If you had any adults in your life you have probably heard the expression, “Do as I say, not as I do” or some variation. On one side it is an acknowledgment of our lack of perfection. On the other end it is a mark of hypocrisy. My thoughts, though, are running with Biblical statements that don’t make sense when translated into English. My theory is that it is only our ignorance that keeps them from making sense.
I come across things that are impossible all the time. Take this for example.
Exodus 17:14 (KJV) And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this [for] a memorial in a book, and rehearse [it] in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.It would seem to me that if you are going to mention Amalek in the Bible then you have not removed remembrance. You have perpetuated it. Anyone paying attention and having their brain still attached to their spinal cord would see that this is just an expression and not an infallible decree. Is that asking too much? Evidently.
People of that day would understand just like today if I say, “I ran out of gas”. If I am sitting by the road in my car that would have one meaning. If I am collapsed on the couch in my living room it would have another. If I was inflating helium balloons for a party it would have still a third.
We should extend the expression to a third option. It should be, “Don’t do as I say or as I do but as I mean.” I think reasonable people of good intention could make that work.
homo unius libri
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are welcome. Feel free to agree or disagree but keep it clean, courteous and short. I heard some shorthand on a podcast: TLDR, Too long, didn't read.