Think Wink.

Isaiah 44:22 ESV says,

I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.

During the last few weeks, I have decided to write two texts down from the book of Isaiah on the print outs on the back of my four trucks every morning I come to work; each text is in Hebrew and Greek. For one reason, it helps me study both Greek and Hebrew. Another reason is that it helps me compare LXX with the BHS to see how the theology changed from the days of Malachi to the days of Alexander the Great and beyond. A third reason is that it makes people ask questions about what I am doing. So when I explain to them what I am doing, it gives me a brief moment to speak of Jesus through the prophet Isaiah. One example is that found above, Isaiah 44:22. What I want to do is compare one key word in the Hebrew and Greek and discuss some of its implications.

The Greek term is λυτρώσομαί and the Hebrew term is ga’al. The Hebrew root of ga’al speaks of a “kinsman redeemer.” The verb is a second gutteral, qal perfect verb in the perfect tense. The idea behind this verb tense is completed action. Thus the action of the kinsman redeemer is complete. So what God is saying is that he has performed the action of the redeemer. He became like Boaz to Ruth and Naomi. Boaz purchased Ruth and her inheritance that came to her by paying for the land and marrying Ruth.

The Greek term will be familiar to students of the Greek New Testament. It the verb form of the noun λύτρον from Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” It has with it the lexical idea of being the price paid to purchase back something. In the first century world, it usually meant slaves. Take this situation for example: John accumulates a debt so large that he cannot pay it back; thus he sells himself into slavery in order to pay his debts. His cousin in the neighboring village hears of the enslavement and wishes to free him. John’s cousin pays the local temple the price of the slave and a percentage and the slave belongs to the pagan god. The percentage goes to the temple while the price of the slave goes to the slave owner. By belonging to that pagan god, John is “free” in that the gods don’t really care what he does. Mark 10:45 says that Jesus is that price paid to God to free his people from their enslavement to sin as well as the price paid t God to absorb God’s wrath against sin.

So what Yahweh is saying to Israel in Isaiah 44:22 is that he has purchased Israel. He has taken possession of them. They belong to him. It is on that basis that Yahweh asks them to return to him. He has done what was necessary to take them to be his. Therefore they can come back to him. They can abandon their idolatrous ways and come to Yahweh without fear of being rejected.

The LXX translates this verse like this, “For see, I have blotted out your acts of lawlessness like a cloud and your sins like darkness; return to me, and I will redeem you” (ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἀπήλειψα ὡς νεφέλην τὰς ἀνομίας σου καὶ ὡς γνόφον τὰς ἁμαρτίας σου ἐπιστράφητι πρός με καὶ λυτρώσομαί σε; Isaiah 44:22 LXX) The idea of the LXX and the Hebrew is the same: God has forgiven them their sins and commands them to return to him. However there is a change in terminology here that I want to highlight. Where as the Hebrew communicates a completed action, the Greek highlights an action to be completed in the future.

Let me put the two ways of reading the crucial phrase side by side and you might see what I am getting at.

The relationship between the return and the redemption reverses by changing the verb ga’al in the Hebrew Perfect to λυτρόω in the Greek future. The idea of the Hebrew is that Israel returns on the basis of them being redeemed by God. Because God has redeemed them, then can come to God. The LXX says they will be redeemed by God if they return to him.

While on the surface, this may not seem that big of a deal, but in reality this is huge. The Hebrew text of Isaiah really demonstrates God’s free grace and mercy. God has already blotted out sins and transgressions. God has already redeemed idolatrous Israel. They can and now need to return. The LXX says God has forgiven Israel of the lawlessnesses and sins. Now they need to return so that God will redeem her. The Hebrew says all has been done so come. The Greek says that some has been done, so come in order that the rest may be finished.

Now, let us take this understanding of redemption in Isaiah 44:22 and apply it to Christ and his church. Mark 10:45 clearly states that Jesus is the ransom, the price paid to redeem for God a people (cf. Revelation 5:9). Now if we are to follow the LXX understanding of redemption, then this is how we are to apply it to Christ. Come to God so that Christ might be your ransom. If we follow the Hebrew, the application would be like this: come to God because Christ is your ransom. The Greek line of thought would say that Christ is not the ground upon which one approaches God where as the Hebrew understanding would. The LXX understanding would undercut our right and ability to approach God. The Hebrew understanding makes Christ the very ground by which the Christian draws near to God.

Just some food for thought.

The Nature of Prophecy

A Key Term

Son, Son, Or Servant and Mark 1:11 Part 3