While I prepare to post concerning Erasmus and the radical disinformation that is spread concerning him, I want to mention an important passage in the Bible concerning God’s promise to preserve the Scriptures, Psalm 12:6,7. You will generally find this – in versions readily available today – only in the KJV, NKJV, MKJV (and other of Jay P. Green’s texts), and I’m not sure about the KJ21. It reads thus,
6. The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
7. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.
There was a division of interpretation concerning these verses, particularly v. 7, as to whether it was the
words that were to be preserved, or the
people mentioned in verse 5 and the earlier part of the psalm. Even among Hebrew scholars and exegetes there was this division, as is the case also among Christians.
In the newer versions they read variously – in place of the “them” twice-used in v. 7 – “them” and “us” or “us” and “us”.
Perhaps the best introduction to this are some excerpts from
Pastor Peter Van Kleeck’s study, “The Translational And Exegetical Rendering Of Psalm 12:7 Primarily Considered In The Churchly Tradition Of The 16Th And 17Th Centuries And Its Expression In The Reformation English Bibles: THE GENIUS OF AMBIGUITY”, completed in the process of pursuing an M.A.R. at Calvin Theological Seminary. It is clear that in the choice of the modern versions to opt for the Greek/Latin texts to translate the psalm, a censorship of the Reformation’s MO (using the Hebrew), and the subsequent “churchly tradition”, which incorporated both exegetical traditions in its rendering of the verse.
Van Kleeck’s study shows the “genius of ambiguity” in the King James Bible’s translation.
As this is a very important Scriptural attestation to the doctrine of providential preservation, I add also Dr. Thomas Strouse’s
remarks on the Hebrew construction, and Jack Moorman’s article,
“Psalm 12:6-7 and Bible Preservation”. Moorman shows that one of the commentators he consulted referred to the KJV rendering as in accord with “the main Hebrew tradition.” Looking on my shelves, I find that in
The Holy Scriptures published by the Hebrew Publishing Company (NY 1951), it reads as the KJV has it. (This has only the OT, as it is a Jewish publication.)
I
attach another scholarly article, “GOD’S PROMISE TO PRESERVE HIS WORD (PS 12:5-7),” I downloaded from Far Eastern Bible College’s (Presbyterian),
The Burning Bush magazine (Volume 6 Number 2, July 2000). I like the pdf version as it alone maintains the integrity of the Hebrew and Greek fonts (it can also be found at the bottom of the web page I referenced). In the pdf, the article starts on pdf page 88 and goes to 120 (12 of the pages are footnotes). Rev. Shin Yeong Gil, the author, after a thorough examination of the Hebrew, avers that the psalm refers
only to the preservation of the LORD’s words,
not to the people. This will be of use only to those whose knowledge of the Hebrew allows them to follow Rev. Gil’s exegetical arguments.
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It can probably be discerned that my presuppositions are based upon God’s word. It is my epistemological ground, the foundation of my knowing. I know because God knows, and has revealed His knowledge in the word He has spoken to us humans. Apart from God’s word we can know nothing certainly. That which appears to us, even scientific maxims, are often not as they seem, these latter often being superceded by new discoveries. But when God speaks I know this is truth. Insofar as my mind is in accord with His, I know the truth. And if I love and keep His word, I am
in the truth. Although I fail in these things, as there is remaining corruption yet within me, thanks to the cleansing blood and His justifying grace I ever remain in the truth – in His heart – despite my failures and sins.
The word of Scripture is thus the basis of knowledge. Its clear dictums illumine reality. In the spiritual realm they
create reality. When the word of God says that we died in Christ’s death and rose in His resurrection (Romans 6; Colossians 2, 3; etc), and now walk in newness of life, we may enter into these spiritual realities by faith, which is apprehending the substance of things not seen. The glories of God’s heart, the promises of His abundant life, the certainties of His faithfulness and love, are known by His word, the Holy Spirit bearing witness to them within us.
This is why I fight so to establish our possessing a sure text of Scripture. I am keenly interested in other aspects of this holy life we are in, but the defense of Scripture is the bedrock of it all. This is what drives me in the present discussion. While in this endeavor, I keep in mind what Paul said,
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. (1 Cor 13:2)
I pray He give me grace to be a doer as well as a hearer.
(I seem to be having trouble attaching the pdf. If you're interested, then go to
The Burning Bush link above, and click the pdf download at the bottom of their page.)