A Tiny Difference With a Huge Difference
It is almost ridiculous the difference that half a line can make. There is a controversy which has been going on for around 1400 years, mostly between Jews and Christians over the difference between the Hebrew word וראכ and the Hebrew word יראכ. See the difference? That one letter is either Waw or Yod. To most of us this means virtually nothing. When we learn the context though, it means a lot. You see, the debated word comes from Psalm 22:16. If the letter is Waw, then the text reads (as virtually all Christian versions of the Old Testament have it)~ “they have pierced my hands and feet”. Which seems a clear prophecy of Jesus on the cross. But if it is Yod then the statement becomes as a Jewish Study Bible I was recently loaned translates it~ “Like a lion [at] my hands and feet”.
The problem is that for centuries it was impossible to know. You see we had been using the Septuagint; a Greek translation of the Old Testament made in 200 BC which had the “pierced” version. But the original Hebrew that was translated from was long lost. There are, of course, other extant (still existing) Hebrew manuscripts, but they all come from centuries after the time of Christ and after this controversy started. So, we can’t be sure if there wasn’t a little manipulation going on there, either way- Christian desired outcome or Jewish. Someone might have had their thumb on the scales when making that one little line so as to give evidence the way they wanted it to come out.
One big problem was that the majority of the oldest extant manuscripts all favored the little line. The one which makes it “like a lion”. And the case for the prophecy of Christ came into real question. For the past couple hundred years “serious” historians and scholars kind of, looked down their noses at people who held out for the “they have pierced” interpretation.
Then something funny, wonderful and vindicating happened. In 1947 A shepherd boy threw a rock into a cave in Palestine and herd pottery smash. He checked it out and the greatest discovery of probably 1000 years was made- The Dead Sea scrolls. Oddly enough some of the scrolls contained the passage from Psalm 22:16 and it is centuries older than any of the other extant Hebrew texts. It predates the whole controversy by a couple hundred years. Guess what it says? וראכ “they have pierced my hands and feet”. And in several other places it upholds what Christians have believed about the Old Testament.
Shepherd boy for the WIN! Right? Well. It might not surprise you that those who made their names by betting against the prophetic interpretation still say “Well, I just don’t agree.” But as for me- I’m pretty convinced.