BIBLE STUDY: November 13th

Antiphon:

Note:
The divine name 'Adonái' was retained in the old versions of the Vulgate in Exodus 6:3 and Judith 16:16 (The new version of the Vulgate has 'Dóminus').
The appearance to Moses in the burning bush is told in Exodus, chapter 3.
The giving of the Law on Mount Sinai is told in Exodus, chapters 19 to 31.
Cf. also:
et edúxit nos Dóminus de Ægýpto in manu forti et bráchio exténto. [Deuteronomy 26:8]
The LORD brought us out of Egypt with his strong hand and outstretched arm.

The Meeting

The meeting opened with prayer.
 

Adonái
One of our group had found out that 'Adonái' meant 'Lord'. But it was pointed out that this was not the normal Hebrew word for 'lord' ('Adonái' is actually a plural form, understood to be a 'plural of majesty').

It is the word that was and still is habitually read by Jews instead of the four consonants  יהוה  (JHVH in the traditional Latin value of letters or YHWH using modern English values). It was explained that Hebrew, like Arabic, is normally written with consonants only, as the structure of these languages make this possible. We do not know the original ancient pronunciation of  יהוה  which the Jews considered 'ineffable' (i.e. something that one should not utter); the form 'Yahweh' found in some modern translations is a guess made by philologists and comparative linguists.

We noted that for more than two and half thousand years the Jews had read the ineffable name as 'Adonái' and that when the Old Testament was put into Greek in the 3rd century BC by the Jews of Alexandria (The Septuagint version of the Old Testament), they used Κύριος (Kýrios) 'Lord', and that Latin versions had always used 'Dóminus'. The traditional English translation was 'the LORD'.

We noted also that the new CTS Catholic Bible replaced "'Yahweh' with 'the LORD' as requested by Benedict XVI for all new Bibles" and "God's name ('Yahweh' in the original Jerusalem Translation) is replaced throughout by 'the LORD' just as it is in the readings for Mass and in accordance with recent instructions from the Pontifical Biblical Commission." We decided that, in view of Pope Benedict's request and of the recent instructions from the Pontifical Biblical Commission, in the Bibles we were using we would read 'Yahweh' as "the LORD."
 

dux domus Ísraël
leader of the house of Israel
We noted that 'dux' (leader) echoed 'e-dúx-it' (he led out, he brought out) in Deuteronomy 26:8 (above), and that the 'in brá(c)chio exténto' of the Antiphon, which the English renders as 'with your mighty power' is echoed 'bráchio exténto' (with outstretched arm) of the Deuteronomy verse.

We recalled that 'Israel' was the name God gave Jacob, son of Isaac, the son of Abraham ("God said to him: 'You whose name is Jacob shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.'" [Genesis 35:10]). The twelve tribes of the Israelites took their names from Israel's sons and the Hebrew people, the Israelites, were descendants of Israel (Jacob) through his sons. The Hebrew people, therefore, are the 'domus' (house, family) of Israel.

The deliverance of the Hebrews from the bondage and slavery of Egypt under Pharoah is a 'type' (Greek: τύπος 'týpos') or prefiguration of our deliverance by Christ from the bondage of sin under Satan. God chose Moses to be the leader of the Hebrews, but it was the LORD, i.e. Christ, who brought them out of Egypt. As St Paul wrote: " I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and all of them were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. All ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was the Christ" (1 Cor. 10:1-4).
 

et in Sina legem dedísti
and you gave [him] the law on Sinai
Before we turned our attention to Christ's appearing in the burning bush, we spent a few moments considering this clause. The giving of the Law on Sinai is told in Exodus, chapters 19 to 31, which are too many to consider in a short session of study. However, it seemed to us that this account of Christ, the Eternal Word of God, giving the Law to Moses alone on the mountain was a prefiguration of Christ, the Incarnate Word, himself giving a 'higher law', the fulfilment of the law, directly to the crowds on another mountain when he gave his 'Sermon on the Mount' (Matthew, chapters 5, 6 and 7).
 

qui Móysi in igne flammæ rubi apparuísti
you you appeared to Moses in a burning bush)
We concentrated the main part of our study on this clause, reading from the third chapter of Exodus till, because of time, we stopped at the 9th verse of chapter 4. We took this in five sections, thus:

1. Exodus: 3:1-6
   

   1

   Meanwhile Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

   2

   There an angel of the LORD appeared to him in fire flaming out of a bush. As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush, though on fire, was not consumed.

   3

   So Moses decided, "I must go over to look at this remarkable sight, and see why the bush is not burned."

   4

   When the LORD saw him coming over to look at it more closely, God called out to him from the bush, "Moses! Moses!" He answered, "Here I am."

   5

   God said, "Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

   6

   I am the God of your father," he continued, "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob." Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

   We noticed that verse 2 speaks of 'an angel of the LORD' appearing to Moses, while verse 4 says that 'God called out to him from the bush.' In the Old Testament we find that the visual form under which God appeared and spoke to men is referred to indifferently as God's angel or as God himself. We recalled that our word 'angel' is from the Greek ἄγγελος (ángelos) 'messenger' which translated the Hebrew  ךאלמ  (mal'aḫ), 'messenger'. The ancients found a difficulty with the idea of a perfect, unchanging and eternal God communicating with an imperfect, changing and transient world; there must be an intermediary or messenger, yet the message is spoken by God. This intermediary, who is also God, finds its proper meaning in Christ, the Eternal Word, who is "true God from true God." It is God in the second person of the Blessed Trinity speaking to Moses from the bush.

   We were not impressed by modernist interpretations, such as sun shining through a particular type of bush, and were sure that this was a miraculous phenomenon as witnessed by Moses' own behaviour when he "hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God."

2. Exodus: 3:7-12
   

   7

   But the LORD said, "I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers, so I know well what they are suffering.

   8

   Therefore I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the country of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.

   9

   So indeed the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have truly noted that the Egyptians are oppressing them.

   10

   Come, now! I will send you to Pharaoh to lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt."

   11

   But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of Egypt?"

   12

   He answered, "I will be with you; and this shall be your proof that it is I who have sent you: when you bring my people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this very mountain."

   There was a quick reminder of why the Hebrews were in Egypt, where they had become enslaved. It was remembered how Joseph, son of Israel (Jacob) was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers and that he was taken as slave to Egypt. There, after various set backs, he eventually becomes vizier to the Pharaoh after interpreting Pharaoh's dream about the seven years of plenty and seven of famine. During the famine, Joseph's brothers come from Canaan to seek food in Egypt; although Joseph recognizes them, they do not immediately recognize him. Eventually, however, all the family move down into Egypt and are settled in Goshen. Many years later, the descendants of these settlers are enslaved by their Egyptian overloards (see Genesis:37, 39-47; Exodus: 1).

   One of our members questioned why the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites had to be removed. The Hebrews are to return to the land given to Abraham and his descendants. This is the land where the Hebrews are to live their life of covenantal partnership with God in preparation for the coming of Christ as Messiah. The Law requires the Hebrews to receive the stranger into their midst with hospitality, yet clearly they will also meet opposition and have to fight. It will not be easy to inhabit the land and obey the Law, but God will be with them.

3. Exodus: 3:13-15
   

   13

   "But," said Moses to God, "when I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' if they ask me, 'What is his name?' what am I to tell them?"

   14

   God replied, "I am who am." Then he added, "This is what you shall tell the Israelites: I AM sent me to you."

   15

   God spoke further to Moses, "Thus shall you say to the Israelites: The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. "This is my name forever; this is my title for all generations.

   God's reply that his name is I AM, connects it with ineffable name  יהוה , deriving it from the Hebrew verb 'to be'. While the Hebrew of the first sentence of God's reply could be translated as "I am who I am", the translation above ("I am who am.") connects better with the derivation of  יהוה  from 'to be' and this was clearly the way it was understood by the Jews of Alexandria when they made their translation of the Old Testament books in the 3rd century BC. In the Septuagint we read that God replied: "I am the One-who-is (Ο ΩΝ)" and "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel: 'The One-who-is (Ο ΩΝ) has sent me to you.'". Thus we understood God to be saying that he alone exists; all other being depends upon him.

   

   Remembering that we believe it is Christ, the Word of God, speaking here, we recalled the words of St John: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be" (John 1:1-2). The Word of God is the source of all that has being; he is the One-who-is.

   We noted also how on Greek icons of Jesus, in the arms of the cross in the nimbus around Jesus' head, we always see the letters Ο Ω Ν (also sometimes written ο ω ɴ). This is an affirmation that Christ is Ο ΩΝ, the One-who-is, who spoke to Moses from the burning bush.

   Thus Christ tells Moses that his name is  יהוה , the One-who-is, the one through whom "all things came to be." This is his name for evermore: the ineffable name for which we say 'the LORD' and Jews say 'Adonái'. This is why this Antiphon solemnly address Christ with "O Adonái".

4. Exodus: 3:16-22
   

   16

   "Go and assemble the elders of the Israelites, and tell them: The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has appeared to me and said: I am concerned about you and about the way you are being treated in Egypt;

   17

   so I have decided to lead you up out of the misery of Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.

   18

   "Thus they will heed your message. Then you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him: The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent us word. Permit us, then, to go a three days' journey in the desert, that we may offer sacrifice to the LORD, our God.

   19

   "Yet I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go unless he is forced.

   20

   I will stretch out my hand, therefore, and smite Egypt by doing all kinds of wondrous deeds there. After that he will send you away.

   21

   I will even make the Egyptians so well-disposed toward this people that, when you leave, you will not go empty-handed.

   22

   Every woman shall ask her neighbor and her house guest for silver and gold articles and for clothing to put on your sons and daughters. Thus you will despoil the Egyptians."

   We noted that Pharaoh will have to be forced to let the Hebrews go and in verse 20 there is the hint of the plagues which will afflict Egypt before the Hebrews are allowed to leave. Their deliverance from slavery in Egypt will be hard won; so our deliverance from bondage under Satan is hard won.

   On the of matter of despoiling (or plundering) the Egyptians, the silver and gold ornaments will be willingly given and the Hebrews keep them as recompense for their many years of slavery under the Egyptians.

5. Exodus: 4:1-9
   

   1

   "But," objected Moses, "suppose they will not believe me, nor listen to my plea? For they may say, 'The LORD did not appear to you.'"

   2

   The LORD therefore asked him, "What is that in your hand?" "A staff," he answered.

   3

   The LORD then said, "Throw it on the ground." When he threw it on the ground it was changed into a serpent, and Moses shied away from it.

   4

   "Now, put out your hand," the LORD said to him, "and take hold of its tail." So he put out his hand and laid hold of it, and it became a staff in his hand.

   5

   "This will take place so that they may believe," he continued, "that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, did appear to you."

   6

   Again the LORD said to him, "Put your hand in your bosom." He put it in his bosom, and when he withdrew it, to his surprise his hand was leprous, like snow.

   7

   The LORD then said, "Now, put your hand back in your bosom." Moses put his hand back in his bosom, and when he withdrew it, to his surprise it was again like the rest of his body.

   8

   "If they will not believe you, nor heed the message of the first sign, they should believe the message of the second.

   9

   And if they will not believe even these two signs, nor heed your plea, take some water from the river and pour it on the dry land. The water you take from the river will become blood on the dry land."

   As time was pressing we did not have a great deal to say on this. We admired the vivid style in which the miracles were related. Moses had been given a difficult task to do and God giving him power to do that task. Whatever God calls us to do, he will also give us the power to do that calling.

 
For next week
Those present were reminded that next week shall reading from the prophet Isaiah as we consider the 'O Radix Jesse' Antiphon. Members were asked in the meantime to see what they could find out about Isaiah and to read the two verses: Isaiah 11:10 and Isaiah 52:15 (see 'November 20th: O Radix Jesse' in the menu bar).
 

Conclusion
We finished the meeting by praying the 'O Adonái' Antiphon and calling on the intercession of Our Lady, the Mother of God, Mother of the Eternal Word.

Most of the scripture texts on this page are taken from the New American Bible with Revised New Testament and Revised Psalms © 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C.