Nielsen’s Nook

My wife just launched the new version of her blog, percaritatem.com (converted from blogger to Word Press):

My study of Romans continues. It has been fascinating to track down Paul’s quote of Habakkuk 2:4 at the end of Romans 1:16-17. In Romans 1:17 Paul writes:

^1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God’s power for salvation for all who believe, first to the Jew and also to the Greek. ¹⁷ For God’s righteousness is revealed in it from faith to faith, just as it is written:

And the righteous will live by faith.
(author’s translation)

Paul is clearly referring back to Habakkuk 2:4 where the ESV renders:

⁴“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2:4, ESV)

Even in this English translation, one can see that there is a difference in Paul’s citation of Habakkuk 2:4, neither exactly follows the BHS (Hebrew):

Behold, his soul swollen with presumption it is not right within him, but a righteous person lives by his faithfulness.^a (author’s translation)
_____
^a BDB translates צַדִּיק בֶּאֱמוּנָתוֹ יִחְיֶה a righteous man by his faithfulness liveth.

nor the LXX (Septuagint):

ἐὰν ὑποστείληται, οὐκ εὐδοκεῖ ἡ ψυχή μου ἐν αὐτῷ, ὁ δὲ δίκαιος ἐκ πίστεώς μου ζήσεται.

If it draws back in fear, my soul is not content with it, but the righteous one will live by my faithfulness. (author’s translation)

Summary

In the BHS we read, “his faithfulness/faith”; in the LXX, “my faithfulness/faith” and in Paul we read simply, “faithfulness/faith”. The possessive pronouns, whichever was the original, have all been removed either by Paul or by the tradition in which Paul found himself.  So the question is raised either directly or indirectly by Paul, “By whose faithfulness will the righteous live?”

A few days ago, I was prayerfully reflecting on Psalm 70 and wrote out a prayer that was intended as a private post, in which I lamented over the holes in the bucket of my life (i.e., my rickety old bucket). So you can imagine my alarm when my statistics meter listed that post as visited by someone in Plano, Texas.

In the prayer, I did not say anything I would regret, thankfully; however, this morning as I have reflected on this (and my blood pressure has come back down), I found it an interesting thing to contemplate. In the prayer there was a paragraph in which I laid out an insecurity that I wrestle with in a present situation. I think that paragraph made me most squeamish, but why?

On the one hand, the idea of other people of unknown disposition to me knowing something that stirs insecurity in me makes me nervous. And yet it’s out there now and in a way it is quite liberating. Someone else has seen a bit of the bucket that no one else apart from the Lord was thought to have seen. Perhaps, it is much like how the Wizard in the Wizard of Oz must have felt when the curtain is thrown back and Dorothy and company all see the very little man in his hiding place.

The world does not need to read all my prayers, and I am certain that there are those who would not be gracious to me if given the chance and an advantage. So I have privatized the post in question as I had originally intended. But I leave you with this question that I have been entertaining: Would we pray in such a way that we might not like the world to know? If so, I believe that in our vulnerability with God and his power in our lives to bring repentance and correction we have hope for growth and change. On the other hand, if we do not pray or do not pray over those areas that are rickety or unseemly, then how do we expect to grow and change?

Yesterday I had the privilege of preaching to a congregation in Northwest Dallas. They are relatively young, composed of mostly hispanic and some anglo people. In preaching on Psalm 70, I made the mention that it was a prayer that should be prayed on our mountain tops and in our darkest valleys and everywhere in between.¹

A mother of three, with whom I spoke after the service, made mention of the strain that she often felt in having a moment where she might pray at all. Her goal, as I understood it, was to prayerfully mother her children. As I have learned, this seems to be an idea that has monastic virtue. Many, including myself previously, had thought the monks were those who wanted nothing to do with the world. Some, of course, were more hermit like. However, generally, monks would withdraw for the purpose of engagement with the world. They would retreat to advance. They would worship God with hoe in hand. What a beautiful connection this mother of three had made. As she tends the fertile soils of her children, she retreats to advance, tending their little lives, worshiping Christ with hoe in hand.

This seems to be something the Apostle Paul had in mind when he wrote, μάρτυς γάρ μού ἐστιν ὁ θεός, ᾧ λατρεύω ἐν τῷ πνεύματί μου ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ (God is my witness, whom I worship in my spirit in the gospel of His Son). Apparently, Paul is making great contrast with the Greek idea of worship that emphasized “geographical focus and physical activity”³ and in this sense seems to coalesce nicely with the mother of three, who, like Paul, has more on her plate than often seems manageable; and yet, both worship God with hoe in hand, as they would go along in their respective vocations.

² author’s translation, Romans 1:9.

³ N. T. Wright, “The Letter to the Romans,” in The New Interpreter’s Bible, ed. Leander E. Keck (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2002), 422.

In reworking some thoughts on Psalm 70, I translated it from the Septuagint (LXX, the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures) and found the exercise helpful and gratifying. Keep in mind the versification varies from what you would find in your English version (or other translation). The LXX counts what the Hebrew regards as an inscription as the first verse and so verse 2 here will correspond to verse 1 in your English version. Likewise it is Psalm 69 in the LXX which corresponds to Psalm 70 in the Hebrew. Here are some notes for you:

¹ For the choirmaster, to David for a memorial offering.

² O Lord, make your purpose to save me!
O God, take heed for my aid!

³ Let those who seek my life be put to utter shame, [a]
Let those who desire evil against me be turned back and be deeply shamed. [b]

⁴ Let the shameful ones, who are saying to me “Well done. Well done,” be turned back immediately.

⁵ Let all who seek you be utterly overjoyed, [a]
and let those who love your salvation say through all circumstances, “God is great!”

⁶ But I am utterly poor, O God, give aid to me!
You are my aid and my deliverer, O Lord, do not delay.

I have a previous post, translating the Hebrew. It might be interesting to compare these with a good version of the Bible like the English Standard Version:

[ a ] Both vv 3 and 5 (cf. 6) begin with a double idea joined with και for emphasis (merism: “… a single thing is referred to by a conventional phrase that enumerates several of its parts, or which lists several synonyms for the same thing.”). I attempt to render the merism using the emphatic “utterly”.

[ b ] καταισχύνω is a word used to describe the dishonor and violation of raped women. Johan Lust, Erik Eynikel and Katrin Hauspie, A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint : Revised Edition (Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft: Stuttgart, 2003).

Well… Whew.  We’re back…  Nielsen’s Nook is the same blog all 3 of my readers have come to love. :-)  Now it is hosted at Slicehost (a dedicated VPS), which means you should notice a much faster, snappier presentation.  I got so tired of the sluggishness of my old shared host (and their gestapo antics — “comply or die you lowly customer”).

I’ll be back with more Nook posts soon.  My study in Romans continues…