Terry Wildman
We’re going to start with verse 22 and explain that afterwards. The heading for that is “Grandmother Wisdom as Creator’s Partner”.
“Grandfather brought me forth at the beginning of his work of creation, long before he made all things, from before all days he set me in the place of honor during the first days of Mother Earth. I was born before the oceans were filled, before the springs of water burst from the ground. My birth took place before the mountains were set in place and before the hills were formed. I was there before Creator made the prairies and the plains, even before the first clumps of clay were formed. I was with him when he set the world above in place. I was his companion when he carved a circle on the face of the ancient deep waters. Yes I, Grandmother Wisdom was there when he placed the clouds in the sky and made the underground rivers flow. I was with him when he told the oceans how far they could go, so they would go no further than what he said. I was there as he set in place the strong turtle that holds up the land. I was the wise builder at his side, making his heart glad each day, dancing with joy before him. I danced for joy in this world he was creating, as I delighted in the human beings he placed there.”
David Capes
Oh, that’s one of my favorite passages from the book of Proverbs. Beautifully done, beautifully done. Let’s spend a little time taking this apart and you do some explanation for us. First of all, talk about Grandfather. Who are you referring to there?
Terry Wildman
Grandfather is the way we present the Hebrew name of God, Yahweh. English translations use LORD. But we didn’t feel that was appropriate for our Native people, because the term LORD has some cultural baggage attached to it from the colonial takeover. We looked for a name that was not only honorable, but also highly respected. A grandfather in our native cultures is the highest place in the family, the elder of the elders, the elders of the land.
To present God as grandfather is common. Several of our tribes that I’ve researched, including my own tribe the Anishinaabe people, call God “mishomis”, Grandfather. That’s one of the ways we refer to God. The Hebrew language refers to God by many different titles and names, like most high, El Shaddai and all these different terms. They refer to the same one, the same being, but refer to different aspects of that great one, of the Divine.
David Capes
When they were doing our English translations in the 1200s and 1300s, they made these kinds of choices too. Including the Tyndale translation and others. They looked at the name Yahweh, God, God’s name, and they began looking for something in English that would represent that. Because you can’t really represent that Hebrew concept. Jehovah came along as a way of attempting to describe that.
But that English world was a world of lords and ladies. It was a world of noblemen and powerful people, people with authority. It was a world of kings and queens. And they reached for those words that were customary to them and contextually important for the English-speaking people in that part of Europe at the time. Those were the words that they knew and chose that come into our translations today. So they used the terms lord and lady. And I’ve seen some translations that will say Lady Wisdom where you say Grandmother Wisdom. They chose Lady Wisdom, from their culture of lords and ladies. You
also have the word Creator there.
Terry Wildman
Yes. Whenever you see Grandfather in the First Nation Version, you’ll know that Yahweh, Y.H.W.H is behind that name. But when it comes to the other titles or names for God in the Hebrew. El, El Elyon, Elohim, these different terms, we use Creator, we use Great Spirit. We felt a freedom to use different titles or names that Native people have called our Creator in place of Elohim and other titles. Mostly you’ll see Great Spirit and Creator. And again, the Bible uses Creator to refer to God. God is considered to be an honored Great Spirit in the Bible. Also, he’s the God above all gods. He’s the Spirit above all spirits.
David Capes
And in the beginning, we read that the Spirit hovered over the waters. We read that. Now you also have the character here in this particular part of the text, as Grandmother Wisdom.
Terry Wildman
Yes. To me this part of Proverbs is spectacular, and it’s an important part. Because I think about Solomon who is the writer of these wisdom sayings, these wise sayings. Think about who raised Solomon. David and Bathsheba. We don’t often think much of Bathsheba. We don’t think what happened to her. She got married and became the mother of Solomon. So where did Solomon get such respect that he would personify wisdom as like a mother? A woman. And Solomon also says in many places, listen to your father’s teachings. Don’t abandon your mother’s teachings. He must have gotten a little bit from both of his parents, from both sides. She must have been a good wisdom keeper to bring that out.
For our Native people, the idea that the Creator is manifest, so to speak, both in masculine terms and feminine terms, as is the case in Proverbs. Now most translations don’t continue to bring out the feminine aspect of wisdom.
That’s true.
Yes, it’s always feminine.
David Capes
In the Hebrew hokhmah is feminine. And when Old Testament was translated into Greek, they use the Greek word for wisdom, Sophia, which is feminine as well.
Terry Wildman
It’s always feminine. I love this idea that we have a grandfather and a grandmother being represented here. And Grandmother and Grandfather are working together to bring creation into being, to create the universe and everything there is. He brought her forth first. Now what’s really interesting is theologically, this creates some tensions, because we find in John 1, in the beginning is the word. All things were created through the word, the logos of God, which has more of a masculine idea behind it. And Jesus, of course, was masculine. But many scholars, and I can’t speak for all of them, but most make a connection between the “Word” and between the wisdom mentioned here.
David Capes
Absolutely, yes. I think most New Testament scholars, do draw a very, very close line between the idea of wisdom and the idea of Logos there in the Gospel of John and the identification of Jesus with the wisdom of God and the identification Jesus with the logos of God as well.
This is an exciting project. I am so pleased that you have brought this about, and now you’re starting the next decade, which is going to be filling your mind with even more Scripture.
Terry Wildman
Yes, I’m ahead of my council working on Genesis. And what an amazing book. There are such stories. Stories of good things, stories of bad things. We’ve got some good people and some real evil people. We got some rascals involved there. I think as we look at this story and retell this story, we will be bringing the indigenous aspects to the surface a little more. That’s what we’re doing with Proverbs. We’re bringing to the surface things that are in the Hebrew but aren’t always brought forth in the westernized translations. But we’re bringing these things up to the surface so people can see it’s there. It’s in the Hebrew and the Hebrew scholars know about it, but we’re excited that the indigenous way of bringing this out brings such beauty and color and depth translation.
David Capes
That’s our hope. You know, Terry in part, I think is because “the people of the book” were people who were close to the land, and the land was very important. The earth was very important. And that’s true from what I understand of native people as well. And so, I think there’s something that you can teach us about the beauty, about the importance, about the significance of this great Earth that we are on. That God created. That we are here to take care of and attend. To love and to draw from, to draw life from it, because all the food that we eat, the air that we breathe, the water we drink, we are sustained by it. So there’s so much that you guys can teach us. And this is just the next installment. It’s the First Nations
Version of Psalms and Proverbs and Indigenous Bible Translation. Terry Wildman, thanks for being with us today on “The Stone Chapel Podcast.”
Terry Wildman
Terry speaks Ojibwe, saying, “Thank you for listening.”
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
