Translation & More

[testallthings]

“In this message we shall consider further the builder of the pillars, the skillful Hiram (1 Kings 7:13-14; 2 Chron. 2:13-14).
It is not easy to know the Bible.”

We all agree on this point. So we try our best the search for the best tools we can find.

“Sometimes when translators have difficulty with a particular passage, they assume that the manuscripts are in error.”

It is possible. Sometimes scribes and copist did surely make mistakes.

“However, when we probe into the depths of the revelation of the Bible, we must worship God.”

Surely this is the experience of all who have proved that the revelation of the Bible is from a divine source and it is perfect.

“Often what at first glance appears to be a mistake in the manuscripts turns out to be a mysterious truth hidden in the Scriptures.”

Maybe. I would not deny that it is possible.

“This is true with respect to 1 Kings 7:14. The King James Version renders the verse as, "He [Hiram] was a widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali." According to this rendering and the understanding of most translators, the modifier, "of the tribe of Naphtali," goes with the word "widow."

That's really so. They translated this verse in the correct way.

“This would mean that this verse says that the widow was of the tribe of Naphtali. But 2 Chronicles 2:14 says that Hiram was "the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan." How could a daughter of Dan also be of the tribe of Naphtali? Some translators, neglecting the Hebrew text of 1 Kings 7:14, tried their best to reconcile this discrepancy, but they failed.”

They failed. Oh, poor translators. How come you failed so miserably? So please can you tell us how to translate this verse. We really have no clue.

“By studying the Hebrew text we have learned that this verse should be translated as follows: "The son of a widowed woman; and he was of the tribe of Naphtali." Thus, Hiram, the son, was of the tribe of Naphtali. This solves the problem.” (Life-Study of Genesis, Chapter 86, Section 1) [The words without quotation marks are mine, of course]

Wow! This solves the problem! It was really so simple! Just add the word and!

Let's be serious. In the RcV the verse is translated differently, “He was the son of a widow and he was of the tribe of Naphtali. (RcV)
The job of a translator is to translate not to reconcile discrepancies. Able commentators have solved this problem without tampering with the text.
Here a some examples.



“He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was צֹרִי אִישׁ, i.e., a Tyrian by birth. According to 2Ch_2:13, his mother was “of the daughters of Dan,” i.e., of the tribe of Dan. Both statements may easily be united thus: she was a Danite by birth, and married into the tribe of Naphtali. When her husband died, she was married again as the widow of a Naphtalite, and became the wife of a Tyrian, to whom she bore a son, Hiram. This explanation is also adopted by Bertheau (on the Chronicles); and the conjecture of Lundius, Thenius, and others, that the mother was an Israelitish widow of the city of Dan in the tribe of Naphtali, which was quite close to Tyre, is less in harmony with the expression “of the daughters of Dan.”

Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

“Hiram was a born master builder. The influence of heredity needs no more signal illustration. He combines his mother's heart and his father's mind. Strange, that in a correspondence between Eastern kings of antiquity, with whom woman's fame was of less than cypher value, Hiram's mother should be mentioned at all; stranger still, that the premier place is given to her, implying that, while both parents were eminent, the mother was pre-eminent. Who was she? “A woman of the daughters of Dan” (2Ch_2:13-14). The Danites bore the brunt of all the Sidonian incursions, until, driven from hearth and home for refuge to the hills, privation and isolation but varied the form of the disasters that dogged them. Finally, submitting to capture or surrender, they were taken across the border into Tyre to suffer further ignominy amid alien surroundings. But never did the sons and daughters of Dan forget their tribal ancestry or affinities. Their traditions and Pride became a splendid inheritance, and their faith sustained them under the sharpest persecution. Even their oppressors grew to respect them, and permitted them to thrive in their midst. Hiram”s mother had the tribal grit, the unswerving courage of her people, so that when named at the Tyrian Court, it is as “a woman of the daughters of Dan.” And, in his letter to Solomon, Hiram the King lets drop this bit of feminine biography that is a tribute to her fine fidelity to conscience. Do not think that this passes in the record as of no account. You can prophesy with tolerable certainty as to Hiram's future when you read his mother's story, and you can as surely anticipate as much for every child of promise whose mother is true to the form of faith that holds her to the people of God.”
The Biblical Illustrator