Well, I wasn't saying that the word
paratereo carried any specific connotation with it in and of itself. Sorry if I gave that impression.
But certainly, in all contexts of scripture where it is used, it is used in a negative light.
The Strong's defines the word this way:
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance said:
G3906
παρατηρέω
paratēreō
par-at-ay-reh'-o
From G3844 and G5083; to inspect alongside, that is, note insidiously or scrupulously: - observe, watch.
"Note
insidiously"? That's sort of negative...
I'm hearing different interpretations of this passage. One that they were observing pagan calendar days and pagan practices since the immediate previous verses speak of when they
did not know God. So the "weak and beggarly" elements Paul speaks of in this passage that they were returning to cannot be Torah commandments, since Torah commandments are what you call "Yahweh specific". You can't just be doing something like keeping Passover and
not know who Yahweh is. So the Galatians, being former pagans, were so confused by the "works of law" group that was troubling them, that they returned to old pagan ways.
Then I was reading Walter Martin's book,
The Kingdom of the Cults and he identifies the words used for "days and months and times and years" as the same ones used in the LXX in Numbers chapters 28 and 29, which speaks of various Torah ordinances. So I looked this up off of a Greek Septuagint translation online and have concluded that he was correct as far as what he calls "comparative textual analysis". So Galatians 4:10 may or may not be referring to Torah ordinances.
But I was like, "O.K. now, Paul must be a liar because Psalm 111:7-8 reveals to me that all his commandments are
sure and are done in
truth and
uprightness NOT weak and beggarly and bondage as is supposed from Galatians 4:9. Isaiah 42:21 tells me YHWH has magnified his Torah, and the Torah itself says the Torah is
wisdom and
good, and then Paul himself says in Romans 7:12 and Romans 7:14 that the Torah is
just, holy, good and spiritual, so it can't have two natures."
So then I investigated a little more and heard the argument about
paratereo. Maybe the Galatians were keeping a perverted version of Torah commandments based off of their teaching from the "works of law" group. Kind of like Isaiah 1:13-14 when Yahweh makes it clear he does not want perverted keeping of sabbaths, new moons, holy convocations etc...
So now I'm caught up in dilemma. I'm trying to seek the truth so maybe I could find it from a literal interpretation of the passage.
I was thinking, in light of all I've heard, that Paul could be giving a command here. To "watch" for days, months, times, and years (as given and interpreted by the "works of law" group). To make sure the keeping of it was done properly, not as others tell you to do it. I don't know how the Greek would indicate this, however, so that's what you're for to tell me whether or not that is wrong. :-D
Also, I was wondering that if the Galatians were merely just "keeping the law",
tereo would have been used by itself without
para, such as here:
John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
Tereo. Used like this in 50+ places.
