27 January 2022
I am no expert on Biblical languages (Biblical languages respond: “You can say that again…but say please say it in English because your Hebrew and Greek are awful.”). English is my first language, and I have a smattering of Spanish (enough to fool a native speaker for perhaps two lines of a dialog. But Hebrew and Greek? Um… I did not begin anything resembling study until very late in life. As of now, there are many, many, many, MANY things about grammar, parsing tags, prefixes and suffixes, verb tenses, and even just root words that I do not know and probably will never learn.
I would not thrive as a translator (see above about parsing tags et al.), even if I had gotten an early start. It is arduous work. I respect them for their expertise and diligence, whether they labor for the NRSV, NIV, NLT, KJV, NKJV, NASB, HCSB, or any of the other alphabet soup (or should I write ALEPH BETH?) options available to readers of the English language (crikey, there is an abundance of English versions available to us). I wouldn’t say I like every translation equally, though, and some of that disaffection is what led me to begin studying the original languages.
True story: I love words. I love definitions and shades of meaning and hints and connotations. I love to explore the ranges of meanings in words of all shapes and sizes. This is particularly true of the words G-d has inspired in His Holy Writ. This little Facebook page is really just an excuse to spout off my wonder at the complexity and beauty of the words in the Text (mostly Hebrew because there are many more words in the Hebrew Bible than in the New Testament).
This is not my first post to this page, but today is a new beginning. Candidly, it is a new beginning every day, and His mercies are new every morning, as the prophet tells us. So on this new beginning day – January 27th, Holocaust Memorial Day – we will reflect on the very first words in the Hebrew Bible, which are centered around RESHITH (רֵאשִׁ֖ית), which means “a beginning”.
בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ
“BA-RESHITH BARA ELOHIM ETH HA-SHAMAYIM WA-ETH HA-ARETS”
In English, they are some of the most beautiful words in the entire length of the Text: “In the beginning, G-d created the heavens and the earth…”
Everything rests on this fundamental Truth. All starts with G-d, without whom nothing could begin. He is the uncaused first cause. The first mover. The Big Banger of the Big Bang. And future posts are resting on that presupposition: I write as a true believer that G-d began this whole revolving mystery of our world and our universe. And I write and read in wonder at that High Truth.
Will I continue making mistakes and getting messy (hat tip to Valerie Frizzle)? Undoubtedly. Is my theology or doctrine on firm footing? Maybe, but sometimes not. Will I be stealing ideas from smarter, more educated, more competent people than I? Maybe (a-hem, Bible Project, Ray Vander Laan, Jerusalem Perspective, Marvin Wilson, NT Wright, EP Sanders, Lois Tverberg, Ann Spangler, Craig Evans, David Stern, David Flusser, and too many others to name – all of whom comprise the shoulders on which I stand and the brains from which I will steal). Am I occasionally rude and often sarcastic? Yes, for sure. But maybe this will be fun. And maybe everyone will learn a thing or two. Care to join me in the Rabbit Hole?
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