When religious leaders re-interpret Scripture to suit themselves.

How can you say, “We are wise, for we have the law of the Lord,” when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely? The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the word of the Lord, what kind of wisdom do they have?...From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. “Peace, peace,” they say, when there is no peace. (Jeremiah 8:8-11)

In this passage, Jeremiah continues his accusation that the people did not know the requirements of the Lord. But it was the Temple priesthood who were really in Jeremiah’s sights. They claimed to be the educated elite of the nation, saying; “We are wise, for we have the Torah to guide us.”

This provoked the most serious charge of actually tampering with the historic teaching given by God to Moses. It was the role of the scribes within the Temple community to copy the scrolls and to ensure the accuracy of every letter and its pointing. If their work could not be trusted because they were changing the meaning of words to suit their own interpretation, the authority of the word of God was undermined.

Tampering with Scripture

Jeremiah’s charge was that the whole priestly community was corrupt; they had very little respect for the integrity of the word of God, which they actually changed to suit their own purposes. He says that they had rejected the wisdom of God and substituted their own worldly wisdom. Sadly, this has been a predilection of theologians down the ages. They have always injected their own interpretations into Scripture.

No doubt this has often been well-meant, in order to make the teaching more understandable for readers. But this is the reason why we have so many different versions of the Bible and it is very difficult to know what the original scrolls actually said. Clearly, this is not a modern practise. Jeremiah was aware of the same activity by the scribes in Jerusalem more than 2,500 years ago.

Jeremiah’s charge was that the priests did not respect the integrity of the word of God, which they actually changed to suit their own purposes.

What is the spirit behind these practices? It is surely one of pride: that we think that our human wisdom is superior to God’s! The Apostle Paul dealt with a similar situation among the educated elite in Corinth. He said: “Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” (1 Cor 1:20).

At root, it is the desire for power that drives human beings to want to take control away from God and to exercise it ourselves. But Jeremiah points to the foolishness of this because once human beings reject the word of the Lord, they are left with only the limited ability of human minds to foresee the outcome of decisions, or the direction in which they are leading. It was the wisdom of God that revealed to Jeremiah what was going to happen to Jerusalem and the Temple if King Zedekiah revolted against Babylon, as the Temple priests and politicians were advising.

Abuses of Power

The priests were convinced that the presence of the Temple ensured the safety of the city, because God would never allow his holy place to be desecrated by foreigners. Jeremiah knew this was a lie, because righteousness and justice were part of the very nature of God. The priests were ignoring the part of the Torah that declared, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Deut 5:7). The people did not ‘know requirements of the Lord’ and indulged in many kinds of idolatry which were deeply offensive to God.

The most serious consequence of all this was that the Temple authorities themselves spread the false belief, “Peace, Peace”, when there was no peace. This promise of peace and prosperity was deception: in fact, it was a dangerous deception because it covered up the deep theological sickness in the royal Temple community, who were mis-handling the Torah. The leaders of the nation were all part of a small elite who were “greedy for gain”. They were full of self-indulgence and were misusing their power for their own selfish ambitions.

Ezekiel spelt out the penalties against the leaders of the nation who misused their power: “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves” (Ezek 34:10).

The promise of peace and prosperity was a dangerous deception which covered up the deep theological sickness in the royal Temple community.

Deception Close to Truth

Jeremiah’s great concern was that he could foresee the terrible consequences of the deception that was consuming the whole nation. The people, who were unable to read the Torah for themselves, were easily deceived by a popular message that allowed them to do as they pleased.

Deception, of course, has to be very close to the truth, otherwise it would fool no-one. The lie that the Temple priests were spreading was close to the truth, because God would undoubtedly have protected the City of Jerusalem if the leaders and the people had put their trust fully in him and were obedient to the terms of the covenant. As Jeremiah said in his famous Temple Sermon, God did not simply give commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices (ritualistic religious practices) - he said, “Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people” (Jer 7:23).

The same requirements of trust and obedience apply today if we as individuals, and as a nation, are to enjoy the peace and prosperity of being in a right relationship with God.

This article is part of a series on the life and ministry of the Prophet Jeremiah. Click here for previous instalments.

On this day 70 years ago, 20 of Germany's Nazi leaders went on trial before an International Military Tribunal, to be held to account for their war crimes. To mark this occasion, we are publishing a personal memoir of the Nuremberg Trials written by Patricia Vander Elst, who was present as an interpreter.

Introduction

In her article below, written not long before her death in July 2005 and published originally by the International Association of Conference Interpreters, my mother, Patricia Vander Elst, describes how, at the tender age of 21, she began her lifelong career as a freelance interpreter, working in the interpreters' booth at the famous 1945-1946 Nuremberg War Crimes Trial. She worked then under her maiden name of Patricia Jordan, and together with her other interpreter colleagues present at that Trial, pioneered the then novel system of simultaneous interpretation that has been in general use throughout the world ever since.

After the Nuremberg Trial, my mother continued working as a freelance interpreter for a variety of private and international organisations, including UNESCO, the Council of Europe, and the various institutions of the European Union. By the time she died at the age of 80, still working, she had become a widely respected and legendary veteran of the interpreting profession. But what was even more interesting about her was the fact that she spent the first 14 years of her life growing up in first Weimar and then Nazi Germany. Her many vivid memories of that fascinating era included attending the same primary school as Field Marshall Von Hindenberg's grandchildren, and witnessing the terrible aftermath of 'Kristallnacht' in November 1938.

As she told me on more than one occasion, her observation of life in pre-war Nazi Germany, which included her own personal conflict with one Nazi teacher, innoculated her for life against anti-Semitism, taught her an enduring lesson about the need to think for oneself and resist indoctrination, and made her a passionate supporter of Israel. I was and will always remain immensely proud of her.

Philip Vander Elst

The Nuremberg trial

The War was over. An International Military Tribunal had been set up in Nuremberg to try the leading Nazi war criminals. The Main Trial lasted from November 1945 until the verdicts on 30th September 1946 - and I was present during the last four months.

After going to school in Berlin where I lived with my English parents until a few days before the German attack on Poland, I ended up in Switzerland where I saw out the war and spent my last six years of formal education at French-speaking schools and universities.

In Nuremberg, the Trial was being conducted in English, French, Russian and German and was using the novel and largely untried system of simultaneous interpretation. Due to the length of the trial, some interpreters were leaving and had to be replaced. Monitors were dispatched to look for new talent. A test was organised at the Geneva University School of Interpreters which, to my surprise, I passed. We had learnt consecutive interpretation only and to find myself speaking into a microphone at the same time that I was listening to a disembodied voice through earphones was thoroughly disconcerting.

With the ink of my degree scarcely dry, I set out for Nuremberg. It was my first job and, though I did not know it at the time, also my biggest. I went into it with the innocent enthusiasm of my 21 years, looking forward to the freedom from home, the glamour of a foreign assignment and the lure of the unknown. Four months later, the Trial over, I left: ten years older, a great deal wiser, and, indeed, an interpreter.

It was my first job – and my biggest. I went into it with innocent enthusiasm and left a great deal wiser.

Nuremberg Courthouse, see Photo Credits.En-route, I got lost near Frankfurt in a muddle of travel vouchers, curfews and non-existent trains. When I did reach Nuremberg, I was billeted at the Grand Hotel where I was allowed to remain for the duration. I spent a week in the public gallery listening to the proceedings in the Court Room. Then, after a brief test in the booth during a lunch-break, I was told I would be starting in earnest the following day. I felt it was a matter of sink or swim. I swam.

In the Court Room

The lay-out of the Court Room was simple and compact. The accused faced the judges, with assorted German counsel and court reporters in between. Our four booths were at right angles and in very close proximity to the defendants. We could watch them and they often watched us. Facing the interpreters were three sets of Prosecution tables which made up the fourth side of the Court, with the Press and public beyond.

By today's sophisticated technical standards, the booths and the equipment were primitive. We sat in three-sided glass boxes open at the top. Because of the tight fit, it was impossible to leave the booths except during breaks when we would shuffle out in reverse order to the way we had shuffled in. The earphones were clumsy things and each booth of three interpreters had to share one hand-held microphone which was passed to whoever was working from the language just being spoken.

Learning Fast

The system broke down quite frequently and the sound could be bad, but we learned to improvise. Looking back, I am amazed how well we coped and how quickly we acquired the new skills. One of the things we learnt to do fast and well was sight-reading. By the time I got to Nuremberg, it was usual for untranslated prepared speeches to be given to us in writing, which was enormously helpful.

Any misgivings I had about my ability to meet the challenge would vanish as soon as I walked into the booth, much like an actor shedding stage-fright when setting foot on the boards. The monitors would keep a constant close watch on our performance and would tell us where we went wrong or how to improve our delivery. I was told to pitch my voice lower, which I did. Ever since, I have been much aware of the quality of an interpreter's voice and wonder why our occasional screech-owls or excessive regional accents have not been brought to task.

Any misgivings I had about my ability would vanish as soon as I walked into the booth, like an actor shedding stage-fright when setting foot on the boards.

Interpreters at the Nuremberg Trials. See Photo Credits.

We worked two days in a row and had the third day off. One team was on for 1 1/2 hours in the morning and again for 1 1/2 hours in the afternoon. While a second team took over for the other half of the morning and afternoon, we would sit in a nearby room which was equipped with ear-phones and where we could follow the proceedings in the Court. There it was that I listened to Lord Justice Lawrence handing down the sentences. The room was packed then, the atmosphere quite as tense and as solemn as in the Court Room itself.

Team Spirit

The interpreters were, I think, quite a pleasant cosmopolitan lot; a mixture of ages and nationalities, professions and opinions - including several refugees and Jews. Living amidst a sullen native population, in a town that was just a heap of rubble, was stressful, as indeed was the never-ending recital of horrors in the Court Room. I learnt to ignore the first and overcame the strain in Court by concentrating on the work itself.

I was greatly helped in this by the remarkable team spirit among the interpreters and by the close and, as it turned out, life-long friendship with some of them. We let off steam dancing the night away in the Marble Room of the Grand Hotel. We had a lot of fun, an indispensable antidote to the Court Room blues.

The Trials

In Court, whatever our private thoughts, it was necessary to remain neutral when working. From being a blur of concentrated human malice the defendants, little by little, emerged as individuals. One could even admire Goering for his intelligence and dignity and share his open contempt for the slimy Streicher. Kaltenbrunner scared me, he was so palpably evil. The closing speech Hess made left me in no doubt that he was completely mad. We all liked Fritzsche who was only there as a substitute for his dead master Goebbels, and we were glad he was acquitted.

From being a blur of concentrated human malice the defendants, little by little, emerged as individuals.

After the verdicts and the ensuing release of tension, I had had enough of Nuremberg. Whereas I had been working from French into English at the Main Trial, I was supposed to transfer to the German booth for the Subsequent Proceedings. I was rescued by the Chief Interpreter of UNESCO who selected me, along with a few others, to work at the First General Conference in Paris (English/French consecutive). I was released from my Nuremberg contract and left.

Passing into History

I returned to Nuremberg recently. The town has been rebuilt, the scars of war no longer visible. The Court Room, after 54 years, seems smaller. A wall now partitions it where the front of the public gallery had been. The large dock has been rebuilt for fewer defendants. The oppressive dark wood panelling and heavy marble door frames remain, though, as does the small lift door at the back of the dock through which the Nazi leaders were daily brought to account. But I had no feeling of past personal involvement. The Nuremberg Trial had become history.

Patricia Vander Elst

Our thanks go to Patricia's son, Philip, for providing us with her account, as well as to the International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC), through which it was first published (see here).

God speaks not only in word, but also in deed. Edmund Heddle unpacks divine signs and their interpretation as part of his series on the prophetic ministry.

The writer of Psalm 46 invites us to come and see "the works of the Lord", while Psalm 105 instructs us to "make known his deeds among the people!" This is because in Bible times God spoke not only through his word, but also by his deeds. God still speaks today through the events and experiences of human history and it is part of the prophet's task to explain the significance of these happenings. For those whose eyes are opened by the Spirit they are 'signs'.

Shocking desolations

Psalm 46:8 tells us that along with other works of God we are to look into the desolations he has made in the earth. The word 'desolations' (Hebrew shammah) comes from a root which means to stun, to grow numb or to stupify. It describes the kind of event that causes shock and consternation. In the older versions of the Bible the word 'hissing' is also found which describes an event that causes a person to whistle through his teeth.

The later versions employ words such as horror or horrific (Jer 25:9). But however 'horrific' these things may be, we are instructed to look into them so that we can grasp what God is saying to the world and to his people through them. This is an important part of the prophetic ministry, both in Bible times and today.

We are instructed to look into the works of God so that we can grasp what he is saying to us. These works include desolations – events that cause shock and horror.

Loving intention

Although they appear awesome and frightening, the prophet Amos makes it clear that all the events recounted in his book (Amos 4:6-13) had as their objective to bring the nation to its knees in repentance; God's grief at the hardness and indifference of Israel is revealed in the constantly repeated phrase, "yet you have not returned to me, says the Lord." The events by which God sought to bring the nation to repentance fall into four categories:

1. Rain failure. The result of the failure of the rain was drought and famine, as is clear from what the Lord said to the people:

I gave you empty stomachs in every city and lack of bread in every town...I also withheld rain when harvest was three months away...I sent rain on one town, but withheld it from another...people tottered from town to town for water (Amos 4:6-7).

As in the time of Elijah God used a drought to humble a wicked king, Ahab, whose wife was seeking to introduce the worship of Baal into Israel (1 Kings 17:1). In both cases men were reduced to searching the country for water to keep themselves and their cattle alive.

2. Natural calamity. The second category of desolation spelled out in Amos 4 is that of natural calamity. It needed only the wind to be blowing in a certain direction to bring into the land of Israel an invasion of locusts. They usually came from the Arabian Desert to the south or south-east. Locust swarms are driven along by the wind as they have little power of travel by themselves. But the prophet from Tekoa records, "Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees" (Amos 4:9) and it is clear that the Lord directed their invasion of Israel.

Every desolation sent by God – whether disease, war or natural disaster – is sent to bring people to their knees in repentance.

Another natural calamity is the effect of lighting or of a thunderbolt, similar to that which overthrew the cities of the plain. "I overthrew some of you as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah" (Amos 4:11). The word 'overthrew' may indicate that an earthquake was also involved. Certainly Amos has experienced one, as we see in the opening sentences of his prophecy (Amos 1:1). Some cities were completely devastated whereas others were partially burned, and were compared by the Lord to half-burned sticks saved from a fire.

3. War and bloodshed. The third category of desolation present in Amos 4 is that of war and bloodshed. Continuing to show the lengths to which he had gone to turn their hearts back to him, God said, "I killed your young men with the sword along with your captured horses. I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps". This particularly sad affliction involving what the old expositor Matthew Henry called 'the strength of the present generation and the seed of the next' must rank amongst the most devastating of all these terrible desolations.

Horses were an important part of ancient warfare and Israel's had been captured and killed. Whoever their enemy was at that particular time we do not know; what we are told is that the stench of corpses and decaying horse-flesh was unbearable and probably caused the pestilence to which the final reference is made.

4. Pestilence and disease. The fourth and final category of desolation which God brought upon Israel was that of pestilence and disease. He says, "I sent plagues among you as I did to Egypt" but he also referred to their fields and trees when he added, "I struck your gardens and vineyards with blight and mildew" (Amos 4:9-10). As Amos mentions some nine terrible afflictions brought about by God himself he repeats again and again, "yet you have not returned to me, says the Lord".

The series of disasters that befell Israel were not chance or accidental incidents. It had been revealed to Amos that these desolations came about by divine action and intervention. We have here a striking picture of the persistence and forcefulness of God's loving purpose. The heathen king Nebuchadnezzar was right when he said: "How great are his signs, how mighty are his wonders" (Dan 4:3).

The disasters that befell Israel were not chance or accidental incidents. They came about by divine action, displaying the persistence and force of God's loving purpose.

Prophets and Signs

It is both interesting and informative to study the relationship between signs and prophets.

Samuel was the prophet who asked for a sign to confirm his warning when the people were determined to appoint themselves a king. Samuel said to the people:

"Is it not the wheat harvest now? I will call upon the Lord to send thunder and rain. And you will realise what an evil thing you did in the eyes of the Lord when you asked for a king". Then Samuel called upon the Lord, and that same day the Lord sent thunder and rain. So all the people stood in awe of the Lord and of Samuel (1 Sam 12:17-18).

Normally in that region there is no rain from April to October, so to have rain at wheat harvest, from the middle of May to the middle of June, was a miracle. The sign which Samuel requested gave divine approval to his words of censure.

Elijah was the prophet who after prayer announced that a sign would take place. He confronted King Ahab with the statement: "There will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word" (1 Kings 17:1). He had sought God in prayer concerning the growth of heathen idolatrous worship under the auspices of the wicked queen Jezebel and had asked God to withold rain, "and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years" (James 5:17).

Moses was the prophet commissioned by God to bring into effect a series of signs in Egypt designed to force Pharaoh to release the children of Israel. One of the 'plagues' was a devastating hailstorm. We read:

...when Moses stretched out his staff towards the sky, the Lord sent thunder and hail, and lightning flashed down to the ground...it was the worst storm in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation...the only place it did not hail was the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were. (Ex 9:23, 26)

Joel had the happier experience of seeing people repent after the sign of an invasion of locusts. He urged the priests and the people, the children and even a bride and her groom to join a solemn assembly (Joel 2:15-17) to beseech God to spare his people. He was able later to assure all who had joined in the humbling that God would repay them for the years the locusts had eaten: "You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God" (Joel 2:25-26).

Haggai was the prophet who explained the meaning of the disappointing sign to a group of people who had returned from exile in Babylon.

Now this is what the Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat but never enough. You drink but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it" (Hagg 1:5-6).

Haggai then was able to interpret the signs when he complained, on God's behalf, "My house remains a ruin while each of you is busy with his own house, therefore because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops" (Hagg 1:9-10).

The first Bible sign

In contrast to the signs that provoke shock and horror, the first sign in the Bible is one of beauty and mercy. After the evil generation of Noah's day had been destroyed, God began again with Noah and his family. As they emerged from the ark to begin a new life God showed them a beautiful sign and said, "I have set my rainbow in the clouds". It was not left to a prophet to explain its meaning for God himself revealed its significance when he said,

...this is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you...whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures...on the earth. (Gen 9:12-16)

There are good signs for today's prophets to interpret, just as there are horrific desolations that need explanation.

What do today's events mean?

When questioned about some Galilean pilgrims whose blood Pilate had mixed with the sacrifices they were offering in the Temple, Jesus refused to accept the popular idea that this crime proved they were greater sinners than other Galileans. He then went on to draw his questioners' attention to an accident in which eighteen people had been fatally injured when a tower in Siloam had collapsed and fallen upon them (Luke 13:1-5). Again he stated categorically that they were not worse offenders than the other citizens of Jerusalem.

The right way of reacting to these signs - Jesus insisted - was to repent, otherwise they too would perish. As we seek to discover what God is saying through today's shocking events, the call to repentance - both in the way we live and in the message we proclaim - remains a constant word from God. Alongside this, we need prophets to help us learn the other lessons which God reveals to us through his deeds.

As we seek to discover what the Lord is saying through today's shocking events, the call to repentance remains a constant word from God.

The American space-shuttle disintegrated before the appalled gaze of millions across the globe. The Soviet Union experienced a nuclear disaster at Chernobyl that released radioactive material far and wide with devastating effect to both human and animal life. Britain witnessed the lighting strike York Minster, the Bradford football stadium disaster, the Zeebrugge ferry capsize and the massacres at Hungerford and Bristol carried out by gun-crazy young men, in one case responding to occult instructions.

God is surely speaking today through deeds as well as by his words. We urgently need prophets who can interpret these stupendous events and explain what God is saying to his church and to his world.

First published in Prophecy Today, Vol 4 No 1, January/February 1988.