Friends in the Lord:
I apologize for my silence, for my failure to bump the thread. Thanks to ‘Salvation’ for giving it a periodic kick.
There are times when, hard as this may be to believe, even I run out of words. I think of “O Little Town of Bethlehem” and the lines “for sinners here// the silent Word is pleading.” Yeah, well I’m not so sure about the relationship between my words and The Word, but sometimes the silence sure comes over me.
This is when theology becomes a kind of nervous tic, a twiddling of the thumbs, when one feels like a lead balloon whose tether has snapped and one sinks slowly into what ...
Maybe the “valley of deep darkness” as the bloodless modern translations have it — “the valley of the shadow of death”?
Maybe so. But if so, then, while I will fret over the verbal block (which can only be a mercy to those around me!) still, I will fear no evil.
My sweet Lord has walked this valley, blazing like a torch, scattering foes like the Boulder in Indiana Jones would scatter ten-pins. Then like a pre-adolescent athlete in a cosmic game of Capture the flag, sparkling and shining as children can do, he tags Adam’s hand, and all the prisoners are set free — and he leads captivity captive into bliss.
My! It’s dark in here! But I think maybe in the distance I see a faint glow.
When darkness comes, let us continue to hope. As MLK Jr. said — the blacker the night, the brighter the shining of the stars.
In the meantime, lift the foot, swing it forward, plant it. Lather, rinse, repeat. God sees our steps even if we don’t.
Amen! ;-)
One of those country music performers who can’t really sing did a song a couple of years ago:
If you’re going through hell, keep on going
Don’t look back; if you’re scared, don’t show it
You might get out before the Devil even knows you’re there.
It doesn’t rhyme, either.
God bless you, Mad Dawg.
“valley of deep darkness” as the bloodless modern translations have it
BTW, I did track down something on this (since it irks me so much). I found an article on Bible translation by David Daiches (the literary critic) on the Commentary site (cost me $5 too -- and I lost my access key or whatever they call it when my old computer went). He said that, while the Masoretic text vocalizes the tsadee-lamed-mem-vav-tav of the Hebrew as tsal-mavet, "shadow of death" (as I believe the Septuagint too has it), the NAB translators believe it should be read as tsalmut, "darkness."
Tsadee-lamed-mem, is, of course a legitimate Hebrew root, as in tselem, "image" in Genesis. Modern Hebrew knows no tsalmut, and I don't have whatever the Hebrew equivalent of the OED is. Daiches didn't say (IIRC, he didn't know) on what basis the NAB came to its decision.
Anyway, that's as far as I got. So far. ;-)
The soul stains to hear whispers of love... accept the difficulty - it's a gift.