When I think about Bible translation, my thoughts often go to the Bibleless and the incredible blessing in store for those who read Scripture in their own language for the first time.
But I rarely stop and reflect on what I have been learning as a Bible translator. Yet the task of translation yields many blessings for those who love God’s Word and are attentive to the Holy Spirit.
Let me share with you three insights I have gained as we translated the Ten Commandments as recorded in Exodus 19-24.
1. God spoke to His people like never before
The first insight was that when God spoke to the nation of Israel, He spoke to them as a nation, as a whole, yet He also spoken to them each individually.
When Moses and the people arrived at Mount Sinai, God gave Moses a message to tell the people in Exodus 19:3-5. Note that in this message, God speaks to them all with “You all have seen … and you (all) will be a treasured possession.” The pronouns “you” and “your” are plural. That’s what I expected, in fact, given that God is speaking to a group of people.
But when they arrive at Mount Sinai, two incredible things happen. First, God spoke to the entire of nation of Israel at once. He did not speak through Moses, but spoke to them directly.
Furthermore, God spoke to them not as a nation with the plural “you all”, but to each and every individual, with the singular, “you, just you.”
In the Ten Commandments, the commands are addressed to each individual. It’s not “You all, as a nation, shall not steal.” But rather, “You, I’m talking to you, just you, do not steal.”
Why did God speak to each one individually? God was not only the God of the nation of Israel, He was also the God of each individual Israelite. And each individual was to live according to His Word, set out in these Ten Commandments.
It was God’s will that they as a nation and each individually would live according to the covenant they were establishing at Sinai, so that they would be a “kingdom of priests” and “holy nation.”
Never before had God spoken to the entire nation of Israel, and never again would God do this. Yet the words that thundered down the mountain on that day, the Ten Commandments, continue to be heard around the world, and God’s people continue to seek to live according to them.
But I was not only struck by how God spoke to the people, but also by the response of the people.
2. God terrified His people like never before
God did more than speak to the people. He terrified them as they stood at the base of the mountain.
As we read in Exodus 20:18-21, the people were terrified, because they thought they would die if they remained in the presence of God. The smoke, lighting, trumpets sounding again and again, and trembling earth beneath their feet, it was a terrifying scene. And they asked Moses if they could leave.
In verse 20, Moses assures them that they will not die. No harm will come to them, because all that is happening is actually for their good. God is testing them, to instill in their hearts a proper fear of Him, a fear that will guard them from sinning against Him.
In fact, at Mount Sinai and throughout their time in the wilderness, God commands the Israelites to fear Him. And the fear of God is connected to obeying Him. A genuine fear of God expresses itself in obedience.
Why are we uncomfortable with “fearing God” today? Well, fear is now viewed as an uncomfortable emotion, one that is based in a sense of danger, whether that danger is real and present or anticipated or irrational.
Is God dangerous? Well, I would say yes.
But it is essential to remember that God is only dangerous when we don’t recognize His greatness and supreme authority over us. When we do what is right in our own eyes, disregarding His will for our own, we should fear God. Yet those who live with no regard for God also have no fear of Him.
On the other hand, the right, biblical fear of God leads to humble obedience. When we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and live in such humble obedience, we love God and desire to live with a proper fear or reverence. We love because He first loved us.
Think about this for a moment: those who fear God the most have the least to fear from God. But those who have no fear of God are the ones who should live in a genuine terror of Him.
But I was not only struck by how God spoke and terrified the people of Israel at Mount Sinai. I was also struck by what God gave them, His word written on tablets of stone.
3. God wrote like never before
In Exodus 24, we read that God wrote. He wrote the Ten Commandments on two tablets of stone. In fact, God would write on tablets of stone a second time, because Moses broke the first tablets when he found the people worshiping the golden calf.
Now it struck me that God wrote these commandments on stone, because it is the first time God wrote for the sake of His people. And it is the last time God wrote. Never again does God write on tablets of stone like this. Instead, God instructed Moses to continue to write for the people what he heard God speak to him.
Why did God write the words of the covenant for the people?
Remember that God spoke the Ten Commandments to the people as part of establishing a covenant with them. Then he wrote down what he had spoken so that the people would have no doubt Who spoke to them and What He said. It was forever etched in stone. And the stones tablets were kept in the ark of the covenant.
Yet God also commanded Moses to write all that He said to him on scrolls for the people. Before Moses died, he presented all that he had written to the Levites and the leaders of the people for them to continue to read to the people and exhort them to live according to them (Deuteronomy 31:24-26).
And we have a wonderful promise. The God who wrote on tablets of stone still writes, but now on hearts, our hearts, by the working of the Holy Spirit. We have a wonderful prophecy and promise in Jeremiah 31:30-33 which explains this blessing of the new covenant.
The words that God wrote on the stone tablets still stand, and through Jesus Christ and the new covenant established in His blood, we have a new heart, a heart with God’s law written on it. We have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, who teaches us and shows us our sins and drives us to repentance.
In Conclusion
What a wonderful heavenly Father we have!
He spoke and still speaks through His Word.
He wrote and still writes on our hearts by the Holy Spirt.
He brought His people through the trial at Mount Sinai, through smoke, fire, lightning and a trembling earth, testing them so that they would not sin again Him. And He still works in our hearts, refining us and making us more and more like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Yes, He wrote, and are you reading?
He spoke, and are you listening to His Word?
He tested, and are you living with a right and proper fear of God?