Recently, I blogged about being one of the few in my circles to admit to actually having voted for Barack Obama. Since most of those with whom I attend church or seminary are conservatives of the Bill O'Reiley/Sarah Palin variety, nothing that the president does will ever meet with their approval.
I don't think they are always fair or open-minded, but I can live with that. What amazes me is the lengths to which some people will go to smear Obama. Someone made this video that should sicken you, but will actually fire up some non-thinking Christians.
The contention is that when Jesus said, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven," the phrase "lightning from heaven" would have sounded in Aramaic (or Hebrew) like Barack Obama. The anonymous poster's points are these: (1) The Hebrew word for lightning is Barak. (2) The Hebrew word for heaven (or heights) is Bamah. (3) The conjunction waw which unites words is sometimes pronounced "O". Therefore, when Jesus said Satan was like lightning from heaven it sounded like Barack Obama.
First, if this were true, it is simply ludicrous to think that Jesus was leaving us a hint as to the identity of the future anti-Christ. This is like the Bible Code nonsense.
Second, several of his contentions are just wrong. (1) The Hebrew consonants for lightning is BRQ. The president's name is derived from the Arabic BRK, which means the same in Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic: to bless. (2) In the other 105 uses of BMH in the OT, it never refers to heaven. In Isa 14:14, BMH does not mean heaven either; rather, Satan declares he will ascend above the BMH of the clouds to get to heaven (Shamayim). (3) The conjunction waw when added to a word beginning with "B" will become a "U" sound. Despite his claims, no one who understands Hebrew pronounces it "O". Regardless, why would there be a conjunction here? That would make the translation "like lightning and heaven." It would never mean "from heaven." For that we would need the proposition "min".
The Aramaic (which Jesus probably spoke) words are pretty much the same as in Hebrew. To say "lightning from heaven" would be something like baraq min shamaya or baraq meshamaya. Since "lightning" is almost always plural in Hebrew and Aramaic, it would probably be more like baraqin meshamaya (Aramaic) or baraqim meheshamayim (Hebrew).
Don't you agree that it's a long way from baraqin meshamaya to Barak Obama?
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Error #1: Aramaic is not "the most ancient form of Hebrew." Aramaic is not a form of Hebrew. They are two different (but related) languages. So if Jesus were speaking Aramaic, why do a Hebrew word study?
ReplyDeleteError #2: Vav (or, if you prefer, "waw") as a conjunction is NEVER transliterated or pronounced as "O" (as you already pointed out).
Error #3: Luke 10:18 does not say "height" or "heights of heaven." It says "heaven", Gk. ουρανος, which does NOT mean "height," but "heaven, sky, atmostphere, etc." The two concepts are not identical.
Error #4: The conjuction vav/waw does NOT mean "from." "From" in Hebrew is "min" or "me-." Moreover, "from"/"min" is NOT a conjunction at all. It is a preposition (again, as you point out). I knew the difference between a conjunction and a preposition when I was in grade school.
This is one of the stupidest things I have ever seen. I especially get a kick out of how this guy used Strong's. Word to the wise: don't try to reconstruct an original Hebrew rendering of something from the GREEK New Testament by turning to Strong's!!! Better yet, don't try to reconstruct the original Hebrew of a Greek rendering if you DON'T KNOW HEBREW!!! But hey, I'm just a Hebrew scholar...what do I know, right?
Also, the video narrator calls this a prophecy. See 3:34 mark of video you cite. But Jesus was simply making an observation about the past, using the imperfect active indicative. It fits the context where the apostles healings are breaking Satan's power. Also the juxtaposition of Satan and lightning from heaven is in no way linking Satan to a name "lightning from heaven" like in English grammar where juxtaposition would mean that. In this Greek sentence, the verb 'fallen' is at the end, but grammatically links to Satan, and says Satan "fell" like lightning from heaven. In Greek, therefore, the juxtaposition of Satan and lightning from heaven does not mean what it means in English. The whole link is farsical. I have no desire to defend Obama (uggh), but I will defend any man from slander, and this is the absolute worst kind.
ReplyDeleteYes America. Go on. Blame the Black guy for the White guys faults.
ReplyDelete