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and another, whose antonym is `heavy' or `weight':
"Our light affliction . . . . . weight of glory" (II Cor. 4: 17).
The ambiguity resident in the English word `light' is resolved the moment we apply
the antonym. This principle is of great use where the ambiguity of a word does not reside
in the fact that it is an homonym, but that by usage it may have two or more shades of
meaning. A most important illustration of this is found in connection with the Hebrew
word which is translated `evil' the word `ra'. This word can mean `evil', in the sense of
wickedness, a meaning that is found throughout the whole of the O.T. There are,
however, too many passages where the meaning is `adversity', `affliction', `calamity' and
the like, for the reader to ignore; and to assume that every occurrence of `ra' must of
necessity mean moral evil or wickedness is both unwise and unscholarly. Take for
example Psa. 34: 19:
"Many are the ra of the righteous."
Can we translate this "Many are the moral wickednesses of the righteous"? We
realize that we cannot, and the LXX did not hesitate to use thlipsis `affliction'. Even
when the translation `evil' is a good one, we must be careful not to confuse moral evil
with righteous judgment. For example, when the Lord said:
"See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil" (Deut. 30: 15),
the context makes it plain that the evil that was before Israel was the very opposite of
being `blessed in the land' (Deut. 30: 16), and when the Prophet would emphasize to
Israel these alternatives, he says in place of `life and good, death and evil':
"I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing" (Deut. 30: 19);
which shows that the `evil' of verse 16 was not the moral wickedness of the people, but
the righteous judgment of God in sending `evil' in the sense of punishment upon them.
If the reader turns to Ecclesiastes, he will observe that the writer is concerned with
what `good thing' a man should pursue in view of abounding vanity and vexation. So, in
Eccles. 1: 13 "This is sore travail" is ra `evil', so is the word `grievous' of 2: 17,
`adversity' of 7: 14, and `misery' of 8: 6; quite apart from the passages which
though they be translated `evil' like "This also is vanity and a great evil" 2: 21 cannot
possibly indicate moral evil and wickedness. Turning to the prophet Isaiah we read:
"Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help . . . . . they look not unto the Holy One
of Israel, neither seek the Lord. Yet He also is wise, and will bring evil" (Isa. 31: 1, 2).
No one in his senses would believe that Isaiah intends us to understand that God in
His wisdom brings moral wickedness upon any one. The remaining verses of chap. 31:
are a good commentary, and the fact that "He will not call back His words" shows that
the judgment threatened by law and prophets upon apostasy would surely fall. So, with
regard to that classic passage, Isa. 45: 7: