the holy ghost guided writers use of bad translations

[theman09]

Scholar James Barr said:

while at others it seriously misread or misunderstood the Hebrew. No scholar who knows the material doubts that this is so. But this makes a difference when we consider the New Testament. For it does not only use the Septuagint in a general way: it often uses the exact ductus of its words as argument or proof of a theological point.


lets look at an example


When Mark refers to Jesus quoting the OT, of course he’s just going to grab a copy of the Septuagint and give us the standard Greek reading.




At Mark 7 Mark puts in the mouth of Jesus an argument that is based on an erroneous translation of the Hebrew scriptures from the Septuagint. Jesus criticizes the Pharisees by quoting Isaiah saying that they are "teaching as doctrines the precepts of men." That's what the erroneous Septuagint says, but in fact the Hebrew reads something like "Your worship of me is merely an act of going through the motions." It seems unlikely that the Pharisees would be stumped by a mistaken translation of Isaiah in Greek when they work with the Hebrew.

Isaiah 29:13 - And the Lord said: "Because this people has come near [Me], and with its mouth and with its lips has honored Me, but has drawn its heart far away from Me, and its fear of Me has become a commandment of men that was learned by rote.

OK, now to your question -




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what does "fear of me is a commandment of men learned by rote" mean?




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In context, the prophet castigates the preople for the lack of sincerity in their performance of the commandments saying that their fear of God has become a command of people to which they have become accustomed, i.e., they perform the commandments that they have been taught by their parents and teachers out of force of habit, without thinking to do God's will. The main organ involved in prayer/worship is the heart. Yet, the people bring prayerbooks, the body goes to the house of worship, the lips move, but the heart does not concentrate on worship. Rather, they go through the motions by rote, while their thoughts and heart are somewhere else, focusing on other mundane matters such as their business transactions, etc.








5 The Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, "Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?"
6 And He said to them, "Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:

'THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS,
BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.
7 BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME,
TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'

8 "Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men."

Here is what Is 29:13 says in the Septuagint:

BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME,
TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.


And here is the Hebrew:

but has drawn its heart far away from Me, and its fear of Me has become a commandment of men that was learned by rote

"Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men."

actually they are not ,according to verse in isaiah, neglecting the commandment of god, they are not performing it with thier hearts.handwashing, according to jesus is man made, and he (or mark) thinks handwashing is being passed of as a doctrine , but this is not the case.

in order for jesus' reply to work, he has to say something like " they're not performing handwashing with thier hearts or fear of god when they clean thier hands"

[Algebra]

Good points.

But what are we to make of it?