Ad Fontes

Reblogging

Quote of the Decade — via Zwinglius Redivivus

Zwinglius redivivus does it again! If you haven’t checked out his blog I highly recommend you do for you will find intriguing quotes like the following one there as well as the best of the ancient and modern:

“How can a preacher know theology, if he is ignorant of Hebrew, Greek and Latin?”- Sir Thomas More

via Quote of the Decade — Zwinglius Redivivus

My Opinion: In an idealistic world and under idealistic conditions all pulpit preachers should be instructed in Biblical languages as well as Latin (and maybe theological German), however, this simply is not a possibility at least not in the typical seminary (graduate school of theology / Divinity School/preachers school) due to the time constraints of imposed by the programs and or the curriculums not to mention individuals’ dispositions. Of course one can study on their own, or outside of a theological program should one desire to.

I would, however, say that it is much more of a priority for a preacher or a missionary to know the culture and the language of the intended audience or the congregation at large unless, of course, the preacher/missionary has a dedicated interpreter. I am pleased to say that in my very limited experience here in Japan all of the foreign preachers I have met have been fluent in modern Japanese to at least an upper-intermediate level, if not an advance one!

How the accents of the Hebrew Bible can change the meaning?

Does the study of the accents/cantillation marks of the Hebrew Bible aid one in understanding or interpreting the meaning of the text?

Yes, I believe so take Deuteronomy 26:5 for example. Below is an image of the text in Hebrew. Notice that the text of Deuteronomy has been mirrored. The Hebrew consonants’ of both texts colored in black as well as the ‘vowels’ colored in blue are identical. The accents/cantillation marks are colored red. However, to demonstrate how accents can radically change the meaning of the text one accent on the first word (on the right) has been substituted for another:

Hebrew text illustration showing the accent and reading comparison discussed in Deuteronomy 26:5
Disclaimer: Each of the translations above represent only one of the multiple ways each of the parallel lines of text could be understood or translated in English. You may find this reading in the haggadah which in turn was getting this from an interpretation of Mechilta or maybe from Reshi. There are no Bible manuscripts that have this reading. It is just that when you look at a Sefer Torah or any other text without vowel points the verse in question could be, in theory, interpreted this way.

Now, examine how this same verse appears in a Torah scroll the verse appears neither with accents nor with vowel points. So a reader without these Masoretic notations would have had to decide from him or herself how to interpret this verse:

Hebrew text illustration showing the accent and reading comparison discussed in Deuteronomy 26:5

For more on the on the issue mentioned above check out:

https://www.thetorah.com/article/did-an-aramean-try-to-destroy-our-father

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/an-aramean-destroyed-my-father/

The above was originally posted back n 2018 on the Logos forums: https://community.logos.com/forums/p/135738/1008148.aspx#1008148

Here I have made a few minor changes and additions.