If the subject before us was the comparative value of the various

manuscripts which we have to consult in seeking the original text of the

Scriptures, it would be right and proper to assess the respective merits of

the Vatican, the Sinaiticus, the Alexandrian, and other MSS., and at the

close of the investigation we should be within our rights if we were to

express a preference for one manuscript above another.  But if we are

investigating the usage of a particular word, and we profess to have given

`all of the occurrences', then the omission of one reference, especially one

that militates against our own conclusions, is serious.  This first reference

to huperano in the Septuagint most emphatically uses the word to express

distance in cubits, whereas our self -appointed mentor grows almost

hysterical in his denunciation of our retention of the A.V. rendering, `far

above', calling it, among other things, a blot on the A.V. translation, and

adding that `so long as it remains it is impossible for the English reader to

get the truth'.  These words would have sounded rather empty if Genesis 7:20

had been cited, and our critic's dictum that huperano denotes `position,

never distance' looks absurd in the presence of these 15 cubits!  We have

more to bring forward from Genesis 7:20 in a moment, but it will be better

appreciated after we have allowed our critic a little more space.

The third and last occurrence of huperano in the New Testament is found

in Hebrews 9:5, which reads: `and over it the cherubim of glory shadowing the

mercy seat'.  The critic's comment is:

`In the ark of the covenant we have the best possible illustration of

the force of this word.  Surely the Cherubim were not `far above' the

He further suggests that probably the lower parts of the Cherubim were

`below' the crown of the ark, and gets so enamoured of this idea that he even

goes so far as to say `huperano, in this case, may denote near rather than

far', but we recall that he has already prefaced his investigation by saying:

`As few of us are sufficiently adept in either Greek or English to pass

judgment upon such grammatical and idiomatic problems, we will base

nothing on expert evidence',

so that we need not be greatly concerned.

The Scriptures themselves are the

only and final appeal.

The apostle is not concerned in Hebrews 9:5 with the fact that the

Cherubim and the mercy seat were made out of one piece of metal.  His

statement is confined to one feature, and one feature only, namely, that the

Cherubim `overshadowed' (kataskiazo) the mercy seat and in so doing he is

referring to Exodus 25:18 -20 where we read:

`And the Cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering

the mercy seat with their wings'.

Here we have inspired usage of words and need not be adepts either in

Hebrew, Greek, or English, to understand the meaning of the Hebrew word here

translated `on high'.  Maal is translated in the LXX by huperano, and so

provides an infallible authority for the usage and meaning of the word.  Maal

occurs in such passages as `in heaven above' (Exod. 20:4); `from his

shoulders and upward' (1 Sam. 9:2); `the clouds above' (Prov. 8:28).  Whoever

used the word huperano in Genesis 7:20 and elsewhere, had no hesitation in

using it for a measurable distance, whether for the height of the water above