Galatia 2:11-13

Paul Rebukes Peter

2:11 But when Cephas ¹  came to Antioch, ²  I opposed him to his face, because he had clearly done wrong. ³  2:12 Until ⁴  certain people came from James, he had been eating with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he stopped doing this ⁵  and separated himself ⁶  because he was afraid of those who were pro-circumcision. ⁷  2:13 And the rest of the Jews also joined with him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray with them ⁸  by their hypocrisy.

Kejadian 9:20-24

9:20 Noah, a man of the soil, ⁹  began to plant a vineyard. ¹⁰  9:21 When he drank some of the wine, he got drunk and uncovered himself ¹¹  inside his tent. 9:22 Ham, the father of Canaan, ¹²  saw his father’s nakedness ¹³  and told his two brothers who were outside. 9:23 Shem and Japheth took the garment ¹⁴  and placed it on their shoulders. Then they walked in backwards and covered up their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned ¹⁵  the other way so they did not see their father’s nakedness.

9:24 When Noah awoke from his drunken stupor ¹⁶  he learned ¹⁷  what his youngest son had done ¹⁸  to him.

Kejadian 12:11-13

12:11 As he approached ¹⁹  Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, ²⁰  I know that you are a beautiful woman. ²¹  12:12 When the Egyptians see you they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will keep you alive. ²²  12:13 So tell them ²³  you are my sister ²⁴  so that it may go well ²⁵  for me because of you and my life will be spared ²⁶  on account of you.”

Bilangan 20:10-13

20:10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the community together in front of the rock, and he said to them, “Listen, you rebels, ²⁷  must we bring ²⁸  water out of this rock for you?” 20:11 Then Moses raised his hand, and struck the rock twice with his staff. And water came out abundantly. So the community drank, and their beasts drank too.

The Lord’s Judgment

20:12 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me enough ²⁹  to show me as holy ³⁰  before ³¹  the Israelites, therefore you will not bring this community into the land I have given them.” ³² 

20:13 These are the waters of Meribah, because the Israelites contended with the Lord, and his holiness was maintained ³³  among them.

Bilangan 20:2

20:2 And there was no water for the community, and so they gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron.

1 Samuel 11:2

11:2 But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “The only way I will make a treaty with you is if you let me gouge out the right eye of every one of you and in so doing humiliate all Israel!”

Matius 26:69

Peter’s Denials

26:69 Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A ³⁴  slave girl ³⁵  came to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.”

Matius 26:75

26:75 Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly. ³⁶ 

Roma 14:1

Exhortation to Mutual Forbearance

14:1 Now receive the one who is weak in the faith, and do not have disputes over differing opinions. ³⁷ 

Roma 15:1

Exhortation for the Strong to Help the Weak

15:1 But we who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak, and not just please ourselves. ³⁸ 

Ibrani 12:13

12:13 and make straight paths for your feet, ³⁹  so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but be healed.

Yakobus 5:19

5:19 My brothers and sisters, ⁴⁰  if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back,

[2:11]  ¹ sn Cephas. This individual is generally identified with the Apostle Peter (L&N 93.211).

[2:11]  ² map For location see JP1 F2; JP2 F2; JP3 F2; JP4 F2.

[2:11]  ³ tn Grk “because he stood condemned.”

[2:12]  ⁴ tn The conjunction γάρ has not been translated here.

[2:12]  ⁵ tn Grk “he drew back.” If ἑαυτόν (Jeauton) goes with both ὑπέστελλεν (Jupestellen) and ἀφώριζεν (afwrizen) rather than only the latter, the meaning would be “he drew himself back” (see BDAG 1041 s.v. ὑποστέλλω 1.a).

[2:12]  ⁶ tn Or “and held himself aloof.”

[2:12]  ⁷ tn Grk “the [ones] of the circumcision,” that is, the group of Jewish Christians who insisted on circumcision of Gentiles before they could become Christians.

[2:13]  ⁸ tn The words “with them” are a reflection of the σύν- (sun-) prefix on the verb συναπήχθη (sunaphcqh; see L&N 31.76).

[9:20]  ⁹ sn The epithet a man of the soil indicates that Noah was a farmer.

[9:20]  ¹⁰ tn Or “Noah, a man of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard”; Heb “and Noah, a man of the ground, began and he planted a vineyard.”

[9:21]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew verb גָּלָה (galah) in the Hitpael verbal stem (וַיִּתְגַּל, vayyitggal) means “to uncover oneself” or “to be uncovered.” Noah became overheated because of the wine and uncovered himself in the tent.

[9:22]  ¹² sn For the second time (see v. 18) the text informs the reader of the relationship between Ham and Canaan. Genesis 10 will explain that Canaan was the ancestor of the Canaanite tribes living in the promised land.

[9:22]  ¹³ tn Some would translate “had sexual relations with,” arguing that Ham committed a homosexual act with his drunken father for which he was cursed. However, the expression “see nakedness” usually refers to observation of another’s nakedness, not a sexual act (see Gen 42:9, 12 where “nakedness” is used metaphorically to convey the idea of “weakness” or “vulnerability”; Deut 23:14 where “nakedness” refers to excrement; Isa 47:3; Ezek 16:37; Lam 1:8). The following verse (v. 23) clearly indicates that visual observation, not a homosexual act, is in view here. In Lev 20:17 the expression “see nakedness” does appear to be a euphemism for sexual intercourse, but the context there, unlike that of Gen 9:22, clearly indicates that in that passage sexual contact is in view. The expression “see nakedness” does not in itself suggest a sexual connotation. Some relate Gen 9:22 to Lev 18:6-11, 15-19, where the expression “uncover [another’s] nakedness” (the Piel form of גָּלָה, galah) refers euphemistically to sexual intercourse. However, Gen 9:22 does not say Ham “uncovered” the nakedness of his father. According to the text, Noah uncovered himself; Ham merely saw his father naked. The point of the text is that Ham had no respect for his father. Rather than covering his father up, he told his brothers. Noah then gave an oracle that Ham’s descendants, who would be characterized by the same moral abandonment, would be cursed. Leviticus 18 describes that greater evil of the Canaanites (see vv. 24-28).

[9:22]  sn Saw the nakedness. It is hard for modern people to appreciate why seeing another’s nakedness was such an abomination, because nakedness is so prevalent today. In the ancient world, especially in a patriarchal society, seeing another’s nakedness was a major offense. (See the account in Herodotus, Histories 1.8-13, where a general saw the nakedness of his master’s wife, and one of the two had to be put to death.) Besides, Ham was not a little boy wandering into his father’s bedroom; he was over a hundred years old by this time. For fuller discussion see A. P. Ross, “The Curse of Canaan,” BSac 137 (1980): 223-40.

[9:23]  ¹⁴ tn The word translated “garment” has the Hebrew definite article on it. The article may simply indicate that the garment is definite and vivid in the mind of the narrator, but it could refer instead to Noah’s garment. Did Ham bring it out when he told his brothers?

[9:23]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “their faces [were turned] back.”

[9:24]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “his wine,” used here by metonymy for the drunken stupor it produced.

[9:24]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “he knew.”

[9:24]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew verb עָשָׂה (’asah, “to do”) carries too general a sense to draw the conclusion that Ham had to have done more than look on his father’s nakedness and tell his brothers.

[12:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “drew near to enter.”

[12:11]  ²⁰ tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) is deictic here; it draws attention to the following fact.

[12:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “a woman beautiful of appearance are you.”

[12:12]  ²² tn The Piel of the verb חָיָה (khayah, “to live”) means “to keep alive, to preserve alive,” and in some places “to make alive.” See D. Marcus, “The Verb ‘to Live’ in Ugaritic,” JSS 17 (1972): 76-82.

[12:13]  ²³ tn Heb “say.”

[12:13]  ²⁴ sn Tell them you are my sister. Abram’s motives may not be as selfish as they appear. He is aware of the danger to the family. His method of dealing with it is deception with a half truth, for Sarai really was his sister – but the Egyptians would not know that. Abram presumably thought that there would be negotiations for a marriage by anyone interested (as Laban does later for his sister Rebekah), giving him time to react. But the plan backfires because Pharaoh does not take the time to negotiate. There is a good deal of literature on the wife-sister issue. See (among others) E. A. Speiser, “The Wife-Sister Motif in the Patriarchal Narratives,” Oriental and Biblical Studies, 62-81; C. J. Mullo-Weir, “The Alleged Hurrian Wife-Sister Motif in Genesis,” GOT 22 (1967-1970): 14-25.

[12:13]  ²⁵ tn The Hebrew verb translated “go well” can encompass a whole range of favorable treatment, but the following clause indicates it means here that Abram’s life will be spared.

[12:13]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and my life will live.”

[20:10]  ²⁷ tn The word is הַמֹּרִים (hammorim, “the rebels”), but here as a vocative: “you rebels.” It was a harsh address, although well-earned.

[20:10]  ²⁸ tn The word order and the emphasis of the tense are important to this passage. The word order is “from this rock must we bring out to you water?” The emphasis is clearly on “from this rock!” The verb is the imperfect tense; it has one of the modal nuances here, probably obligatory – “must we do this?”

[20:12]  ²⁹ tn Or “to sanctify me.”

[20:12]  sn The verb is the main word for “believe, trust.” It is the verb that describes the faith in the Word of the Lord that leads to an appropriate action. Here God says that Moses did not believe him, meaning that what he did showed more of Moses than of what God said. Moses had taken a hostile stance toward the people, and then hit the rock twice. This showed that Moses was not satisfied with what God said, but made it more forceful and terrifying, thus giving the wrong picture of God to the people. By doing this the full power and might of the Lord was not displayed to the people. It was a momentary lack of faith, but it had to be dealt with.

[20:12]  ³⁰ sn Using the basic meaning of the word קָדַשׁ (qadash, “to be separate, distinct, set apart”), we can understand better what Moses failed to do. He was supposed to have acted in a way that would have shown God to be distinct, different, holy. Instead, he gave the impression that God was capricious and hostile – very human. The leader has to be aware of what image he is conveying to the people.

[20:12]  ³¹ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[20:12]  ³² tn There is debate as to exactly what the sin of Moses was. Some interpreters think that the real sin might have been that he refused to do this at first, but that fact has been suppressed from the text. Some think the text was deliberately vague to explain why they could not enter the land without demeaning them. Others simply, and more likely, note that in Moses there was unbelief, pride, anger, impatience – disobedience.

[20:13]  ³³ tn The form is unusual – it is the Niphal preterite, and not the normal use of the Piel/Pual stem for “sanctify/sanctified.” The basic idea of “he was holy” has to be the main idea, but in this context it refers to the fact that through judging Moses God was making sure people ensured his holiness among them. The word also forms a wordplay on the name Kadesh.

[26:69]  ³⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[26:69]  ³⁵ tn The Greek term here is παιδίσκη (paidiskh), referring to a slave girl or slave woman.

[26:75]  ³⁶ sn When Peter went out and wept bitterly it shows he really did not want to fail here and was deeply grieved that he had.

[14:1]  ³⁷ tn Grk “over opinions.” The qualifier “differing” has been supplied to clarify the meaning.

[15:1]  ³⁸ tn Grk “and not please ourselves.” NT Greek negatives used in contrast like this are often not absolute, but relative: “not so much one as the other.”

[12:13]  ³⁹ sn A quotation from Prov 4:26. The phrase make straight paths for your feet is figurative for “stay on God’s paths.”

[5:19]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.