Ephesians #3 "But God"
September 24, 2023Pastor Lavon Coles presented this morning's message, "But God." It was the third message in a series studying the book of Ephesians. A video of the message is here. Our Conversation Starter for this week is here.
The conjunction "but" is a fascinating beast in Biblical Hebrew. It all involves the 6th letter of the alphabet, vav (ו). Vav can simply be a letter in a word, either consonant 'v' or vowel long "o". Vav is also a noun meaning hook. You can see that the letter looks like a hook or tent peg or nail. And vav as the lead/first letter of a Hebrew word (which, when translated into English, becomes a phrase) can be a conjunction. Being a "hook" certainly relates to being a conjunction, bringing things together, making connected.The tricky thing about vav as a conjunction is that it is translated into different words depending on what the translator thought was the intention of the sentence. It can be: and, but, now, then, when, so, etc. Think of two simple sentences: "I went west and he went east" versus "I went west but he went east." There is really very little difference in basic meaning. Whether we say "but" or "and" depends on details not readily apparent, like wanting to be casual, argumentative, shocking, and the like.
For example, let's look at Genesis 8:1. The verse begins with a verb that starts with the letter vav: vav-remembered (וַיִּזְכֹּ֤ר). It's translated at least three ways: "God kept Noah in mind" (ISV, no conjunction at all), "And God remembered Noah" (KJV), and "But God remembered Noah" (NAS). Think of the variations on "But God"... And God. So God. Now God. When God. Then God. It all does depend on what you want it to sound like, what spin you want to put on God's followup action even before you know what His action is.
Vav has another superpower. Preceeding a verb it can change the tense of the verb from past to future or vice versa. For example, hoiya means "it was" while v'hoiya means "it will be." In reverse, yehi means "it shall be" while v'yehi means "there was" (as in, "there was light"). Now that's cool.
From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is full of "but God"s. Something bad or lesser to the left, then "but God," then something good or better to the right. Here are a few Torah examples:
"But God said to Abraham, 'Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named." Genesis 21:12
"As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today." Genesis 50:20 (Lavon mentioned this one.)
"But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle." Exodus 13:18
"If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you." Genesis 31:42
"Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not permit him to harm me." Genesis 31:7
"The LORD did not love you and choose you because you outnumbered other peoples; you were the smallest nation on earth. But the LORD loved you and wanted to keep the promise that he made to your ancestors. That is why he saved you by his great might and set you free from slavery to the king of Egypt." Deuteronomy 7:7-8
Bonus
No Pain, No Gain
Did you know that this little piece of wisdom was known thousands of years ago. Check it out. Psalm 126:5, "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy."
One of the tricks to learning wisdom from the Bible is to learn how to read it. The phraseology is different. The vocabulary is a little "off." But it's there. And the way to "get into it" is to read it often and constantly ask yourself, what could this mean? How would I put this in words today? You've got to work at it.
That's right! Even in reading the Bible, there's no gain without some pain!
Now try this... Read the entire Psalm:
1. When the LORD restored the captives of Zion, we were like dreamers.
2. Then our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with shouts of joy. Then it was said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them."
3. The LORD has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
4. Restore our captives, O LORD, like streams in the Negev.
5. Those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy.
6. He who goes out weeping, bearing a trail of seed, will surely return with shouts of joy, carrying sheaves of grain.
Do you still think it can mean "no pain, no gain? Could it mean something else? In addition to, or instead of?
Given verse 4, could verse 5 refer to "reaping" people rather than wheat?
Part of the "pain" in gaining Biblical understanding is often the amount of "digging" you need to do. This usually involves checking out a few different translations, reading commentaries, listening to sermons/messages, exploring the context (including what comes immediately before and after), and even digging down into the original language (OT Hebrew or NT Greek). See Credits for the list of resources I typically use.
No pain, no gain.