When we understand that what we read in the Hebrew Bible in English today was written thousands of years ago by people who spoke a very different language and thought very differently, and that it’s been translated multiple times over centuries, by many different people, all of whom thought differently about the world than we do, we begin to realize that what the original writers said and what we hear may be radically different. Even the new translations, mostly from the Greek and some from the Hebrew, are based on modern American and European thought patterns rather than the ways people thought in the Middle East thousands of years ago. So, even though the original writing, and even the translations, may have been “revealed,” what they were thinking then and what we think when we read what they wrote are often very different.
This is particularly the case with what has come to be known as “The Ten Commandments.”
Many Jews today, reading the chapters in Exodus or Deuteronomy in which the list of ten is presented, don’t translate the Hebrew as “thou shalt” but as “thou dost.” This is because, while all the languages derived from Latin (including English) include an “imperative” form, a person commanding someone to do something, the far more ancient biblical Hebrew does not. And, while in English we use verbs to talk about past, present, or future actions, in biblical Hebrew verbs describe an action that is complete or incomplete—no time is involved.
It turns out that the verbs in the list of ten are all written in the second person (you), masculine, singular, imperfect (an incomplete action—“man, you’re cutting yourself”) as opposed to “perfect” which would be a completed action (“man, you have cut yourself”). The result is very different from what most of us were raised on.
As written, the opening Hebrew sentence can be most correctly translated as, “Hear, Oh Israel, I am the Lord your God who has brought you out of the land of the Mizraim (which is usually translated as Egypt and refers to the sons of Noah’s son Ham); you have no other gods greater than I.” It’s then followed by a series of verbs, each preceded by a symbol that is read as “lo” and means “no” or “not.”
This means that, when we look at those familiar verses in Exodus, we need to see them a new way: they’re not rules for us to follow, but promises!
They tell us that, when we accept the Almighty One as the Love of our lives, the Source of our existence, and the Power beyond all powers within or around us, then, in fact, we can’t ever allow a desire for money or property or any idol to be more important than our desire to commune with The One, or covet anything, much less steal; we would always honor our elders as guides to experiencing that One, and we would never be inclined to kill another!
Now that’s something worth celebrating! No wonder the Hebrews or Israelites (children of God) as they began to call themselves after hearing these words, held the tablets that bore them as holy!
May we all know the peace that comes of accepting this fact of our history as truth in our hearts!
This is particularly the case with what has come to be known as “The Ten Commandments.”
Many Jews today, reading the chapters in Exodus or Deuteronomy in which the list of ten is presented, don’t translate the Hebrew as “thou shalt” but as “thou dost.” This is because, while all the languages derived from Latin (including English) include an “imperative” form, a person commanding someone to do something, the far more ancient biblical Hebrew does not. And, while in English we use verbs to talk about past, present, or future actions, in biblical Hebrew verbs describe an action that is complete or incomplete—no time is involved.
It turns out that the verbs in the list of ten are all written in the second person (you), masculine, singular, imperfect (an incomplete action—“man, you’re cutting yourself”) as opposed to “perfect” which would be a completed action (“man, you have cut yourself”). The result is very different from what most of us were raised on.
As written, the opening Hebrew sentence can be most correctly translated as, “Hear, Oh Israel, I am the Lord your God who has brought you out of the land of the Mizraim (which is usually translated as Egypt and refers to the sons of Noah’s son Ham); you have no other gods greater than I.” It’s then followed by a series of verbs, each preceded by a symbol that is read as “lo” and means “no” or “not.”
This means that, when we look at those familiar verses in Exodus, we need to see them a new way: they’re not rules for us to follow, but promises!
They tell us that, when we accept the Almighty One as the Love of our lives, the Source of our existence, and the Power beyond all powers within or around us, then, in fact, we can’t ever allow a desire for money or property or any idol to be more important than our desire to commune with The One, or covet anything, much less steal; we would always honor our elders as guides to experiencing that One, and we would never be inclined to kill another!
Now that’s something worth celebrating! No wonder the Hebrews or Israelites (children of God) as they began to call themselves after hearing these words, held the tablets that bore them as holy!
May we all know the peace that comes of accepting this fact of our history as truth in our hearts!
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