Over on my book review blog there is an exchange with Andi. (By the way, she has an excellent blog on divorce and healing). It is a very worthy point and I wanted to bring it out in the open.
Andi said...
Gina,
I find it interesting when you review a book that you have such negative things to say about the writing yet I don't see your book(s) being published and being toured. Maybe you need to tender your reviews with a little more grace. Just a thought.
~Andi
I take this criticism to heart. Andi is correct to chide me on the negative things I have to say about some Christian writings. However I am just one voice.
Gina Burgess said...
Just to set the record straight, Andi, I haven't really tried to get anything published. I have not had that 100th rejection, only 2.
However, I owned just less than 1,500 books and read twice as many more. I don't know any author as prolific a writer and I am a reader. I do know what works and what doesn't work. I do know what is good writing and what is poor editing.
I realize I am very opinionated when it comes to Christian fiction and that is because a Christian author should strive harder, longer and deeper than any secular writer to get the message out in such a way that unbelievers would want to read because of the literary value of the work, if not because they are searching for something they do not have.
These days publishers crank out 10,000 titles a year and each book is counted a success if it sells 15,000 copies! That barely pays for the printing costs with hardly anything for the author. My standards are not too high, they are too low and that means the editors and publishers are pouring out crappy product.
I want something not only CLEAN to read but something that is really GOOD to read. I know there is a great deal of talent out there that hasn't had the chance to be published and it is truly irksome that someone who is published several times over gets lazy in their work because they "have so much on their plate" they need to have someone help them write the book as in the case of Ms Walker. It is especially irksome when Ms Walker has written some excellent stories. I feel cheated, frankly.
Actually, to set the record even staighter, I have had more than 145 articles published on the internet (LiveAsIf.org), more than 100 feaures published in newspapers, and two articles picked up by Associated Press for national distribution. One article picked up by the National Social Workers Association and published on their website, and my blog was cited in a doctorate paper on Women's Issues. So, while I have not had a book published, my writings have had considerable local, national, and global recognition.
An Elegy for Journalism
I am not the only one who seems to be disgusted with the current state of affairs in the journalism world. I have heard some people use the title Journalist with a literal sneer in their tone. Click the link of this title and you'll see an extremely well written book review on just this subject.
It would seem the only real journalists these days are those in the print medium, however, those are fading fast. What happened to the true investigative journalism where facts were checked and rechecked? What happened to being able to trust most anything that was printed in the newspaper (reputable newspapers) was mostly the truth, not just holding a whiff of that elusive commodity?
While I will fight to the death for any American to preach their opinion about anything, I do believe there should be a proper respect for other's reputations. For an excellent example of today's "journalists" at their so-called best I suggest you read Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue". (My review is here.)
And Christians don't seem to be much better at this Truth business, but I've ranted about that enough.
If Americans don't start insisting on excellence, then we get what we deserve. For, truly, it is all our fault for accepting trash in place of treasure, and lies instead of truth, all for the mere thrill of the latest scandal or gossip.
It would seem the only real journalists these days are those in the print medium, however, those are fading fast. What happened to the true investigative journalism where facts were checked and rechecked? What happened to being able to trust most anything that was printed in the newspaper (reputable newspapers) was mostly the truth, not just holding a whiff of that elusive commodity?
While I will fight to the death for any American to preach their opinion about anything, I do believe there should be a proper respect for other's reputations. For an excellent example of today's "journalists" at their so-called best I suggest you read Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue". (My review is here.)
And Christians don't seem to be much better at this Truth business, but I've ranted about that enough.
If Americans don't start insisting on excellence, then we get what we deserve. For, truly, it is all our fault for accepting trash in place of treasure, and lies instead of truth, all for the mere thrill of the latest scandal or gossip.
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Sanctity of Life
A very long time ago, in the original Study Light Forums, a fellow by the name of Greg Koukl wrote an extremely interesting article entitled What Exodus 21:22 says about abortion. I give you this article.
By Greg Koukl
Most attempts to argue against abortion from biblical texts are misdirected. In the absence of specific prohibitions of abortion in the Scripture, Christian pro-lifers quote equivocal passages.
Some citations use personal pronouns to describe the unborn, but many of these are in poetry texts, so the conclusion is not entirely convincing. God’s personal acquaintance with the unborn can be explained by His omniscience. After all, some texts make it clear that God “knows” us even before we’re conceived.
One text, however, is strong. Exodus 21:22-25 is usually used to argue that the Bible assigns a lower value to the unborn than to other humans. Rabbis and Jewish thinkers I’ve discussed this point with on the radio have been especially adamant--even irate. I think the evidence shows, though, that Moses taught just the opposite. If I’m right, we have a powerful argument for the value Scripture puts on the life of the unborn.
Dead or Alive?
The New American Standard Bible (NASB) renders Exodus 21:22-25 this way:
And if men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she has a miscarriage, yet there is no [further] injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him; and he shall pay as the judges decide. But if there is any [further] injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.{1}
This translation suggests that if a miscarriage takes place and the child is lost, the antagonists are simply fined, but if the mother dies in the scuffle, then the penalty is “life for life.” In the Torah, it seems, the unborn is not considered fully human.
Theologian Millard Erickson notes that in this view, “the lex talionis [life for life] is applied only if the mother is harmed. On this basis it is concluded that the fetus was not considered a soul or a person, and thus is not to be thought of as fully human.”{2}
At issue is the phrase translated “she has a miscarriage.” There is an assumption made about this word that is crucial. In English, the word “miscarriage” implies the death of the child. Webster’s New World Dictionary defines miscarriage as, “The expulsion of the fetus from the womb before it is sufficiently developed to survive.”{3} In the struggle, the child is aborted, and so a fine is levied.
Here’s the crux of the issue: Does the Hebrew word carry the same meaning? Is it correct to presume that the miscarriage of Exodus 21:22 produces a dead child, just like an abortion? This is the single most important question that needs to be answered here. If it does, the English word “miscarriage” is the right choice. If it does not, then the picture changes dramatically.
Are we justified in assuming that the child is dead? The answer is in the original language. There’s a history of how these words are used in the Hebrew Bible, and that history is important. Let’s look at it.
Yeled and Yasa
A word’s meaning in any language is determined in two steps. We learn a word’s range of meaning--its possible definitions--inductively by examining its general usage. We learn its specific meaning within that range by the immediate context.
The relevant phrase in the passage, “...she has a miscarriage...,” reads w˚yase û ye ladêhâ in the Hebrew. It’s a combination of a Hebrew noun--yeled--and a verb--yasa--and literally means “the child comes forth.” The NASB makes note of this literal rendering in the margin.
The Hebrew noun translated “child” in this passage is yeled{4} (yeladim in the plural), and means “child, son, boy, or youth.”{5} It comes from the primary root word yalad,{6} meaning “to bear, bring forth, or beget.” In the NASB yalad is translated “childbirth” 10 times, some form of “gave birth” over 50 times, and either “bore,” “born,” or “borne” 180 times.
The verb yasa{7} is a primary, primitive root that means “to go or come out.” It is used over a thousand times in the Hebrew Scriptures and has been translated 165 different ways in the NASB--escape, exported, go forth, proceed, take out, to name a few. This gives us a rich source for exegetical comparison. It’s translated with some form of “coming out” (e.g., “comes out,” “came out,” etc.) 103 times, and some form of “going” 445 times.
What’s most interesting is to see how frequently yasa refers to the emergence of a living thing:
Genesis 1:24 “Then God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind’; and it was so.”
Genesis 8:17 [to Noah] “Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth....”
Genesis 15:4 “This man will not be your heir; but one who shall come forth from your own body....”
Genesis 25:25-26 “Now the first came forth red, all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau. And afterward his brother came forth with his hand holding on to Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob.”
1 Kings 8:19 “Nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who shall be born to you, he shall build the house for My name.”
Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
2 Kings 20:18 “And some of your sons who shall issue from you, whom you shall beget, shall be taken away; and they shall become officials in the palace of the king of Babylon.”
As you can see, it’s common for yasa to describe the “coming forth” of something living, frequently a child. There is only one time yasa is clearly used for a dead child. Numbers 12:12 says, “Oh, do not let her be like one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes from his mother’s womb!”
Note here, that we don’t infer the child’s death from the word yasa, but from explicit statements in the context. This is a still-birth, not a miscarriage. The child is dead before the birth (“whose flesh is half eaten away”), and doesn’t die as a result of the untimely delivery, as in a miscarriage.
Yasa is used 1,061 times in the Hebrew Bible. It is never translated “miscarriage” in any other case. Why should the Exodus passage be any different?
Clues from the Context
This inductive analysis shows us something important: Nothing about the word yasa implies the death of the child. The context may give us this information, as in Numbers 12:12, but the word itself does not.
This leads us to our next question: What in the context justifies our assumption that the child that “comes forth” is dead? The answer is, nothing does. There is no indication anywhere in the verse that a fine is assessed for a miscarriage and a more severe penalty is assessed for harming the mother.
This becomes immediately clear when the Hebrew words are translated in their normal, conventional way (the word “further” in the NASB is not in the original):
“And if men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that the child comes forth, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him; and he shall pay as the judges decide. But if there is any injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life....”
The text seems to require a fine for the premature birth, but injury to either of the parties involved incurs a more severe punishment.{8} Millard Erickson notes that “there is no specification as to who must be harmed for the lex talionis [life for life] to come into effect. Whether the mother or the child, the principle applies.”{9}
Gleason Archer, Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, concludes:
“There is no ambiguity here, whatever. What is required is that if there should be an injury either to the mother or to her children, the injury shall be avenged by a like injury to the assailant. If it involves the life (nepes) of the premature baby, then the assailant shall pay for it with his life. There is no second-class status attached to the fetus under this rule; he is avenged just as if he were a normally delivered child or an older person: life for life. Or if the injury is less, but not serious enough to involve inflicting a like injury on the offender, then he may offer compensation in monetary damages...”{10}
Two Rejoinders
Two further objections need to be dealt with. First, if this is a premature birth and not a miscarriage, why the fine?
Babies born prematurely require special care. Because their prenatal development has been interrupted, they are especially prone to difficulty. Pre-term babies often can’t breast feed, and there can be respiratory problems leading to permanent brain damage. The fine represents reimbursement for the expense of an untimely birth, and punitive damages for the serious trauma.
Anyway, even if the fine was for the miscarriage, this wouldn’t prove the child was less than human. A few verses later (v. 32), Moses imposes a fine for the death of a slave, but this doesn’t mean the slave is sub-human.
Second, was this the only word that could be used to indicate a miscarriage? No. Two other words were available to convey this particular meaning, if that’s what the writer had in mind: nepel and sakal. These are used seven times in the Hebrew text.
The noun nepel{11} means “miscarriage” or “abortion,” and is used three times:
Job 3:16 “Or like a miscarriage which is discarded, I would not be, as infants that never saw light.”
Eccl. 6:3-4 “If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, however many they be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things, and he does not even have a proper burial, then I say, ‘Better the miscarriage than he, for it comes in futility and goes into obscurity.’”
Psalms 58:8 “Let them be as a snail which melts away as it goes along, like the miscarriages of a woman which never see the sun.”
The verb sakal{12} means “to be bereaved” and is used four times, including one time when it’s actually translated “abort:”
Genesis 31:38 “These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flocks.”
Exodus 23:26 “There shall be no one miscarrying or barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.”
Hosea 9:14 “Give them, O Lord-- what wilt Thou give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.”
Job 21:10 “His ox mates without fail; his cow calves and does not abort.
Moses had words in his vocabulary that literally meant abortion or miscarriage, but he didn’t use them in Exodus 21:22. Instead, he chose the same word he used in many other places to signify a living child being brought forth.
Yasa doesn’t mean miscarriage in the sense we think of that word. Instead, the combination of yeled with yasa suggests a living child coming forth from the womb. Nowhere else is this word ever translated “miscarriage.” Why? Because the word doesn’t mean the baby is still-born. It simply means the child comes out.
Three Questions
When someone raises this issue with you, ask these three questions.
First, why presume the child is dead? Though the English word “miscarriage” entails this notion, nothing in the Hebrew wording suggests it. Yasa doesn’t mean miscarriage; it means “to come forth.” The word itself never suggests death.{13} In fact, the word generally implies the opposite: live birth. If it’s never translated elsewhere as miscarriage, why translate it that way here?
Second, what in the context itself implies the death of the child? There’s nothing that does, nothing at all. The fine does not necessarily mean the child is dead, and even if it did this wouldn’t indicate that the child wasn’t fully human (as in the case of the slave in v. 32).
Third, ancient Hebrew had a specific word for miscarriage. It was used in other passages. Why not here? Because Moses didn’t mean miscarriage. When his words are simply taken at face value, there is no confusion at all. The verse is clear and straight-forward. Everything falls into place.
Regardless of the translation, it’s clear that killing the child--and the text does refer to the unborn as a child--is a criminal act. There is no justification for abortion-on-demand from the Torah. Instead, we have a reasonable--even powerful--argument that God views the unborn as valuable as any other human being.
References
The 1995 updated version of the NASB now renders this verse, “If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined...” etc.
Millard Erickson, Christian Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1985), p. 555.
Webster’s New World Dictionary, Second College Edition (New York: Prentice Hall Press, 1984).
Strong’s Index word #3206.
Definitions come from the New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance. For further documentation, see the Hebrew/English Lexicon of the Old Testament, by Brown, Driver and Briggs, the standard lexicon of ancient Hebrew.
Strong’s Index word #3205.
Strong’s Index word #3318.
The New International Version is correct in rendering this passage, “If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life.”
Millard Erickson, Christian Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1985), p. 556.
Gleason Archer, Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1982), p. 248.
Strong’s Index word #5309.
Strong’s Index word #7921.
Again, in the Numbers passage the context indicates the death, not the word yasa itself.
Greg Koukl is the president and founder of Stand To Reason, author, and radio show host.
© Stand To Reason 2003
STR trains Ambassadors for Christ in the areas of knowledge, wisdom, and character.
By Greg Koukl
Most attempts to argue against abortion from biblical texts are misdirected. In the absence of specific prohibitions of abortion in the Scripture, Christian pro-lifers quote equivocal passages.
Some citations use personal pronouns to describe the unborn, but many of these are in poetry texts, so the conclusion is not entirely convincing. God’s personal acquaintance with the unborn can be explained by His omniscience. After all, some texts make it clear that God “knows” us even before we’re conceived.
One text, however, is strong. Exodus 21:22-25 is usually used to argue that the Bible assigns a lower value to the unborn than to other humans. Rabbis and Jewish thinkers I’ve discussed this point with on the radio have been especially adamant--even irate. I think the evidence shows, though, that Moses taught just the opposite. If I’m right, we have a powerful argument for the value Scripture puts on the life of the unborn.
Dead or Alive?
The New American Standard Bible (NASB) renders Exodus 21:22-25 this way:
And if men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she has a miscarriage, yet there is no [further] injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him; and he shall pay as the judges decide. But if there is any [further] injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.{1}
This translation suggests that if a miscarriage takes place and the child is lost, the antagonists are simply fined, but if the mother dies in the scuffle, then the penalty is “life for life.” In the Torah, it seems, the unborn is not considered fully human.
Theologian Millard Erickson notes that in this view, “the lex talionis [life for life] is applied only if the mother is harmed. On this basis it is concluded that the fetus was not considered a soul or a person, and thus is not to be thought of as fully human.”{2}
At issue is the phrase translated “she has a miscarriage.” There is an assumption made about this word that is crucial. In English, the word “miscarriage” implies the death of the child. Webster’s New World Dictionary defines miscarriage as, “The expulsion of the fetus from the womb before it is sufficiently developed to survive.”{3} In the struggle, the child is aborted, and so a fine is levied.
Here’s the crux of the issue: Does the Hebrew word carry the same meaning? Is it correct to presume that the miscarriage of Exodus 21:22 produces a dead child, just like an abortion? This is the single most important question that needs to be answered here. If it does, the English word “miscarriage” is the right choice. If it does not, then the picture changes dramatically.
Are we justified in assuming that the child is dead? The answer is in the original language. There’s a history of how these words are used in the Hebrew Bible, and that history is important. Let’s look at it.
Yeled and Yasa
A word’s meaning in any language is determined in two steps. We learn a word’s range of meaning--its possible definitions--inductively by examining its general usage. We learn its specific meaning within that range by the immediate context.
The relevant phrase in the passage, “...she has a miscarriage...,” reads w˚yase û ye ladêhâ in the Hebrew. It’s a combination of a Hebrew noun--yeled--and a verb--yasa--and literally means “the child comes forth.” The NASB makes note of this literal rendering in the margin.
The Hebrew noun translated “child” in this passage is yeled{4} (yeladim in the plural), and means “child, son, boy, or youth.”{5} It comes from the primary root word yalad,{6} meaning “to bear, bring forth, or beget.” In the NASB yalad is translated “childbirth” 10 times, some form of “gave birth” over 50 times, and either “bore,” “born,” or “borne” 180 times.
The verb yasa{7} is a primary, primitive root that means “to go or come out.” It is used over a thousand times in the Hebrew Scriptures and has been translated 165 different ways in the NASB--escape, exported, go forth, proceed, take out, to name a few. This gives us a rich source for exegetical comparison. It’s translated with some form of “coming out” (e.g., “comes out,” “came out,” etc.) 103 times, and some form of “going” 445 times.
What’s most interesting is to see how frequently yasa refers to the emergence of a living thing:
Genesis 1:24 “Then God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind’; and it was so.”
Genesis 8:17 [to Noah] “Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth....”
Genesis 15:4 “This man will not be your heir; but one who shall come forth from your own body....”
Genesis 25:25-26 “Now the first came forth red, all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau. And afterward his brother came forth with his hand holding on to Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob.”
1 Kings 8:19 “Nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who shall be born to you, he shall build the house for My name.”
Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
2 Kings 20:18 “And some of your sons who shall issue from you, whom you shall beget, shall be taken away; and they shall become officials in the palace of the king of Babylon.”
As you can see, it’s common for yasa to describe the “coming forth” of something living, frequently a child. There is only one time yasa is clearly used for a dead child. Numbers 12:12 says, “Oh, do not let her be like one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes from his mother’s womb!”
Note here, that we don’t infer the child’s death from the word yasa, but from explicit statements in the context. This is a still-birth, not a miscarriage. The child is dead before the birth (“whose flesh is half eaten away”), and doesn’t die as a result of the untimely delivery, as in a miscarriage.
Yasa is used 1,061 times in the Hebrew Bible. It is never translated “miscarriage” in any other case. Why should the Exodus passage be any different?
Clues from the Context
This inductive analysis shows us something important: Nothing about the word yasa implies the death of the child. The context may give us this information, as in Numbers 12:12, but the word itself does not.
This leads us to our next question: What in the context justifies our assumption that the child that “comes forth” is dead? The answer is, nothing does. There is no indication anywhere in the verse that a fine is assessed for a miscarriage and a more severe penalty is assessed for harming the mother.
This becomes immediately clear when the Hebrew words are translated in their normal, conventional way (the word “further” in the NASB is not in the original):
“And if men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that the child comes forth, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him; and he shall pay as the judges decide. But if there is any injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life....”
The text seems to require a fine for the premature birth, but injury to either of the parties involved incurs a more severe punishment.{8} Millard Erickson notes that “there is no specification as to who must be harmed for the lex talionis [life for life] to come into effect. Whether the mother or the child, the principle applies.”{9}
Gleason Archer, Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, concludes:
“There is no ambiguity here, whatever. What is required is that if there should be an injury either to the mother or to her children, the injury shall be avenged by a like injury to the assailant. If it involves the life (nepes) of the premature baby, then the assailant shall pay for it with his life. There is no second-class status attached to the fetus under this rule; he is avenged just as if he were a normally delivered child or an older person: life for life. Or if the injury is less, but not serious enough to involve inflicting a like injury on the offender, then he may offer compensation in monetary damages...”{10}
Two Rejoinders
Two further objections need to be dealt with. First, if this is a premature birth and not a miscarriage, why the fine?
Babies born prematurely require special care. Because their prenatal development has been interrupted, they are especially prone to difficulty. Pre-term babies often can’t breast feed, and there can be respiratory problems leading to permanent brain damage. The fine represents reimbursement for the expense of an untimely birth, and punitive damages for the serious trauma.
Anyway, even if the fine was for the miscarriage, this wouldn’t prove the child was less than human. A few verses later (v. 32), Moses imposes a fine for the death of a slave, but this doesn’t mean the slave is sub-human.
Second, was this the only word that could be used to indicate a miscarriage? No. Two other words were available to convey this particular meaning, if that’s what the writer had in mind: nepel and sakal. These are used seven times in the Hebrew text.
The noun nepel{11} means “miscarriage” or “abortion,” and is used three times:
Job 3:16 “Or like a miscarriage which is discarded, I would not be, as infants that never saw light.”
Eccl. 6:3-4 “If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, however many they be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things, and he does not even have a proper burial, then I say, ‘Better the miscarriage than he, for it comes in futility and goes into obscurity.’”
Psalms 58:8 “Let them be as a snail which melts away as it goes along, like the miscarriages of a woman which never see the sun.”
The verb sakal{12} means “to be bereaved” and is used four times, including one time when it’s actually translated “abort:”
Genesis 31:38 “These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flocks.”
Exodus 23:26 “There shall be no one miscarrying or barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.”
Hosea 9:14 “Give them, O Lord-- what wilt Thou give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.”
Job 21:10 “His ox mates without fail; his cow calves and does not abort.
Moses had words in his vocabulary that literally meant abortion or miscarriage, but he didn’t use them in Exodus 21:22. Instead, he chose the same word he used in many other places to signify a living child being brought forth.
Yasa doesn’t mean miscarriage in the sense we think of that word. Instead, the combination of yeled with yasa suggests a living child coming forth from the womb. Nowhere else is this word ever translated “miscarriage.” Why? Because the word doesn’t mean the baby is still-born. It simply means the child comes out.
Three Questions
When someone raises this issue with you, ask these three questions.
First, why presume the child is dead? Though the English word “miscarriage” entails this notion, nothing in the Hebrew wording suggests it. Yasa doesn’t mean miscarriage; it means “to come forth.” The word itself never suggests death.{13} In fact, the word generally implies the opposite: live birth. If it’s never translated elsewhere as miscarriage, why translate it that way here?
Second, what in the context itself implies the death of the child? There’s nothing that does, nothing at all. The fine does not necessarily mean the child is dead, and even if it did this wouldn’t indicate that the child wasn’t fully human (as in the case of the slave in v. 32).
Third, ancient Hebrew had a specific word for miscarriage. It was used in other passages. Why not here? Because Moses didn’t mean miscarriage. When his words are simply taken at face value, there is no confusion at all. The verse is clear and straight-forward. Everything falls into place.
Regardless of the translation, it’s clear that killing the child--and the text does refer to the unborn as a child--is a criminal act. There is no justification for abortion-on-demand from the Torah. Instead, we have a reasonable--even powerful--argument that God views the unborn as valuable as any other human being.
References
The 1995 updated version of the NASB now renders this verse, “If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined...” etc.
Millard Erickson, Christian Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1985), p. 555.
Webster’s New World Dictionary, Second College Edition (New York: Prentice Hall Press, 1984).
Strong’s Index word #3206.
Definitions come from the New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance. For further documentation, see the Hebrew/English Lexicon of the Old Testament, by Brown, Driver and Briggs, the standard lexicon of ancient Hebrew.
Strong’s Index word #3205.
Strong’s Index word #3318.
The New International Version is correct in rendering this passage, “If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life.”
Millard Erickson, Christian Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1985), p. 556.
Gleason Archer, Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1982), p. 248.
Strong’s Index word #5309.
Strong’s Index word #7921.
Again, in the Numbers passage the context indicates the death, not the word yasa itself.
Greg Koukl is the president and founder of Stand To Reason, author, and radio show host.
© Stand To Reason 2003
STR trains Ambassadors for Christ in the areas of knowledge, wisdom, and character.
More cancer in the Body
Disclaimer===========
I moved forward the post below this one because I am intensely aware there are forces at work within the Body of Christ which we must be on guard against at every turn and bump in the road. I also moved it forward because I thought it was merely a draft and not posted. I guess one should check all the fine print, eh? Instead of deleting it, I'll let it ride.
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I received a very insightful comment on my post Cancer in the Body. It was written by a person wishing to remain anonymous, which is fine. However, it would have been nice to have struck up a discussion about this.
One striking comment was this:
Yes. It is possible that Satan tried to manipulate us, but there was so much more to this than being manipulated by Satan. The process one should undergo in order to assure that manipulation by Satan does not happen is very simple. Be on your knees before the LORD and ask what His will is. Then listen for that still small voice.
What happened during those days and weeks that followed the horsewhipping meeting in the “fellowship” hall was so intense and so draining that we felt like wet rags draped over a clothesline. That is the time when you feel so weak and defenseless that it is possible to make a bad decision unless you are finely tuned to that still small Voice of the LORD.
My daughter asked the other day if prayer wears you out. My reply was, “It depends upon what you are praying for and how intently.” I have been in prayer sessions that have drained me completely, and other times have prayed such a brief thing it was like a breath or a sigh. God hears them all, make no mistake and He is keeping them all in a huge gold bowl on His altar in Heaven. (Revelation 5:8 and 8:4) Resting in Him as you pray so that no other concern passes through your mind. Remain silent after you have finished. Look for God’s answer in every way, then test the answer asking if it really is from Him. All these things together is how you can know God’s answer and His will.
The religious leaders of that church bear a remarkable resemblance to the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. So full of self-importance thinly veiled as “righteous” concern, that is was impossible to not see it. Also, knowing the truth about the things our pastor was accused of helped, too, and if that wasn’t enough, depending upon the Holy Spirit to point out the lies and shine a light on the truth was the clincher.
John the Baptist saw through the religious leaders of his day, Matt 3:7 But seeing many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said to them, O generation of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Jesus saw it, too, Matt 23:27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outside, but inside they are full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
Yes, that is possible, but having witnessed it and lived through it, Satan has a stronghold in that church, not a toehold or a foothold. The people are blindly following those who lead without understanding who the true leaders are and where they are leading. One of the first things I noticed about this church is its lack of prayer. Oh, there was corporate prayer and quite eloquent prayer it is. Those of the deacons who pray whole heartedly are amazing pray-ers. But, no cottage prayer meetings, and out of the more than 1200 members, only about 25 showed up for Wednesday night prayer meeting. Now, those guys are prayer warriors. Of the church “leaders”, zero showed up for prayer meeting or choir except the pastor and his wife. That is a very sad testament.
For more discussion on this you can look for my column on LiveAsIf.org this Sunday.
I moved forward the post below this one because I am intensely aware there are forces at work within the Body of Christ which we must be on guard against at every turn and bump in the road. I also moved it forward because I thought it was merely a draft and not posted. I guess one should check all the fine print, eh? Instead of deleting it, I'll let it ride.
==================
I received a very insightful comment on my post Cancer in the Body. It was written by a person wishing to remain anonymous, which is fine. However, it would have been nice to have struck up a discussion about this.
One striking comment was this:
...but it is possible that Satan has manipulated you into doing exactly what he wanted you to do.
Yes. It is possible that Satan tried to manipulate us, but there was so much more to this than being manipulated by Satan. The process one should undergo in order to assure that manipulation by Satan does not happen is very simple. Be on your knees before the LORD and ask what His will is. Then listen for that still small voice.
What happened during those days and weeks that followed the horsewhipping meeting in the “fellowship” hall was so intense and so draining that we felt like wet rags draped over a clothesline. That is the time when you feel so weak and defenseless that it is possible to make a bad decision unless you are finely tuned to that still small Voice of the LORD.
My daughter asked the other day if prayer wears you out. My reply was, “It depends upon what you are praying for and how intently.” I have been in prayer sessions that have drained me completely, and other times have prayed such a brief thing it was like a breath or a sigh. God hears them all, make no mistake and He is keeping them all in a huge gold bowl on His altar in Heaven. (Revelation 5:8 and 8:4) Resting in Him as you pray so that no other concern passes through your mind. Remain silent after you have finished. Look for God’s answer in every way, then test the answer asking if it really is from Him. All these things together is how you can know God’s answer and His will.
The religious leaders of that church bear a remarkable resemblance to the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. So full of self-importance thinly veiled as “righteous” concern, that is was impossible to not see it. Also, knowing the truth about the things our pastor was accused of helped, too, and if that wasn’t enough, depending upon the Holy Spirit to point out the lies and shine a light on the truth was the clincher.
John the Baptist saw through the religious leaders of his day, Matt 3:7 But seeing many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said to them, O generation of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Jesus saw it, too, Matt 23:27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outside, but inside they are full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
Yes, that is possible, but having witnessed it and lived through it, Satan has a stronghold in that church, not a toehold or a foothold. The people are blindly following those who lead without understanding who the true leaders are and where they are leading. One of the first things I noticed about this church is its lack of prayer. Oh, there was corporate prayer and quite eloquent prayer it is. Those of the deacons who pray whole heartedly are amazing pray-ers. But, no cottage prayer meetings, and out of the more than 1200 members, only about 25 showed up for Wednesday night prayer meeting. Now, those guys are prayer warriors. Of the church “leaders”, zero showed up for prayer meeting or choir except the pastor and his wife. That is a very sad testament.
For more discussion on this you can look for my column on LiveAsIf.org this Sunday.
…. By leaving, while it isn't always wrong and can be a good transition in life, you may have given Satan a bigger foothold in the church…
The only way to maintain innocence in the eyes of those you need to affect is by standing firm and being consistent and stand above reproach.Amen.
Believe it or not... persecution is here
I never really thought that Christians would persecute fellow brothers or sisters. I never thought it would come to that, yet Jesus said it would. How could I doubt it? We live in such a safe world here in America. We have such things a laws and decency.
Beware my friends. Who needs enemies with Christians acting so worldly they can't discern fact from fiction and have no problem making up stories to defame the character of a sister in Christ. Makes me question if they really are Christian.
Oh... yes... there is something in the Bible about that, too. They must be that kind of Christian that can be deceived, and whose love has grown cold, yet heats their passion artificially.
When I am attacked and betrayed by so-called friends, when the good work I am doing is stymied by persons greedy for power and who lie outright and who twist words with innuendos as well as implications, then I know that Satan is angry with what I am doing. Then I know that God has allowed Satan plenty of room to destroy one thing precisely so another, even better thing will sprout, grow and blossom into something that will bring Him glory. As soon as Satan has tainted a thing that was meant for good, God will allow its destruction for He has no pleasure in false glory.
Christians beware. The wolves are howling and circling. They are dressed as sheep. They spout platitudes and sing of wonderful things that sound so pure, yet are draped in wickedness. Beware of who you trust. Beware of the pack, because these kinds of wolves travel in packs bolstering each other's courage to entertain dastardly thoughts and then to put the thoughts into action.
Beware for Satan knows his time is short. His anger burns brighter each day. If you think it can't happen to me... look over your shoulder for if you are close to the will of God, the Devil is plotting your failure. Nevertheless... He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world.
I never thought I could lose my job for my religious convictions, but I have. Not once, but twice. I quit two other jobs because of my religious convictions, but lately it seems that if a Christian is vocal about his/her beliefs then we can lose our jobs and nothing can be done about it.
Beware my friends. Who needs enemies with Christians acting so worldly they can't discern fact from fiction and have no problem making up stories to defame the character of a sister in Christ. Makes me question if they really are Christian.
Oh... yes... there is something in the Bible about that, too. They must be that kind of Christian that can be deceived, and whose love has grown cold, yet heats their passion artificially.
When I am attacked and betrayed by so-called friends, when the good work I am doing is stymied by persons greedy for power and who lie outright and who twist words with innuendos as well as implications, then I know that Satan is angry with what I am doing. Then I know that God has allowed Satan plenty of room to destroy one thing precisely so another, even better thing will sprout, grow and blossom into something that will bring Him glory. As soon as Satan has tainted a thing that was meant for good, God will allow its destruction for He has no pleasure in false glory.
Christians beware. The wolves are howling and circling. They are dressed as sheep. They spout platitudes and sing of wonderful things that sound so pure, yet are draped in wickedness. Beware of who you trust. Beware of the pack, because these kinds of wolves travel in packs bolstering each other's courage to entertain dastardly thoughts and then to put the thoughts into action.
Beware for Satan knows his time is short. His anger burns brighter each day. If you think it can't happen to me... look over your shoulder for if you are close to the will of God, the Devil is plotting your failure. Nevertheless... He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world.
I never thought I could lose my job for my religious convictions, but I have. Not once, but twice. I quit two other jobs because of my religious convictions, but lately it seems that if a Christian is vocal about his/her beliefs then we can lose our jobs and nothing can be done about it.
A Refreshing...
Reprinted from my column at LiveAsIf.org
The man gave the bolt a final twist and stepped back from under the hood of the car. He wiped his grimy hands on a rag and then stuffed it in his back pocket. He gave a satisfied sigh as he headed to the office and the coffee pot. The coffee was strong and fresh, just like he liked it. Tossing a grin to Gertrude, his part time office help, he said, “Gertie, call Kent Boudreaux and let him know his car is ready and he can pick it up any time today.”
With only a little regret, he set his cup down and headed to back the car from the bay and bring in another to work on. Thank goodness God was good to provide so much work when the economy was so bad. Just as the back wheels cleared the bay doors, one of them ran over something. He didn’t have a clue what it could have been, since it had only been a couple of hours since he’d driven the car in the bay. Then his heart constricted and he groaned in sudden agony.
Alfie’s job was to meet and greet all customers that came into the shop. His throne was the cushioned chair that was next to the desk. Sure it was grimy, but it was comfortable for a small, snowy white, very fluffy dog. Normally, Alfie rarely ventured into the bay area. He preferred the cool office and comfy cushion to the cool, but mucky shop floor. Alfie was the beloved owner of the man and his family. His other job was to give love and happiness to those he loved best.
The man climbed from the car, dreading what he must find. Sure enough, Alfie was laying still and flat under the car. Tears welled up, and his heart wrenched again. Suddenly, the bright day darkened to night. The dog must have scooted out the door when he got coffee. Even though he wasn’t allowed in the shop, the dog had obviously disobeyed the standing command.
He cradled the little dog in his arms, unsure of what to do. The lifeless form just lay there, head lolled back and tiny pink tongue slack instead of happily panting. The shop owner sat down in a grease-smudged chair with the dog across his lap. What should he do? How would he tell his sweet wife and those precious girls what had happened to Alfie? Finally, he decided to put the dog in the dog food bag, and place him in the dumpster. In this concrete garden, there wasn’t anywhere to bury a pet.
The rest of the day, he worried and fretted how to tell the family they had lost one of their own that day. There was no good way, so he blurted it out as soon as he made it home. Rain began to patter against the home’s windows and it seemed God was sharing the family’s grief.
Next morning, what was normally a joy to hop out of bed and head to work became a heavy chore. Sighing heavily, all the way to work, he opened the shop for daily work, sans his beloved, tiny, fluffy employee.
The coffee had just finished brewing when the owner of the neighboring body shop burst into the office. “Are you going to tell me why your dog is in the dumpster?”
“Well, Jeb, I know he’s in the dumpster. I didn’t have any place else to put him. I ran over him yesterday.
“No, you don’t understand. Your dog is barking and jumping and trying to get out of that dumpster!”
“What? Are you kidding me?” With joyful heart, the man ran to the dumpster and grabbed up that fluffy bundle of excitement. That little pink tongue was exploring every inch of his face. That little dog had only been knocked out, and the most refreshing rain, that gift from God, had refreshed and revived him. Alfie wasn’t dead, after all, he just needed reviving.
How many Christians today look dead? How many are asleep at the wheel or get knocked silly by being someplace they are not supposed to be? Disobedience breaks fellowship with the LORD, and we can’t afford that when we need to be ready for that great and glorious day the Father looks at the Son and says, “Go get Your Bride, Son.” Glory!
The man gave the bolt a final twist and stepped back from under the hood of the car. He wiped his grimy hands on a rag and then stuffed it in his back pocket. He gave a satisfied sigh as he headed to the office and the coffee pot. The coffee was strong and fresh, just like he liked it. Tossing a grin to Gertrude, his part time office help, he said, “Gertie, call Kent Boudreaux and let him know his car is ready and he can pick it up any time today.”
With only a little regret, he set his cup down and headed to back the car from the bay and bring in another to work on. Thank goodness God was good to provide so much work when the economy was so bad. Just as the back wheels cleared the bay doors, one of them ran over something. He didn’t have a clue what it could have been, since it had only been a couple of hours since he’d driven the car in the bay. Then his heart constricted and he groaned in sudden agony.
Alfie’s job was to meet and greet all customers that came into the shop. His throne was the cushioned chair that was next to the desk. Sure it was grimy, but it was comfortable for a small, snowy white, very fluffy dog. Normally, Alfie rarely ventured into the bay area. He preferred the cool office and comfy cushion to the cool, but mucky shop floor. Alfie was the beloved owner of the man and his family. His other job was to give love and happiness to those he loved best.
The man climbed from the car, dreading what he must find. Sure enough, Alfie was laying still and flat under the car. Tears welled up, and his heart wrenched again. Suddenly, the bright day darkened to night. The dog must have scooted out the door when he got coffee. Even though he wasn’t allowed in the shop, the dog had obviously disobeyed the standing command.
He cradled the little dog in his arms, unsure of what to do. The lifeless form just lay there, head lolled back and tiny pink tongue slack instead of happily panting. The shop owner sat down in a grease-smudged chair with the dog across his lap. What should he do? How would he tell his sweet wife and those precious girls what had happened to Alfie? Finally, he decided to put the dog in the dog food bag, and place him in the dumpster. In this concrete garden, there wasn’t anywhere to bury a pet.
The rest of the day, he worried and fretted how to tell the family they had lost one of their own that day. There was no good way, so he blurted it out as soon as he made it home. Rain began to patter against the home’s windows and it seemed God was sharing the family’s grief.
Next morning, what was normally a joy to hop out of bed and head to work became a heavy chore. Sighing heavily, all the way to work, he opened the shop for daily work, sans his beloved, tiny, fluffy employee.
The coffee had just finished brewing when the owner of the neighboring body shop burst into the office. “Are you going to tell me why your dog is in the dumpster?”
“Well, Jeb, I know he’s in the dumpster. I didn’t have any place else to put him. I ran over him yesterday.
“No, you don’t understand. Your dog is barking and jumping and trying to get out of that dumpster!”
“What? Are you kidding me?” With joyful heart, the man ran to the dumpster and grabbed up that fluffy bundle of excitement. That little pink tongue was exploring every inch of his face. That little dog had only been knocked out, and the most refreshing rain, that gift from God, had refreshed and revived him. Alfie wasn’t dead, after all, he just needed reviving.
How many Christians today look dead? How many are asleep at the wheel or get knocked silly by being someplace they are not supposed to be? Disobedience breaks fellowship with the LORD, and we can’t afford that when we need to be ready for that great and glorious day the Father looks at the Son and says, “Go get Your Bride, Son.” Glory! Paul tells the Ephesians in chapter two verse one and following: 2:1 In the past you were spiritually dead because of your disobedience and sins. 2 At that time you followed the world's evil way; you obeyed the ruler of the spiritual powers in space, the spirit who now controls the people who disobey God. 3 Actually all of us were like them and lived according to our natural desires, doing whatever suited the wishes of our own bodies and minds. In our natural condition we, like everyone else, were destined to suffer God's anger.
Paul was talking about how they acted as unbelievers, but I am thinking it sounds a lot like Believers of today. The Bride of Christ is sick these days, sick with the evil ways of the world. We can be like the Rich Young Ruler and say: These commands I have kept, I have not sinned. But, how many of us have watched a movie lately in which God’s name was blasphemed? How many of us worry and fret, harbor anger… bitterness… jealousy, seek vengeance, are critical of others, controlling, gossip, pray by rote, fudge the truth, go places we shouldn’t go, do things in secret that we’d die if it were printed on the front page of the newspaper? How many pirate music? How many think if it doesn’t hurt anyone, it’s okay? How many haven’t returned something that was borrowed? How many of us allow work, family, hobbies, play time come first instead of the LORD?
How many of us have given up on a brother or sister in Christ because he looks dead? How often have we thrown a sibling in the dumpster without thought to the prayers of a righteous man and the resuscitation process laid out by Jesus in Matthew 18: 15-17?
Nothing happens in secret that will not be found out, and nothing done in the dark will not be brought to light. But, why would a front page news story matter more than what God thinks of us? How could it matter more than our precious relationship and that refreshing rain from above?
Revive us LORD Jesus, send your refreshing rain of blessings and awaken us from our dead sleep. Help us watch and be ready… The Bride awaits her Groom. Come LORD Jesus and find Your Bride doing the mighty works prepared before the foundation of the world. AMEN.
This column was inspired by one of my favorite preachers, Dr. Preston Nix. He is an Associate Professor at New Orleans Baptist Seminary, and he is leading us in revival this week.
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