Kol Yahweh

At our last small group meeting we discussed the poor translation of Genesis 3:8.  The verse literrally reads "And they heard the voice of Yahweh God walking in the garden."  It seems odd that the voice of God would be walking, and so most translators opt to use the phrase "sound of" rather than "voice of."

In Hebrew the phrase translated as voice or sound of the Lord is kol Yahweh.   The word kol can mean sound as well as voice, however the pairing of the word kol with Yahweh, meaning voice of the Lord, has a rich history that extends beyond Genesis 3:8.  Since the phrase recurs throughout the Old Testament, it seems like we would be on good grounds to translate the phrase the way it is translated throughout the rest of the Old Testament.

That still leaves us with the question of how do we understand that the voice of the Lord was walking? As we discussed in small group last Sunday, the picture given to us is of God making His appearance in all His judicial glory.  He comes not in the "cool of the day" but in the "spirit of the day."  This is the presence of God being made manifest.   God's presence is awesome and terrifying and beyond human description.  The use of the phrase "voice of the Lord God walking" is a necessarily imperfect attempt to describe an event that human language is inadequate to describe fully.

Exodus and Deuteronomy use the phrase "voice of the Lord" to refer to the law.  For example, Exodus 15:26 states, "If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in His eyes, and give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord your God."  Deuteronomy uses the phrase to describe the giving of the law at Mount Horeb.

Moses recounts the people's reaction to the voice of the Lord in Deuteronomy 5:24-25, "And you (people of Israel) said, 'Behold, the Lord our God has shown us His glory and greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire,  This day we have seen God speak with man, and man still live.  Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us.  If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we shall die."  It is at this point the people recognize their unworthiness before a holy God and elect to send Moses alone to receive the commands of the Lord.   God's response to the people's concern is that they have spoken rightly. The voice of the Lord inspires awe and fear, much as it did to Adam and Eve.

The voice of the Lord is used in other passages in conjunction with His judgment.  Isaiah 30:31 warns the Assyrians that they will be terror stricken at the voice of the Lord, when He smites with His rod. Micah also uses "the voice of the Lord" in a similar way in Micah 6:9, "The voice of the Lord cries to the city - and it is sound wisdom to fear Your name: Hear of the road and of Him who appointed it."  The warning in Micah is given to the Israelites.

Of all the places the phrase "voice of the Lord" is used in the Bible, perhaps no other gives a fuller picture of the meaning of the phrase than Psalms 29.  Here it is in its entirety:

Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,
Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name;
Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.

The voice of the Lord is over the waters:
The God of glory thunders
The Lord, over man waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful;
The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
The Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a young, wild ox.
The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh
The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth
  and strips the forests bare,
  and in His temple all cry, "Glory!"

The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
The Lord sits enthroned as a king forever
May the Lord give strength to His people!
May the Lord bless His people with peace!

Note all the rich imagery.  The voice of the lord is compare to rushing water and thunder.  I particularly like the line that says the voice of the Lord breaks the cedars.  Not only is the voice of the Lord compared to nature, but even the nation of Lebanon responds to its command.  Sirion is another name for Mount Hermon, a mountain on the border of Lebanon, Syria, and Israel that is still strategically important to this day.  It is the highest point in that area of the world and at the very command of the Lord it will skip like a wild young ox.  Nature is completely under the control of the voice of the Lord.

The can be no doubt that the Bible views the voice of the Lord in terms of awe.  It is powerful and dangerous.   The Lord even agrees that it is right for the Israelites to stay away from the voice of God because, as God's powerful instrument representing His commands and His justice, they will die.   So how can humanity approach a God with such power and such holiness?

Deuteronomy 18 contains a promise that God will raise up a new prophet like Moses to whom the people should listen.  The reason given to the Israelites for the need to raise up this new prophet like Moses is because hearing the voice of the Lord would result in the death of the Israelites.  Deuteronomy ends with the passing of Moses' commission to Joshua, however verse 34:10 states "And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face."  This is important because it means Joshua was not the prophet like Moses.

The prophet referred to in Deuteronomy 18, who could actually stand before God and hear and deliver the voice of the Lord, was not Joshua.  Numbers 12:6-8 says that prophets will be raised by God that God will speak to in dreams or visions.  The passage then goes on to specifically state that this will differ from the way God spoke to Moses, because God spoke to Moses face to face.  Other prophets would come, but this would not be the prophet predicted in Deuteronomy 18 that would be able to approach the voice of the Lord.  The prophet of Deuteronomy 18 must be someone who the Lord knows face to face.  No prophet in the Old Testament is described as being like Moses or who knows the Lord face to face .  This prophet like Moses, promised in Deuteronomy 18, can only be Jesus Christ.