Learning to Read

I entertain Wat’s questions because I had them before. We can skim through reams of written material a mile a minute, scan for key words, speed read through tomes in nothing flat, and yet we plug through theology at maybe four words a minute if we’re lucky. The stuff needs to be read and wrestled with because it does not mean what it says. Well, let me clarify that: the authors of scripture meant what they said, but they did not say what they meant. They were describing psychological and spiritual literals in figurative and symbolic speech. Mix in a half dozen different languages and thousands of years of differing cultural influences, wars, politics, conquests, and slavery--and yeah, you can average maybe four words a minute if you are lucky. Reading theology is wrestling.

I stand corrected on my last post to Wat. I had not bothered to pull out my New Englishman's Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance. Strong’s 974 bachan is translated in several places as prove, try, and examine. 5254 nacah is translated as prove, assay, try, adventure, and tempt. Nacah is the word used in Genesis 22:1 and is translated as 'tempt' in the King James. In Victor Alexander's translation of the ancient Aramaic, it is 'test.' Wat wants to know why it clearly says God tested/tempted Abraham, and James 1:13-15 says God tests/tempts no man. Is there a mistranslation?

The King James New Testament is translated from Greek, so we really cannot infer any mistranslation of the Hebrew into English when an entirely different language was used. The Greek word in James is peirazo, Strong's Greek Dictionary #3985. I'll let you look up the definition and translations of this word on your own. Basically it means to pierce something to check it out. But here is the thing: none of this word study stuff amounts to a hill of beans. The languages are loose enough that you could "prove" anything by them. The actual comparison of Genesis 22:1 and James 1:13-15 is to be made by looking at the contexts of each situation. As there are tests to prove faith by God throughout the Bible--about ten of them involving Abraham in the Book of Genesis alone--let's throw out the idea that God does not test man.

James, on the other hand, is talking to people being carried away with their own desires. It is their own unbridled passions and evil urges which rise within them that tempt them. Such appetites arise from their amnesia-darkened minds--God had nothing to do with it. He was not tempting them. He cannot be tempted like that, nor does he tempt man in this manner. You are desirous? Don't blame God for having put it on you.

The name Abraham means Merciful Father (Av-ra-him: the Father is Merciful, James 2:23 Alexander), and as such we are the fathers of many peoples. Abraham spent years preaching the nature of the covenant God to the Philistines. As a missionary he had integrity which God further tested, for it is one thing to preach it, and another thing to do it. James, which is Greek for Jacob, was preaching to converting Jews who hadn’t the development of integrity yet. They were swayed to and fro by the things which they desired, the things which tempt us. James was pointing out their need to refine their character. Which reminds me of The Great Learning of Confucius. Can you read this?


"The Dao of Great Learning lies in making bright virtue brilliant; in making the people new; in coming to rest at the limit of the good.

"Only after wisdom comes to rest does one possess certainty; only after one possesses certainty can one become tranquil; only after one becomes tranquil can one become secure; only after one becomes secure can one contemplate alternatives; only after one can contemplate alternatives can one comprehend.

"Affairs have their roots and branches, situations have their ends and beginnings. To know what comes first and what comes after is to be near the Dao.

"In ancient times, those who wished to make bright virtue brilliant in the world first ordered their states; those who wished to order their states first aligned their households; those who wished to align their households first refined their persons; those who wished to refine their persons first balanced their minds; those who wished to balance their minds first perfected the genuineness of their intentions; those who wished to perfect the genuineness of their intentions first extended their understanding; extending one’s understanding lies in aligning affairs.

"Only after affairs have been aligned may one’s understanding be fully extended. Only after one’s understanding is fully extended may one’s intentions be perfectly genuine. Only after one’s intentions are perfectly genuine may one’s mind be balanced. Only after one’s mind is balanced may one’s person be refined. Only after one’s person is refined may one’s household be aligned. Only after one’s household is aligned may one’s state be ordered. Only after one’s state is ordered may the world be set at peace.

"From the Son of Heaven to the common person, for all alike, refining the person is the root. That roots should be disordered yet branches ordered is not possible. That what should be thickened is thin yet what is thin becomes thick has never yet been so. [This is the meaning of 'knowing the root.']"


Not bad for a guy born in 551 BC, about 45 years or so into the period of the Captivity. Refine the person. That is what both passages are saying.


I use Bullinger’s Companion Bible, which is King James. Yes, it has thousands of errors and mistranslations and is a horrible translation, but Bullinger deals with so many of its faults in the companion margin that I have gotten used to mentally correcting everything. I have the Stone Tanach, but it is so “aren’t the Jews wonderful” biased I can hardly use it. I far prefer to use Vic Alexander’s translations from the ancient Aramaic. For all their faults and blemishes, they are virtually the only Bible I read anymore. His Old Testament Scriptures are only few of the books, but they are enough for me. And of course, I read the future tense as past and present, as it is in the Hebrew. I pretty much only read Genesis, Exodus, and the New Testament anyway. Happy reading.