Troublesome Topic: HERE’S WHAT AN EXCLUSIVELY WORD-FOR-WORD TRANSLATION LOOKS LIKE PART 2

A Word that Is Used in a Way that Is the Opposite of its Meaning

We will be looking at Haggai 2:13.

The context is found in the previous verse, Haggai 2:12: “If a man carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with that fold he touches it to bread or stew or wine or oil or any food, will it become holy?”  And the priests answered and said, “No.”

Now here is Haggai 2:13.

Basic word meanings:

And Haggai said, “If polluted living breathing soul touches any of these, will it be unclean?” Then the priests answered and said, “It will be unclean.”

Cleaned Up a Bit:

Then Haggai said, “If one who is unclean because of a living breathing person, touches any of these, will it be unclean?” The priests answered and said, “It will be unclean.”

Clarified Some More:

Then Haggai said, “If one who is unclean because of a person touches any of these, will it become unclean? The priests answered and said, “It will be unclean.”

Clarified even more:

Then Haggai said, “If one who is unclean because of a person’s dead body, touches any of these, will it become unclean? The priests answered and said, “It will be unclean.”

The Intended Meaning:

Then Haggai said, “If one who is in isolation because of a dead body, touches any of these types of food, will the food be cast aside as inedible?” The priests responded by saying, “Yes, It will be cast aside as inedible.”

WHAT DOES THE KEY HEBREW WORD MEAN? 

It means, “life,  breath in the sense of something that breathes in and out, a soul.”  Hence, I render it as “a living breathing soul.” Please catch the reality that a dead body has none of these things; it has no life, no breathe, and the soul has departed. It could also mean simply, “a person.”

THE READER WAS EXPECTED TO REMEMBER NUMBERS CHAPTER 9

Haggai 2:13 used a well-known phrase, so it was unnecessary to include all of it. Haggai’s choice of wording came from several verses in the book of Numbers,   The full version of this phrase appears in Numbers 19:13 where it uses the words “dead living breathing soul” implying a dead person’s body. Numbers 9:7 uses our key word and adds the word adam, meaning human; it says “a living breathing human with a soul,” but means a person’s dead body. Numbers 5:2 and 9:10 simply say “because of a living breathing soul” once again meaning “because of a dead person’s body.” The concept of avoiding a dead body was so common in the law that it was unnecessary to say the entire phrase; they could shorten it. The shortened version only kept the word for “a living breathing soul” while trying to communicate “a dead person’s body.” To ancient Jews the meaning was quickly recognized. Capable translators also know what to make of this, but a true word-for-word translation would give the wrong idea.

COMMUNICATING THROUGH SILENCE

But maybe we should look at this a different way.  It is possible that keeping only the part of the phrase that means the opposite of what is intended was a form of emphasis. It catches the reader’s attention in a powerful way.

 It works! It makes me want to shout at my computer screen.   **  The text screams at the reader that the thing being talked about has no life, no breath and no soul. By saying the opposite, the text might be more effective than by stating the point in clear, simple terms.

Jewish teachers often made their most powerful points through something they did not say, the part they left out.  

The best example I know of has to do with the Dead Sea Scrolls committee.