No “is” and No “have” — A Lesson in Semitic Functionality
A great video on a similar topic: Submit to Semitic Functionality, by Deacon Henok Elias.
During a Hebrew lesson with my mentor Fr. Paul Tarazi, a retired Greek Orthodox priest and biblical scholar from Palestine, he said something that struck me. It was the key to understanding human behavior, especially as it is presently unfolding in the Middle East; a testament of sorts to a perennial disunity between the Western and Arab worlds. It took me a long time to gather my thoughts for this article, but as per my sloppily written notes,
The two words that the NATO people use that are not found in the Semitic languages are the verbs (to have) and (to be). And those two are the downfall of Western civilization and an explanation for the current events in the news. It is crucial for understanding scripture. If you (are) nothing and you (have) nothing, you aren’t special.
Those of us who were nursed in Plato’s bosom from birth can’t help but be alienated by those words. In English, we use the verb “to be” all the time. He is my son. I am a doctor. They are my friends. There is a clear concept of “being” or to put it another way, of “essence” which is really “is-ence”. I invoked Plato’s name because this notion of “essence” comes to us in its most radical form from the reception of Hellenistic philosophical literature. The Greek word for essence is οὐσία ousia. Grammatically, it is the present participle of the verb εἰμί eimi — I am. There is simply no equivalent to this in Hebrew. The closest you get is the verb היה hayah which literally refers to something “happening” or “falling out”. The Arabic equivalent is هوى hawa with the same function. The famous “I AM” statement from Exodus is not properly translated as “I am” but rather “I shall be”.
In Hebrew, ehyeh asher ehyeh, is in the imperfect tense signifying an incomplete action. It would literally translate to “I shall be that I shall be”. Strictly speaking, there is nothing of a “present participle” here. There is no “is” or “being”. It is simply communicating that God will be present with Moses when he appeals to Pharaoh on God’s behalf. In other words, God will act “egregiously” through Moses.
The Septuagint version of Exodus 3:14 is tricky. In Greek it reads,
Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν
Rendered literally into English, it would say “I am the one who persists”. This is a fascinating translation. It is not a direct, word-for-word translation, but plays with a nuance found in Greek grammar. It could not have effectively rendered the Hebrew imperfect with the future active tense, which would be the most literal and direct translation. The reason is that Semitic languages are far less concerned with grammatical time associated with the indicative mood. Instead, the verbs either represent an ongoing action or an action that has already occurred. The nuances of “time” are indicated by context, rather than strict grammatical structure. So the use of the present active indicative εἰμι illustrates that incomplete action, as well as with the presence of the participle ὁ ὤν. The context is indicative of a future event, where God shall persist against the Pharaoh and his indignation for the Israelites. And yet, it refrains from using the future tense so as not to limit the scope of God’s authoritative statement. So even though the same root is used in Greek, this moment in Exodus says nothing about the philosophical divine ousia of future theologians but rather testifies to God’s immovability. No matter how much Pharaoh will fight against God, the response is simply ehyeh asher ehyeh. To impose an “is” onto God is an attempt to confine him. God is not contained, not in physical idols nor in the idol of the mind.
Another interesting feature is that only God is allowed to ehyeh asher ehyeh. Everyone else is a vanishing breath. Where God shall live for all time, every human being will cease to live and return to dust. We occupy space for a brief time. There is no room for any one of us to be arrogant or in any way self-aggrandizing. In the grave, rich and poor look exactly the same. This lack of the verb “to be” distinguishes scripture and the modern West where ego has completely taken us over. We are selfish consumers, obsessed with identity and validation. As consumers in the late stages of capitalism, we are also obsessed with positions. On top of having no concept of “being”, Semitic languages also lack the verb “to have”. Instead, the lamed preposition “ל” which means “to”, is used. So if one were to say “I have a book” the literal rendering would be “the book to me”. In other words, the language reflects occupation rather than possession. If something is “to me” then it is out of my grasp. It isn’t necessarily “mine” but it is momentarily in my purview. This runs deep throughout the Semitic languages, where even people’s children are still “to them” instead of “theirs”. That is because God is the only melek (owner/ proprietor) and human rulers are simply vassals. God is the landlord of the heavens and the earth. None of us actually owns real estate. God either allows or disallows people to occupy space. The human ego is the most destructive force in the world. It is so destructive because it reflects man trying to be God. Man is not God. Man’s days are numbered, but God is the first and the last.
لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ
There is no god but God
