I've been reading my brand new Delitzisch Hebrew Gospels this morning (0330-0424, couldn't sleep) that I purchased at the First Fruits of Zion seminar hosted at Tikvot David in Roswell, Georgia this weekend.
Naturally I went straight to Matthew 5:17-19 to see how this verse was rendered. Not surprisingly, there was a footnote attached to this pivotal verse. The footnote referred to a specific section in the translator/publisher's notes.
Here is some of what I found:
[begin quoted material, my comments will be in italics ]
FFOZ wrote:Rabbi Ya'akov Emden (
not a follower of Yeshua/Jesus by any stretch of the imagination!) interpreted Yeshua's words this way when he cited the verses in an appendix to Sefer Seder Olam Rabbah Vezuta Umegillat Talamit published in 1757:
RavEmden wrote:But please learn and accept the truth from whoever says it. For from this it is plainly apparent that the Nazarene (these guys don't like to say His Name) and his apostiles did not come to nullify (levattel) the Torah from Israel, Heaven forbid! For so it is written in Matthew that the Nazarene said "[color=red]Do not think that I have com to nullify (lavattel) the Torah; I have only come to uphold (lekayem) it. I say to you, even if heaven and earth were to be nullified, in any case not a single letter of dot from the Torah will ever be nullified but rather upheld[/color]"
The modern Hebrew translation by the Bible Society in Israel translates the verse correctly:
(
Hebrew script omitted in this e-mail, because I am unable to type in Hebrew)
We would translate in this way:
Quote:
"[color=red]Do not think that I have come to nullify the Torah or the Prophets; I have not come to nullify but to uphold.[/color]"
The difference between "fulfill" (as it is commonly interpreted) and "uphold" is immense. "Fulfill" tends to imply doing something to change either the Torah itself or the role that it plays. "Uphold" is the exact opposite: to support and maintain the Torah's unchanging message and its continued relevance.
[end of quoted material]
The rendering of the passage with "uphold" rather than "fulfill" certainly is less troublesome and is well supported by 1st century Hebraic literary genres and idioms. I'll stick with this totally legitimate rendering of the text.
No need to do a hatchet job on FFOZ, guys. Let us try to go by the principle stated by Emden: "But please learn and accept the truth from whoever says it."
Nehemiah wrote:"We carried our weapons with us at all times, even when we went for water" Nehemiah 4:23b
[center]We would do well to follow Nehemiah's example!
http://OurSafeHome.net[/center]
