21.06.

2017 Jewish New Testament

Who is the Lord Sabaoth? (5 min to read)

I clearly remember the day when around 20 years ago I sat in a worship service at one of New Yorks Protestant churches, when the worship leader who
was otherwise extremely knowledgeable in the Bible and an incredibly capable speaker, sought to clarify something in the hymnal the church used. A line from
the famous hymn A Mighty Fortress is Our God that attracted the attention of this godly man. He read the text from the hymnal, pausing to explain one
confusing phrase:

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;

Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of Gods own choosing:
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21.06.2017 Jewish New Testament

Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;

Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

You may have guessed it. The line was Lord Sabaoth his name! After noting the archaic language of the hymn, his obvious lack of Hebrew knowledge led
him to give an inspiring, but truly inaccurate interpretation. He said, addressing the worshipers: Do not let these old words, discourage you, there is nothing
complicated here at all. The Lord Sabaoth is simply the Lord of the Sabbath! In spite of its seeming connection in English the words are not at all
connected with each other.

Two hundred times in the Hebrew Bible and at least ten times in the New Testament as well the Hebrew "" is used. (It is pronounced in Hebrew
Tze-va-ot). In this hymn it was transliterated into English as Sabaoth). Usually this name accompanies one of Gods other names - "" (God),
" " (Lord) and "" (YHWH). In more modern translations it is often translated as Lord of Hosts or Lord Almighty. However, the word
"" (Tze-va-ot) literally translates as armies. Most people reading think that only heavenly angelical armies were in view, but this is not so. The
armies of the Lord (Lord Sabaoth) included both the earthly armies of Israel as well as those of heaven (like in 2 Kings 6).

This kind of misunderstanding could have been easily corrected if the worship leader who made this comment took one look at the Hebrew behind the
English. All he needed is to memorize the alphabet and to compare the words ("" for armies and for the Sabbath). I do, however,
remember the words of my seminary preaching professor: Guys, (and it were mostly guys in class) dont give yourself too much credit when you made an
embarrassing mistake. The Kingdom of God, neither stands nor falls with one sermon." May the Lord Sabaoth receive the glory due His Name this up
coming Sabbath. Shabbat Shalom!

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