Biblical scholar Joel Hoffman focuses on original definitions of words used in the Bible
By LARRY GIERER
lgierer@ledger-enquirer.com
The commandment “Thou Shalt Not Kill” does not refer to all killing.
So says Biblical scholar Joel Hoffman.
“What it really is talking about is illegal killing,” Hoffman said in an interview this week.
He said replacing the word kill with murder is not technically correct, either.
There is no English term for the Hebrew word originally used, Hoffman said, but the intention of the commandment does not refer to legal killing such as defending yourself or a soldier or police officer doing their duty.
“The Bible has no problem with the death penalty. Joel Hoffman does,” he said,
Hoffman, 43, from Westchester N.Y,, will be speaking next weekend at Temple Israel in Columbus. He will speak at the Friday night services to which the public is welcome and after a luncheon for Temple Israel members on Saturday.
Hoffman’s speciality is Bible translation. He has a Ph.D in linguistics and has served on the faculties of Brandeis University and Hebrew Union College. He said his mission is to find, through translation, what the writers of the Bible “meant to convey.”
Hoffman is the chief translator for the 10-volume series “My People’s Prayer Book” which won the National Jewish Book Award and is the author of “In the Beginning: A Short History of the English Language” and his latest from St. Martin’s Press, “And God Said: How Translations Conceal the Bible’s Original Meaning.”
Hoffman is a much in demand speaker with appearances in Norfolk, Va., and West Lafayette, Ind., following his visit here.
“Everybody has the right to interpret the Bible differently,” Hoffman said. “I’m trying to get the original meaning of the words.”
Speaking of the 10 Commandments, he gave another example which has a different meaning now than when written in the Bible.
“Thou Shalt Not covet thy neighbor’s wife, thou shalt not covet they neighbor’s house; nor his field, nor his servant, nor his maid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any of his cattle, nor whatever belongs to thy neighbor,” reads the commandment.
“Covet meant an overt action then, not an internal state, Hoffman said. “It meant to take something not just to think about it.”
What a person does, not what a person feels, is what is important according to ancient writers said Hoffman.
Hoffman studies the writings of the Bible in Hebrew and Greek. He explained his research methods.
“I use the tools of modern linguistics and translation,” he said. Much, he said, as an archaeologist uses the science tools of today to learn more about the past.
He said proper translation can provide the right answer to Biblical questions.
Another example he gives of words with different meanings comes from the King James Version of the Bible written in English some 400 years ago.
Proverbs 28:21 in the King James version tells readers, “to have respect of persons is not good.”
“Back then, respect did not mean what it does to us,” Hoffman said. “Respect meant to show favoritism toward someone.”
Hoffman, who has had a longtime interest in language, said he has found “undiscovered beauty in the Bible that only comes to light with an accurate translation.”
At the Friday night service at Temple Israel, Hoffman will discuss the words of the Bible.
Saturday afternoon, he will give a talk called “Four Exiles and Four Spiritual Relations” which he called a “whirlwind” look at the history of the Jewish people.
He said it’s 3,000 years of Jewish history in about an hour.
“That is 20 minutes for each 1,000 years,” he said, laughing.
