Fear – Deuteronomy, Part 8

I was standing between the Lord and you at that time, Moses said to Israel, to reveal to you the message of the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה), because you were afraid (yârêʼ, יראתם) of the fire and would not go up the mountain.[1]  Then he recounted the ten commandments.  Within them was a fearful description of yehôvâh: I punish the sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons for the sin of the fathers who reject me[2]  And in a footnote (11) the translators made it perfectly clear what form of punishment they had in mind: “God sometimes punishes children for the sins of a father (cf. Num 16:27, 32; Josh 7:24-25; 2 Sam 21:1-9).”  In other words yehôvâh executes the sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons for the sin of the fathers who reject Him.

That’s what I thought.  And that’s why I love the NET.  Apart from its written record I would look back and think I had been completely insane.  It’s not that I had the NET to read when I was young, but that its translators came of age in the same religious milieu as I did.  So in the spirit of fearing the Lord I want to slow way down to consider how they arrived at I punish as a translation of the Hebrew word pâqad (פקד; Septuagint: ἀποδιδοὺς, a form of ἀποδίδωμι).  And this fear is not reverence, but the fear that keeps one from direct intercourse with yehôvâh.  Only Moses risked that, because you were afraid of the fire and would not go up the mountain.

In Exodus 20:5 (NET) pâqad was translated responding.

Form of pâqad Reference KJV NET
פקד Exodus 20:5 visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children… responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children…
Deuteronomy 5:9 visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children… I punish the sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons…

I intend to track pâqad, ʽâvôn (עון; translated to the transgression and for the sin) and śânêʼ (לשׁנאי; translated of those who reject me and who reject me) from the beginning to the giving of the law, and then from there to its restatement in Deuteronomy.  I first encountered ʽâvôn from the mouth of Cain after he attacked his brother Abel and killed him.[3]

So now, you are banished from the ground, yehôvâh said to him, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.[4]  Up to that time Cain had cultivated the groundWhen you try to cultivate the ground, yehôvâh continued, it will no longer yield its best for you.  You will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.[5]  Cain lamented (Genesis 4:13b, 14 NET):

My punishment (ʽâvôn, עוני) is too great to endure! [Table]  Look!  You are driving me off the land today, and I must hide from your presence.  I will be a homeless wanderer on the earth; whoever finds me will kill me.

Here the translators assumed that Cain lamented his punishment rather than his sin; ʽâvôn can mean both.  When yehôvâh prophesied to Abram the translators assumed the Amorites were not punished in the promised land they inhabited but that the land itself would not be given to Abram’s descendants until the Amorites’ sin reached some predetermined limit (Genesis 15:13b-16 NET):

Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign country.  They will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years [Table].  But I will execute judgment on the nation that they will serve.  Afterward they will come out with many possessions [Table].  But as for you, you will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age [Table].  In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the sin (ʽâvôn, עון) of the Amorites has not yet reached its limit [Table].

But Abram/Abraham had no son yet by his wife Sarah (Genesis 17:15-21).

Then God said to Abraham, “As for your wife, you must no longer call her Sarai; Sarah will be her name [Table].  I will bless her and will give you a son through her.  I will bless her and she will become a mother of nations.  Kings of countries will come from her [Table]!”

Then Abraham bowed down with his face to the ground and laughed as he said to himself, “Can a son be born to a man who is a hundred years old?  Can Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety [Table]?”  Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live before you [Table]!”

God said, “No, Sarah your wife is going to bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac.  I will confirm my covenant with him as a perpetual covenant for his descendants after him [Table].  As for Ishmael, I have heard you.  I will indeed bless him, make him fruitful, and give him a multitude of descendants.  He will become the father of twelve princes; I will make him into a great nation [Table].  But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year [Table].”

The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hottest time of the day.  Abraham looked up and saw three men standing across from him.[6]  One of them said, “I will surely return to you when the season comes round again, and your wife Sarah will have a son!”[7]

So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, “After I am worn out will I have pleasure, especially when my husband is old too?”

The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child when I am old?’  Is anything impossible for the Lord?  I will return to you when the season comes round again and Sarah will have a son.”  Then Sarah lied, saying, “I did not laugh,” because she was afraid (yârêʼ, יראה).  But the Lord said, “No!  You did laugh.”[8]

The next occurrence of ʽâvôn involved the judgment and condemnation of Sodom.  At dawn the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get going!  Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be destroyed when the city is judged (ʽâvôn)!”[9]  Competing values had met at Lot’s front door (Genesis 19:4-9a NET):

Before they could lie down to sleep, all the men – both young and old, from every part of the city of Sodom – surrounded the house.  They shouted to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight?  Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!”

Lot went outside to them, shutting the door behind him.  He said, “No, my brothers!  Don’t act so wickedly (râʽaʽ, תרעו)!  Look, I have two daughters who have never had sexual relations with a man.  Let me bring them out to you, and you can do to them whatever you please.  Only don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”

“Out of our way!” they cried, and “This man came to live here as a foreigner, and now he dares to judge us!  We’ll do more harm (râʽaʽ, נרע) to you than to them!”

The two angels, yehôvâh’s messengers, didn’t allow the men of Sodom to fulfill their desire, nor did they allow Lot to defile his daughters to fulfill his family’s ideal of hospitality.  They struck the men who were at the door of the house, from the youngest to the oldest, with blindness.[10]   And that brings me to the first occurrence of pâqad.

The Lord visited (pâqad, פקד) Sarah just as he had said he would and did for Sarah what he had promised.[11]  The rabbis who translated the Septuagint chose ἐπεσκέψατο (a form of ἐπισκέπτομαι) here.  I find ἐπεσκέψατο at the beginning of the fulfillment of another promise as well.  The Jerusalem Council listened to Barnabas and Paul while they explained all the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.[12] James replied (Acts 15:13b-18 NET Table1 Table2):

“Brothers, listen to me.  Simeon has explained (Acts 15:7-11) how God first concerned himself (ἐπεσκέψατο, a form of ἐπισκέπτομαι) to select from among the Gentiles a people for his name.  The words of the prophets agree with this, as it is written, ‘After this I will return, and I will rebuild the fallen tent of David; I will rebuild its ruins and restore it, so that the rest of humanity may seek the Lord, namely, all the Gentiles I have called to be my own, says the Lord, who makes these things known from long ago.”

James didn’t quote the Septuagint.

Acts 15:16, 17 (NET) Acts 15:16, 17 Parallel Greek Amos 9:11, 12 Septuagint Amos 9:11, 12 NETS
‘After this… μετὰ ταῦτα… ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ… On that day…
…I will return… …ἀναστρέψω…
…and I will rebuild the fallen tent of David… καὶ ἀνοικοδομήσω τὴν σκηνὴν Δαυὶδ τὴν πεπτωκυῖαν ἀναστήσω τὴν σκηνὴν Δαυιδ τὴν πεπτωκυῖαν… …I will raise up the tent of David that is fallen…
…καὶ ἀνοικοδομήσω τὰ πεπτωκότα αὐτῆς… …and rebuild its ruins…
…I will rebuild its ruins… …καὶ τὰ |κατεσκαμμένα| αὐτῆς ἀνοικοδομήσω… …καὶ τὰ κατεσκαμμένα αὐτῆς ἀναστήσω… …and raise up its destruction…
…and restore it… …καὶ ἀνορθώσω αὐτήν… …καὶ ἀνοικοδομήσω αὐτὴν καθὼς αἱ ἡμέραι τοῦ αἰῶνος… …and rebuild it as the days of old…
…so that the rest of humanity may seek the Lord, namely, all the Gentiles I have called to be my own,’ says the Lord, who makes these things… …ὅπως ἂν ἐκζητήσωσιν οἱ κατάλοιποι τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὸν κύριον καὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ἐφ᾿ οὓς ἐπικέκληται τὸ ὄνομα μου ἐπ᾿ αὐτούς, λέγει κύριος ποιῶν ταῦτα… …ὅπως ἐκζητήσωσιν οἱ κατάλοιποι τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ἐφ᾽ οὓς ἐπικέκληται τὸ ὄνομά μου ἐπ᾽ αὐτούς λέγει κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ ποιῶν ταῦτα… …in order that those remaining of humans and all the nations upon whom my name has been called might seek out me, says the Lord who does these things.

But the Septuagint version of Amos 9:12 is much closer to James’ quotation than the Hebrew from which our Bibles have been translated.

Amos 9:12 (NET) Amos 9:12 (KJV)

Amos 9:12 (Tanakh)

“As a result they will conquer those left in Edom and all the nations subject to my rule.”  The Lord, who is about to do this, is speaking! That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this. That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this.

The first occurrence of śânêʼ is found in the words with which Rebekah’s family blessed her when she left them to marry Abraham’s and Sarah’s son Isaac: Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands of ten thousands!  May your descendants possess the strongholds of their enemies (śânêʼ).[13]  But enemies as a translation of śânêʼ did not mean open warfare exclusively.  It could include the fear of a potential enemy.  Abimelech said to Isaac, “Leave us and go elsewhere, for you have become much more powerful than we are.”[14]  When Abimelech saw how yehôvâh had blessed Isaac and sought a treaty with him, Isaac asked, Why have you come to me?  You hate (śânêʼ, שׁנאתם) me and sent me away from you. [15]

The Hebrew word śânêʼ was also used to describe personal preference.  Isaac and Rebekah had twin sons, Esau and Jacob.  Jacob married two women, Leah and Rachel.  Rachel was beautiful.  Leah was not.  When evening came Jacob preferred to bed Rachel over Leah.  When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved (śânêʼ, שׁנואה), he enabled her to become pregnant while Rachel remained childless.[16]  She became pregnant again and had another son.  She said, “Because the Lord heard that I was unloved (śânêʼ, שׁנואה), he gave me this one too.”[17]

From the perspective of the word usage of śânêʼ it matters very little whether Leah was a superstitious woman who mistook happenstance for interaction with yehôvâh.  As a matter of faith in yehôvâh it is important to remember that Moses was not afraid of the fire, went up the mountain and spoke directly with Him.  He said of Moses (Numbers 12:6-8a NET):

Hear now my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) will make myself known to him in a vision; I will speak with him in a dream.  My servant Moses is not like this; he is faithful in all my house.  With him I will speak face to face, openly, and not in riddles; and he will see the form of the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה).

It was Moses who wrote that yehôvâh saw (râʼâh, וירא) that Leah was unloved and enabled her to become pregnant.  If I believe, the details pulse with life.  Leah concurred with yehôvâh at first: The Lord has looked (râʼâh, ראה) with pity on my oppressed condition,[18] she said when she was not having regular sex with Jacob.  But after she was and had given birth to two sons, Reuben and Simeon, the idea that yehôvâh saw her became less comforting: the Lord heard (shâmaʽ, ושמע) that I was unloved, she amended her statement of faith.

So then faith comes by hearing,[19] Paul wrote the Romans.  The best way to avoid faith in yehôvâh is to avoid the Bible.  Don’t read it for yourself or listen to preaching or teaching from it.  The second best way to avoid faith in yehôvâh is to read the Bible, study it even, listen to plenty of sermons from it, but keep your mind focused on rules for you to obey.  I know.  I did it for years.

With my mind focused on my own compliance, or lack of compliance, to rules derived from the law I missed the grace of God, his gift of righteousness, the fruit of his Spirit.  Although they see they do not see, and although they hear they do not hear nor do they understand,[20] Jesus promised those who trusted their religion, rites and rituals rather than yehôvâhWoe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, He critiqued their labors, hypocrites!  You cross land and sea to make one convert, and when you get one, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves![21]

Elsewhere I called my attempt “to keep yehôvâh’s law in my own strength…an occupational hazard of reading the Old Testament with a willing heart…If yehôvâh said do this or don’t do that, I said okay, and woke up somewhere in the story of David to the fact that I was striving again to keep the law in my own strength, without malice or forethought.”  Jesus read the Old Testament and concluded, You must all be born from above[22] because what is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.[23]  Keeping that in view and remaining open to understanding how He got that out of the Old Testament helps to minimize the “occupational hazard” of studying it.  Another more manual technique has been to deny my suspicions of yehôvâh, to take Him at his word, and to become more suspicious of the motives (1 Timothy 1:5-7) and agendas (Galatians 4:17-31) of those who would dissuade me from trusting his salvation.

Eventually, Rachel had a son, Joseph.  When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated (śânêʼ, וישׁנאו) Joseph and were not able to speak to him kindlyJoseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated (śânêʼ, שׁנא) him even more.[24]  He said to them (Genesis 37:6-8 NET):

“Listen to this dream I had: There we were, binding sheaves of grain in the middle of the field.  Suddenly my sheaf rose up and stood upright and your sheaves surrounded my sheaf and bowed down to it!”  Then his brothers asked him, “Do you really think you will rule over us or have dominion over us?”  They hated (śânêʼ, שׁנא) him even more because of his dream and because of what he said.

Joseph had another dream, and told it to his brothers (Genesis 37:9, 10 NET).

“Look,” he said.  “I had another dream.  The sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”  When he told his father and his brothers, his father rebuked him, saying, “What is this dream that you had?  Will I, your mother, and your brothers really come and bow down to you?”

Joeseph’s brothers’ śânêʼ was no mere emotion.  They plotted to kill him.  But Reuben, the eldest, talked them down from killing Joseph.  Then Judah said to his brothers (Genesis 37:26-28 NET):

“What profit is there if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?  Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites, but let’s not lay a hand on him, for after all, he is our brother, our own flesh.”  His brothers agreed.  So when the Midianite merchants passed by, Joseph’s brothers pulled him out of the cistern and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver.  The Ishmaelites then took Joseph to Egypt.

An Egyptian named Potiphar, an official of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard, purchased [Joseph] from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there (Genesis 39:1b-6a NET).

The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) was with Joseph.  He was successful and lived in the household of his Egyptian master.  His master observed that the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) was with him and that the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) made everything he was doing successful.  So Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal attendant.  Potiphar appointed (pâqad, ויפקדהו) Joseph overseer of his household and put him in charge of everything he owned.  From the time Potiphar appointed (pâqad, הפקיד) him over his household and over all that he owned, the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) blessed the Egyptian’s household for Joseph’s sake.  The blessing of the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) was on everything that he had, both in his house and in his fields.  So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; he gave no thought to anything except the food he ate.

In the Septuagint these two occurrences of pâqad were translated κατέστησεν and κατασταθῆναι (forms of καθίστημι).  Who then is the faithful and wise slave, Jesus asked, whom the master has put in charge (κατέστησεν, a form of καθίστημι) of his household, to give the other slaves their food at the proper time?  Blessed is that slave whom the master finds at work when he comes.  I tell you the truth, the master will put him in charge (καταστήσει, another form of καθίστημι) of all his possessions.[25]

I’ll pick this up in another essay.  The tables I’ve used here follow.

Form of pâqad Reference KJV NET
פקד Genesis 21:1 And the LORD visited Sarah as he had… The Lord visited Sarah just as he had said…
Genesis 50:24 …and God will surely visit you… …But God will surely come to you…
Genesis 50:25 …God will surely visit you… ..God will surely come to you…
Exodus 3:16 …I have surely visited you… …I have attended carefully to you…
Exodus 4:31 …they heard that the LORD had visited …heard that the Lord had attended to…
Exodus 13:19 …God will surely visit you… …God will surely attend to you…
Exodus 20:5 visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children… responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children…
ויפקדהו Genesis 39:4 …and he made him overseer over his… Potiphar appointed Joseph overseer of…
הפקיד Genesis 39:5 …he had made him overseer in his house… Potiphar appointed him over his…
ויפקד Genesis 40:4 charged Joseph with them… appointed Joseph to be their attendant…
Genesis 41:34 …and let him appoint officers over the… he should appoint officials throughout…
יפקד Genesis 50:24 …and God will surely visit you …But God will surely come to you
Genesis 50:25 …God will surely visit you ..God will surely come to you
Exodus 13:19 …God will surely visit you… …God will surely attend to you…
פקדתי Exodus 3:16 I have surely visited you… I have attended carefully to you…
Form of ʽâvôn Reference KJV NET
עוני Genesis 4:13 My punishment is greater than I can bear. My punishment is too great to endure!
עון Genesis 15:16 …for the iniquity of the Amorites is not… …for the sin of the Amorites has not yet…
Genesis 44:16 …found out the iniquity of thy servants… …God has exposed the sin of your servants!
Exodus 20:5 …visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children… …responding to the transgression of fathers…
בעון Genesis 19:15 …be consumed in the iniquity of the city. …will be destroyed when the city is judged!
Form of śânêʼ Reference KJV NET
שׁנאיו Genesis 24:60 …possess the gate of those which hate …possess the strongholds of their enemies.
שׁנאתם Genesis 26:27 …ye hate me, and have sent me away… You hate me and sent me away from you.
שׁנואה Genesis 29:31 …the LORD saw that Leah was hated …the Lord saw that Leah was unloved
Genesis 29:33 …the LORD hath heard that I was hated …the Lord heard that I was unloved
וישׁנאו Genesis 37:4 they hated him, and could not speak… they hated Joseph and were not able to…
שׁנא Genesis 37:5 …and they hated him yet the more. they hated him even more.
Genesis 37:8 And they hated him yet the more for his… They hated him even more because of his…
שׁנאינו Exodus 1:10 …they join also unto our enemies …will ally themselves with our enemies
שׁנאי Exodus 18:21 …men of truth, hating covetousness… …men of truth, those who hate bribes…
לשׁנאי Exodus 20:5 …generation of them that hate me …generations of those who reject me

[1] Deuteronomy 5:5 (NET)

[2] Deuteronomy 5:9b (NET)

[3] Genesis 4:8b (NET)

[4] Genesis 4:11 (NET) Table

[5] Genesis 4:12 (NET) Table

[6] Genesis 18:1, 2a (NET)

[7] Genesis 18:10a (NET)

[8] Genesis 18:12-15 (NET)

[9] Genesis 19:15 (NET) בעון

[10] Genesis 19:11a (NET)

[11] Genesis 21:1 (NET)

[12] Acts 15:12 (NET)

[13] Genesis 24:60 (NET) שׁנאיו

[14] Genesis 26:16 (NET)

[15] Genesis 26:27 (NET)

[16] Genesis 29:31 (NET)

[17] Genesis 29:33a (NET)

[18] Genesis 29:32a (NET)

[19] Romans 10:17a (NKJV)

[20] Matthew 13:13b (NET)

[21] Matthew 23:15 (NET)

[22] John 3:7b (NET)

[23] John 3:6 (NET)

[24] Genesis 37:4, 5 (NET)

[25] Matthew 24:45-47 (NET)

Romans, Part 62

As I continue to consider Rejoice in hope, endure in suffering, persist in prayer,[1] as a description of love rather than as rules to obey, I want to look at some more truth that love rejoices in along with some more ἀδικία that it does not.  What Luke called a parable (παραβολὴν, a form of παραβολή) Matthew presented as a rhetorical question in a discourse about child-rearing: If someone owns a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go look for the one that went astray?[2]

Matthew

Luke

See that you do not disdain one of these little ones.  For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.

Matthew 18:10 (NET)

So Jesus told them this parable:

Luke 15:3 (NET)

What do you think?  If someone owns a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go look for the one that went astray?  And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice (χαίρει, a form of χαίρω) more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.

Matthew 18:12, 13 (NET)

“Which one of you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go look for the one that is lost until he finds it?  Then when he has found it, he places it on his shoulders, rejoicing (χαίρων, another form of χαίρω).  Returning home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, telling them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost.’

Luke 15:4-6 (NET)

In the same way, your Father in heaven is not willing that one of these little ones be lost.

Matthew 18:14 (NET)

I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy (χαρὰ) in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to repent.

Luke 15:7 (NET)

I should back up a bit and look at more of the context of Matthew’s Gospel narrative.  Jesus’ disciples had asked him, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?[3]

He called a child, had him stand among them, and said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn around and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven!  Whoever then humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  And whoever welcomes a child like this in my name welcomes me.”[4]

Then He began what I am calling a discourse about child-rearing: But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a huge millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the open sea.[5]  The Greek word translated causesto sin is σκανδαλίσῃ (a form of σκανδαλίζω).  The definition in the NET reads as follows:

1) to put a stumbling block or impediment in the way, upon which another may trip and fall, metaph. to offend 1a) to entice to sin 1b) to cause a person to begin to distrust and desert one whom he ought to trust and obey 1b1) to cause to fall away 1b2) to be offended in one, i.e. to see in another what I disapprove of and what hinders me from acknowledging his authority 1b3) to cause one to judge unfavourably or unjustly of another 1c) since one who stumbles or whose foot gets entangled feels annoyed 1c1) to cause one displeasure at a thing 1c2) to make indignant 1c3) to be displeased, indignant

It comes from σκάνδαλον a snare or trap, translated stumbling blocks in the next verse: Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks (σκανδάλων, a form of σκάνδαλον)!  It is necessary that stumbling blocks (σκάνδαλα, another form of σκάνδαλον) come, but woe to the person through whom they (σκάνδαλον) come.”[6]  The necessity (ἀνάγκη, a form of ἀναγκή) of stumbling blocks is part of the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God,[7] how God has consigned all people to disobedience so that he may show mercy to them all.[8]  As I write this my daughter is essentially a witch, a neo-pagan.  My part in her defection from Christ was a decision made during my divorce from her mother.

My children wanted to stay with me rather than their mother.  I went along with it, hoping their mother would see reason.  She called my bluff and asked for money (to which she was entitled) to leave.  My biggest concern at that moment was the family’s financial survival.  I traveled for a living and would need to hire someone to care for them while I was away.  I had no legal rights to my children.  (I married into them and hadn’t adopted them because their biological father was still living.)  And there were a few more things.

Her care for those children had saved their mother from many (though not all) misguided mistakes.  To take that from her seemed dangerous and cruel.  Add to that, I was crushed in my own soul to be rejected again by yet another woman.  I had serious doubts that I could be a single parent of two teenage children.  Did I even want to be a single parent of two teenage children?  I wanted to make movies.

I decided that I could walk away with nothing but a paycheck, start over again and still help the family financially, and my wife could not.  And so I rejected and abandoned my daughter.

I’m grateful to Stephenie Meyer, Melissa Rosenberg, Catherine Hardwicke and Kristen Stewart for giving me two hours to be a teenage girl in love.  Randy Brown, Robert Lorenz, Clint Eastwood and Amy Adams have also helped me immensely in a more didactic way.  But both “Twilight” and “Trouble with the Curve” came too late to save me from making potentially the worst decision of a lifetime of bad decisions (Matthew 18:8, 9 NET).

If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire.  And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.  It is better for you to enter into life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into fiery hell.

If what I do with my hands, if where I go with my feet, if what I see with my eyes causes me to sin?

Causes you to sin has proven to be the worst of all possible translations of σκανδαλίζει (another form of σκανδαλίζω) for me.  It turns my thoughts inward to my sins.  My sins are forgiven!  Young’s Literal Translationcause thee to stumble—allows me to see that Jesus was still talking about my real bumbling and stumbling, causing my daughter—one of those little ones who believed in Him—to sin, becoming a stumbling block to her, causing her to desert one whom she ought to trust.

Having watched her struggle through two drug-related psychotic breaks and a stroke, I agree with Jesus that it would have been better for me to kill myself.[9]  It is better for her, however, that I believe that 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[10]  And I continue to pray that his love, his joy, his peace, his patience, his kindness, his goodness, his faithfulness, his gentleness, and his firm control[11] are all she sees from me from now on, because if I cannot be forgiven…

And by forgiven I mean:  though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.[12]  An eternity in a fiery hell seems like overkill to me for masturbation or premarital sex or even stealing a gazillion dollars.  But if my daughter cannot be found again by the Lord Jesus, if I have condemned her to an eternity in hell, I’m not entirely convinced one eternity in one fiery hell will be sufficient for me.

And though I write like this I still have hope.  “I’ll always be here as your daughter,” she texted me as I thought and wrote about these things.  She has forgiven me, but not Jesus—not yet.  “Your sacrifice has made my education possible and I can never repay you but with love,” she texted.  Since faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word (ρήματος, a form of ῥῆμα) of God,[13] I pray that He will speak that word, “hear,” to her heart, so she will know Jesus and his Father who has given her so much more than a few dollars.  Now this is eternal life, Jesus prayed to his Father, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent.[14]

I didn’t intend this essay to be so confessional.  I intended to write about an incident in the history of Israel, when a Leviteacquired a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.[15]  Actually, I wanted to write about what happened on their journey home, after she got angry at him and went home to her father’s house in Bethlehem in Judah,[16] after he retrieved her from there.  But in the KJV she didn’t get angry, she played the whore against him.  The note in the NET reads: “Or ‘was unfaithful to him.’ Many have understood the Hebrew verb וַתִּזְנֶה (vattizneh) as being from זָנָה (zanah, “to be a prostitute”), but it may be derived from a root meaning “to be angry; to hate” attested in Akkadian (see HALOT 275 s.v. II זנה).”

Ken Stone wrote in the Jewish Women’s Archive online:

The Hebrew text states that the woman “prostituted herself against” the Levite (19:2). Thus, it has often been assumed that she was sexually unfaithful to him. Certain Greek translations, however, state that she “became angry” with him. The latter interpretation is accepted by a number of commentators and modern English translations, including the NRSV, since the woman goes to her father’s house rather than the house of a male lover. It is also possible that the woman’s “prostitution” does not refer to literal sexual infidelity but is a sort of metaphor for the fact that she leaves her husband. The act of leaving one’s husband is quite unusual in the Hebrew Bible, and the harsh language used to describe it could result from the fact that it was viewed in a very negative light.

And though Mr. Stone mentioned “Certain Greek translations,” the Septuagint reads simply καὶ ἐπορεύθη ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἡ παλλακὴ αὐτοῦ (literally: “and went from him the concubine of his”).

I won’t comment about a Levite with a concubine, except to say that the Hebrew word pı̂ylegesh (פילגש), translated concubine, does not occur in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers or Deuteronomy.  It occurs in Genesis before God’s law was given and again after in Judges, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Esther, Song of Solomon and Ezekiel.  But the concubine is a foreign custom to God’s law.

The Levite and his concubine spent the night in Gibeah, in the land of the Benjamites, with an old man from the Ephraimite hill country, the place to which the Levite and his concubine were returning.  I made the following table to compare and contrast what happened next to the incident in Sodom the night before it was destroyed.

Judges, the Levite and his concubine

Genesis, Lot and the visitors

They were having a good time, when suddenly some men of the city, some good-for-nothings, surrounded the house and kept beating on the door.

Judges 19:22a (NET)

Before they could lie down to sleep, all the men – both young and old, from every part of the city of Sodom – surrounded the house.

Genesis 19:4 (NET)

The note on good-for-nothings in the NET reads: “‘the men of the city, men, the sons of wickedness.’ The phrases are in apposition; the last phrase specifies what type of men they were. It is not certain if all the men of the city are in view, or just a group of troublemakers. In 20:5 the town leaders are implicated in the crime, suggesting that all the men of the city were involved. If so, the implication is that the entire male population of the town were good-for-nothings.”  The text is clearer regarding Sodom: Now the people of Sodom were extremely wicked rebels against the Lord (yehôvâh).[17]

Judges, the Levite and his concubine

Genesis, Lot and the visitors

They said to the old man who owned the house, “Send out the man who came to visit you so we can have sex with him.”

Judges 19:22b (NET)

They shouted to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight?  Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!”

Genesis 19:5 (NET)

The man who owned the house went outside and said to them, “No, my brothers!  Don’t do this wicked thing!  After all, this man is a guest in my house.  Don’t do such a disgraceful thing!

Judges 19:23 (NET)

Lot went outside to them, shutting the door behind him.  He said, “No, my brothers!  Don’t act so wickedly!

Genesis 19:6, 7 (NET)

Here are my virgin daughter and my guest’s concubine.  I will send them out and you can abuse them and do to them whatever you like.  But don’t do such a disgraceful thing to this man!”

Judges 19:24 (NET)

Look, I have two daughters who have never had sexual relations with a man.  Let me bring them out to you, and you can do to them whatever you please.  Only don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”

Genesis 19:8 (NET)

Chivalry as a moral code was invented much later.

Judges, the Levite and his concubine

Genesis, Lot and the visitors

The men refused to listen to him…

Judges 19:25a (NET)

 

“Out of our way!” they cried, and “This man came to live here as a foreigner, and now he dares to judge (Septuagint: κρίσιν κρίνειν) us!  We’ll do more harm to you than to them!”  They kept pressing in on Lot until they were close enough to break down the door.

Genesis 19:9 (NET)

…so the Levite grabbed his concubine and made her go outside.

Judges 19:25b (NET)

So the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house as they shut the door.  Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, from the youngest to the oldest, with blindness.

Genesis 19:10, 11a (NET)

They raped her and abused her all night long until morning.  They let her go at dawn.

Judges 19:25c (NET)

The men outside wore themselves out trying to find the door.

Genesis 19:11b (NET)

The Benjamites who did this were not “godless Sodomites,” extremely wicked rebels against the Lord (yehôvâh, ליהוה), but sons of Israel living in the promised land.

Judges, the Levite and his concubine

Genesis, Lot and the visitors

The woman arrived back at daybreak and was sprawled out on the doorstep of the house where her master was staying until it became light.  When her master got up in the morning, opened the doors of the house, and went outside to start on his journey, there was the woman, his concubine, sprawled out on the doorstep of the house with her hands on the threshold.

Judges 19:26, 27 (NET)

Then the two visitors said to Lot, “Who else do you have here?  Do you have any sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or other relatives in the city?  Get them out of this place because we are about to destroy it.  The outcry against this place is so great before the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) that he (yehôvâh, יהוה) has sent us to destroy it.”

Genesis 19:12, 13 (NET)

The woman was dead.  Dear God, I hope she was dead (Judges 19:29, 30 NET):

When he got home, [the Levite] took a knife, grabbed his concubine, and carved her up into twelve pieces.  Then he sent the pieces throughout Israel.  Everyone who saw the sight said, “Nothing like this has happened or been witnessed during the entire time since the Israelites left the land of Egypt!  Take careful note of it!  Discuss it and speak!”

Romans, Part 63

Back to Romans, Part 64

[1] Romans 12:12 (NET)

[2] Matthew 18:12 (NET)

[3] Matthew 18:1b (NET)

[4] Matthew 18:2-5 (NET)

[5] Matthew 18:6 (NET)

[6] Matthew 18:7 (NET)

[7] Romans 11:33a (NET)

[8] Romans 11:32 (NET)

[9] Matthew 18:6b (NET)

[10] Galatians 2:20a (NET)

[11] Galatians 5:22, 23 (NET)

[12] Isaiah 1:18b (NKJV) Table

[13] Romans 10:17 (NKJV)

[14] John 17:3 (NET)

[15] Judges 19:1b (NET)

[16] Judges 19:2a (NET)

[17] Genesis 13:13 (NET)

Deuteronomy, Part 1

I intend to do a detailed study of Deuteronomy.  It coincided with my reading of an article in Newsweek, but I don’t know yet if that is anything more than a coincidence.  This is what Moses said to the assembly of Israel in the Transjordanian wastelands,[1] the book of Deuteronomy begins.  It struck me this time as an open invitation to compare Deuteronomy with what the Lord told Moses to say—Speak to the Israelites and tell them[2]—in Numbers 33:50-36:13 (NET).  I noticed immediately that what Moses said in Deuteronomy is considerably longer than what the Lord told him to say in Numbers.

Moses addressed the Israelites just as the Lord had instructed him to do.[3]  The note in the NET reads: “Heb ‘according to all which.’”  The Septuagint reads, κατὰ πάντα ὅσα ἐνετείλατο κύριος αὐτῷ πρὸς αὐτούς (literally, “following all as great as the Lord commanded him toward them”)

While I am willing to accept that God said more to Moses than is recorded in Numbers if Moses addressed the Israelites [according to all which] the Lord had instructed him to do, I notice that this same word ʼăsher was translated what in verse 1, whose twice in verse 4, that in verse 8 and just as in verse 11.  The problem is that verse 11 has a slightly different form of ʼăsher (כאשר) from all the other occurrences (אשר).  If Moses addressed the Israelites [, what] the Lord had instructed him to do, I think it only prudent to compare what Moses said to other passages with an open mind to potential differences between what Moses said and what the Lord told Moses to Speak to the Israelites and tell them.

Deuteronomy

Exodus, Numbers

The Lord our God spoke to us at Horeb and said, “You have stayed in the area of this mountain long enough.  Get up now, resume your journey…

Deuteronomy 1:6, 7a (NET)

The Lord said to Moses, “Go up from here, you and the people whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt…

Exodus 33:1a (NET)

…heading for the Amorite hill country, to all its areas including the arid country, the highlands, the Shephelah, the Negev, and the coastal plain – all of Canaan and Lebanon as far as the Great River, that is, the Euphrates.

Deuteronomy 1:7b (NET)

“Give these instructions to the Israelites, and tell them: ‘When you enter Canaan, the land that has been assigned to you as an inheritance, the land of Canaan with its borders,  your southern border will extend from the wilderness of Zin along the Edomite border, and your southern border will run eastward to the extremity of the Salt Sea, and then the border will turn from the south to the Scorpion Ascent, continue to Zin, and then its direction will be from the south to Kadesh Barnea.  Then it will go to Hazar Addar and pass over to Azmon.  There the border will turn from Azmon to the Brook of Egypt, and then its direction is to the sea.  And for a western border you will have the Great Sea.  This will be your western border.  And this will be your northern border: From the Great Sea you will draw a line to Mount Hor; from Mount Hor you will draw a line to Lebo Hamath, and the direction of the border will be to Zedad.  The border will continue to Ziphron, and its direction will be to Hazar Enan.  This will be your northern border.  For your eastern border you will draw a line from Hazar Enan to Shepham.  The border will run down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain, and the border will descend and reach the eastern side of the Sea of Chinnereth.  Then the border will continue down the Jordan River and its direction will be to the Salt Sea.  This will be your land by its borders that surround it.’”

Numbers 34:2-12 (NET)

Look! I have already given the land to you.  Go, occupy the territory that I, the Lord, promised to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their descendants.”

Deuteronomy 1:8 (NET)

…to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’

Exodus 33:1b (NET)

I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.  Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey.  But I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, and I might destroy you on the way.”

Exodus 33:2, 3 (NET)

The borders of the land of Israel were part of the instructions the Lord gave to Moses.  I won’t try to compare the geography of ancient place names.  The Lord’s statement—I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, and I might destroy you on the way—was not repeated here in Deuteronomy.  When the people heard this troubling word they mourned.[4]  I think this troubling word is part of a covenant of law, the ministry that produced death and condemnation[5] as Paul called it.

I almost missed how momentous this insight is for me.  There were days between those sentences, days of data-gathering and meditation on pânı̂ym (פני) before I recognized something about me: I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, and I might destroy you on the way, was the essential feature of God’s holiness as that holiness pertained to me.  I can’t trace its origin.  It’s so deep inside me it seems self-evident.  It’s the reason I thought salvation was essentially a way for God to overcome his holiness.

But prior to the law the Lord didn’t speak this way to Cain[6] after Cain murdered his brother.  Cain was banished, however, from the Lord’s presence or faceSurely You have driven me out this day from the face (pânı̂ym, פני; Septuagint: προσώπου) of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face (pânı̂ym, ומפניך; Septuagint: προσώπου).[7]  So Cain went out from the presence (pânı̂ym, מלפני; Septuagint: προσώπου) of the Lord and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.[8]

God’s covenant with Abraham had one human requirement, one law, if you will—circumcision (Genesis 17:9-13 (NET):

Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep the covenantal requirement I am imposing on you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.  This is my requirement that you and your descendants after you must keep: Every male among you must be circumcised.  You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskins.  This will be a reminder of the covenant between me and you.  Throughout your generations every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, whether born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not one of your descendants.  They must indeed be circumcised, whether born in your house or bought with money.  The sign of my covenant will be visible in your flesh as a permanent reminder.”

Moses, as a resident foreigner in a foreign land,[9] had not kept that one requirement with his own son.  Apparently, even after the Lord sent him back to Egypt to free Israel, Moses didn’t honor the covenant with God.  Now on the way, at a place where they stopped for the night, the Lord met Moses and sought to kill him.  But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off the foreskin of her son and touched it to Moses’ feet, and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.”  So the Lord let him alone.  (At that time she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” referring to the circumcision.)[10]

This “Lord” who met Moses and sought to kill him was not some generic lord.  The Hebrew word is yehôvâh (יהוה) disguised in translation, I assume, as a religious attempt to obey the commandment: You shall not take the name of the Lord (yehôvâh,  יהוה) your God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהיך) in vain, for the Lord (yehôvâh,  יהוה) will not hold guiltless anyone who takes his name in vain.[11]  The story of yehôvâh, Moses and Zipporah leads me to consider that Moses’ slowness to honor the covenant was out of consideration for his foreign wife’s sensibilities.  They had discussed it.  She knew exactly what to do when yehôvâh (יהוה) sought to kill her husband.  But as I begin to study the face or presence of yehôvâh (יהוה) I will refrain from speculating how Zipporah knew that it was He who sought to kill him.

Even so Moses was deeply troubled, though perhaps not surprised, by the Lord’s declaration, I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, and I might destroy you on the way.  But yehôvâh[12] (יהוה) reassured him: My presence (pânı̂ym, פני; Septuagint: αὐτὸς, self) will go with you, and I will give you rest.[13]  And Moses expressed for me what is the heart of the issue, If your presence (pânı̂ym; פניך; Septuagint: αὐτὸς σὺ, yourself) does not go with us, do not take us up from here.  For how will it be known then that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people?  Is it not by your going with us, so that we will be distinguished, I and your people, from all the people who are on the face (pânı̂ym;[14] פני) of the earth?[15]

In the Septuagint pânı̂ym (פני) was translated αὐτὸς (self) here rather than προσώπου (face).  It seemed to discount the efficacy of I will not go up among you, while it challenged my attempt to hold both statements true by casting pânı̂ym as another entity.  Yet αὐτὸς may well be another attempt to deal with this conundrum.  It implies something related but other than the I which would be understood from the Greek verb alone.  And the verbs were different.  I will not go up among you was μὴ συναναβῶ μετὰ σοῦ.[16]  My presence will go with you was αὐτὸς προπορεύσομαί σου.[17]  The verb προπορεύσομαί (a form of προπορεύομαι) means to precede, go before.  It’s a subtle distinction, but it still implied some distance to spare Israel from destruction.

The rabbis who translated the Septuagint were, and I am, seeking to no One we don’t entirely comprehend.  Our reference frames are different as well.  The rabbis believed yehôvâh ʼĕlôhı̂ym (אלהים יהוה) in a culture in which there were other ʼĕlôhı̂ym (אלהים) to choose.  Now, in my culture I will trust yehôvâh ʼĕlôhı̂ym (אלהים יהוה) or I will depend on myself.  I don’t see any other options.  So I decided to look deeply into pânı̂ym (פני).  I made it through Genesis thus far and some preliminary observations follow.

In the beginning the face or presence of the Lord had a location in space and time.  There were times when his face or presence was present in a location and times and locations when and where his face or presence was not.  Adam and Eve hid themselves from the presence (pânı̂ym, מפני; Septuagint: προσώπου) of the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהים) among the trees of the garden. [18]  And I assume that Adam and Eve did not eat the forbidden fruit nor did Cain murder Abel in the presence of yehôvâh ʼĕlôhı̂ym.  Of course, I had to quote from the NKJV here because the NET blurred any potential distinction between the presence of the Lord God and the Lord God: and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the orchard.[19]

These spatial/temporal limitations were so much a part of the word pânı̂ym that it could mean prior to something occurring in time: Lot looked up and saw that the Jordan River valley was well-watered (before [pânı̂ym, לפני; Septuagint: πρὸ] the Lord [yehôvâh, יהוה] obliterated Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה), like the land of Egypt, all the way to Zoar.[20]  Bring me some wild game and prepare for me some tasty food, Rebekah overheard Isaac say to Esau; Then I will eat it and bless you in the presence (pânı̂ym, לפני; Septuagint: ἐναντίον) of the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) before (pânı̂ym, לפני; Septuagint: πρὸ) I die.[21]

(It may be worth noting that Isaac didn’t mention the presence of the Lord to Esau.  Rebekah said it to Jacob.  Rebekah was the sister of Laban.  A generation later, Jacob’s wife Rachel thought it expedient to steal Laban’s household idols.  In a guilt by association sort of way it may be necessary to consider that all Rebekah meant by the presence of the Lord was in proximity to a household idol designated yehôvâh.)

It is not our custom here, Laban explained after he put Leah into Jacob’s wedding bed rather than Rachel, to give the younger daughter in marriage before (pânı̂ym, לפני; Septuagint: πρὶν) the firstborn.[22]  These were the kings, Moses began a king list, who reigned in the land of Edom before (pânı̂ym, לפני; Septuagint: πρὸ) any king ruled over the Israelites.[23]  And finally, Your father gave these instructions before (pânı̂ym, לפני; Septuagint: πρὸ) he died,[24] Joseph’s brothers lied by a messenger they sent to Joseph.

The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) appearedby the oaks of Mamre.[25]  Abraham looked up and saw three men (ʼı̂ysh, אנשים; Septuagint: ἄνδρες) standing across from him.[26]  The word ʼı̂ysh occurred first from the mouth of Adam: this one will be called ‘woman,’ (ʼishshâh,  אשה) for she was taken out of man (ʼı̂ysh, מאיש; Septuagint: ἀνδρὸς).[27]  Abraham took some curds and milk, along with the calf that had been prepared, and placed the food before (pânı̂ym, לפניהם; Septuagint: παρέθηκεν) them.[28]  Another Hebrew word was also used for the three men Abraham saw when yehôvâh appeared, according to the NET website:  When the men (ʼĕnôsh, האנשים; Septuagint: ἄνδρες) got up to leave, they looked out over Sodom.[29]  (A note in the NET acknowledged that the Hebrew was actually “toward the face [pânı̂ym, פני; Septuagint: πρόσωπον] of” Sodom.)  One of the three men was yehôvâhThemen (ʼı̂ysh,[30] האנשים; Septuagint: ἄνδρες) turned and headed toward Sodom, but Abraham was still standing before (pânı̂ym, לפני; Septuagint: ἐναντίον) the Lord[31] (yehôvâh, יהוה).

In the next chapter the two men who left for Sodom were called angels, essentially a transliteration of the Greek or Latin words for messenger or envoy: The two angels (malʼâk,  המלאכים; Septuagint: ἄγγελοι) came to Sodom in the evening.[32]  Later they were called men again: Only don’t do anything to these men (ʼı̂ysh, לאנשים; Septuagint: ἄνδρας), for they have come under the protection of my roof,[33] Lot said.  So the men (ʼı̂ysh, האנשים; Septuagint: ἄνδρες) inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house as they shut the door,[34] Moses wrote.  Then the two men inside struck the men (ʼı̂ysh, האנשים; Septuagint: ἄνδρας) who were at the door of the house, from the youngest to the oldest, with blindness.[35]  After that demonstration the men inside the house were called visitors (ʼı̂ysh, האנשים; Septuagint: ἄνδρες) in the NET.[36]  But later, even the NET called them men again: When Lot hesitated, the men (ʼı̂ysh, האנשים; Septuagint: ἄγγελοι[37]) grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters because the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) had compassion on them.[38]

I have belabored this point because, though the ancient word may not be species specific[39] in a scientific sense, there is enough here, that if one believed Moses[40] about yehôvâh as a man visiting Abraham, he would not dismiss Jesus so easily as a blasphemer: The Jewish leaders replied, “We are not going to stone you for a good deed but for blasphemy, because you, a man (ἄνθρωπος), are claiming to be God.”[41]

I’ll pick this up again in the next essay.

Back to Fear – Deuteronomy, Part 4

[1] Deuteronomy 1:1a (NET)

[2] Numbers 33:51a (NET)

[3] Deuteronomy 1:3b (NET)

[4] Exodus 33:4a (NET)

[5] 2 Corinthians 3:7-10 (NET)

[6] Genesis 4:8-16 (NET)

[7] Genesis 4:14a (NKJV)

[8] Genesis 4:16 (NET)

[9] Exodus 2:22 (NET)

[10] Exodus 4:24-26 (NET)

[11] Exodus 20:7 (NET) Table

[12] Moses spoke to yehôvâh (יהוה) in Exodus 33:12, 13 (NET)

[13] Exodus 33:14 (NET)

[14] Face wasn’t exactly translated in the Septuagint: ὅσα ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἐστιν (“as great as upon the earth is”) much as face of the ground wasn’t exactly translated in Genesis 4:14 (NET).

[15] Exodus 33:15, 16 (NET)

[16] http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Exo&c=33&t=LXX#s=t_bibles_83003

[17] http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Exo&c=33&t=LXX#s=83014

[18] Genesis 3:8b (NKJV)

[19] Genesis 3:8b (NET)

[20] Genesis 13:10 (NET)

[21] Genesis 27:7 (NET)

[22] Genesis 29:26 (NET)

[23] Genesis 36:31 (NET)

[24] Genesis 50:16b (NET)

[25] Genesis 18:1 (NET)

[26] Genesis 18:2a (NET)

[27] Genesis 2:23b (NET)

[28] Genesis 18:8 (NET)

[29] Genesis 18:16a (NET)

[30] I’m not sure why האנשים highlights as ʼĕnôsh in Genesis 18:16 (NET) and ʼı̂ysh in Genesis 18:22 (NET), whether it is a subtlety of the Hebrew language or a mistake on the NET website (though Strong’s Concordance concurs).  See also: Genesis 19:10, 11, 12, 16 (NET)

[31] Genesis 18:22 (NET)

[32] Genesis 19:1 (NET)

[33] Genesis 19:8 (NET)

[34] Genesis 19:10 (NET)

[35] Genesis 19:11a (NET)

[36] Genesis 19:12 (NET)

[37] The rabbis who translated the Septuagint switched back to ἄγγελοι as the men functioned as envoys of the compassion of yehôvâh)

[38] Genesis 19:16 (NET)

[39] You must take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, the male (ʼı̂ysh, איש; Septuagint: ἄρσεν) and its mate, two of every kind of unclean animal, the male (ʼı̂ysh, איש; Septuagint: ἄρσεν) and its mate… (Genesis 7:2 NET)

[40] John 5:46 (NET)

[41] John 10:33 (NET)