Psalms 1&2; The Eschatological "Book-end", LXX Studies

Psalms 1

1 Happy is the man who didn’t go in the counsel of the ungodly

and didn’t stand in the way of sinners

and didn’t sit on the seat of pernicious people (harmful or destructive).

2 but rather, his will is in the law of the Lord, 

and he will meditate day and night in his law.

3 He will be like the tree which has been planted along side the springs of waters,

which will give its fruit in its due time,

and will not shed its leaves;

and all things, as much as he does, he will prosper.

4 Not so are the ungodly, not so!

But rather, they are like the dust which the wind has driven away from the face of the earth.

5 For this reason, the ungodly will not rise up in judgement

nor will the sinners in the counsel of the righteous,

6 because the Lord knows the way of the righteous,

and the way of the ungodly will perish.

***

Psalms 2

1 Why did the nations become insolent

and why did the people meditate over vain things?

2 The kings of the earth stood by

and the leaders gathered together at the same place

against the Lord and against his Anointed One.

διάψαλμα (musical interlude)

3 “Let us break their bonds

and let us cast away their yoke from us.”

4 The One who dwells in heaven will laugh at them, 

and the Lord will sneer at them.

5 Then He will speak to them in his anger, 

and he will trouble them in his wrath.

6 But I have been appointed king by him, 

on Zion, his holy mountain, 

7 proclaiming the commandment of the Lord.

The Lord said to me, “You are my son.  Today, I have become your Father.

8 Ask from me and I will give you the nations as an inheritance, 

and the ends of the earth as your possessions.

9 You will shepherd them with an iron scepter, 

you will crush them as a potter’s vessel.”

10 And now, O kings, gain insight!

Be instructed, all you who judge the earth!

11 Serve the Lord as a slave with fear, 

and rejoice in him with trembling.

12 Seize instruction, lest the Lord becomes angry, 

and you will perish from the righteous way

when his wrath becomes quickly inflamed.

Happy are all who put their trust in him.

Most scholars see these two Psalms as the front “book end” of the Psalms.  This is mostly due to the fact that Psalms 1 starts with a beatitude and Psalms 2 ends with a beatitude similar to what we find in Matthew 5. 

Psalms 1 serves as an instructional Psalm while Psalms 2 is a Royal Psalm as it deals with the King of Israel (David).  We will hit the highlights, but I really want to focus on the eschatology of these Psalms that, perhaps, really show they go together and “book end” the front of the Psalms.

As I stated before, the first line of Psalms 1 and the last line of Psalms 2 are beatitudes.  Both line begin with the Greek word Μακάριος which means “blessed” or “happy”.

The first part of the 1st Psalm shows why a man is happy while following the way of the Lord, but the 2nd part describes what happens to the “ungodly”.

In 1:4, the Hebrew text doesn’t have ἀπὸ προσώπου τῆς γῆς (from the face of the earth).  This either represents a reading from a Hebrew text that no longer exist, or it was an interpretive add that makes the passage eschatological (See footnote 10 on pg 59 of “The Book of Psalms” NICOT, deClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, Tanner).  Not only will the ungodly be blown by the wind, they will also be wiped from the face of the earth!

There are other ways that show how the NT writers could have seen this Psalm as eschatological.

In 1:5, the Greek verb ἀνίστημι is used.  Generally, this means to “rise up”, but it also can mean “to resurrect” as it does in many cases in the NT.  The idea of “not resurrecting in judgement” possibly means that the ungodly will not have their day in court in order to defend themselves for their actions.

That this passage could really be eschatological, shouldn’t be a surprise.  In Matthew 12:41, Jesus alludes to this very verse.

Matt. 12:41 Ἄνδρες Νινευῖται ἀναστήσονται ἐν τῇ κρίσει μετὰ τῆς γενεᾶς ταύτης καὶ κατακρινοῦσιν αὐτήν, ὅτι μετενόησαν εἰς τὸ κήρυγμα Ἰωνᾶ, καὶ ἰδοὺ πλεῖον Ἰωνᾶ ὧδε.

Matt. 12:41 The Ninevite men will rise up/resurrect in judgement with this generation and they will condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, there is one greater than Jonah here.

In this case, the Ninevite men will be able to defend themselves in court, but the current generation of Israel (the Scribes and the Pharisees) will not.  From the language, you can see how the New Testament writers could have seen this Psalm.

So, does the New Testament see this judgement happening at the resurrection?  I would say “yes”!

Although Psalm 2 is a royal Psalm about David, it was seen as an eschatological Psalm about the coming Christ.

In 2:2, “the Anointed One” is the Χριστός (Christ).  

In 2:7, we have Υἱός μου εἶ σύ, ἐγὼ σήμερον γεγέννηκά σε (You are my son.  Today, I have become your Father).  This verse is alluded to in Romans 1:4 and cited in Acts 13:33; Heb. 1:5; 5:5.

In 2:8, δώσω σοι ἔθνη τὴν κληρονομίαν σου (I will give you the nations as an inheritance).  Most of the time in the NT, ἔθνη means “gentiles”.  If you look at Daniel 7:14, we have:

Dan. 7:14 καὶ ἐδόθη αὐτῷ ἐξουσία, καὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τῆς γῆς κατὰ γένη καὶ πᾶσα δόξα αὐτῷ λατρεύουσα· καὶ ἡ ἐξουσία αὐτοῦ ἐξουσία αἰώνιος, ἥτις οὐ μὴ ἀρθῇ, καὶ ἡ βασιλεία αὐτοῦ, ἥτις οὐ μὴ φθαρῇ.

Dan 7:14 And I will give authority to him, and all of the nations (gentiles) of the earth according to race, and all glory were worshipping him.  And his authority is eternal, which will never be taken away, and his kingdom, will never be destroyed (or “corrupted”). (LXX)

You can see how the NT writers would have seen this as scripture related to the coming Christ.

2:9 is quoted and alluded to in Rev. 2:27; 12:5; 19:15.  An iron scepter (ῥάβδῳ σιδηρᾷ) for King David, but an iron rod for the Shepherd Jesus.

Get a grip, O kings of the earth.  The real King is coming.  Seize the Lord’s instructions, lest you suffer his wrath when he comes.

Happy are all who put their trust in him.

New for 2015! The Psalms in Greek!

As many of you know who follow me, I didn't put up very many blogs in 2014 as I've been busy with many things.  But, I will be putting up weekly blogs on the Greek Psalms starting this weekend.  I won't comment all every Psalm, but we'll hit many important ones while focusing on how they where used in the New Testament, and also paying close attention to the eschatology of the Psalms.

I also have a personal goal to created a English Psalter from the Greek Psalter.  Details on that will be forth coming, but it is something that I've wanted to do for quite some time.

It's will be a great year.  Tune in!

Teaser!

Psalms 1

Happy is the man who didn’t go in the counsel of the ungodly

and didn’t stand in the way of sinners

and didn’t sit on the seat of pestilences.

but rather, his will is in the law of the Lord, 

and he will meditate day and night in his law.

He will be like the tree which has been planted along side the springs of waters,

which will give its fruit in its due time,

and will not shed its leaves;

and all things, as much as he does, he will prosper.

Not so are the ungodly, not so!

But rather, they are like the dust which the wind has driven away from the face of the earth.

For this reason, the ungodly will not rise up in judgement

nor will the sinners in the counsel of the righteous,

because the Lord knows the way of the righteous,

and the way of the ungodly will perish. (My Translation)

Read Greek Psalms in a Year

For all my friends who are interested in the Septuagint (LXX), I've created a "Reading Group" on Facebook to read the Psalms in Greek in a year. This was inspired from the "Greek Isaiah in a Year" reading group. It is open to any who want to join. We will start on January 1, 2015. It will be a lot of fun!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1494264187487145/

1 John 3:7-10; Can Christians NOT sin?

I know it’s been a long time since I posted something, but I’ve been very busy.  

Those who read modern translations of the Bible will just about have no need of this blog as modern translations do a pretty good job with this passage.  But for those who don’t, here is some help with what can be seen as a difficult passage from 1 John.

3:7 Children, let no one lead you astray.  The one who continually performs righteousness is just, just as that one (Jesus) is just.  8 The one who continually sins is from the devil, because from the beginning, the devil continually sins.  The Son of God was revealed (incarnated) for this so that he may loose (destroy) the works of the devil.  9 Everyone who has been born from God doesn’t continually sin, because his (Jesus’) seed continually remains in him, and he is not able to sin, because he has been born from God.  10 In this it is evident who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are.  Everyone who doesn’t continually perform righteousness and doesn’t continually love his brother (and sister) is not from God. (My Translation)

The difficultly of the passage can be explained by the aspect of Greek verbs or participles in the present tense.  Although it may be strange in English, I’ve added “continually” to the main present tense verbs.  That should shed some light on the passage.  Present tense verbs carry a continual aspect.  For verse 9 in particular, some modern translations will say something like: “Everyone who has been born from God doesn't keep on sinning”, or “doesn’t continue to sin…” “…because his seed keeps on remaining in him, and he is not able to sin, because he/she has been born from God.”

So, the aspect of the verbs tells the story.  It is the continual or habitual sinning that John is addressing.  Note in verse 8 where John uses the present tense to describe the devil continually sinning from the beginning of his existence.  That really drives the point home.  

John can’t be saying that christians don’t ever sin because that would go against what he says at the beginning of the letter in 1:8-10:

8 If we say that we don’t have sin, we lead ourselves astray and the truth is not in us.  9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, so that he will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  10 If we say that we have not sinned, we have made him a liar, and his word (message) is not in us. (My Translation)

…and also in 2:1:

2:1 My little children, I write these things to you so that you won’t sin.  Even if someone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus the Anointed the just, 2 and he himself is the sin-offering concerning our sins, but not for ours only, but concerning the whole world. (My Translation)

So, I hope that clears up some of this.

1 Corinthians 1-4, Summer 2014!

John 4:46-54; The Royal Official: Did he believe or not?

46 Then he again went to Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine.

Now there was a certain royal official whose son was sick in Capernaum.  47 After hearing that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was about to die.  48 Then, Jesus said to him, “If you don’t see (plural) signs and wonders, you (plural) will never believe.”  49 The royal official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”  50 Jesus said to him, “Go, your son is living.”  The man believed the word that Jesus had spoken to him, and he left.  51 While he was already going down, his slaves met him, telling him that his child is living.  52 Then, he inquired from them the time that his son got better.  So, they said to him, “The fever left him yesterday at 1:00pm.”  53 Then, the father realized that that was the time when Jesus said to him, “Your son is living.”  He himself and his whole household believed.  54 This again was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.  John 4:46-54

This is one of the greatest stories in the New Testament.  We have a royal official who had heard about Jesus and needed him to heal his young son who was dying with fever.  What I want to focus on is when did this royal official really believe in Jesus.  Did he believe based on what Jesus told him, or did he believe after his son was healed?  In this text, it seems like “both”!

As you can see from my translation, I’ve underlined and put in italics “believed”.  Both verbs are used in the Aorist tense in Greek.  The Aorist tense has an undefined aspect.  In other words, this tense doesn’t offer the time or duration of the action of the verb.  

With that said, there are types of emphasis with verbs in the Aorist tense:

1. Ingressive
2. Effective
3. Constative

“Ingressive” describes the beginning of an action.  “Effective” describes the end of an action.  Last, but not least, “Constative” describes an action as a whole.

In this text, we may have the royal official at the beginning of his believing action in verse 50 (Ingressive Aorist).  If that is true, then verse 53 probably shows the royal official’s “believing action” after his son was healed (Effective Aorist).  In other words, he began believing in Jesus based on what Jesus said to him (and probably based on what he had heard from others), but he REALLY came to believe in Jesus after his son was healed.  Interpretations will differ, but there is no doubt that Greek verb tenses can help in our interpretation of the NT.

On a side note, John loved to incorporate word-plays in his Gospel.  This passage offers a good one.  In verse 49, John uses τὸ παιδίον (to paidion) for “child”, but in verse 51, he uses ὁ παῖς (ho pais) for “child”.  All of the NT authors did this as it was “catchy” for illiterate folks to hear.  It would have helped those folks to remember what had been read out to them.

John 20:21-22; Living Being and Immortal Being

John 20:21 Then Jesus said to them again, “Peace be to you.  Just as the Father has sent me, I will also send you.”  22 After saying this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit!  If you forgive anyone’s sins, they have been forgiven.  If you hold in place anyone’s sins, they have been held in place. (My Translation)

There are several interesting moments in this passage.  The first one is the word-play on “send” that occurs in verse 21.  The first word is ἀποστέλλω (apostellō) and the second one is πέμπω (pempō).  There is no significant difference in meaning.  In fact, John’s Gospel is riddled with word-plays throughout.  It is his style, in my opinion, to make his written Gospel memorable.

The second feature is the direct allusion to Genesis 2:7.  If one looks at the passage in the LXX (the Septuagint, the OT in Greek), one will see that the very same verb, in the very same tense was used for “to breath on”.  Let me demonstrate that.

22 καὶ τοῦτο εἰπὼν ἐνεφύσησεν καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· λάβετε πνεῦμα ἅγιον·

22 After saying this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit!

Gen. 2:7 καὶ ἔπλασεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον χοῦν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς καὶ ἐνεφύσησεν εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ πνοὴν ζωῆς, καὶ ἐγένετο ὁ ἄνθρωπος εἰς ψυχὴν ζῶσαν.  LXX

Gen. 2:7 God formed man, dust from of the earth, and breathed on/into his face a breath of life, and the man became a living being.  LXX (My Translation)

The third feature has to do with what was breathed on Adam and what was breathed on the disciples.  In Genesis, God breathed “a breath of life”, while in John, Jesus breathed on the disciples “the Holy Spirit”.  There is a cognate relationship between “breath” and “Spirit”.  Both words are cognate nouns from the verb πνέω (pneō).  You can see how the roots of the words are the same. 

πνέω (pneō)

πνοή (pnoē)

πνεῦμα (pneuma)

Also, πνεῦμα (pneuma) can also mean “breath”, “wind”, or “spirit”.

So, in Genesis, God formed man and put life into him so that he would become “alive” (a living being), but in John, Jesus breaths on people who are already “living beings” with the Holy Spirit (breath) and they become “immortal” and received “eternal life”.  “Point A”, mankind lives, “Point B”, mankind not only lives, but lives forever.

The last feature of the passage is the disciples receiving what is the equivalent to “binding and loosing” in Matthew 16:19 and Matthew 18:18.  Here, if the disciples “forgive sin”, those peoples’ sins “have been forgiven”, which is in the perfect tense.  In Greek, the perfect tense indicates an action that has occurred in the past, but the effects of that action are still felt at the present time.  It is the same with the last phrase; “If you hold in place anyone’s sins, they have been held in place.”

It is interesting to consider that what the Apostles “will do” has “already been done”.  If they forgive sins, God has already forgiven them.  It puts into prospective who is really “the prime mover and shaker”.