Don’t Let Hebrew Make a Donkey Out of You

by Leigh Powers

The speaker lost me at the donkey. He was a charismatic, engaging speaker who made some great points based on Scripture. But when he built a major point around the idea that the Hebrew word for donkey in 1 Samuel 9:3 actually meant flowing, he lost me. For one thing, I was pretty sure that the Hebrew word for donkey means donkey. That’s why all the major English translations render it as donkey. It’s also kind of hard to saddle up a “flowing” and go for a ride.
I tried to give him some grace. Maybe he meant the words came from the same root? But it didn’t sound right to me, and the uncertainty made me question the rest of what he was saying. When I got home I pulled out my trusty lexicon. Sure enough, donkey actually meant donkey. I checked several other Hebrew dictionaries and grammar tools but couldn’t find any connection between the Hebrew word for donkey used in this passage and the word flowing.
That speaker lost some credibility with me that day. I’m sure he got his information from somewhere. Maybe his pastor said it, or maybe he read a book that made the same point. But I couldn’t verify it, and the questionable definition made him seem less reliable. Yet we know insights from the biblical languages can add color and depth to our handling of Scripture. How can you draw insights from Greek and Hebrew without letting the biblical languages make a donkey out of you?
1. Use the right tools. So you’ve got an awesome insight you read somewhere, or want to borrow a powerful illustration based on the meaning of a Greek word your pastor shared last Sunday. Do your own research. Even if you don’t know the biblical languages, you can still find some insights from tools such as Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, The Complete Old and New Testament Word Study Dictionary by Spiros Zodhiates, William Wilson’s Old Testament Word Studies, or A.T. Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament. You can also look up terms using an interlinear Greek or Hebrew Bible that is keyed to Strong’s Concordance. Don’t forget about solid commentaries, either. Good commentaries written by Old and New Testament scholars frequently add insights based on the syntax or the meaning of Greek or Hebrew words.
2. Don’t pretend like you know more than you do. Cite your sources. You can do this in the body of your text or by using footnotes, but make sure your reader knows where the information is coming from. You gain credibility by citing valid sources.
3. Consider the context. We can gain great insights from things like understanding the difference between agape and phileo love, but sometimes people take so-called insights into the biblical languages in strange directions. The same word can mean different things in different contexts and in different time periods. For example, the word cannonball means two different things when you’re talking about a battlefield or an afternoon at the pool. While the meanings are linked, trying to read war symbolism into a scene from a middle-grade novel about a boy jumping into a pool would probably be more than a little off track. And yet people do the same kinds of things with Scripture. Just because a word has a particular nuance in one place doesn’t mean it has that shade of meaning everywhere it’s used. Again, do your research and make sure the meaning you’re highlighting is relevant to the immediate context.
If we’re going to handle the Word of God, we need to do so with accuracy and truth. That means teaching what is true—not manipulating supposed meanings of biblical languages to make a point that isn’t there. Do your research. Cite your sources. Check the context, and teach with confidence.

Leigh Powers is an award-winning Bible study and devotional writer, freelance editor, pastor’s wife, and speaker from small-town West Texas. She earned her Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and writes regularly for publishers such as BaptistWay Press, Smyth & Helwys, and Union Gospel Press. She strives to combine solid biblical teaching with real-world application and is passionate about seeing lives changed as we encounter God through his Word.

Blog: http://leighpowers.com/

Facebook: www.facebook/com/leighpowersministries

Twitter: https://twitter.com/leigh_powers

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/lapowers25/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leighp25/

Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+LeighPowers25/posts