A Chiasm & A Parallelism in Deuteronomy 26:14

The small chiasm in Deuteronomy 26:14 concerns bringing tithes of the land to God and ensuring that those tithes are brought in a condition that honors God and can be accepted by him.

• I have not eaten of my tithes while in mourning (for the dead)
• I have not stored away any of these tithes while unclean
• I have not given any of my tithes for the dead

Spiritual uncleanness results from contact with death, whether through the loss of life force (e.g. menstruation and other sexual discharges and dysfunctions), through the loss of life itself (e.g. physical contact with the dead or their graves), or through spiritual association with death (e.g. ancestor worship, necromancy, and the honoring of false gods). This is why uncleanness is sandwiched between mourning and death. Anything dedicated to God should not be contaminated with unclean things and activities, not because they are sinful--some are and some aren't--but because God is most holy.

Uncleanness is the opposite of holy. It interferes with our spiritual communion with him, which is a possible reason that God says the flesh of pigs and other unclean animals is abhorrent to him and ought to be to us. He likes to spend time with us and spiritual uncleanness gets in the way.

This chiasm is immediately followed by a couplet (a simple, 2-part parallelism):

• I have hearkened 
• To the voice of God
• I have done
• What God has commanded

To truly hear God is to obey. It doesn't matter if what God says makes sense to us or not. He always has reasons, and he is under no obligation to explain them to us. Our job is to trust him and to love him, and both trust and love require obedience to his commands. If God doesn't want his tithes tainted with death and mourning, then we need to make sure we give cheerfully and without reference to the dead.

Not even to the "sainted" dead.

Solomon on Facing Adversity

There are three things a person needs to face adversity without faltering:

1. Fellowship – Proverbs 18:1-2 says that if you are willing to break fellowship in order to swim against the tide you will be on your own without support and counsel. Sometimes it’s necessary, but be sure to count the cost before you dive in.
2. Faith – Proverbs 18:10-12 says that you can trust in God’s promises. Material wealth can buy strong walls, financial hedges, and even politicians, but ultimately God owns it all. With a single word, he can bring all you own to dust. His name is your only sure fortress.
3. Fortitude – Proverbs 18:14 says that the spiritually strong can stand against injury and illness, while the spiritually weak are defeated without a single enemy.

Some Challenges of Reading the Bible in English

The Apostle Paul wrote,

For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.
(Philippians 1:8 KJV)

What a curious thing to say. Paul wants Jesus to eat us all!

No, really. It says so right there.

Wait. That's not what Paul meant, you say?

Well, of course not. It doesn't make any sense. It's easy to see that the original intent isn't what it seems to be in plain English, so we know that Paul was using an expression that just didn't translate well. With a little thought, we can work out that he actually meant "with the heart/affection of Jesus".

Every language uses metaphors and colloquialisms that can be difficult to translate. In the case of Philippians 1:8, the King James translators used English words that people of the 17th century were likely to understand, but that have changed meaning over the centuries or fallen out of usage altogether.

When reading the King James Version and other older English Bibles, we need always to keep in mind that the original text must undergo two translations before it can be understood: Once from Greek and Hebrew into early Modern English, and once again from early Modern English into our own dialects.

Even more importantly, whenever we read *any* English Bible, we must always be aware that the text has already undergone one or more translations from the original, and if we sometimes need to pause in order to understand one another's English, how much more difficult is it to understand a foreign text separated from us by thousands of years and largely unknown cultural differences?

You don't need to be a linguist, anthropologist, or philologist to be able to understand the Bible, but you do need to be aware that the words you read are usually only a close approximation to the original intent, and sometimes they are only educated guesses. You also need to be aware that English words often have multiple meanings or implications that were never part of the original intent of the Biblical texts.

If you're interested in learning more about the Bible, its English translations, and how to study it, go over to Common Sense Bible Study at AmericanTorah.com.