Backtracking

Regarding completion.  Among hymns.  Of understanding.  Pertaining to David.  Psalm 54:1  LXX

Of understanding – Now that we’ve had a few days to investigate the differences between the Greek LXX and the MT, we need to back up.  You see, in the LXX, as in the Hebrew Bible, the first verse of a psalm is often the introductory remarks of the author (as above) in order to set the tone of the lyrics, but in most English Bibles these remarks are either left out or included as subscripts of little importance.  We’ve seen this before and made note of the implications, for example, in Psalm 22.  CLICK HERE.  In this psalm the opening line in Greek is Εἰς τὸ τέλος, ἐν ὕμνοις, συνέσεως τῷ Δαυιδ.  Perhaps you’ll recognize the word ὕμνοις (humnos) as our English “hymn.”  You might also recognize τέλος, meaning “goal,” “complete” or “end.”  You can see this reflected in the English translation of the LXX above (“regarding completion”).  What’s quite odd in this English rendering of the opening line of the LXX is the phrase “of understanding” which does not appear in the MT.  The Hebrew simply reads, “For the choir director.  On stringed instruments.  A maskil (poem) of David.”  The translators of the LXX in this English version seemed to have added the phrase in Greek translation.  Why did they do that?

The answer is found in the word συνέσεως.  The Greek sunesis means “running together” or “flowing with” and is applied to understanding or knowledge.  It is common in the LXX, but that doesn’t mean it has a Greek perspective.

The use is similar to that in the Greek world except that understanding is native only to God and hence is a gift for which one must pray (1 Kgs. 3:9; Ps. 119:34). Practical judgment rather than theoretical understanding is the main concern, its organ is the heart (Is. 6:9–10), and its objects are God’s works (Ps. 28:5), fear (Prov. 2:5), righteousness (2:9), will (Ps. 111:10), and wisdom (Prov. 2:1 ff.). Earlier the appeal for understanding is motivated by a reference to God’s will, later by a reference to the law.^[1]

When you read the LXX in English, you’re idea of “understanding” is imported into the text.  You automatically think that understanding means perceiving the meaning of something, interpreting correctly, or being intellectually aware.  All of these are cognitive experiences.   But Hebrew is practically oriented.  I don’t “understand” until I can do whatever it is.  I don’t understand God’s commandments, for example, until they are behaviorally present in my life.  In Hebrew, “we will do and we will hear.”

The LXX alters the MT to include a specifically cognitive idea in this psalm.  Once the scribes entered the word into the text, the Greek mindset fell in place even if the scribes were thinking like Hebrews.  Consequently, readers of the LXX (even in translation) became subjects of a Greek worldview, a cognitive approach to God, without even knowing it was happening.  This might not have mattered too much in the first century since the synagogue community was self-correcting.  They had the text of Moses.  But by the time the Gentile world became the dominate culture of the Messiah community, things changed—and they are still with us today.

Topical Index: of understanding, sunesis, practice, cognitive, Psalm 55:1

^[1] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume (p. 1119). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.