The English language boast 1.5 billion speakers throughout the world. It is rapidly becoming the lingua franca or LWC – language of wider communication – of technology. And, yet, it is one of the most difficult languages to master. Now, those of us for whom it is our native tongue may take exception to that but for someone trying to learn it from a different country, it can be quite a challenge.
The Oxford Royale Academy writes, “One of the reasons why English is known for being difficult is because it’s full of contradictions. There are innumerable examples of conundrums such as:
- There is no ham in hamburger.
- Neither is there any apple nor pine in pineapple.
- If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught?
- If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
- “Overlook” and “oversee” have opposite meanings, while “look” and “see” mean the same thing.”1
Then, we have all those grammatical rules that have exceptions to the rules. This trips us up sometimes as we think them through. “I before E except after C and sometimes Y.” It seems weird to live in such a society!
And we have a lot of expressions or idioms that to someone from another country might seem bizarre. For instance, we spill the beans, bury the hatchet, pay through our nose, and we are mad as a March hare. Each of these phrases have interesting origins but what should come as no surprise is that many of our idioms have the same source: the Bible.
If we barely accomplish something, we might say that we did it by the skin of our teeth. Job 19:20 says, “My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.”
Maybe there is a substantial need and someone contributes the bare minimum – or even less. We would say that’s just a drop in the bucket. Isaiah 40:15 is the source of this idiom. “Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small
dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.”
Pride goes before a fall is an easy idiom to identify as having Biblical origins. Proverbs 16:18 warns, “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” The idiom abbreviates the verse.
Have you ever been at your wit’s end? You’re at a loss for solving a problem and have exhausted all possible explanations. Hands are thrown in the air with exasperation as you proclaim, “I’m at my wit’s end!” Once again, the Bible is our source. Psalms 107:27 says, “They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.”
Perhaps a situation at work has you frazzled as you watch incompetent people trying to lead others who are equally inept. Chances are, you will echo the words of Matthew 15:14. “Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.”
One more idiom highlights a Biblical truth. Let’s say that you get called into a meeting with your supervisor at work. You know that you’ve been working hard and your production numbers have been up. Surely, you are about to get a raise, promotion, or some sort of positive affirmation. You walk in unaware that you are about to get sacked. You walk in like a lamb to the slaughter.
Isaiah 53:7 says, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.” The only difference between our usage of the idiom and the Bible’s usage is that Jesus knew exactly what He was doing and what was going to happen. There wasn’t a single curse uttered against Jesus that He hadn’t heard in eternity past. He wasn’t taken off guard when He was slapped. Jesus knew every nail that would pierce His hands and feet, every thorn that would pierce His brow, and every barb of the cat-o-nine tails that would rip his back as He was flogged.
As Jesus was praying in the Garden, He was beginning to fill the weight and horror of the moment, especially the stench of our sin. He prayed what has also become an idiom.
Matthew 26:38-39 says, “Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. (39) And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Luke 22:42 adds, “… Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.”
Our idiomatic English can be trying as we attempt to conquer it, even for those for whom English is our native tongue. Get to the root of the matter. Dig into the Word of God and you will find many of our common expressions come straight from the pages of Scripture.
“But ye should say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me?” (Job 19:28)
1https://www.oxford-royale.com/articles/learning-english-hard
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