Insights from George Lamsa, Old Testament Light

Here are some selected excerpts from:

George M. Lamsa, Old Testament Light: The Indispensable Guide to the Customs, Manners, and Idioms of Biblical Times (San Francisco: Harper and Row Publishers, 1964)

While one disagrees with Lamsa on many things, the following are rather insightful and readers of this blog might find worth in such:

Laying on of Hands

And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn.

Gen. 48:14

Laying on of hands in Semitic languages has several meanings:

1. To transmit God’s blessings from one person to another. The physical contact helps the person to receive the blessing. The hand symbolizes power and authority.

2. To arrest. “And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison” [Acts 5:18]. “When they sought to lay hands on him”—which means “to arrest him” [Matt. 21:46]. In this case, it means they seized them.

3. To appoint or ordain [Acts 13:1-3]. In most cases in the New Testament it is used as a symbol of blessing and healing [Matt. 19:13; Luke 4:40].

4. To signal out a guilty person, hence to accuse. (p. 93)

The Origin of the Cross

And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him in a tree:
His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

Deut 21:22-23

The Eastern text reads wnezdkep (and he is crucified). The victim were crucified in order to make them an example to the people. Kesa in Aramaic means “wood,” and sometimes is used to mean “a forest.”

The cross was made of wood found in the desert. The body of the victim was left on the cross until sunset.

Death on the cross was an Eastern custom. Joshua crucified the king of Ai in 1451 B.C. [Josh. 8:29]. The Hebrews may have discarded it and later adopted it from the Egyptians, the Babylonians, or Persians. The person who was crucified was called “the accursed of God.” Blasphemy against God, murder, and worship of pagan deities were considered crimes worthy of death.

Death was inflicted as a punishment for the shedding of blood [Gen. 9:6; Exod. 21:12]. Most of the guilty persons were put to death by atoning [Lev. 20:2].

Jesus was condemned and crucified for blasphemy. The high priest thought it was blasphemy when Jesus said, “Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power . . . “ [Matt. 26:64]. (p. 254)

Prophets and Seers

Now the acts of David the king, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Samuel the seer, and in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer.

1 Chron. 29:29

Samuel the seer is the same Samuel, the prophet, who lived during the reigns of King Saul and King David. The term “seer” is an old name given to the prophets. The Aramaic is khazaya (seer)—one who can foresee or foretell future events [1 Sam. 9:9].

The reference here is to the books of Samuel, the First and the Second respectively. Nathan also was a prophet living during the reign of David [2 Sam. 7]. Gad was David’s seer. When David numbered the people, Gad told David of his folly and the impending disaster. The Lord did not want him to number the people [2 Sam. 24:11].

The books of Nathan the prophet and those of Gad the seer must have been lost during the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. Many sacred relics and scrolls which were in the Ark of the Covenant and the walls of the temple were lost or burned. Moreover, during the persecution the Israelites suffered considerably. Pagan oppressors destroyed the sacred books first.

Other works of Hebrew prophets, poets, and seers suffered during the persecution and copies are extinct. In the olden days, copies of the holy books were rare and in the possession of kings, princes, priests, and the wealthy. (pp. 385-86)

Keys of Heaven

And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.

Isa. 22:22

“Key” means authority, true knowledge, and trustworthiness. In Aramaic we often say, “He has the key to the situation,” which means he has found a solution to a certain problem. “Key” is also used as a symbol of authority and power. “He has the key,” means he can declare certain things to be lawful and others unlawful; that is, to bind or to loose, or to prohibit or to permit, or to forgive.

On the other hand, in the East when a person is well trusted, he is given the key to the house.

The prophet saw that a great change was to take place, which would cause the people to return to the true religion of Israel. Kind David was guided by God and, therefore, had wisdom and understanding to lead the people in the right way.

The Messiah, who was the true heir to the kingdom of David, was to be endowed with knowledge and given authority to teach the way of God. Jewish traditions and man-made doctrines were to be supplanted with the true teaching was to embrace the whole world.

Jesus also gave his disciples authority to bind and to loose. “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” [Matt. 16:19, Eastern text]

A Forgiving God

Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night.

Jonah 4:10

In verse 6 we are told that “the Lord commanded a tender shoot of gourd to spring up, and it sprang up and came over Jonah, and became a shade over his head.” Jonah at this time was staying on the east side of the city of Ninevah, and he had no shelter to protect him from the intense Mesopotamian heat. Ninevah is a hot city during the summer months. The temperature rises so high that people take refute in houses and under green trees and other shelters until the heat is spent and the air cools off.

Note that the gourd sprang up and grew in one day, and withered the next day. The Lord said to Jonah, “You have had pity on the gourd for the which you did not labor nor did you make it to grow; which sprung up in a night and withered in a night” [Eastern text].

The parable of the gourd reveals the love and tender kindness of the Lord to his children who repent and return to him. The city of Ninevah was doomed to fall, but its people and ruler repented and therefore were forgiven. Jonah had wanted to see the wicked city (which soon was to oppress and overthrow his people) destroyed rather than forgiven. Otherwise his prophecy would not come true, and he would be classified as a false prophet. Moses warned the Hebrews against false prophets. He says, “When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, and the thing does not come to pass, nor follow; that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken, but the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him” [Deut. 18:22, Eastern text].

Jonah’s prophecy concerning the fall of Ninevah had embarrassed him. He had to know why God had revealed to him that Ninevah would fall within forty days and then changed his mind. So the prophet was displeased [Jonah 4:1]. In other words, Jonah was more concerned about his prediction and his reputation than about a saving pagan city and its inhabitants. (p 906)