Think Wink.

I had looked over J. J. Hiehaus’ work God at Sinai and wanted to post on a text that I found quite amazing. Niehaus argued that in Genesis 3:8 we don’t see God walking in the cool of the day in the garden but rather was coming in the wind of the storm based upon word studies done in Akkadian that line up with the Biblical Hebrew (Kind of makes one wonder about this past weekend’s tornadoes in Oklahoma, Missouri, and Georgia that killed 22 people at my last count). You can refer to this post for the citation. Niehaus offers an interesting translation of 1 Kings 19:12 which reads in the ESV,

And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.

This post will summarize the arguments and then posit some thought on the translation. You can find the arguments in detail in Niehaus’ book God at Sinai on pages 247-248.

The Hebrew word translated as “sound” in the ESV is qol. In Exodus 19:16 it refers to “thunders” in a cloud. Yet in 1 Kings 19:12 it is a small and gentle whisper. Note the LXX follows this translation (cf. 1 Kings 19:12 LXX) Niehaus argues this doesn’t line up with the context of 1 Kings 19:12. Rather, he argues that qol should be rendered in the language of a storm theophany. The key Hebrew terms as well as the context of 1 Kings 19:12 point to this. The Hebrew behind the KJV translation, “a still small voice” is qol demamah daqqah. Qol, as has been seen in Exodus 19:16, can be translated as “voice” or “sound” or “thunder.” Niehaus argues that this text being a theophany leads to “thunderous voice.” What about the two adjectives with qol? The adjective demamah comes from the root word dmm, meaning “to roar.” The adjective daqqah comes from the root dqq, meaning “to crush, to grind small.” This term, daqqah, was translated figuratively in the sense of “made small” or “gentle.” One needs only to look at the presence of φωνὴ αὔρας λεπτῆς in the LXX. Thus many English versions follow through with this understanding of daqqah: NET, “soft whisper;” ESV, “the sound of a low whisper;” (T)NIV and NLT, “a gentle whisper;” KJV, “a still small voice;” NASB, “a sound of a gentle blowing;” HCSB, “a voice, a soft whisper;” NCV, “a quiet, gentle sound.” Niehaus asserts that daqqah should be understood in the sense of “crushing.” Therefore he renders the KJV’s “a still small voice” as a “roaring, crushing, thunderous voice.”

Niehaus also argues this translation on the basis of genre. 1 Kings 18:17-40 is Elijah’s confrontation with the prophets of Baal. Yahweh demonstrates that he is the only and true deity in the land of Israel, nay, the world. After putting the prophets of Baal to death, the people seem to repent of their idolatry. Queen Jezebel puts out word that she wants Elijah dead for this crime. Elijah, in light of this great victory, looses heart and flees across the wilderness and ends up at Mount Horeb, the very place where Moses and the Israelites encounter Yahweh in Exodus 19. This is where Yahweh revealed himself in storm theophany to that first generation of wilderness wanderers. Thus there is good reason to see what God is going to do here in the light of the Exodus 19 account, a theophany. In 1 Kings 19:9, Yahweh asks Elijah why he is there. In 19:10, Elijah responds,

“I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”

Thus Yahweh tells him, “Go out and stand on the mount before the LORD,” in 1 Kings 19:11. Then we read that there was a great, violent wind that “tore the mountain and broke the rocks in pieces.” But Yahweh was not in the wind. There was a terrible earthquake that followed the wind, but Yahweh was not in the quake. Then there was a fire, an inferno, the raged after the earthquake–similar to what happened at Mount Carmel–but Yahweh was not in the flame. Now we can either have the “still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12 KJV) or a “roaring, crushing, thunderous voice.” Either one works because this is an anti-Baal polemic. Yahweh is saying that he is not the wind, he is not the earthquake, he is not the flame. He is Yahweh. He created these things. Ancient pagan gods were symbolized by objects in nature. Zeus and Thor were the gods of thunder. They were identified with the thunder and lightning in the storm. Yahweh is saying he is not the storm. But the small gentle voice doesn’t seem to work here in that if Yahweh is trying to show himself greater than Jezebel, at Mount Horeb (Sinai), then why not come to Elijah like he did in times past? Why not come with a massive roar, a thunderous voice that dwarfs them all!

Now what does this translation do to how we typically preach this passage? Most of the times I have heard this passage taught, it is about how God doesn’t speak to us through these big miraculous events, i.e infernos, earthquakes, and violent storms. We don’t always get the Exodus experience that Moses had. We don’t have the Damascus Road experience of Paul (Acts 9). Most times, we hear the still small voice, the gentle and soft whisper, that if we aren’t careful, we will miss it. But let us assume Niehaus’ translation is correct and that God comes to Elijah in storm theophany, what then? How do we teach this text? I think it is should be something like this: God is God, he is greater than any threat that is out there. He is greater than any Jezebel who can threaten our lives. He is above anything in nature that we fear, wind and quakes and raging fires. He is Yahweh who died upon a tree for our sins, bearing his own wrath in our stead. Yahweh is a truly amazing and awe-inspiring God. The question is, do we trust him? Elijah, in light of the great victory God gave him, lost faith very easily. I am an Elijah. I loose faith so easily and quickly. No matter the great victory in the most ferocious battle God has granted me, I loose the next skirmish and the next sign of trouble. But Yahweh shows Elijah that he is greater than any storm, any person, any act of nature that can come my way. He is more powerful than anything for he is not something of this world. He is supernatural. He is transcendent. He is omnipotent. He is Yahweh of hosts! He is the great I am. Will you and I trust the one who says in Isaiah 43:13

Also henceforth I am he;
there is none who can deliver from my hand;
I work, and who can turn it back?”

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