Deuteronomy 33:11
Bless all his skills, LORD,
and be pleased with the work of his hands.
Strike down those who rise against him,
his foes till they rise no more.”
I love hearing people use language to express very complicated emotional states. We often us complex pictures to explain what goes on inside our souls. We speak of shattered dreams, as if dreams were delicate crystal stemware. We speak of crushed emotions as if they were grapes being tread in a wine press. We speak of burning anger as if the object of our emotion were at the end of a flame thrower.
We use these kinds of word pictures to flesh out what we are thinking and feeling. Humans are complex creatures, being made in the image of our Creator who is complex. And each culture has it own sets of imagery to express these emotions.
And sometimes when languages get translated into other languages some of the humor and depth of emotion can get lost. That is why it can be difficult to translate, even with Google Translate. Things really do “get lost in translation!”
Google was almost useless in both Japan & Korea as we traveled. English is just too far removed, structured so differently, and based on such different cultural images. We would try to get a translation and just end up laughing at the incomprehensible English that would be spit out. We would then try to translate the translation, attempting to understand what the program was trying to say in English.
Our text contains a rather funny expression in the original language that gets cleaned up for our English translation. It is hidden in the words translated “Strike down those who rise against him.” Our translations often use less offensive language to convey a thought.
So what is the idea behind these words in the original Hebrew? “Crush the loins” of those who rise up against him. What can get crushed in a male individual’s groin area? That’s right. The writer wants the LORD to do that to the enemies of Levi, the priestly clan, and his descendants.
And what happens to a man’s virility if his testicles are actually crushed! He become infertile! What happens in a fight when a man gets kicked there? He can’t fight anymore. He is incapacitated.
I find this funny. The blessing that Moses says as he is approaching his death, is about kicking the enemy in the balls and crushing them. Unfortunately, we couldn’t read this in a boy’s middle school setting because they would laughingly reenact this with each other. Thus the translation gets cleaned up for American audiences.
You see, the intense emotions of the heart can be expressed in language, even the language of Scripture. By allowing ourselves to sit in their shoes and hear what they express and allow ourselves to soak it in, we get a fuller understanding of the intimacy we can have with the LORD and with each other. Every emotion can be experienced and brought into the presence of the LORD without fear.
Are there emotions you rewrite in order not to offend the LORD? Trust me, He won’t be offended. He has heard it all before!
The Arnold Journey 