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Old 02-02-2009, 04:43 AM
Steven Avery Steven Avery is offline
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 462
Default Rashi on Psalm 12:7 - Midrash on Psalms

Hi Folks,

Now having discussed Rashi's mostly strength and some weakness on verse 6:

Psalm 12:6
The words of the LORD are pure words:
as silver tried in a furnace of earth,
purified seven times.


We go to verse 7.

Psalm 12:7
Thou shalt keep them, O LORD,
thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.


Working with the Mayer Gruber version, as the Judaica Press is lacking some of the text on this verse.

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You, O Lord, Will Keep them.

Keep it in their hearts (Rashi)

Footnote: The midrash reads "Keep their Torah in their hearts"

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Hmmm... hold the presses !
So immediately we have fine new information, double the fun.

Rashi and the midrash (presumably Midrash on Psalms, which has not been referenced on this verse in the recent discussions) apparently both support Psalm 12:7a being about the words of the Lord. Rashi clearly so, in a straightforward manner. Midrash on Psalms needing to be checked. This is powerful information and afaik has never been noted before in the discussions.

We have some of the words from the midrash, however on verse 6. The context of the quote was different so it will be next helpful to look up the midrash, the William Braude translation would be fine, and see if we can find something akin to :

"Keep their Torah in their hearts".
(Readers: Feel free to check your local university library and report back.)

“The words of the Lord are . . . silver tried in the open before all men, refined seven times seven.” “Rabbi Yannai said: The words of the Torah were not given as clear-cut decisions. For with every word which the Holy One, blessed be He, spoke to Moses..."

The Midrash on Psalms, trans. by William G. Braude, vol. I (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1959), p. 173.


The context given there is one of the oral law discussions, our of our loop. However based on what we see in Rashi there might be some fine parts in the Midrash.

Note: Now we have learned that Doug Kutilek wrote deceptively.

Rabbinic scholar Rashi (d. 1105) writes, “you will keep them -- this is said concerning the poor and afflicted who are persecuted by this generation."
(Why Psalm 12:6,7 is not a Promise of the Infallible Preservation of Scripture, Doug Kutilek)

Hmmm... oopps.. Doug Kutilek did not tell his readers that this is a part of the Rashi Psalm 12:7b section. By simply quoting "you will keep them..." Kutilek wants to give the reader the false impression that Rashi is referring to all of verse 7, with Doug Kutilek knowing full well that is the impression that will be received by most. Since the readers are familiar with "Thou shalt keep them" as Psalm 12:7a.

Yet the Psalm 12:7a section from Rashi is as above, God is keeping the word of God in their heart ! (In Jewish understanding Torah is a multi-dimensional word, with meanings that include the 5 Books of Moses and Scripture as a whole.)

So surprisingly enough, this will end up being at least a 3-part response ! The import of all this is far-reaching, since the "split understanding" is a very big fly in the ointment of the attack on the King James Bible defender understanding that Psalm 12 does refer to God's words.

Please remember one thing. There really is absolutely no doubt, even among the informed opposition, that the King James Bible translation is 100% sound and accurate, and that the "preserve us" translations are very dubious, ie. errant, not representing the Hebrew Bible.

And within the King James Bible accurate and proper translation there are three general interpretations.

1) The words of God kept and preserved
2) 7a is words, 7b is poor and needy
3) Poor and needy preserved from this generation for ever !


And then there are the dual and ambiguous interpretations that allow for both.

Having discovered that Rashi had been greatly misrepresented, and lines best with (2) and with Ibn Ezra being (1) and David Kimchi being (2) or (3) (research needed) really changes the dynamic of the rabbinic evidences. I had previously been surprised that the major early rabbinics would be majority for persons, that simply did not seem likely looking at the simple context of the verse and knowing their sense. Now we see that it is simply is not the case, the rabbinics had been misrepresented. Also we discover the Midrash on Psalms may want to weigh in as well.

Now to be fair, there is a distinction between the words of God being kept in the heart of the believer and being preserved for all generations. In fact, one irony in all this is that if a split was to be had -- "preserve them from this generation for ever" clearly is a better fit for words than people ! However we will go into this more, by the grace of the Lord Jesus, in a future post.

We will next look at Rashi on Psalm 12:7b.

Shalom,
Steven Avery