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Which Is the Truth?

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 23, 1913

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 90, No. 4.

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Which Is the Truth?

By O. A. JOHNSON

O. A. JOHNSON
“Curse God, and die.” Job 2:9. “Bless God, and die.”—Danish translation. “Say farewell to God, and die.”—Norwegian translation. “Renounce God, and die.”—American Revised Version.
It is a well-known fact that a word often has more than one meaning, hence the meaning must many times be determined by the context in which it is found. Concerning the Hebrew, Prof. W. R. Harper says, in his preface to the “Elements of Hebrew Syntax:” “The Hebrew is more dependent upon the context for the precise determination of the meaning than is either of these [Latin and Greek] languages.”
The Hebrew word Bah-rach, translated “curse” in Job 1:5, 11; 2:5, 9, occurs 324 times in the Old Testament. It is translated in fourteen different ways,—“bless” about 300 times, “curse” and “salute” four times each, “kneel” three times, “blaspheme” and “altogether” twice each, and the following words once each: “congratulate,” “thank,” “praise,” “abundantly,” “greatly,” “indeed,” “still,” and “at all.”
Now the question naturally arises, How can it be that it is translated “curse” only in Job 1:5, 11; 2:5, 9, and not “bless” as in so many other places in the Bible? Why do some translators prefer “renounce” or “farewell” instead of “curse” or “bless”?
The Hebrew word Bah-rach could hardly mean the same in the above references in Job as it does in so many other places; for example, God “blessed the Sabbath;” God “blessed” Abraham; Jacob “blessed” Joseph’s sons, etc.; nor could it mean to “salute” a person upon meeting him, as in 1 Sam. 13:10. The word bless is also used in the sense of farewell when some one leaves or departs. “Jacob blessed Pharaoh” and departed. Gen. 47:10. The people “blessed the king, and went unto their tents.” 1 Kings 8:66.
The following in Gesenius’s Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament is to the point; under his definition of Bah-rach, 4, he says: “Some interpreters, as Schultens, are not fully satisfied that the sense of cursing belongs to this verb; they therefore derive from the idea of bidding farewell a significance to deny, to renounce, which they apply in the passages above cited.”
By considering the context in which the word curse of Job 2:9 is found, it will be seen readily that renounce God and die, or say farewell to God and die, certainly expresses the idea intended.
It is evident from the context that Job had been greatly blessed and prospered in serving God. But God had permitted reverses, losses, and great trials to come upon him. Everything seemed to go against him, while he was faithfully serving God. Now comes the test: Will Job still be loyal and faithful to God, who permitted Satan to rob him of all his earthly possessions and his children, and finally to plague him with boils till he wished that he could die? Will Job still retain his hold upon God, or will he forsake him? That is the question his wife put to him: “Dost thou still retain thine integrity?” She thought it was folly for him to continue to serve God, since God had permitted so many trials to come upon him, and she therefore advised him to “renounce God, and die.” To this he replied, “What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” But Job was loyal to God, and remained faithful to him under all his trials, in which his patience was tried to the utmost.
How many there have been who have begun to serve God, and were faithful to him as long as they prospered, and as long as no great opposition or severe trial came to them; but as soon as adversity came or trials beset them, they renounced God; they said farewell to him, and gave up serving him.
All the trials and adversities that God permits to come upon us are for our good. We may not see the resulting good, but we must leave that to God; for he knows the blessings that will come, if we only look upon such adversities and afflictions as Job did. We ought to remember “that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Rom. 8:28. Never renounce God! Never say farewell to him!
College Place, Wash.