Jesus still walks the earth

 

Genesis 32:10, “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.”

 

Of all the modern translations I read this verse in I found only one that did not rendered the word qatonethi  as I am not worthy. The Darby Translation gives the more literally rendering of  I am too small.   I have heard over and over people holding up a particular translation of the Bible saying something to the effect: “I was told that this translation is the closest to the original languages.”  I have also heard the admonition that “When you study the Bible be sure you use a translation and not a paraphrase, a paraphrase is simply one man’s opinion as to what a word means.”  If our interpretation of a paraphrase is someone’s opinion, then every modern translation of the Bible is a paraphrase.  There is just no possibly way that you can translate from an ancient, dead language with only 7,500 words without adding your own opinion as to what a word should mean or how it should be rendered.  Sure you apply many grammatical tools and syntax but ultimately in many cases, you must make that leap into your own opinion. For instance I had someone ask me recently, “Is it true that you can actually find the word Stargate in the ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics?”  The answer is, “Yes.”   In the Middle Egyptian vocabulary you will find the word Stargate. Does that mean it is the Stargate of modern Science Fiction speaking of a device that creates a wormhole from which one can pass through the galaxies? It could be translated as simply a metaphor of a doorway to the gods, or a doorway to the heavens. The final rendering will be the result of one person’s own personal bias.

 

Thus, in many cases it is not really the Word of God we are reading in our modern English translations but one man’s opinion or one committee’s opinion as to how the Word of God should be read.  Perhaps one day Christians will evolve to the point where they will, like the Jews, teach their children the Biblical languages so they will be able to read the Word of God themselves without depending upon the opinion of a human expert.   In the meantime, as we at Chaim Bentorah Ministries labor to teach Christians one at a time to study the Word of God in the original Hebrew,  God has given us the Holy Spirit and rather than focus on one favorite translation and hold that up as the Word of God, we should use the many good modern English translations God has given us to compare them and let the Holy Spirit reveal to us His personal message from one of the many possible renderings.

 

Then, of course, we find a passage like Genesis 32:10 where everyone agrees that it should be rendered as “I am not worthy” and takes the one exception, toss it out the window and say it is wrong because it does not agree with the majority.  I mean it is true that Jacob is making a declaration of humility here.  He has received so much from God, God blessed him while he worked for Laban, and he had a huge family and great wealth for that day.  Whenever he went to God in prayer, God answered.  Yet, he remained humble and felt unworthy to receive anything more from God.  Yet, the question remains, why was he so humble?   Anyone else receiving such blessings from God with a constant stream of answered prayer would feel an entitlement from God.  A constant refrain I hear from many full Gospel preachers is: “He has always answered in the past He will answer now. God loves me, He is a loving parent, He wants to give to me and I want all that God has for me.”

 

Sometimes God gives us so much that we feel we are entitled to receive from God. Then we He no longer answers our prayers, or we receive the great blessings we become angry with God or we wonder what is wrong with us that God does not answer our prayers like He did in the past.

 

Yet, here we have a story of a man who, if anyone should feel entitled by God, it should be him. Yet, he is declaring that he is unworthy to receive anything from God.  Is it just that God created him to be this dog gone, downright humble person who is so different that the rest of us?   It doesn’t add up.  We are missing something here. I believe it is in the standard rendering of the word qatonethi (I am not worthy).  You see this word comes from the root word qatan which comes from Semitic root meaning to be small or insignificant. Yet, it goes further than that.  It is a word used to describe a peasant who is standing before a great king.  It is word of comparison.  Jacob is not really being humble here, he is just being honest.  He has come to realize, from all his answered prayer, the greatness of God and how insignificant his plans and desires are in the light of the great overall plan of God.

 

I read some of the works of a Rabbi Ben A.  This rabbi is so humble that he does not use his real name in his writings and remains virtually anonymous to the world.  Yet, in reading his works you realize that it is not so much humility as it is that he felt his writings would not be taken seriously if people knew his background and struggle with addiction.  Yet, as God led him out of his addiction and he grew closer to God he became aware of the how great and powerful God really is and how small and insignificant his wants and desires were.  He rendered this verse not as I am unworthy of the least of all your mercies, but as it reads literally in the Hebrew, I am so small from all the mercies. He believes as a child of God he is worthy of God listening and answering his prayers, but the closer he gets to God the bigger God gets and the smaller he seems.

 

We are not unworthy to receive anything from God.  Jacob realized this. To declare to God that we are unworthy would be to insult God.  We are saying, “God you made an inferior creation.”  Ok, maybe our sins make us inferior, but then we are insulting Jesus, saying that his suffering and death on the cross to restore us to a position of worthiness was a waste of time.

 

The Darby translation, the only one to leave the reservation of the other modern translations, actually embodies that entire message of this passage.   For you see, the more God answers our prayers, the closer we grow to Him, but the closer we grow to Him the bigger He gets and the smaller our petty little desires and wants become in light of God’s great plan for us and the world.  We finally reach the point of, not of humility, but of saying to God, “God, I really want this answer to prayer, but oh my gosh, what you have planned is so great, big and wonderful, if my little request doesn’t fit that plan, then just forget it, it is just too qatan – too small a matter in light of Your glory and grace.

 

 

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