Wide Awake

Lord, I remember Your name in the night, and keep Your Law.  Psalm 119:55 NASB In the night – Does this verse seem a little too pedestrian?  Too trivial?  Why should we care at all about what we remember in the night?  What does it matter when we’re on our way to sleep? Ah, but then there’s…

The Holocaust Question

“For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear about it, and they will surround us and eliminate our name from the earth. And what will You do for Your great name?”  Joshua 7:9  NASB What will You do – The people of Ai defeat the Israelites.  Many die.  Joshua is dumbfounded…

Character Reference

Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?”  Exodus 3:13  NASB What – What a stupid question! …

Unraveling the Confusion

God is the Master of war, God is His name.  Exodus 15:3 Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan (The Living Torah) God – Kaplan’s translation retains the Jewish practice of not speaking the letters Yod Hey Vav Hey as God’s personal name.  But English translations fare no better, simply substituting “the LORD” for the Hebrew יְהוָה, out of respect…

The Name

Let them know that your name is Lord, you alone are the Most High over all the earth.  Psalm 83:19  New American Bible Revised Edition Your name is Lord – Let’s start this Gregorian calendar year with the right name.  For most of our lives we’ve followed the Jewish convention of using “Lord” for the Hebrew…

Plural Problems (1)

Now the man named his wife [a]Eve, because she was the mother of all the living  Genesis 3:20 NASB Eve – But of course he did not name her “Eve.”  I’m sorry, but the footnote in the NASB (“Genesis 3:20 I.e., living; or life”) is absolutely no help whatsoever.  “Eve” is not her name.  That word comes from the…

The Name Game

Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and made love to her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The Lord loved him  and because the Lord loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.  2 Samuel 12:24-25 NIV They – I’ve got a great idea.  Let’s translate…

My Personal God

“O LORD, rebuke me not in Your wrath, and chasten me not in Your burning anger.”  Psalm 38:1  NASB O LORD – The Hebrew text does not use the word “Lord,” but rather the personal name of God, a name that is never spoken among the Jews.  Worshippers were careful to substitute the word “Lord”…

Cultural Grammar – Rewind

At that time people began to call on the name of the LORD.  Genesis 4:26  ESV Name – Explain the grammatical connections and implications of calling someone’s name.  Let’s see.  In English (and also in Greek and most Indo-European languages), a name is a phonetic marker that represents some entity.  More importantly, it is an…

The Unnamed

Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.”  Genesis 41:51  NASB Forget– Do you appreciate how self-contradictory Joseph’s action is?  Joseph wants to forget all the troubles of his past, particularly those troubles with his family (including his father) that led to his slavery in Egypt. So…