Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. Hebrews 5:11 NASB

Hard to explain – Is the good news hard to explain?  Is the story of Yeshua difficult to make intelligible?  Is your experience with grace exhausting to put into words?  I wouldn’t think so.  The message is really pretty simple.  Its implications might be enormous and complicated, but the fact that God loves us and has concern for us seems fairly easy to comprehend.  Furthermore, most of us don’t have a great deal of trouble talking about what has happened to us since we experienced grace.  So why does the author of Hebrews lead us to believe that it is just so complicated that only Ph.D.’s will get it.  The problem isn’t with the message.  The problem is with the translation.

The Greek word is dusermeneutos.  This is the combination of dus (meaning “difficult”) and hermeneuo (meaning “to interpret”).  But hermeneuo in the New Testament really means “to translate from one language to another.”  You will find it in John 1:38, 1:42 and 9:7 where it is without any doubt an expression concerning translation.  Why is this important?  Because “explanation” and “interpretation” are not quite the same as “translation.”  When we explain or interpret, we add meaning to a sentence.  When we translate, we transmit meaning from one language to another.  Consider the difference in this verse.  Is the author saying that it is difficult to explain (to add the proper meaning) the connection between Yeshua and the order of Melchizedek or is he saying that the translation from this Hebraic concept into Greek is difficult?  Is the audience unable to grasp it quickly because they are spiritually dull (as we usually understand this verse) or is it because they don’t have a keen grasp of the translation?  Which is it?

Since hermeneuo is always associated with “translation” in the New Testament, how did we come to believe that dusermeneutos was a description of difficult spiritual understanding?  The reason for this interpretation is that dusermeneutos is found in other Greek writings where it means “difficult to describe.”  But those writings are from later periods than the letter to the Hebrews.  Furthermore, this word is found only once in the New Testament, here in this verse.  That means there are no other occurrences for comparison within the context of the Netzarim Ketuvim.  We might conclude that translating dusermeneutos as “hard to explain” is really an interpretation.  It adds meaning to the text.  That raises a further question:  Why would the translators find it necessary to use “hard to explain” rather than the more obvious “hard to translate”?  Do you think there might be a theological motive here, one that suggests the author of Hebrews is not struggling with translation problems but rather with spiritual issues?  Does this suggest that the author of Hebrews is having difficulty conveying the idea of a new high priest and the replacement of the old sacrifices rather than simply having problems writing about Hebrew concepts in Greek words?  If you were a Jew, would you find it hard to explain the idea of the sacrifice of the Suffering Servant or would you simply say that some Hebrew ideas don’t have exact Greek equivalents?

Topical Index:  hard to explain, dusermeneutos, Hebrews 5:11