Day 14: Blood’s Verdict

The word verdict is a rich word, when you think about it etymologically. I love looking up words in the dictionary and learning about how they evolved into the English language, what old words from other languages are their parents, and what similar words could be called “cousins.” I grew up on the King James version for Bible listening and reading, and though I have some complaints about how it can create a compartmentalized life, to experience your everyday life in one language and your religious life in another language, there are some benefits to being familiar with that older version. For one, Shakespeare’s language is a bit less intimidating, because King James version language is so similar. Another advantage is having a “bridge” of experience with older words that may enrich the meaning for words we commonly use today. For example, in King James version, you always hear Jesus using these phrase: “Verily, Verily, I say unto you.” What the heck is verily? It easily can be one of those words that roll off the tongue without much thought. But then think about the word ver-dict. “Ver” means “truth.” Ver-ify means to check up on the truth of something. “Very” is used as a modifier before a noun emphasize the actuality of something. To say something is “very soft” doesn’t really mean extra soft, but that it truly, really, actually is soft. “Dict” means “speak” or “pronounce.” We get the words diction, indict, and dictator and dictionary, which all have the same Latin ancestor. So when Jesus was saying “Verily, Verily, I say to you” in King James English, he was saying “verdict, verdict.” We could picture him being a foreman of a jury, opening up the little piece of paper and reading the jury’s decision.

This entry is getting too long, but the idea that I have been chewing on, based on several places in the Bible that mention blood is that somehow blood has the ability to be a witness. If you picture a courtroom where someone is being prosecuted for a crime, the goal and climax of all the proceedings is the verdict of “guilty”, or “not guilty.” Blood is one of the reliable witnesses that will help Justice arrive at the accurate verdict. In that Ashenputtel fairy tale, blood helped tell the Prince whether he had his true love, or a nasty step-sister. In the Genesis 4 murder, blood cried out to God as a prosecuting witness against Cain. There are a few more places that blood has this kind of job, to testify as a witness, and they are in Hebrews 12:24 and 1 John 5:7. The Hebrews reference is a long section telling us where we now can go to hear something spoken, “You have not come to (and then a list of attributes that recall the terrifying Mt. Sinai encounter in Exodus 19) . . . but you have come to” (and then a list of attributes describing a wonderful Mt. Zion encounter.) At the end of the second list is the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

The I John reference tells us that blood is one of the three reliable witnesses that are speaking this testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. The blood is giving trustworthy testimony about something we can believe in. The blood is speaking, “Verily, verily, I say unto you.”

I feel like I’m a detective trying to uncover the clues and solve the mystery of why blood is such a big deal in the Old and New Testament. I have a lot more days to think and write about this yet, but the idea that seems verily intriguing right now that blood has been given a meaningful task. Not just as a symbol, but as an actual bright red cell-filled fluid. There is something special about blood, and something special that only blood can say or do. Blood is important. I don’t think it should be marginalized or kept in the closet because we think it is gory, or unsanitary, or uncivilized, or cultish, or R-rated, or inappropriate for women and small children.