Missing Hebrew word for vanity?

[NaphtaliPress]

In Rutherford's Survey of Spiritual Antichrist, there is a typo not corrected in the errata. R is interacting with 1 Corinthians 8:4-7 and writes, "The meaning of that, an idol is nothing, is, or is vanity, as the prophets say...." If it were not for "as the prophets say" I would go with dropping the redundant "is" for the reading. Is there an appropriate Hebrew word or words he might have been intending to adduce after the first "is" and the printer or he left it out?

 

[Phil D.]

I wonder if he is simply making general reference to passages like Isaiah 44:9 KJV and Jer. 10:3 KJV. I see the latter uses a word that literally means vanity while often being translated idol.

 

[NaphtaliPress]

I wonder if he is simply making general reference to passages like Isaiah 44:9 KJV and Jer. 10:3 KJV. I see the latter uses a word that literally means vanity while often being translated idol.

I think that is possible; but there is clearly something missing right? I see no way to read it as is and not have a mistake.

 

[Phil D.]

I think that is possible; but there is clearly something missing right? I see no way to read it as is and not have a mistake.

It does look like it. But it seems pretty hard to say exactly what it could possibly be, whether something in English (like "worthless" "profitless") or its Hebrew equivalent like in Isaiah 44:9. Or, what if "is," is a mistaken addition (much less likely, for sure)... Virtually impossible to know what simply isn't there.

 

[iainduguid]

If there is a missing Hebrew word; that would give "The meaning of that, an idol is nothing, is [tohu], or is vanity, as the prophets say...." (using the word from Isa 44:9 that Phil suggests, which does indeed sometimes mean "nothing" as well as being translated as "vanity" regularly in the KJV of Isaiah). Yet trying to explain of an English translation of a Greek phrase using a relatively uncommon Hebrew word seems very demanding of his hearers, Is this the sort of thing he does regularly? What audience is he writing for?

 

[Phil D.]

What audience is he writing for?

That's an excellent point. In perusing the particular treatise in view "Discoveries of Familism in M. Saltmarsh" I don't see any examples of Hebrew, Greek, or even Latin references. This makes sense in that followers of John Saltmarsh tended to be relatively simple folk, in a vein similar to many Anabaptists.

 

[NaphtaliPress]

If there is a missing Hebrew word; that would give "The meaning of that, an idol is nothing, is [tohu], or is vanity, as the prophets say...." (using the word from Isa 44:9 that Phil suggests, which does indeed sometimes mean "nothing" as well as being translated as "vanity" regularly in the KJV of Isaiah). Yet trying to explain of an English translation of a Greek phrase using a relatively uncommon Hebrew word seems very demanding of his hearers, Is this the sort of thing he does regularly? What audience is he writing for?

There is one instance of Hebrew in the margin for a verse cited in text but significantly more Greek. How likely; I'm not sure. Can't rule it out. This is probably the most chaotic of Rutherford's works. Assuming the extra "is" is not a mistake, what would an English alternative be, bearing in mind the reference to the prophets.

 

[iainduguid]

There is one instance of Hebrew in the margin for a verse cited in text but significantly more Greek. How likely; I'm not sure. Can't rule it out. This is probably the most chaotic of Rutherford's works. Assuming the extra "is" is not a mistake, what would an English alternative be, bearing in mind the reference to the prophets.

As I've suggested, the simplified transliterated form tohu would be the most likely (though he may have inserted the Hebrew characters). It is used repeatedly in Isaiah's polemic against the idols and translated as "vanity" in the KJV, with the implication that they are powerless, worthless, useless, etc. It is likely that Paul is thinking of Isaiah, I think, so plausible that Rutherford is making the same connection. But I don't think we can be certain.

 

[Sam Jer]

In Rutherford's Survey of Spiritual Antichrist, there is a typo not corrected in the errata. R is interacting with 1 Corinthians 8:4-7 and writes, "The meaning of that, an idol is nothing, is, or is vanity, as the prophets say...." If it were not for "as the prophets say" I would go with dropping the redundant "is" for the reading. Is there an appropriate Hebrew word or words he might have been intending to adduce after the first "is" and the printer or he left it out?

I did not completely understand this conversation so I am pretty much going blindly here, but שוא and הבל are also used to refer to idols. I'll leave it to others to determine if this is at all relevant.

 

[paranymph]

As I look at it, I think Rutherford just put the "is" in the wrong place:

"The meaning of that, an Idol is nothing, or is vanity, as the Prophets fay, [is] an Idoll is of no force or power to hallow or pollute meats ..."

I think he is just continuing his sentence, "The meaning of... is..." but then injects the "or is vanity, as the Prophets say," in the wrong place.

 

[NaphtaliPress]

As I look at it, I think Rutherford just put the "is" in the wrong place:

"The meaning of that, an Idol is nothing, or is vanity, as the Prophets fay, [is] an Idoll is of no force or power to hallow or pollute meats ..."

I think he is just continuing his sentence, "The meaning of... is..." but then injects the "or is vanity, as the Prophets say," in the wrong place.

Yeah; the more I look at it the simplest intended meaning would be to move the is as you've placed it.