04-14-2008, 02:38 AM
ograabe Wrote:April 12, 2008
Dear Dave,
I really like your translations of the Pershitta text, but I must admit to being uneasy about two important words. In both cases I very much prefer Paul Younan's translation, and I hope that you will consider adopting them.
Mattai 27:46 and Marqus 15:34, Jesus' cry from the cross, "Eli, Eli lamana sabachthani"
Paul Younan has "My God, My God, why have you spared me?" The cry of a man in pain.
You have used the charged and misleading word "forsaken", which some may incorrectly infer as some kind of transcendental rejection. Paul, John, and Luke don't even mention this cry, suggesting that an extreme view of its theological importance is uncalled for.
Shlama Otto:
I'm not answering for David. However in this point I strongly agree with the translation of "shabakh" as ""forsake", the same as the Peshitta A"NK and as a precise translation of the Hebrew "azav". I disagree with Paul Younan on this one point of translation.
Why is it that Yeshua's death on the tree, excruciating as it would have been, together with His singular purpose of dying for the sins of the world, and more directly of those that put their trust in Him, not be extreme.
Check out the Peshitta A"NK (Codex Ambrosiano) and you will see that the text is verbatim with Matthew 27:46. This is the precise translation of the Hebrew, is it not?
The whole understanding of Yeshua being "rejected/forsaken" by the Father has nothing to do with Yeshua's deity, rather it has to do with His nefesh khayia, as a substitutional blood sacrifice for sin. In Leviticus 17:11 it is written,
"the soul of the flesh is in the blood".
Yeshua died, but his deity did not, nor could it. It was Yeshua's created "nefesh khayia" (Aramaic-naphsha, Ambrosiano Codex) that died, and Mashikha spiritually descended, as it were, to the lower parts of the earth to secure salvation for all those that put their trust in Him and then was resurrected again, by the Spirit of the Father on the third day.(Romans 8:10-11) So, a distinction must be made as to just what the "forsaking" was all about, rather than changing the simple meaning and agreement between the Hebrew and Aramaic of the Hebrew T"NK - Aramaic A"NK.
Genesis 2:7 describes the two "souls" that are united in androgenous Adam. There is "nishmat khayim/living nashama/breath of God" (Job 26:4, 27:3) and "nefesh khayia/living soul/animal soul". It is God that breathed into Adam's nostrils, "living nashama". This "articulating soul" sets Adam apart from all living creatures. We humans are eternally responsible for our sins. The phrase "nefesh khayia" or "nefesh hakhayah" is used in Genesis 1:20, 21, 24. In 1:28 the word "khayai" stands alone as the equivalent of "nefesh khayai". So in context "khayia" can be used in place of "nefesh khayia". Perhaps this is why the KJV translates the Hebrew word "nefesh" as "life" in Leviticus 11:17.
Nevertheless, Yeshua descended with His nefesh khayia into the lower parts of the earth (Ephesians 4:7-9) and also ascended far above all the heavens". The Spirit of God is not restricted from descending for the Spirit of God is everywhere. (Psalm 139:7-12) The reality that Yeshua's 'living soul" descended is for those of us that trust in him, the gift of eternal salvation, bought by his substitutional sacrifice.
Shlama,
Stephen Silver
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