SUPYIRE VOCABULARY IN THE DOMAIN OF SACRIFICE

Types of sacrifice Supyire Literal gloss Free translation cîîre ük—bilini Divination + chicken chicken sacrificed for divination buüi k…sanraga sÃragaüi Corpse + the last + sacrifice corpse’s last sacrifice ük—pîn Chicken + be bad tasting sacrificed chicken which falls on its side or stomach, signifying that the sacrifice is not accepted or that the answer to the question is no ük—tan Chicken + be sweet sacrificed chicken that falls on back, signifying that the sacrifice is accepted or that the answer to the question is yes Places for sacrifice Supyire Literal gloss Free translation cìzunyi Species of tree plural + worship sacred grove of ciüî trees kafugo the ensemble of sacrificial sites in a village j¡nabaga jinn + house jinn house k…jicyîgî place on the path to the graveyard for sacrifice of goat serege half wall half wall in the vestibule which serves as an altar for ancestors tasunmbw›he place + worship + large principal place of sacrifice in a village ¤cw•sunüke pool + worship sacred pool tasunüke place + worship altar; place of sacrifice Recipients of sacrifice Supyire Literal gloss Free translation d…haba sacred pot üÃütanhii twins + winnowing basket fetish made of small winnowing baskets joined, symbolising twins and put inside a calabash dÃmbaa trust + without fetish to which strangers to the village who were not trusted were sacrificed kacyiin fetish Other compound nouns with the verb sun Supyire Literal gloss Free translation kacyinzun fetish + worship fetish worshiperfetish priest kasunni thing + worship reason for sacrifice sunükanni worship + way of doing method of sacrifice The following remarks may be made concerning the above vocabulary. 1. SÃraga has been borrowed from Arabic via BambaraJula, where it can refer to all sorts of offerings of a religious or quasi-religious significance: for example, animals sacrificed to God, alms, gifts at a naming ceremony for infants which are reciprocated by a blessing for the child. 69 In Supyire, too, sÃraga is the word for sacrifice with the widest semantic domain. It includes all kinds of bloody and non-bloody sacrifices, to God or to gods. It may be used of gift with a religious significance, such as alms by those who are Muslim, or a gift prescribed by a diviner as a means of dealing with a problem. 2. The Supyire have not only borrowed certain divinities like the jinas from their dominant Bambara neighbours, but also the word for worshipping them, sun. The use of the word implies that one is dealing either with these lesser divinities, or fetishes or ancestors. Like their Bambara neighbours, they do not sun the creator God. 3. In many contexts, sÃraga and sun can be used interchangeably, and may even be combined in one sentence side by side as in the following excerpt from a conversation recorded by Robert Carlson: 70 “Every year, when the year changes, they go and offer sacrifices in each of those [sacred places]. It is the sacrifices of those [sacred places] that you see are given sÃraga ww– and offered in worship sun .” 4. It is fairly common for the idea of sacrifice to be left implicit, as it is readily supplied by the context and by the ideas of killing or death that are explicit, as in the following examples that are literally translated from Supyire. 69 Goerling, Fritz, The Use of Islamic Theological Terminology in Bible Translation and Evangelism among the Jula in Côte d’Ivoire, Masters of Arts Thesis, Fuller Theological Seminary, 1989, p.117. 70 In Supyire dialogue, a speaker will often make the same point in more than one way. “When a fetish worshipper cuts the chicken’s throat, he pours the blood on the fetish.” “Let us catch this chicken to come kill it for the people of the pool” i.e. “let us sacrifice it for the purposes of divination at the sacred pool where the jinas live”. “It is a sheep that dies there.” “We went to Cwoono of Nangola and he did divination and said we that we must come and pour water 71 to the dead, and then wait for the outcome.” 5. Supyire has a large number of compound nouns; this is illustrated by the number of compounds with the verb sun in the above table. We shall return to the question of vocabulary in chapter eight when we consider how to translate the biblical terms in this domain. 71 “To pour water” is a common way of making an offering and the term in itself implies a sacrificial rite.

4. SACRIFICE IN RELATION TO

HOLINESS

4.1 SACRIFICE AND HOLINESS IN THE SCHEME OF LEVITICUS

The first seven chapters of Leviticus comprise regulations for the performance by the people of Yahweh of five kinds of sacrifice. The importance of these regulations is shown by their detailed nature and their place at the start of the book of Leviticus. It is necessary, though, to remember that Leviticus is intimately linked in the Pentateuch with the book of Exodus. As Levine observes: “Leviticus takes its cue from the covenantal charge delivered in Exod 19:5-6: ‘Indeed, all the earth is Mine, but you shall be My kingdom of priests and holy nation. ’” 72 Exodus describes how Yahweh delivered his people from Egypt, how he set out the covenant binding on the two parties, and then, how he intends to dwell among his people in the tabernacle. We may summarise the major sections of Exodus 19 to the end of Leviticus as follows: Figure 4: Structure of Exodus 19 – Leviticus 27 Exod 19- 24 The Covenant and its ratification Exod 25- 27 Instructions for the construction of the Tabernacle Exod 28-31 Instructions for the consecration of the priests Exod 32-34 The idolatry of the golden calf and the second recording of the covenant Exod 35-40 Account of the construction of the Tabernacle Lev 1:1 - 6:7 Instructions to Israelite laity on sacrifices Lev 6:8 - 7:21 Instructions to priesthood on sacrifices Lev 7:22-34 Instructions to Israelite laity on sacrifices Lev 8-10 Account of the consecration of the priests Lev 11-15 The clean and the unclean Lev 16 The Day of Atonement 72 Levine, Baruch A., Leviticus, The JPS Torah Commentary, Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 1989, p.xi. Lev 17-25 Laws on holy living Lev 26 Blessings and punishments Lev 27 Laws on vows and offerings At the end of Exodus, Moses sets up the tabernacle and the glory of Yahweh fills it: “So the cloud of Yahweh was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the s ight of all the house of Israel during all their travels” Exod 40:38. The book of Leviticus then starts with a waw-consecutive, indicating clearly that this is the next part of the same story: “Then Yahweh called to Moses and spoke to him from the meeting tent, saying: Speak to the sons of Israel: When a man among you brings an offering to Yahweh from animals ... ” my translation. Setting the Levitical sacrifices in this context helps to determine their essential purpose. Yahweh’s desire was to have a dwelling among the people he had rescued from slavery. He set out in great detail how the tabernacle and its furnishings should be constructed. Finally, he took up residence there. However, there is still an unresolved tension: there remains a barrier preventing the intimate relationship that God intended to have with man, made in his image Gen 1:27, pictured at the start of the Pentateuch in the Garden of Eden. The barrier is the rebellion of man, for “every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time” Gen 6:6. The rift is so widespread that even Moses cannot enter the meeting tent because it was filled with God’s glory Exod 40:35. If even Yahweh’s spokesman cannot enter, what hope is there for the future of the relationship? Yet, Leviticus emphasises that there is hope. “You shall be holy for I, the LORD your God, am holy” 19:2 has been termed the motto of the book. 73 The tension is resolved as Yahweh provides a way for the people to be holy and to enjoy again an intimate relationship with him, and that way has at its heart the system of sacrifices. 73 Wenham, Gordon J., The Book of Leviticus, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament; Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1979, p.18.