Guest Authors
Delitzsch: John 13:35
The following note was received this morning from Bill Beyer. Bill is a Lutheran pastor in Wisconsin. Vine of David (a ministry of FFOZ) is slowly releasing the new Delitzsch Hebrew Gospels (DHE). For more information or to place an order please visit the DHE landing page at Vine of David.
***
My First Sabbath with Franz Delitzsch
When FFOZ first introduced me to Delitzsch I was very intrigued. As a Lutheran Pastor who studies the Torah I was more than interested in another Lutheran Pastor who was well versed and respected as a Torah/Talmudic scholar. It was kind of like being in a 1960's movie about aliens..."we have been here before and we walk among you now." When I heard about the work of translating his Hebrew into English I was very excited.
This past week Toby Janicki came to my congregation to give a talk on Mark 7 and with the Delitzsch Hebrew English (DHE) text hot off the press I was anxious to get my hands on it. I could not wait to get my hands on it and read it. From the very first look at the material I could tell that it was something special. Not simply from the outward appearance (since we are often told in scripture not to judge a book by its cover; 1 Sa 16:7 and Mt 23:27), but the fact that the text draws you in. As a sacred text (containing the four letter name of God in Hebrew) I knew this book was to be handled differently, but one can easily tell this book IS different.
So, this Shabbat while our Study group is doing Torah Club Four our text for consideration was John 13:31-14:31. I was interested to spend time studying with another Lutheran Pastor who had the same interest as I did. Delitzsch did not disappoint me. He soon became my teacher and he and I had a remarkable Sabbath together as he taught me the gospels at a different level than I had ever studied them before. Let me give you an example.
John 13:35 in the NASB reads: "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." This is a very famous passage. It is taught and preached on as to our responsibility to each other in love. But, Delitzsch taught me something more. The English translation of his Hebrew text reads: "With this all will know that you are my disciples; if love dwells among you." My eyes widened! My heart leaped in my chest! "Dwells? Is that the right word?" I looked over to the Hebrew and saw a variation of the word shakhan or to dwell. This is the same word we get Mishkhan from.
Thoughts, ideas, and the theological implications started surging through my mind. Love is suppose to DWELL among us...in the same way God DWELLED with his people in the wilderness and in the same way the word DWELLS among us according to John 1. In fact, what is more Johanine than God DWELLING in our midst? I was ecstatic and I could only help but see Delitzsch looking at me across the table smiling as the words of scripture became new to the seasoned student of the word.
I spent all Shabbat contemplating the ideal that love must DWELL among us as disciples. We have lost the idea of what love truly is. Recent theological controversies have proven that to be true. But, even more so we have lost the ideal of what it means to DWELL in love. Both our love for God and our love for each other.
Delitzsch had worked overtime teaching me something new and the thing is this teaching was already 150+ years old. What more does he have to teach me? Where will my faith grow from here? I am anxious to spend more Shabbats with Delitzsch.
For more information visit: Delitzsch Hebrew Gospels.
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Visitor Feedback:
Bible students might note that there is no sense of "dwelling" in the Greek text of John 13:35. This raises the question: Why did Delitzsch feel at liberty to word it so differently, where most of the time he sticks closely to the Greek text?
In my experience, Delitzsch's translation is anything but arbitrary. When I find something mysterious like this, quite frequently the answer is brilliant. I am not sure what the answer is to this one, but perhaps there is a footnote or explanation somewhere.
One important fact to note here is that the first ten editions were more literal: בהיות אהבה ביניכם, "in there being love between you." It was not until the eleventh edition (which is the one we published) that it was changed to אם תשכן אהבה ביניכם, "if love dwells among you."
My suspicion is that while the phrasing of "having love between" is something that makes sense in Greek and English, it did not sound natural to Delitzsch in Hebrew. But there is probably more to it than that.
Aaron | August 22, 2011 12:50 PM
I too am totally anxious to get my hands on a copy DHE after seeing a copy at the Shavuot Conference.
Douglas III | August 22, 2011 1:41 PM