What is your favourite Starbucks drink?
I've been doing some prep for a study I'm going to be leading through the book of Micah. As part of my prep I was reading through Micah in the Septuagint (LXX). For those of you unfamiliar with the LXX, it is (in simple terms) the Ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament.
Why would anyone study the Greek OT when we have the Hebrew OT?
Well, most importantly, it is well documented that the Early Church used the LXX as their scriptures! The LXX was
the "Bible" for the vast majority of Christians during the apostolic era and beyond (in fact, the Greek Orthodox Church still uses the LXX as their OT). So, if we want to understand what the early Christians believed it is obviously very helpful to read and understand the scriptures that they were using. There are other compelling reasons to study the LXX, but I'll leave it at that for now.
Anyway, as I was comparing the LXX to my ESV (based on the Hebrew text) I ran across this:
Micah 1:8 (ESV) 8 For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will make lamentation like the jackals, and mourning like the ostriches.
...versus...
Micah 1:8 (NETS - LXX) 8 For this she shall lament and wail; she shall go unshod and naked she shall make lamentation like that of dragons, and mourning like that of the daughters of sirens.
For those of you who might care:
wJV drakovntwn (hōs drakontōn: of serpents) ... yes,
dravkwn
/ drakōn, "serpent" is where we get our word “dragon” from!
wJV qugatevrwn seirhvnwn (hōs thugaterōn seirēnōn: of the daughters of sirens)
Without getting into the details of why the Hebrew and Greek are so different, what struck me (I was quite shocked!) was the appearance of sirens in scripture (and dragons for that matter! Although "serpent" is probably a better translation) .
For those of you who might not be familiar with sirens, they are legendary figures from Greek mythology. Supposedly they were beautiful sea women who would lure men to their deaths with their beautiful voices. They would sing their irresistible songs and sailors would then seek out the source of the music only to crash their ships on the rocks and drown.
Probably the most famous encounter with sirens is in Homer's Odyssey (book 12... portrayed here in this picture) where
Odysseus plugs his men's ears with wax so that they can't hear the voice of the sirens while he straps himself to the mast so that he can hear their beautiful song without the danger of succumbing to it.So, while this is certainly an extremely loose translation of the original Hebrew text, it definitely portrays a very vivid picture of the mourning prophesied by Micah.
There is very little doubt that "serpents/dragons" and "sirens" were not part of the original text written down by Micah (or his scribe) however, as I already mentioned, this is what the people of the early church would have read and thought of as scripture during the first few centuries of Christianity.
Just imagine! Thousands upon thousands of Christians... for literally centuries had serpents and sirens used as similes in their scriptures! What might the Apostle Paul have said about this text had he been preaching from Micah?
What do you make of pagan, mythological figures showing up in scripture?
Can you think of any other examples of this type of content showing up in scriptures?
Anyway, over the course of history different Greek authors and poets adapted the sirens and eventually they became mermaid-like creatures... always singing their irresistible song and luring people to their demises. Understandably they came to represent indulgence and temptation.
And so I find it appropriate that Starbucks uses a siren as their logo. It's not quite as clear on their newer logo, but their original logo shows the siren quite clearly.
... mmmmm... Starbucks...
4 comments:
A couple of things come to mind. The use of the word "easter" in the KJV to replace the proper word "Passover"(Acts 12:4)....being that "Easter" is a version of the pagan goddess "Ishtar" or "Eostre". Also, "Hades" being used (ESV Mt 11:23, Lk 16:23, Acts 2:27, Rev 1:18. Rev 20:14) as a replacement for "hell" or more properly "sheol" in Hebrew.
As for Paul, seing as how he believed all that was written in the Torah and the Prophets (Acts 24:14), and believed that evereryone is acursed who does not do all that has been writen in the book of the Torah (Gal 3:10), I highly doubt that he would have been caught dead using pagan references in any way.
I like your Easter/Passover example. That the KJV would use "Easter" instead of "Passover" is so anachronistic to be almost laughable. Fortunately the translators of the NKJV had the smarts to correct that ridiculous error.
However, I'm going to have to disagree with you on your other examples. The reason why the ESV uses the word "Hades" is because (as is the case in all of your "Hades" references) the Greek manuscripts use the word Hades. It would seem as though Matthew, Luke, and John (under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit) all deemed "Hades" as the best way to articulate their vision of what we call "hell" to their readers. There are no instances of the Hebrew word "Sheol" in the New Testament. The only other "hell" word we have in the New Testament is "Gehenna" which is a Hebrew/Aramaic word referring to the valley of Hinnom outside of Jerusalem.
And, Jew-of-the-Jews or not, Paul does in fact make reference to pagan literature in multiple places in the New Testament. He quotes Aratus in Acts 17:28, Menander in 1 Cor. 15:33, Epiminides twice (Titus 1:12 & Acts 17:28). It would appear that Paul's reading included both Greek poetry and theatre.
It is worth noting that in the original poem of Aratus' that Paul quotes (the Poem "Phainomena") the "his" is actually in reference to Zeus... "'For we are indeed his offspring'". Paul turns this around and uses it in reference to YHWH!
Interestingly, two of these quotes (the Acts 17:28 ones; Epiminides & Aratus) come from the famous Paul in Athens passage where Paul also uses a pagan alter as a sermon illustration. Paul seems to use "worldly" cultural references as one of his evangelistic tools. Perhaps this is part of what he meant when he said, "I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some" (1 Cor. 9:22).
Ah, I see your point...well done. But "hades" does still qualify as a "pagan figure showing up in scripture". Being all things to all people, I wonder what word Paul would have used for "hades" when speaking to the Hebrew or Aramaic speaking Israelites to convey the meaning of this passage, as he took the message first to the Jew and then to the Greek? Being zealous for the law, I wonder how they would have given the message to the Jewish people without contravening Ex 23:13?
Oh, yeah, you're totally right in that Hades fits as a mentioning of a pagan figure in scripture... I maybe misunderstood what you were saying there.
A quick search reveals that in most cases the LXX uses "Hades" where "Sheol" shows up in the Hebrew... so I'm guessing that it's possible that in the Jewish multilingualism of the day there must have been some overlap in the way these terms were used; but to be confident of that I'd have to look into it more.
Another thought that might explain how Paul (and Jesus, of course) might have reconciled the use of "Hades" and Ex. 23:13 would be that they were referring to the location called "Hades" not the mythical god Hades; I don't think that the god Hades is ever mentioned in scripture.
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