Linguistically Challenged
Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the LORD it will be provided.” Genesis 22:14
The LORD Will Provide – How I wish I could spend the rest of my life studying the incredible depths of Genesis! Its riches are so vast, its elegance so beautiful, its simplicity so complex I would never fail to be awe-struck by the majesty of our great God.
Yet how unfortunate it is that translators have treated all of us as linguistically challenged. They have provided interpretation rather than translation, and in the process, although they intended to help us along, they have hidden the wonders of the text and clouded the majesty of our Lord.
Here is an example. You see, the text doesn’t say Abraham named this place “The Lord Will Provide.” He names it YHWH yireh, a name we have bastardized into Jehovah-Jireh. It literally means, “YHWH sees.” It is the interpretation of the translator that coverts this verb into a statement about God providing. Where did that interpretation come from? From the context, of course. God provided the ram instead of taking the sacrifice of Isaac. But Abraham doesn’t name the place for God provision. He named it for God’s vision. Why? Because it is God’s seeing the need of Man that brings about the redemptive sacrifice. Before the lamb is offered, God must see the need. And when God sees the need, God Himself provides the offering. This is no god of stone or wood who cannot see or hear. This is the God who acts in love toward His creation.
But that isn’t quite the end of the story. One of the forms of the verb ra’ah (to see) is a technical term for the appearances of God (see Genesis 12:7, 17:1 and Exodus 3:2). So, as Childs points out, the use of the word in Abraham’s appellation is a Hebrew wordplay. Just as God “sees” the need of Abraham, so God continues to “see” Israel’s need and as a result God appears to Abraham and to Israel, time and again. How? In the sacrifice He Himself provides. The narrator of the story underscores this point by noting that even today this place is called “YHWH is seen.” Once more the depth of Genesis ties together the whole presentation of the God who redeems.
OK, that’s interesting. It’s a nice tidbit of information you can use to impress your friends about your depth of Hebrew understanding. Right? No, that isn’t right. You see (pun intended), the point here is that “God seeing you” is an expression of intimate, divine care. God does not peer down upon the world as the heavenly policeman. He is not watching every move you make in order to catch you in some sin and apply the heavenly hammer. God sees in order to save. His sight is the precursor to His provision of sacrifice for our redemption. God watches over us like the Good Shepherd, exhibiting His care in His dying for us. Instead of cowering under His judgmental eyes, we are blessed under His watchful care. Abraham experienced God’s sight. His son was redeemed. But it did not stop there. God appeared to us in the same redemptive vision. His Son spared us. We serve the God who sees.
Topical Index: yireh, ra’ah, Genesis 22:14, Exodus 3:2, Genesis 12:7, see, provide
Skip, Thank you for these comforting words and for leading a path deeper into the forest. Sometimes we do not see what should be so obvious.
Thank You. I needed to be reminded this morning. Although I sense His presence with me, it is a great comfort to realize He is actually watching me.
As the song goes: “His eye is on the sparrow and I know He’s watching me.”
It is comforting to know that YHWH “sees” our needs, and He “sees” our deeds- our submission to His will. 🙂
It is also important to notice that through His provision,… “YHWH is seen”! Baruch HaShem!
Thanks for the insight! B-)
Thank you for making this careful observation Skip. Are there English translations of any faith tradition that make the proper translation. I love your insights and am continually saddened that it is necessary for us to point these things out to our brothers and sisters. Will we see more accurate mass produced texts within our lifetimes?
Are there English translations that capture all this? I don’t think so. This TW came from reading Sarna, Childs, the TDOT and research on ra’ah. You probably wouldn’t find it in one place or one translation (which is why it sometimes takes hours to write one of these). But, Sarna is great at looking deeper into the Hebrew and the TDOT is indispensable. Both are on the reading list if you want to order them (and help out At God’s Table in the process).
Will we see translations that dig this deep in our lifetime? I rather doubt it. Why? Because it simply isn’t profitable for the publisher. Most people really don’t want to dig, so most translations are moving toward simpler instead of deeper. I am sure we will get the comic book version of the Bible before we ever get a deeper look at Scripture.
So, we must press on together. One word at a time.
Well then..let’s “look” a little closer then at the word “provision.” pro- (before) and video (to see).
Yes, G-d sees before and yes, G-d provides. And He knows the end from the beginning. Personally, I have no problem in calling upon the name- Jehovah Jireh. I am witness to His abundant “provison” in my life. My G-d has provided all my needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus. I jump up and down for joy when I read, “G-d will provide Himself- a Lamb.” Do you “see” this? Come on now.. fast forward a couple thousand years to an announcement by a man wearing a camelskin coat. “Behold the lamb of G-d taketh away the sin of the world”. The lamb? Now rewind back to the Passover lamb and then back to the future and a hill called Calvary. Did G-d see my need of a Savior? Did He provide the Sacrifice? Did he provide a lamb? Travel another couple thousand years forward and see a man in need of deliverance. Watch him as he prays on his knees asking this same Provider for the application of the atoning blood of this lamb. See him as he rises from the floor.. forgiven, restored and rightly related to the G-d who sees. Yes, His name is Jehovah (no one knows the proper pronunciation of YHWH- I realize) Jireh. Yes, His name is also Jehovah Ra-ah. We know Him also by another name, unknown to Abraham but later revealed to us. That name is a name above any other. The saving name of Jesus of Nazareth who is the Christ. To the Jew first (my brothers) and also to the Greek. For “whosoever” (translate ‘whosoever’ please..) shall call upon the name of the LORD, (what name is this?) shall be saved. Who became flesh? Who died upon the execution stake? What is His name? The lamb of G-d.
Thanks Carl for your descriptive words of my salvation, for it is for us all that the Lamb of God gave himself. I sit here with His love overwhelming my heart and soul and spirit, Joy unspeakable, Praise Him Ho sha na . our God saves.
Your insights into the eschatological intention of the verses and the name are wonderful. Yes, the God who sees did provide. But I would only remind readers that the first principle of hermeneutics is “What would it have meant to the audience that first heard it?” Of course, the eventual meaning found in the Messiah comes by hindsight. No one at the time Moses delivered the Torah could have understood what we now understand. But that does not mean the verse did not make sense. Our job as careful interpreters of the word is not to read back into the text from a Christological perspective. It is to first read the text from the context of the author and then, if possible, draw the text forward.
If you were Moses, you would clearly “see” that Abraham’s comment is about ra’ah, not about Yeshua. That God had bigger plans in mind is only discovered much, much later, but the delay in discovery takes nothing away from the original text.
I only mention this because we Christians have this persistent tendency to place everything in Christological context. While that is good theology, it’s not particularly good hermeneutics – interpretation.