Christendom Blogosis

My wife and I had a discussion about a verse in our daily reading today. She asked me what it meant and I thought it was a good blog entry.
…her thigh shall fall away…

Hmmm…that sounds like it could be a good thing doesn’t it? Perhaps some Bible diet that causes women to lose weight in their thighs/leg area (worded in old english of course “shall fall away”).

Here is a bit more of the verse, …her belly (stomach) will swell, and her thigh will shrivel…

Ok so maybe it doesn’t sound all that great when you read more of the verse. Below is the full verse:

Numbers 5:27 NET
(27) When he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and behaved unfaithfully toward her husband, the water that brings a curse will enter her to produce bitterness — her abdomen will swell, her thigh will fall away, and the woman will become a curse among her people.

I wanted to point out that sometimes “literal” translations become counter productive when we have no idea what the meaning is. What in the world does “her thigh will fall away” mean? It sounds to me like some sort of weight loss program that is actually working. When you read the whole verse it obviously doesn’t have to do with weight loss but some people still may take it as her leg falling off or something similar. If you read it in context with other verses around it you may get a better picture of what it truly means. However, you may not. Why not tranlsate the idiom so that people can understand it?

Hebrew experts please correct me here if need be. It should read something along the lines of…her womb will (fall away, shrivel, dry up, stop functioning) and she will be unable to have children.

I found it interesting that the NET Bible didn’t translate it to be more understandable. Below is a sample of different translations.

(CEV) If the woman has been unfaithful, the water will immediately make her unable to have children, and she will be a curse among her people.

(GNB) If she has committed adultery, the water will cause bitter pain; her stomach will swell up and her genital organs will shrink. Her name will become a curse among her people.

(GW) If she has become unclean by being unfaithful to her husband, the water that can bring the curse will go into her and become bitter. Her stomach will swell, her uterus will drop, and she will become cursed among her people.

(KJV) And when he hath made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass, that, if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse among her people.

(MSG) If she has defiled herself in being unfaithful to her husband, when she drinks the water that delivers a curse, it will enter her body and cause acute pain; her belly will swell and her womb shrivel. She will be cursed among her people.

(NASB) ‘When he has made her drink the water, then it shall come about, if she has defiled herself and has been unfaithful to her husband, that the water which brings a curse will go into her and cause bitterness, and her abdomen will swell and her thigh will waste away, and the woman will become a curse among her people.

(Webster) And when he hath made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass, that, if she is defiled, and hath done trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall perish: and the woman shall be a curse among her people.

AMDG

Addendum 3/7: In regards to my statement about the NET Bible above…to their credit, on a verse prior to this one (with the same phrase) they do have a translation note and a study note. I have reproduced the notes below. Just another reason why I like the NET Bible so much. In addition, it is mentioned on one of the comments below that the NET Bible translation philosophy is to translate more literal in the case of something questionable like this. I like that philosophy as long as there is a note to go along with it.

TEV takes the expression “your thigh” as a euphemism for the genitals: “cause your genital organs to shrink.”

Most commentators take the expressions to be euphemisms of miscarriage or stillbirth, meaning that there would be no fruit from an illegitimate union. The idea of the abdomen swelling has been reinterpreted by NEB to mean “fall away.” If this interpretation stands, then the idea is that the woman has become pregnant, and that has aroused the suspicion of the husband for some reason. R. K. Harrison (Numbers [WEC], 111-13) discusses a variety of other explanations for diseases and conditions that might be described by these terms. He translates it with “miscarriage,” but leaves open what the description might actually be. Cf. NRSV “makes your uterus drop, your womb discharge.”

The last three or four posts at CAMPONTHIS have been on calvinism vs arminianism (TULIP). This is the great debate that will continue to rage on until the end of time but I did want to comment.

First off, I don’t consider myself to be a calvinist nor do I consider myself to be an arminian (though at times in my life I called myself by each)…I consider myself a Christian (follower of Christ) and that is all.

A few general comments about both sides…these are very general and by no means are they meant to be sweeping…I think there are excellent Christian teachers with good doctrine on both sides of the argument. Now on to the stuff that will make people mad.

It seems many calvists are elitists. They seem to think that they have somehow received some scriptural enlightenment that a non-calvinist could never attain. They seem to think that calvinism is the ultimate understanding (be all and end all) of the scripture. I suppose when they reach the next level they will understand that they are wrong.

Arminians, on the other hand, try to be too logical and rely too heavily on their feelings and what “they” think is right. If it doesn’t make sense to them then it can’t be. God must conform to their “feelings” and judgements on right and wrong.

Many people come into the Christian world as arminians or through arminian channels. I think the general progression may be for arminians to become calvinists (or partial)…the problem is that many people stop there…and all of a sudden they think they have reached the pinnacle of understanding since they have come from arminianism into calvinsim (sometimes kicking and screaming at first)…they view calvinism as the meat and armininism as the milk.

Keeping with the analogy above…the truth is…if arminianism is the milk, then calvinism is the baby food (cereal) and calvinsists won’t understand that until they are eating solid foods and eventually meat.

The debate will rage on I’m sure, however, the cool thing is that we will see both our arminian and our calvinist brothers in heaven…because it is not whether you hold to the Canons of Dort or the Arminian Articles of Remonstrance or any mix and match thereof…it is whether you trust in Christ as your Savior (and serve Him).

Since I didn’t really go into any doctrine on the subject…allow me to violate your conscience and leave you with this.

• Christ died for the sins of the world –that is, everyone. (and the arminians say woohoo)
• Only the elect will be saved –those whom the Father calls. (and the calvinists say woohoo)
• …and the clincher…Both of these statements are 100% true, there is no second step, no matter how much it violates your reasoning or your finite little mind. (and they both say boo)

While I’m at it I might as well throw this one out there too…

• Man has 100% free will.
• God is 100% soveriegn over everything (every little detail).
• …and the crowd cries, “That isn’t possible!”…bzzzt wrong answer.

When you start to reconcile the ideas above (that is, when you start to conform your mind to them instead of trying to conform them to your understanding) you are starting to eat more solid foods. The thing is, once you start to eat more solid foods, you will find that the amount (types) of solid food can be overwhelming…it isn’t just milk (one choice) or baby food/cereal (a few choices) anymore… The more you study the scripture, the more you realize you may not know as much as you thought you did.

AMDG

It seems there is quite an issue heating up in the Bible translation world (at least in the Christian blogosphere) about gender.

I would like to know what the big deal is.

Why is it only now that people are starting to have such a huge problem with “men” or “man” being used to refer to men and women or the human race?

Does the women’s lib movement have anything to do with it?

Where will it stop? Will we revise history to change Armstrong’s words (that’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind)?

I have never been a fan of polictically correct terminology and the fact that it is now starting to wiggle its way into Bible translation is most disturbing.

AMDG

Matthew - Healing

( Matthew 8:7 NET.) Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”
( Matthew 8:8 NET.) But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Instead, just say the word and my servant will be healed.
( Matthew 8:13 NET.) Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; just as you believed, it will be done for you.” And the servant was healed at that hour.

All three of the above verses are related to one event (faith related).

( Matthew 9:21 NET.) For she kept saying to herself, “If only I touch his cloak, I will be healed.”
( Matthew 9:22 NET.) But when Jesus turned and saw her he said, “Have courage, daughter! Your faith has made you well.” And the woman was healed from that hour.

Faith related. Also, after this verse and the next one on the list another faith related healing event took place. See ( Matthew 9:27-30).

( Matthew 12:10 NET.) A man was there who had a withered hand. And they asked Jesus, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” so that they could accuse him.
( Matthew 12:13 NET.) Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out and it was restored, as healthy as the other.

General.

( Matthew 12:22 NET.) Then they brought to him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute. Jesus healed him so that he could speak and see.

General, demon possession related to sickness.

( Matthew 14:36 NET.) They begged him if they could only touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

This could either be general events or faith related events.

( Matthew 15:28 NET.) Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, your faith is great! Let what you want be done for you.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.

Faith.

( Matthew 17:16 NET.) I brought him to your disciples, but they were not able to heal him.”
( Matthew 17:18 NET.) Then Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of him, and the boy was healed from that moment.

This should be read with surrounding verses as it goes into detail about faith.

I removed quite a few verses on the list that just mentioned healing and didn’t go into detail about the event itself. It is interesting to note that passages that go into detail usually discuss faith. We basically cover seven events out of Matthew…of which five are faith related, one could be either, and one was a demon possession.

More to come…

AMDG

First off, since this subject could get long I am going to break it up into multiple parts. The question is…

Is there a connection between faith and healing? …and… Is there a connection between sickness and demon possession?

These posts are not long exegetical studies in the Greek. They are merely observations and English Version word studies. At some point I may post a more exegetical study on the subject matter.

I briefly touched on some of the subject matter in this post. I wanted to go over it in a bit more detail and also add “faith” into the equation.

Methodology: (KISS Principle) The posts are basic word searches within different English Versions of the Bible (New Testament only). Each verse is then examined in context and commented on. Since this isn’t an exhaustive study the list of verses may not be 100% complete. Verses will basically be broken down into three categories. Most of the searches will be from the NET since the ESV will show up if you put your mouse over the Scripture reference.

• General - general healing (without any of the below).
• Demon Related - healing/sickness accompanied by demon possession.
• Faith Related - healing accompanied by faith.

Obviously, there may be some verses that cross categories or don’t fit squarely into one of the categories. Again, this isn’t an exhaustive exegetical study. Comments on all posts will be open as usual.

Initially, I started writing the first post from this point on. However, I decided that (even trying to keep it simple) it was getting too long and complicated. I have decided to make this post just an introduction and then create different posts (parts) covering only a certain amount of matierial at a time. In addition, I may start to focus more on healing events instead of general mentions of healing, otherwise, it could get lengthy and I’m not sure it contributes (or takes away) from the point. One other thing I may try to do is discuss the healing/faith vs healing events and then go back and discuss the demon/sickness events. However, I will have to see how that pans out as they may cross a bit.

AMDG