Let me preface this with a disclaimer. I'm not approaching this from, "Here are the facts! You're wrong if you disagree." I'm approaching it from a general impression. Just so we're clear.
I'm looking at Isaiah 6. You remember the story. Isaiah saw God (Isa 6:1-7). He saw God in all His holiness ("Holy, Holy, Holy"). And it was enough to undo him. "Woe is me! for I am undone!" (Isa 6:5). Not the expected, "Hey, Big Guy in the Sky!" we imagine. He ... was terrified. So God sent an angel and the angel took care of the problem. Then the text says, "Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?' Then I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'" (Isa 6:8). The same guy that was "undone" immediately answers, "Here am I. Send me."
The "Who will go for Us?" part, where God is plural, is interesting, but it's that last phrase that catches my attention. "Here am I." It's not the normal phrase: "Here I am." In fact, a few of the versions actually say, "Here I am." Interestingly, the text literally says, "Behold!" No reference to "am," as in location. So the Literal Translation says, "Behold me." More like a "Yoohoo!" than a personal locator. See, I have a problem with "Here I am" instead of "Here am I." Almost all the sources I examined said they're the same, but I think there's a subtle difference. Consider. "Here" is a location. Both begin with that. Then what? In one, "I" is the primary idea. In the other, "am" is leading. So it seems as if one is pointing to me and the other is pointing to my location. In the normal, "Here I am," I am the important factor. In the unusual, "Here am I," my location is the primary thought. Like "Behold me" might suggest. "God, look in this location. I happen to be here."
I know ... it's just me. It isn't definitive. I won't make it an issue. But ... "Here I am" feels like it's saying, "God, I'm your best bet if you need help" and the other is saying, "Lord, use me if you want." One calls attention to me, and other calls attention to my readiness to be used. In the end, of course, it's not an issue either way, but my primary concern is always, "Who's more important? Me ... or God?" The default for human beings is "Me." Stepping down to "You first" is not natural and not comfortable ... but absolutely correct.
1 comment:
I agree that "Here am I" and "Here I am" have a subtle difference. One is a presentation of submissiveness, the other is one of attention. It was differences like this, or the "seed not seeds" passage that made me take notice a difference in translation of Paul's "The righteous shall live by faith." That harkens back to Habakkuk, but in both of Paul's quotes it is, "By faith the righteous shall live." And in Hebrews it's the Habakkuk way. I see a subtle difference between Paul and Habakkuk. Paul says that faith makes us alive, where Habakkuk says we order our lives by faith.
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