Article June 13, 1942 Issue

Bible Notes

[The Biblical citations given in the Christian Science Quarterly are from the Authorized King James Version. The Bible Notes in these columns can be used, if deemed necessary, to elucidate some of the words or passages contained in the Bible Lessons. The Notes in this issue are related to the Lesson-Sermon designated to be read in Christian Science churches on June 21, 1942.]

"Who hath ... meted out heaven with the span?" (Isa. 40:12)—A "span" in the literal meaning of the term is the distance between the ends of the thumb and the little finger of the outstretched hand, commonly reckoned as nine or eleven inches (half a cubit). Here, however, it is clearly used in the more general sense of "a standard of measurement." Kent and Smith render: "ruled off the heavens with a span."

"Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord?" (Isa. 40:13)—It may be observed that the Hebrew verb "takan," here rendered "directed," is the same as that translated "meted out" in the preceding verse. Its literal sense is "to regulate, estimate or measure;" and since the term translated "Spirit" can also be rendered "Mind," we could justifiably render: "Who has measured the Mind of the Lord?" Moffatt translates: "Who ever moved the mind of the Eternal?"

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