Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Bill Rea wrote:

> Most English translations render Jeremiah 7:22 something like the
> following which comes from the NRSV
>
> 7 For in the day that I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I
> did not speak to them or command them concerning burnt offerings and
> sacrifices.
>  


HH: We need the next verse as well, I think:

Jer. 7:23 But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I 
will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways 
that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.

> Last night I noticed the NIV inserted ``just'' into this verse
> ... I did not just speak ...  thus changing the entire meaning of
> the verse. I see no justification for this in the Hebrew text. It
> looks to me the NIV translators thought they would fix up this
> verse. Anyone care to comment?
>  



HH: The word "day" in Jer 7:22 refers to "time." The next verse reminds 
me of:

Ex. 19:5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my 
covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: 
for all the earth is mine:
Ex. 19:6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy 
nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of 
Israel

HH: Of course, these words spoken on Mt. Sinai did not transpire the day 
God led Israel through the Red Sea. They occurred at that time. But the 
instructions in Leviticus also happened at that time, and Exodus itself 
has many instructions about sacrifices given in the very days of leaving 
Egypt:

Ex. 5:3 And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us 
go, we pray thee, three days’ journey into the desert, and sacrifice 
unto the LORD our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the 
sword.

Ex. 10:25 And Moses said, Thou must give us also sacrifices and burnt 
offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the LORD our God.

Ex. 12:27 That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s passover, 
who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he 
smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the 
head and worshipped.

Ex. 13:15 And it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that 
the LORD slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn 
of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the LORD 
all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the firstborn of my 
children I redeem.

Ex. 20:24 An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice 
thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and 
thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, 
and I will bless thee.

Ex. 22:20 He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the LORD only, he 
shall be utterly destroyed.

Ex. 23:18 Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened 
bread; neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning.

Ex. 24:5 And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered 
burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD.

Ex. 29:28 And it shall be Aaron’s and his sons’ by a statute for ever 
from the children of Israel: for it is an heave offering: and it shall 
be an heave offering from the children of Israel of the sacrifice of 
their peace offerings, even their heave offering unto the LORD.

HH: So the truth Jeremiah is trying to bring out is that sacrifices and 
offerings were not the chief thing on God's mind. It was more important 
that the Israelites agree to obey the Lord and His covenant than that 
they devote themselves to sacrifices and offerings. That was the pivotal 
issue if they were to be in covenant with him. It creates a 
contradiction in English in the minds of many if you say that God did 
not speak about sacrifices, since he certainly did. So the word "just" 
brings out what surely must be the Hebrew emphasis that there was one 
supreme thing that God concentrated on as the obligation of His people.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard