Posted by happydan on March 25, 1999 at 17:08:46 {MW8ByLonawdIg}:
As I was reading through Justin Martyr resently, He quoted a passage from Genesis 19:24 to prove that there is indeed another called 'Lord' besides The Lord God to the Jew Trypho...
And the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and
fire from the Lord out of heaven.
-LXX (Brenton)
This is the passage from the LXX which has 'kurios' both times, However the Hebrew text has "yhwh". The New World Translation renders the verse as follows...
"Then Jehovah made it rain sulpher and fire from Jehovah, from the heavens, upon Sodom and Gomorrah."
Doesn't this show that there is another that is called by the divine name? Also, from Justin's quote it can be seen that in the middle of the second century, Justin's evidently didn't have the divine name or his use of this text would be meaningless to prove that another is called 'Lord'.
Another text that Justin Martyr quoted that a Witness might find interesting occurs in Exodus in the episode of the burning bush. He quotes first from Joshua 5:13-15 which run as follows...
When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man stood before him with his drawn sword in his hand; and Joshua went
to him and said to him, "Are you for us, or for our adversaries?"
And he said, "No; but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and worshiped, and said to him, "What does my lord
bid his servant?" And the commander of the LORD's army said to Joshua, "Put off your shoes from your feet; for the place where you stand is holy." And Joshua did so.
-Joshua 5:13-15 (RSV)
Notice this one is called "commander of the army of the LORD" (Jehovah NWT). Justin picks up on the fact that the the saying about taking of the shoes, etc. was exactly what was told Moses. He then goes on to identify this one in Joshua with him who spoke to Moses from the bush. Read the excerpt from that encounter...
Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian; and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of
the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and lo, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, "I will turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt." When the
LORD saw that he turned aside to see,
God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here am I." Then he said, "Do not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy
ground." And he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
-Exodus 3:1-6
Notice that first it says "the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush" (vs. 2) then, later down, this one in the bush is called "God" (vs. 4) and says that "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." (vs. 6) Later in verse 7 this one is also called LORD, i.e Jehovah (NWT) Yet he is also "The Angel of the LORD" or "Angel of Jehovah".
What do you guys think? (non-Jehovah's Witnesses please only comment on the passages, not other's comments)
Happydan ( ^ _ ^ )