Personally, I like it!

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?”

H/T: Comic Vine

H/T: Justin Taylor

From there the movie flashes back 36 hours and we are exposed to who Tony Stark is in full. He is a guy who doesn’t take anything seriously but himself, even missing an award ceremony presented by his friend James Rhodes. He is a womanizer, taking a reporter home to be with him and then dropping her the next day. When he is supposed to be on a plane to fly to Afghanistan, he delays the flight by 3 hours to work on a car (a beautiful car at that!). Then to make Rhodes forget about it, Stark gets the man drunk and watches his flight attendants pole-dance! Tony Stark is not the kind of guy I would like to be friends with, just a benefactor of his billions!

The flashback concludes with a demonstration of an amazing missile called the Jericho, it delivers multiple little bomblets that do lots of damage. In captivity, fellow captive, inserts a magnet into Stark’s chest to keep the shrapnel from piercing the vital organ and killing Stark. In return for allowing Yinsen (the captive) to save Stark’s life, Stark is to build the terrorists, Raza and Abu Bakaar and troops, the Jericho missile system. After torturing Stark, they showing their stock pile of weapons that Stark’s company, a weapons manufacturing company, produced (the mortar that injured Stark was built by Stark Industries). Stark feigned to agree but begins to work on a power source for his magnet, which is currently attached to a car battery. But Stark has bigger plans for the small chest piece. This will also power the Mk. 1 gray armor!

Stark dons the gray armor and destroys the camp and its weapons. Stark’s “savior” and friend Yinsen is killed in trying to buy Stark time to complete the armor. This scene is hilarious and full of action. The Mk. 1 armor is both ominous and goofy looking–I love it!

When Stark is rescued and returns to the US, he changes the direction of Stark Industries from weapons tech to something else, the device powering his magnet. But he is wanting to use it to provide power for the poor and such, not as a weapon. Also, he decides to remake the armor that he built. Thus providing us with the Mk. 2 armor, a sleeker, faster version of Mk. 1. It is silver, not gray. This sequence in the movie is really funny and also begins to move the plot along as we find out that Stark is loosing control of his company after he unilaterally decided to shift Stark Industries’ direction. The plot thickens.

After running his tests on Mk. 2, Stark produces his polished, red and gold Mk. 3. He also learns that his partner in running the company, Obadiah Stane (played by Jeff Bridges), is behind Stark loosing his company. Stane, contra Stark’s desires, is selling weapons to the terrorists under the table. Suddenly, Stark’s mission falls into place for this armor: fight to bring piece to the world, and one part of that is to destroy his own weapons that the terrorists are using. When he learns that the same group who captured him is attacking a small village, Stark dons the Mk. 3 and takes off. He flies to Afghanistan and destroys the terrorists and their weapons. Then he has a brief run-in with the US Air Force. RDJ really shines in this scene because the anger at Stane and what Stane is doing really shows.

At the same time Stark is going around the world to destroy his own weapons, Raza, the guy who captured Stark, shows Obadiah Stane the remnants of the Mk. 1 armor and its specs. We also find out that Stane is in league with this guy and Stane was the one who told the terrorists where to find Stark. Stane has the camp wiped out, Raza included (or may be not!) and takes the Mk. 1 back to the US and begins building his own version.

Stark, after having to convincer her of his new-found mission, sends his lovely assistant “Pepper” Pots to find out where Stane is shipping the weapons to so that he can go and destroy them as Iron Man. During her inquiry into the shipping records she finds Stane’s involvement in Stark’s abduction. Stane walks into her office and nearly catches her sneaking around. After finding out what she was looking at and also that the scientists working on his version of Mk.1 can find out how Stark built the power source for the armor, Stane takes the new chest device from Stark, which not only powers Mk. 3 but also keeps him from dying, and uses it to power his Iron Monger armor. This piece was more powerful than the one Stark used in Afghanistan for Mk. 1; it was built that way because Stark wanted to use it for Mk. 2 and 3. Luckily, Pepper hadn’t discarded the piece from Mk. 1. Stark uses this weaker power piece to power Mk. 3 and goes to confront Stane. At this point in the movie, the pace and intensity of the movie pick up. Obadiah really shows his evil side, especially when he is in the office with Pepper as she is snooping around.

She found several SHIELD agents, who wanted to speak to Stark about Afghanistan, and brought them to arrest Stane but found the Iron Monger armor fully functional. Monger and Iron Man go at it in a very intense fight sequence that I really must say was well done. When the fight was over, we see Stark with his chest piece no longer glowing, its energy was used up during the fight. That bit I loved because having enough power is always a problem for Iron Man in the comics.

At this point in the movie, the lights came on and the screen went back to the little random images that are on the screen between movies. No credits, nothing. My friend and I thought, “Wow. What happens? Can they do that in a movie?” Then immediately, we see Stark getting gussied up for a press conference by Pepper and being prepped by one of the SHIELD agents who tried to arrest Stane with Pepper Pots. Stark goes out there to try to deny him being the Iron Man and that it is a body guard–the classic story from the comics. However, not wanting to loose this limelight, Stark comes clean and the movie ends.

To me, this movie was a good as Transformers from last summer. It blows away the Spider-Man trilogy as well as the X-Men trilogy. It is better than Superman Returns and may be even Batman Begins. I was at the edge of my seat the whole time. The acting was superb, especially RBJ and Jeff Bridges. The effects shots were amazing and the plot was very good. I was very pleased at how well the Stane story was stuck too even though it was PTS and not booze that cost Stark the company. How they do the booze story in the future I don’t know. But this story was well done. The locations and sets were amazing. Jon Favreau did an amazing job. My hat is off to Marvel Studios for their first full-length, big budget production. I am more encouraged about seeing The Incredible Hulk later this summer.

In the next post, I want to look at the movie from a Christian perspective as I think some points in the movie make great analogies to biblical truths.