An idiom is a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words. (Source Google)

If an idiom was established four thousand years ago, in a difficult language to translate into English, would we understand its meaning? Usage is key in establishing the understanding and since its meaning was in use in a different language, we lose the clarity of understanding that comes along with being part of that original conversation.

“Although we do not have any of the original manuscripts today, we do have thousands of ancient and accurate copies of the Scriptures in the original languages.  And from these original languages, the Bible has been translated directly into English (and into many other languages) for our benefit.  In the ancient world, one of the most well-known and respected translations was the Septuagint (often abbreviated LXX).  This was a translation of the Old Testament Hebrew into the common Greek language of the day.  The work began as a translation of the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) by roughly seventy scholars (hence the Roman numeral: LXX) in the third century B.C.  The rest of the Septuagint was translated in the second century B.C.”

Source biblicalscienceinstitute.com

Given that these seventy scholars were two thousand years closer to the original usage of the idioms within the Old Testament, it is possible they had a better understanding of those spoken words than we do today. I don’t know that for a fact but trust that they knew more about translations than I ever will.

So why am I bringing this up today? It is because there was an idiom used in yesterday’s devotional on the use of the word must. Here is the idiom.

 מוּל מוּל or Muwl Muwl as it would sound in English.

They are the same word and have the same meaning if used alone in the spoken language but together form a common use understanding called an idiom. The idiom is “must needs be circumcised”.