Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Fwd: origin of evil

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Fwd: origin of evil
  • Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2006 19:09:50 -0500

Dear David and Liz,

*lizfried AT umich.edu wrote:*
**
"So now, accordingly, qn' (qana')is translated as
"zealous" when the subject is God (e.g. Exod 20:5)and as "jealous" when a
human is the subject (e.g., Gen. 26:14). Yet, I would maintain that it is
YHWH's very jealousy that has maintained the Jews over 3000 years of
persecutions, nothing else. Jews do not worship other gods, for that simple
reason, that YHWH is a jealous god. Nevertheless, Christians tend to
translate the term as "zealous" in Exod. 20:5 because jealousy is seen as a
negative emotion. It seems to me that the god that Christians see in the OT
tends to be a Platonic idealization of YHWH, which is fine, but it is
different from the god that Jews see when they read the Hebrew Bible."

---------------------End Original Message-------------------------

I do not know about other Christians, but we Catholics do not see jelousy in
a negative connotation, we believe that the word is highly misunderstood
though. You have really got me thinking about what the true image of YHWH
ought to be in my mind though, never thought about my philosophical
upbringing as changing what the OT is truly saying.

I know that you did not say all Christians translate the term as zealous.
Anyway, I figured it would aid the discussion to see a Christian
translation:

"you shall not bow down before them or worship them. For I, the LORD, your
God, am a *jealous* God, inflicting punishment for their fathers' wickedness
on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth
generation" (NAB). - Exodus 20:5


HH: Protestants, too, understand God's jealousness in a positive way. Here are a few Protestant translations of the same verse:

KJV Ex. 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

NIV Ex. 20:5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

NRSV Ex. 20:5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me,

Yours,
Harold Holmyard




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page