Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar and Nevim Arith Hayomim:
Nehemiah 1:5: “And said, I beseech thee O Lord, God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenants and mercy for them that love Him and observes His commandments.”
I grew up with the King James Version, most the Scripture I have memorized has been in the King James Version, I really do love the King James Version, but at times it is very difficult to keep from expressing my frustration over the personal agenda that seems to flow throughout this translation. As I indicated in an earlier devotional, the KJV was not called the “King James” Version without reason. This was a translation ordered by King James who was, after all, a king and translated by Oxford scholars, whose jobs, after all, depended upon their loyalty to the King and Church. The Church in that day, as it is in many churches today, was into power and control and the King was very anxious to share in this power. It is an historical fact that the King and the leaders of the Church of England actually gave an agenda to the Oxford translators. Ultimately this agenda was to insure that Scripture supported a church hierarchy, to not make God out to be too much of a personal God and to not make God out to be too loving.
As a result we have a verse in Nehemiah where God is a “terrible” God and one to be “feared.” They never bothered to explain what this “terrible” or “fear” meant, they just sort of let the chips fall where they may, which is usually on a God you don’t want to cross up by not attending mass and not paying your tithe. Oh, and also to respect your clergy and believe everything they tell you, particularly when it comes to interpreting Scripture.
I have heard atheist interviewed on the radio who come up with all the old tire and worn out alleged contradictions in the Bible. I can blast these arguments out of the water by citing some translation problems. However, I keep waiting for the biggest contradiction of them all but have yet to hear it. How can a God who is perfect in love make such demands on his children that they live in absolute terror of making some mistake and ending up in the fires of hell. Does not Scripture say: “Perfect love cast out all fear. (I John 4:18), and yet millions of people perform rituals that are meaningless to them, pay their tithe, and tote the narrow line out of fear that they will make God angry and that this God in perfect love will send them to eternity in fires.
Don’t get me wrong, I believe there is a heaven and a hell, but I don’t believe a God in perfect love is sitting up in heaven keeping a detailed list and checking it twice to find out who is naughty or nice. Yet, can you imagine the power a church would have if people had no access to the Word of God and all they had was what the Church leaders told them? “Join our Crusade and if you die in battle you automatically get eternal life.” Even in the time of King James, the church was not ready to give up that power and unfortunately, that stands true in many circles today.
Thus, a word like “yara’” is rendered as “terrible.” It is the same word which is usually rendered as “fear.” You can say it means “fearful” or “terrible” but in the sense that a husband who really loves his wife will not cheat on her, not because he fears her wrath, but because he could not live with himself if he hurt her in any way. I do not like the rendering of “yara” as “fear” or “terrible” because fear suggest one’s concern for one’s own gizzard. “Yara” is really another word for “love.” This is love built on concern for someone else’s gizzard rather than your own. It is interesting that this word in this verse is in a Niphal form. This would be rendered as “a great and the love of my life God.”
Another word is used in this verse for “love” and that is the word “chasad.” This God keeps His promises and has mercy on those that love Him and keeps his commandments. The word for “mercy” is “chasad” and is the word for kindness, but also the word for a stork. The legend of the stock delivering babies is rooted in the ancient belief that among all the animals, the stork is the most loving to its young. It is believed that if a young chick dies, the stork will resurrect it with her own blood. The stork has been known to raise and care for chicks that are not even her own. Thus, “chasad” is more than mere kindness, it is a loving kindness.
I recently read the “Hunger Games.” In that book Katness has an encounter with the President of Panem. She hated the guy but showed him kindness in the interview because she had to, but certainly not out of love. However, in the story she also showed kindness to Peeta who fought with her in the Hunger Games. In fact in the second book when she and Peeta are again forced to play in the Hunger Games she seeks to show him the greatest kindness of all and that is to die protecting his life. That kindness is “chasad” a “Loving kindness.” It is a kindness built on such love that you forget about your own gizzard for the sake of another’s.
To read this in the KJV we find the translator stuck nice and close to their agenda, but not to the depth of the words they translated. If you just remove one more layer of depth in the words “terrible (yara)” and “mercy (chasad)” you find a relationship with God built not on fear of punishment but on a sacrificial love.
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