Article December 31, 1938 Issue

Bible Notes

"All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits" (Prov. 16:2)—The word which is here literally rendered "spirit" is used in Hebrew in a variety of senses, including "disposition, breath," or "spirit of the living, breathing thing" (Brown, Driver and Briggs: Hebrew Lexicon, pp. 924–926). Smith suggests: "All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes; but the Lord weighs the motives;" and Moffatt: "A man's ways seem all right to himself, but the Eternal has the verdict on his life."

"They killed the passover" (Mark 14:12)—Not only was the name "the passover" given to the sacred Jewish feast which commemorated Isarel's deliverance from Egypt (Ex. 12:43), but it was also applied at times, as in this verse, to the lamb which was sacrificed at this time.

"This is my blood of the new testament" (Matt. 26:28)—The Greek word "diatheke," which is here rendered "testament," can also be translated "covenant," and it is instructive to note the Jewish belief that a covenant should be ratified, or sealed, by the shedding of blood, a belief expressed in, for example, Exodus 24:5–8. It may be observed that the Sinaitic and Vatican manuscripts, and others, omit the word rendered "new" in Matthew 26:28. Weymouth renders: "This is my blood ... the blood of the Covenant;" and Goodspeed has: "This is my blood which ratifies the agreement;" while Moffatt translates: "This means my blood, the new covenant-blood."

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Testimony of Healing

I came to Christian Science not for the healing of physical...