Focus… Vayikra III
by YeriYah Wolf

I fear this weeks dose of medicine is so unwieldy and burdensome that some may choke on it and die. This is no joke, it has happened before when this disease and remedy was explored. The problem can be reduced down to two major factors,

          One:

                   YHWH’s Justice may seem excessive and unwieldy to we very ‘godly’ mortals.

          (If you find His way unacceptable, please, take it up with Him. I find my self far less than competent to reform the heart of my fellow earthlings.)

          Two:

                   There are a considerable amount of key Hebrew words we must study, analyze and absorb in order to think through this complex concept of His commanded equity.

           (If you are one who chooses to unquestioningly accept any of the published English versions, you may as well read no further, it would only prove to be a waste of time and effort for you.) 

          The BCV (Book Chapter and Verse) we will bring into sharp focus today is Lev 6:2-5 as we quote from the King James Version:

2       If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the LORD, and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceived his neighbour;

        In a humble attempt to restate and carefully translate this verse to the English we speak today, it might be rendered:

2        When a soul falls short by acting in treacherous ways with YHWH in his dealing falsely with his associate; in things held as deposit, in things entrusted to safe keeping, or in things taken by plunder or robbery, or fraud has therefore deceived and extorted his associate.

          Can we detect a difference? Is some meaning or impact lost in the formality of sixteenth century verse? “If a soul sin”, may be oratorical and high sounding and even revealing in a sub textual sense, in that ‘Nephesh’ is used here and can be translated as ‘soul’ but the word means any breathing creature, in the same sense that we might read, ‘the ferryboat went down with twenty souls aboard, the captain, his first mate, three fine stallions, seven mares with eight foals at their side’.  Next is the word is ‘Kiy’ meaning ‘when’ then the word ‘Chata’ is translated ‘sin’, it really means to ‘fall short or miss the mark’. Next is of the utmost importance because it clearly states we

are as ‘Ma’al’ or traitors against YHWH when we deceive our associate. To me this was not as evident in the published version.

 Now again quoting the King James Version:

3       Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein:

Alternatively:

3        When anyone finds that which was lost, then constructs a lie concerning it, swearing first to deceive concerning everything that the earthling man has done, this one then has missed the mark, he has fallen very short.

Any further justification of this verse would seem to me to be redundant.

 Now again quoting the King James Version:

4       Then it shall be, because he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found,

Instead, let’s consider this adaptation:

4        It shall be that when one falls short and is guilty of an offence; he shall return anything taken in violence, or what has been gained by deceit, or things entrusted to his hand, or things lost which he has found.

Oh my! Finders keepers, losers weepers, just ain’t so.

          ‘Shuwb’ is a word that indicates turning back, returning and in my opinion is lost in the concept of ‘restoring’. Restoring makes me think of refurbishing old vacuums to take to the flea market.    

Now from KJV we quote verse five:

5       Or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his trespass offering.

To hammer out a hopefully more workable version this could be translated:

5        Moreover from all that he has gained by deceptively swearing he must bring full compensation to the victim. The full total, as well as adding twenty percent, or one fifth, of its value must be rendered on the day of his guilt.     

          The troublesome word used is ‘Shalam’ which KJV renders here as ‘restore’. The word means to be in a covenant of peace with all its fullness and wholeness. It is related to the word shalom, I believe we all have a working knowledge of that beautiful word.

          I do wish we had a spoon full of sugar to make this medicine go down but we’ll have to settle for tough love. This form of equity is in fact tough love.

This is not even a vague part of our governmental, so called justice system today, but oh, if it only were. Sometimes it seems we live in a time beyond the looking glass when penalty itself has become a crime.

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