the connection
306.477.1234

the promised Habakkuk 3 tangent from the shepherd sermon

4/29/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
I had intended to work this into the message from last Sunday on shepherding and decided to leave it out. I was trying to pull three texts together and a tangential comment about Habakkuk 3 would have not been helpful.

John 10 is a case of Jesus doubling up on metaphors. First he is the gate by which the sheep come and go. As the gate he provides them safety and security. Jesus then uses another metaphors, still connected to sheep, but this time he is the good shepherd who protects the sheep from thieves and sacrifices his life for the sheep. In John 21 the focus is on Peter’s responsibility to feed and take care of the sheep. Both John 10 and 21 being connected to the hope of the good shepherd in Ezekiel 34.

Before talking about Habakkuk 3 here is a little background. The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew with a complete small sections in Aramaic. However, the Old Testament was translated into Greek as Greek become the common language. This was done c.300-100 BCE and is commonly called the Septuagint. For many of early church communities the Greek Old Testament would have been the primary text.

Every translation is an interpretation. There are sometimes differences between the Hebrew text and the Greek text. A simple exercise to notices this would be to compare Old Testament passages in Luke-Acts with their original context (Acts 13:41 with Habakkuk 1:5).

The second to last clause of Habakkuk 3:17 displays a slight change in nuance due to a difference between the Hebrew text and the Greek text.

Hebrew text
- the flock have disappeared from the pen (גזר ממכלה צאן)

Greek text
- the sheep have run out of food (ἐξέλιπον ἀπὸ βρώσεως πρόβατα)

I am not arguing that this interesting difference in how Habakkuk 3:17 is translated had any influence whatsoever in the gospel of John. However, I found it interesting that both concerns are addressed by Jesus. The flock being out of the pen and the flock not having anything to eat are both dealt with in the shepherd/sheep sections in the gospel of John. Jesus is the fulfillment of the grand story that God is telling and invites us to participate in.

~chris

0 Comments

    the connection

    Archives

    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    December 2013
    September 2013

    Categories

    All
    Announcements
    Bookshelf
    Chasing Francis
    Community
    Creation
    David Fitch
    Exhale
    Exodus
    Food
    Geoff Holsclaw
    Habakkuk 3
    Image Bearers
    Image-bearers
    Information
    James K.a. Smith
    James Sanders
    Jean Vanier
    Jesus
    John Gospel Of
    John - Gospel Of
    John Reilly
    Leviticus
    Life Together
    Milton
    N.t. Wright
    Palm Sunday
    Paradise Lost
    Park Picnic
    Pentecost
    Philo Of Alexandria
    Prayer
    Prodigal Christianity
    Resurrection
    Retreat
    Saskatoon
    Shepherd
    St. Francis Of Assisi
    St. Patrick
    The Next Few Weeks
    Things Left On The Office Floor
    Transcendence
    Week Of Prayer 2013

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.