Article February 27, 1943 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 March 14, 1943.]

"I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in" (I Kings 3:7)—While we do not have a record of King Solomon's precise age at this time, it is sufficiently clear that he was not "a little child" in any literal sense of the words. A similar humble sense of inadequacy felt by one facing an important mission is expressed by the prophet Jeremiah, who wrote (Jer. 1:6), "I cannot speak: for I am a child."

"An understanding heart" (I Kings 3:9)—This represents the Hebrew phrase "leb shomea" (literally "a hearing heart"); and since the word "leb" was often employed in the sense of "thinking," the rendering "a receptive thought" has been suggested. Smith translates: "an attentive mind."

"For who is able to judge this thy so great a people?" (I Kings 3:9)—Smith suggests the rendering: "For who is able to judge this great people of thine?" Moffatt well brings out the general substance of the passage by translating: "For who can bear the weight of this government?"

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