scholars, pastors and laymen alike, searching for a clearer picture of what the biblical writers were intending. And in this way, we may more accurately discern the truth that God, through His servants, is trying to convey to us, 2,000 years later. Mind you in a culture that is very far removed from the culture it was written in.
In short a lot has happened in 2,000 years, and some ideas just donโt translate well. To make up for this, scholars have tried hard to come up with different and new translations, paraphrases etc, that are everything from absolute trash, to literal word for word hard to read versions of the bible.
Many popular bible translations we read are something of a dynamic equivalent, thatโs thought for thought. Others are word for word. And still others are a paraphrase giving the general sense of what is being spoken of. Yet, for all this we seem to lose a little or a lot depending, when we try to bring this all into a culture, language and thought process that is far removed from the original.
So we dig, scholars and laymen alike, dig. We dig into the language it is written in. We find meanings to words, and their roots. Sometimes we look at the society and culture around them and it brings out even more. Yet for all that, it seems we still come up short and we wonder why.
In my own life, the more I dug into some limited Greek studies, the more I saw it was not really going too far, so I stopped looking. I would only look up what I was curious about or led to. If I am honest at times, I would remember my pastor who told me of his friend who was a biblical Greek scholar, who said it really doesnโt do you that much good to know Greek. As I studied I could see that, but why. Arenโt we taught to look into the language? Isnโt that the example that is set by many, if not most pastors and writers of biblical material? Look into the Greek to find the meaning of the words used in the NT, so we can understand a bit better? But its really not helping that much so what am I missing?
What I found was not intentional. I was not looking for it. At all.
I found where Jesus wrote about being the bread of life In John 6:35:
โAnd Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.โ
In our minds we wonder what that means so we dig. And that is just what I did. I wanted to find out what that meant, exactly. My research led me to the cultural life of the Jewish people. And I found out that they, without a long explanation, knew that Jesus was saying, without bread, you die, you have no life.
That may seem obvious and overly simplistic, yet for a people who lived in the desert, to not have bread and water, was a fact of certain death. Biblically the principle stems back to the time in the wilderness when God supplied bread for them in the form of mana. Again, this may seem obvious, but itโs not something most in western culture know very much about.
We donโt know starvation as a possibility as well as they did then, we donโt know the waterless tracts of land they made their home in for thousands of years. They knew intimately the slow agonizing death by starvation and thirst, in a land where water is a commodity. Unlike us who just go to the faucet or by another water bottle at the nearest grocery store. These things were their reality, unlike ours.
Finding this set me on a journey of sorts to looking into their culture more. As I did I began seeing things that we donโt often talk about. Then one day I realized that almost every NT writer with the exception of Luke was born Jewish. That meant that they came from a Jewish background, culture, traditions and language.
Then I began to wonder how come we are looking at the NT from a western outlook, through the Greek language, when we should possibly be looking at it from a more Hebraic outlook? Why werenโt we looking at what they were saying through the culture, history etc of the person who was speaking it? They knew the language and ideas of the OT far better than we do.
So, again I began digging. What I found was that as a general rule, the Jewish people of that day, had gained some complexity of thought because of outside influences, such as the Babylonian captivity, the Roman occupation etc, they still retained much of their original simplicity and straightforward thinking. In fact, without going too deep in this, most Jewish men at the time had at least some knowledge of the OT scriptures and how they were written and the thoughts behind them. This is due to the fact that they would teach the fathers trade to the children and were required to teach them the word of God as well.
For them, things were relatively simple. Their culture and thought process, at least so far as these things are concerned, was simple compared to the Romans, or Greeks where we in the west get much of our way of thinking.
To see the difference when we describe something, such as a pencil, we say its long, often yellow, with lead or graphite inside, it has an eraser on one end and the other is sharpened to a point so you can write with it. In ancient Hebrew, itโs literally a stick you write with, that is the description.
To us, who habitually over complicate everything, even a bowl of Cheerios, this seems way too simplistic. Truthfully one may be right with that assessment. But that does not negate the fact that they understood things far different than we do.
Now, I am doing more digging. Looking into the Hebrew language and looking at the NT from somewhat of a different angle. What happened is the truth we all see, written within the pages, started taking on a deeper meaning. Instead of looking at the Word through the lens of our culture or even the Greek, I began to see things that way I think the biblical writers were seeing them, and thus seeing the intent of God through them. Regardless of how it was written.
When we look at the bible in this way it seems to take on new life. It doesnโt change the meaning, but deepens it, brings a fuller, more clear revelation, and application to our lives and ministries.
I write my own writing, I do not use AI to write. All my writing is my own and can be scanned for AI content as well as plagiarism.
Note
The Stick You Write With
When we read the bible,what do we think about? Do we think about the writer being inspired by the Spirit of God? Do we look to the setting it was written in, the culture of the times, etc? Do we look at the style of writing as some scholars teach us to do?
These and more are often taught as the way to read the bible. In more modern education we are taught to think critically and what is being said and written. In other words what can we infer or deduce from the text we are reading?
Questions such as these, more often than not lead to an overly complicated mess of confusion that is sometimes hard to navigate. Complicating the simple way the people of the day actually thought. What is more is that the New Testament was written in Koine ( common Greek).
This Greek as written in the NT is often studied by scholars, pastors and laymen alike, searching for a clearer picture of what the biblical writers were intending. And in this way, we may more accurately discern the truth that God, through His servants, is trying to convey to us, 2,000 years later. Mind you in a culture that is very far removed from the culture it was written in.
In short a lot has happened in 2,000 years, and some ideas just donโt translate well. To make up for this, scholars have tried hard to come up with different and new translations, paraphrases etc, that are everything from absolute trash, to literal word for word hard to read versions of the bible.
Many popular bible translations we read are something of a dynamic equivalent, thatโs thought for thought. Others are word for word. And still others are a paraphrase giving the general sense of what is being spoken of. Yet, for all this we seem to lose a little or a lot depending, when we try to bring this all into a culture, language and thought process that is far removed from the original.
So we dig, scholars and laymen alike, dig. We dig into the language it is written in. We find meanings to words, and their roots. Sometimes we look at the society and culture around them and it brings out even more. Yet for all that, it seems we still come up short and we wonder why.
In my own life, the more I dug into some limited Greek studies, the more I saw it was not really going too far, so I stopped looking. I would only look up what I was curious about or led to. If I am honest at times, I would remember my pastor who told me of his friend who was a biblical Greek scholar, who said it really doesnโt do you that much good to know Greek. As I studied I could see that, but why. Arenโt we taught to look into the language? Isnโt that the example that is set by many, if not most pastors and writers of biblical material? Look into the Greek to find the meaning of the words used in the NT, so we can understand a bit better? But its really not helping that much so what am I missing?
What I found was not intentional. I was not looking for it. At all.
I found where Jesus wrote about being the bread of life In John 6:35:
โAnd Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.โ
In our minds we wonder what that means so we dig. And that is just what I did. I wanted to find out what that meant, exactly. My research led me to the cultural life of the Jewish people. And I found out that they, without a long explanation, knew that Jesus was saying, without bread, you die, you have no life.
That may seem obvious and overly simplistic, yet for a people who lived in the desert, to not have bread and water, was a fact of certain death. Biblically the principle stems back to the time in the wilderness when God supplied bread for them in the form of mana. Again, this may seem obvious, but itโs not something most in western culture know very much about.
We donโt know starvation as a possibility as well as they did then, we donโt know the waterless tracts of land they made their home in for thousands of years. They knew intimately the slow agonizing death by starvation and thirst, in a land where water is a commodity. Unlike us who just go to the faucet or by another water bottle at the nearest grocery store. These things were their reality, unlike ours.
Finding this set me on a journey of sorts to looking into their culture more. As I did I began seeing things that we donโt often talk about. Then one day I realized that almost every NT writer with the exception of Luke was born Jewish. That meant that they came from a Jewish background, culture, traditions and language.
Then I began to wonder how come we are looking at the NT from a western outlook, through the Greek language, when we should possibly be looking at it from a more Hebraic outlook? Why werenโt we looking at what they were saying through the culture, history etc of the person who was speaking it? They knew the language and ideas of the OT far better than we do.
So, again I began digging. What I found was that as a general rule, the Jewish people of that day, had gained some complexity of thought because of outside influences, such as the Babylonian captivity, the Roman occupation etc, they still retained much of their original simplicity and straightforward thinking. In fact, without going too deep in this, most Jewish men at the time had at least some knowledge of the OT scriptures and how they were written and the thoughts behind them. This is due to the fact that they would teach the fathers trade to the children and were required to teach them the word of God as well.
For them, things were relatively simple. Their culture and thought process, at least so far as these things are concerned, was simple compared to the Romans, or Greeks where we in the west get much of our way of thinking.
To see the difference when we describe something, such as a pencil, we say its long, often yellow, with lead or graphite inside, it has an eraser on one end and the other is sharpened to a point so you can write with it. In ancient Hebrew, itโs literally a stick you write with, that is the description.
To us, who habitually over complicate everything, even a bowl of Cheerios, this seems way too simplistic. Truthfully one may be right with that assessment. But that does not negate the fact that they understood things far different than we do.
Now, I am doing more digging. Looking into the Hebrew language and looking at the NT from somewhat of a different angle. What happened is the truth we all see, written within the pages, started taking on a deeper meaning. Instead of looking at the Word through the lens of our culture or even the Greek, I began to see things that way I think the biblical writers were seeing them, and thus seeing the intent of God through them. Regardless of how it was written.
When we look at the bible in this way it seems to take on new life. It doesnโt change the meaning, but deepens it, brings a fuller, more clear revelation, and application to our lives and ministries.
I write my own writing, I do not use AI to write. All my writing is my own and can be scanned for AI content as well as plagiarism.
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