Who's the Boss?

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SoH 'oH wIj joH.
You are my Lord. Psalm 16:2a

Klingon command structure is not what we're used to on Earth. Often a commander is replaced, not through what we would regard as orderly promotion, but through dueling, or outright assassination. The assumption is that a leader unable to defend him or herself ought to be replaced.

This may be reflected in the Klingon theological claim "we killed our gods." How better to "promote" oneself to the God of the universe, but by first eliminating the competition?

SoH 'oH wIj joH.
You are my Lord.

I don't think the Klingons are alone. As far as I know, no humans claim outright to have assassinated the almighty - yet examine our lives and the day-to-day choices we make. Then, ask - is this the life of one who says to the God

SoH 'oH wIj joH.
You are my Lord.

or one who has decided to take God's place?

This verse addressess the almighty with the tetragrammaton, YHVH, translated often as LORD from the Jewish practice of reading the name as "adonai," Lord). The verse declares YHVH is lord (adonai). A number of modern translations (including the WEB) present this name as "Yahweh," though I generally use the older practice of "the LORD." The word "Jehovah" derives from a misreading of the Hebrew - the Jewish scholars inserted the vowels (ah-oh-a) for adonai in the tetragrammaton as a reminder to SAY 'adonai'; some early Christian monk, used those vowels and came up with ye-ho-vah, or Jehovah. The practice in Klingon translations has been to use joH'a' (great Lord) for God or Jehovah (which I think it resembles), though we now know there is a term, qun, for "god." In time this may be the more common term used in Klingon translations.


In the KJV and you can see both kinds of "LORD" in this psalm as it says

my soul , thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord

(this LORD/Lord parallel is also visible in Psalm 8's "O LORD our Lord")

Now, I don't think there is any Klingon or human cultural tendency or inclination to join David as he says.

SoH 'oH wIj joH.
You are my Lord.

We need - Klingon or Human - to learn this just as David did. In his struggle to become (and remain) King he learned there is a limit to his ascendancy, and we need to learn this too. We are NOT God. This is part of the Biblical advice:

The taHvIp vo' joH'a' ghaH the tagh vo' valtaHghach
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. (Psalm 110:10a)

This counsels not terror, but awe: the clear understanding that we must answer to our creator. In short, the question really is "who is the boss?" When we misplace ourselves as the center of the universe, we'll find sooner or later, to our regret, that we are NOT God. We need to humbler ourselves, and with David turn in faith and say

SoH 'oH wIj joH.
You are my Lord.

As this new year begins - lets look for ways to remind ourselves who is the boss.