Much easier to do this back in my office with my books to hand, so I can add a few things to my post last night.
One, the plural of bamah in Isaiah 14:14—to which the person who did the video refers in order to justify his back-translation of bamah—is indeed bamatey; or better, bāmātê, since the yodh there isn’t functioning as a consonant but rather as a vowel marker. (Actually, the root word should really be written bāmâ, since the closing hē isn’t really a consonant either, but also just a vowel marker.)
Two, now that I’ve had the chance to sit down with the New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology & Exegesis (NIDOTTE to its friends), I can say with confidence that this conjectured back-translation is completely wrongheaded. The word bāmâ is used in several places in the OT in the stereotyped phrase “to tread/ride on the heights of,” as NIDOTTE says, “to express God’s absolute sovereignty over land and sea”; Isaiah puts this phrase in the mouth of the king of Babylon to express his arrogant presumption. The word is never used to denote Heaven, the place where God dwells, however, and never would have been, since the primary meaning of bāmâ was a place of worship (the “high places” that the kings of Israel/Judah are criticized throughout the middle OT for not taking down); the word for “heights” that is used in this way is mārôm. Besides, if Jesus had used bāmâ, we wouldn’t have to guess, since it actually passed into NT Greek in the form bēma.
Instead, looking at the semantic field, the word Jesus would have actually used would have been šāmayim (or its Aramaic cognate), which is the word that actually means “heaven” (it’s paralleled with other words that mean “height,” “sky,” “firmament,” etc., but those words aren’t used by themselves to mean “heaven”). As such, even kībārāq min-ûbāmātê, as little as that sounds like “Barack Obama,” is clearly not what Jesus actually said; the likeliest back-translation of the words “I saw Satan fall like lightning from Heaven” into Hebrew, rather, would be hāzâ (or rā’â) ha-śātān kībārāq min-vešāmayim.
All of which is to say, the idea that Jesus said “I saw Satan as Barack Obama” is utterly unsupported by the facts, and unsustainable on the basis of any real understanding of Hebrew; it’s contemptible nonsense to fool the credulous and pre-deceived, nothing more.
Update: Shane VanderHart’s post on this on his blog, Caffeinated Thoughts, is also well worth checking out, as he adds some good points.
Oh good grief!!!!
What is it about the arrogance and idocy of people to assume that the antichrist will be an american president? I am sorry, but wouldn't that be too stinking obvious? Way to fly under the radar there, Satan!
Not sure if anyone ever accused Carter but I have seen every president since Reagan accused of it…. although actually, the thought of Jimmy Carter being the Antichrist just sent me into a fit of the giggles! What a perfect cover, no one would ever suspect….
Oh, someone's bound to have accused Carter, if only because eschatological fervor was rising during his term . . . still, I agree the image is pretty ridiculous. 🙂
I don't think it's so much the assumption that the Antichrist will have to be POTUS, as it is people wanting the biggest handful of muck they can find to hurl at Obama. Which is sad, really; I of course didn't vote for the man, but that sort of attitude is just wrong.
LOL I had to look up POTUS and now I feel like an idiot. 😉
You are right about Carter and that era tho, that was when the Late Great Planet Earth was written!
I think the internet has made this sort of accusation far more mainstream.
Yeah, it definitely has. The problem with an amplifier is that it amplifies everything . . .
Like Bill Cosby said about marijuana. A guy told him he likes it because "it intensifies my personality."
Bill Cosby replied, "yes, but what if you are an …." (use your imagination.
Same general principle, and the anonymity has given rise to those who would do great injury with impunity. Very few of these people see Obama, or Bush, or whoever, as actual human beings. It makes it easier to be arrogantly vicious, and in the process we are losing our humanity as never before. We will be called to account for that.
I hadn't thought about it from quite that angle before, but you're right. The judgment will not, I think, be minimal.