Holy: Understanding it Better from a Prior Example

We've likely all heard someone utter those hope dashing words:"We've seen this movie before".  The connotation is that "the movie" is not worth our time, since it has been seen before.  It doesn't have to be the exact same movie, it may only follow the same plot, etc.  We've also probably also heard someone else say: ""We've seen this [movie] a hundred times before".   Sometimes when these phrases are said, they have nothing to do with a movie, but a proposed solution that led to nowhere exciting before and will lead to that same place again.  In any case, the point is negative.  The point is that this is a waste of our time.  The problem is that people today are suffering from the "we've all seen this movie before" syndrome, where proposed solutions are the same thing all over again and so will fail to live up to their claims again.  In contrast, I am claiming that defining holy has the potential to be a movie we have never seen before.  It can live up to its promised implications.  It can eventurally make a big difference. 

I also want to say something positive about something that I've personally seen before that has made a substantial difference in my life.  In my last entry, I spoke about doing linguistic analysis on the words in the Bible translated as "holy".  Years ago I read a linguistic analysis that changed my view on the definitions for the Hebrew words of righteousness and justice.  Then later this same point was driven home by a carpentry illustration in the book of Isaiah.  I am anticipating that my linguistic analysis of holy will provide a similar scholarly argument and that the anthropologist Mary Douglas has already provided in her writings the illustration in Scripture that provides the concrete illustration of its meaning.  So I am going to happily watch the same movie again!  These two movies will be similar I believe and therefore I am filled with anticipation rather than dread.   Not only that, but since holy is a higher moral character trait, it can have an even greater impact!

Instead of being deflated, I will be delighted if I get to see the same movie a second time with only the "names" that are changed.  This time instead of "justice and righteousness" the names will be "holiness and purity, set apaart, wholeness, etc.".  Just today on 12/12/12, I ordered from the library the book that I read some time ago: Justice and Righteousness: Biblical Themes and their Influence.  It is edited by Benjamin Uffenheimer, Henning Reventflow and Yair Hoffman.  The volume contains a chapter written by Moshe Weinfeld titled: "Justice and Righteousness - The Expression and Its Meaning".  I read this article a long time ago, so I need to read it again.  But what I clearly got from the article is that in Hebrew justice and righteousness are not synonyms like we think of them in English. 

Just yesterday I read Romans 5 with my eyes open to the fact that the two words do not mean the same thing in Hebrew and for Paul, the Hebrew of Hebrews in the 1st Century.  Reading the passage with those eyes, I recognized that translators too often use justice related words rather than using righreousness related words when the Greek indicated that would be more consistent.  But if a person thinks the terms are synonymous this certainly makes sense.  But if you read righteousness rather than justice you can better understand Paul's use of the words "one" and "many" in the context much better. 

Let me explain this further through Isaiah 28:17 and Luke 10.  -----   I have chosen two of the most popular translations and one very literal one to demonstrate my point from mostly eliable translations of the Bible.  You may want to consult the NET Bible, if you have further questions. I have consulted the Hebrew directly to insure that I'm satisfied with the translations, but a blog entry of this size is not the place for further details.  Let's begin with looking at Isaiah 28:17 through the NIV, the NKJV and NASB.  It reads:

New International Version

I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line; hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie, and water will overflow your hiding place.

New King James Version

Also I will make justice the measuring line, And righteousness the plummet; The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, And the waters will overflow the hiding place.

New American Standard

"I will make justice the measuring line And righteousness the level ; Then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies And the waters will overflow the secret place.

For anyone like myself, the experience of being a carpenter makes this passage abundantly clear.  The NAS muddies thiings a little bit with their attempt, so I can assure you that the person translating could not have been a carpenter.  On a standard level today a person can use a level to measure the accuracy of construction on two planes.  The one is a horizontal measurement and the second is a vertical measurement.  In Isaiah 28:17, the plumb line obviously fits with the role of measuring the vertical axis or plane.  The "measuring line" could then fit with horiztontal plane.  I have seen pictures of devices used in Egypt that used the plumb line to determine the vertical axis and then using 90% could also plot the horizontal access.  I myself have used a "measuring line" with a level hanging from it to determine the accuracy of a horizontal measurement.  I am not sure of their device then, but this concrete analogy fits with the scholarly view of Weinfled that the two are distinct from each other. 

Let's now also look at the implications of this discussion of righteousness and justice for other portions in Scipture.  I want to look us to look at the 1st and 2nd greatest commandments in the Bible (not the 1st and 2nd greatest laws!).  It is found in Luke 10:27 and among the other Gospels.  It reads:

New International Version

He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' "

New King James Version

So he answered and said, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and 'your neighbor as yourself.' "

New American Standard

And he answered, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND ; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF."

This cross section of versions is pretty agreeable in this case.  The greatest or first commandment is part of what the Jews call the Shema.  In that context, the Jews recite the words: "Hear O Israel, the LORD your God is one ...".   (The words "the LORD" substitute for the name of God, Yahweh.)   The key point for our purposes is the word "one".  If you have "one" God, it makes perfect mathematical sense to love him with "all" repeated four times for each of the vital members of oneself or yourself.   You can literally think of it along the lines of a plumb line.  If there is "one" axis point, then "all" 100% of the weight on the plumb is supported is supported from that one point.  If you add further gods, then no longer is "one" supporting "all" of the weight of the plumb line's weight fastened to its end, but two, etc. are now supporting the portions of weight.  If two, then 50%, etc. rather than "all".  If all of us could remember that one God is the right thing and herefore it makes good mathematical sense to then love him with our all, then this world could be a better place.

Likewise the second commandment can be explained fairly well by thinking of the level horizontal line 90% from the vertical line.  We are told to love our neighbors "as" ourselves.  That is not more than, not less than, not in contrast to, but equal to ourselves.  That seems pretty just to me.  If all of us could remember that is the just thing to do, this corld would be a better place. 

Now turning to holy, I think the famous anthropologist may have stumbled onto holy's best illustration in the Bible as is the carpenter's tools for justice and righteousness.  She found that in parallel texts that the Hebew word for "whole" stones is parallel to "holy" in a parallel context.  This is extremely significant.  That is because the Hebrew word for "whole" shows up a few times next to holy that makes it a potential parallel to holy in other passages.  I can't wait to check this all ou thoroughly.  Here is another great reason to not dread seeing this kind of movie all over again. 

So I am looking forward to the future or just the rest of today with anticipation.  If "holy, holy, holy" is more significant in Isaiah and Revelation and many other parts of the Bible than righteousness or justice, then there is a reason for anticipation.  We should not look for a future understanding of holy using linguistic analysis with dread, but with anticipation.   So threw away your holiday dread this holiday (holy day) season and instead have holiday anticipation.  Maybe it would be good to find Carly Simon's "Anticipation" song and play it to get you into that type of cheer. May God bless you this holiday  and Christmas (Christ mas) season. 

In Christ,

Jon