Genesis 37:23 “And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him;”
Our young preacher Cory Jackson strikes again with some excellent research...
There it is. The only time the word “stript” appears in the King James Bible. Why is it spelled that way? Why is it not spelled “stripped”? After all, the word “stripped” is in the Bible 12 times. Why should this one word in Genesis 37:23 be different from the others? Pondering this brought me back to my days of being a Document Control Specialist in Dallas, Texas.
My job was to ensure that the documents, records and work specifications of the company were accurate, maintained and approved by the authorized personnel. Not only did the general information contained in these documents need to be accurate, but the spelling of every word in the documents needed to be correct as well. This job required attention to detail.
There are few things worse than a surprise audit from the FDA, in which they inspect a document that is found to have multiple spelling errors. Ouch!
How unprofessional! Spelling matters. In matters in the workforce. And it certainly does not matter any less when it comes to the Word of God. In fact, we could certainly contend that it matters even more!
The word “stript” in Genesis 37:23 is a verb. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, there are two definitions of “stript” when it is used as a verb.
Stript, variant of strip: To denude (a thing) of its covering, esp. (a tree) of its bark, (a seed) of its skin, (a fruit) of its rind.
Stript, variant of stripe: To ornament (cloth, a garment) with narrow pieces of material or with stripes of colour.
This word, as it is used in Genesis 37:23, seems to be a combination of both of these definitions. Joseph’s brethren were taking off a covering, which is consistent with the first definition listed. But notice that the second definition listed is a variant of the word “stripe”. And it has to do with narrow pieces of material of stripes of colour. The Bible description of Joseph’s coat is that it was a “coat of many colours.” This was certainly made from more than one piece of material. It was made from many, narrow pieces of material. This would form stripes.
So when Joseph’s brethren took off his coat, they were taking off something that had stripes on it. According to a King James Bible, when you strip off something that has stripes, it has not been stripped, it has been stript. God gave the King James translators the wisdom to understand this. The chances are pretty good that they knew grammar and language better than any Document Control Specialist or any scholar alive today. And they chose to use the word “stript” here.
If a business or a government agency goes to such great lengths to pay attention to detail in record keeping, how much more is our God capable of giving us a record in which every detail is exactly the way he wants it to be? The Holy Ghost is satisfied with the interpretation of this word, and since he is, I
should be too.
It’s interesting to note in Matthew 27:28, Jesus was “stripped” of His raiment. He was not “stript”. What does that tell us? His clothing did not have stripes. It wasn’t bright and flashy or designed to get attention. It was common, plain clothing. Does that not fit the description given of the Saviour in Isaiah 53:2? “For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.”
I believe the King James Bible is perfect, not just in its doctrine, and not just in its words, but in its spelling of those words too. I did not begin to notice little nuances of spelling in the Bible, until I believed that it was indeed, a perfect Book. And once I saw nuances in spelling, I realized we can learn doctrine
not only from the words of a King James Bible, but also from how those words are spelled. Only God could write such a Book.