misunderstood words in the Old Testament

The word satan.
I am reviewing one of Kay Arthur's "Lord..." series and got curious about the original word for Satan.
The word "satan" is a Hebrew word and that means "adversary."  The one who opposes is "an adversary" and the word for that is "satan." It is not his name. Then I googled. See 

http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H7854&t=NLT

and

http://www.bibletopics.com/biblestudy/164.htm

The word Lucifer
A couple months ago I learned that the infamous name "Lucifer" is not in the original text when I was curious to see this part in the original language. Did anyone know that? We just assume that one of the fallen angels or the demon's name is Lucifer, but it is not true.See this.

http://www.echoofeden.com/bias/lucifer/

Leviticus!

ויקרא

This is the title of the first part of Leviticus. It says "and He called." It is read "Vayikra."

The whole book of what we call "Leviticus" is titled "And He Called" in Hebrew.

Leviticus 1:3 is interesting.
I found an interesting website. When we compare different translations in one page like this we notice that the Hebrew word that means "of his own voluntary will" is not translated. I think this word's presence makes a big difference in understanding who God is. Immediately I thought of a verse from the Bible: He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Book of Hebrews). We call our God and Jesus who is the same yesterday, today, and forever but we think God in the OT is not a loving God. He has always been a loving Father! My desire is to know my Father and Jesus who was sent by our Father more from the entire Bible.

I learned that it is well known that the letter Alef (the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet), the one on the far left above, is written in a smaller size than the rest of the letters in the Torah.

Let's look. This website shows the English text on the right and the Hebrew text on the left. In the first verse, you can see in this one that the letter alef is written in a smaller size. (Hebrew is read from right to left.) Our Jesus is humble...

http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0301.htm

I hope that whoever comes to this blog can see it. It is totally God.

I learned that there are special-trained scribes who copies every little thing in the Torah. If the reader find an error, then the scroll would be given to the special place and the scribes would correct it. So every little thing counts. It is not an error that this letter is written smaller than other ones. Jesus said in Matthew 5:18

"For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." (KJV)

"I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. " (NLT)

"I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished."(NIV)

I learned that this small alef represents the LORD's small voice calling Moses from behind the tabernacle. The LORD is in many little things, not just in the big thunders and lightnings.

This is one of the unimaginable joy that God must have hidden in the original language. If our Father gives us the ability to read the original language and the help of the Holy Spirit, I can not imagine what kind of joy is available to us! We will fall out of our chair!!

Matthew 13:52 explains perfectly what those people are like. Those people can experience the unimaginable joy from both the OT and the NT.

Matthew 13:52
Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old. (KJV)

I prayed before I read

It is amazing how quickly I dry out if I don't go back to my first love towards God. "A little later" becomes too familiar and pretty soon I feel like I am okay without my time with the LORD and my in-depth word study. I must be deceived!!! The study session time alone with God is my fun time and God tickles my heart, but I was a little concerned that I may look crazy to spend time in my closet - literally I turned one tiny closet into my room where I leave the Bible or other study materials open on the desk(board). Then my friend's words encouraged me. She seems to think that God is actually guiding me into this place of studying the word of God! She is a wonderful woman of God, so I trusted her words. Her words freed me. Wait for me, my closet, here I come!

My friends from my Scripture-memorizing group used to tell me that if we were stuck in one spot and couldn't go on while we were trying to memorize a certain section of the Bible, then God is trying to say something to us. Well, I was not memorizing Leviticus. I was just reading chapter 16 over and over because I was stuck there somehow. Then I remember to pray before dealing with God's precious words. It is God's words. My flesh alone cannot understand God's way. I am thankful God reminded me...again.

So...

In my closet I said a little prayer before I started with Leviticus chapter 16, and started writing down some meanings of the original words, using the Strong's numbers and dictionary. Ohh... wow... I didn't know the Hebrew word for the ark was "ארון (arown) ". It sounds like Moses' brother's name "Aaron"!

אהרון (Aharown) - Aaron's name
ארון (arown) - ark, box, chest...Ark of Covenant

The difference between Aaron and ark is the letter "H" just like Abram's and Sarai's names.

Abram + H = Abraham
Sarai + H = Sarah

Aaron is in the line of Levis. His name is an ark plus "H". I think I wrote about the letter H which I learned from Hebrew For Christians (www.hebrew4christians.com). Letter H in Hebrew indicates the presence of God. So if I can still apply this to Aaron's name, then...

ark + God's presence = Aaron, the Levi, the priest

Isn't it a perfect name for him!

leaven is leaven

The following is a quote from this site, joy of baking.

The word "yeast" comes from the Sanskrit 'yas' meaning "to seethe or boil". Yeast is a living organism and is in the air around us. It is a member of the fungus family and is a single-celled fungi of which there are about 160 different species. Baker's yeast as well as brewer's yeast belong to the Saccharomyces cerevisiae species. Louis Pasteur in the 1850's is credited with first discovering and understanding the fermentation process which led to the development and cultivation of the yeast we use today.

Baker's yeast, like baking powder and baking soda, is used to leavened baked goods
(breads, Danish pastries, brioche, croissants). The difference between these two leaveners is that baking powder/soda react chemically to produce the carbon dioxide that makes the baked goods rise. Yeast, on the other hand, is a living organism and the carbon dioxide it produces is the result of the yeast feeding on the dough.

Here is a definition from dictionary.com.

leaven
–noun
1. a substance, as yeast or baking powder, that causes fermentation and expansion of dough or batter.
2. fermented dough reserved for producing fermentation in a new batch of dough.
3. an element that produces an altering or transforming influence.

There are two types of leaveners.

• yeast - a living organism, creates carbon dioxide by feeding on the dough
  

• baker's yeast - react chemically to produce the carbon dioxide and makes the bread rise
  

Just like other Christians, I have been wondering about yeast for a long time. Then last week as I came across a messianic website . God told the Israelites to get rid of the baker's yeast, a chemical reaction to cause baked goods rise, which is called khametz in Hebrew. It is any flour of the five species of grain, mixed with water and allowed to ferment before being baked. The five species of grain are wheat, spelt, oats, barley, and rye. Khametz, in reality, comes from a root which means "to be sour", according to Refiner's Fire (above mentioned website).

Then I suddenly remembered about one evening around 1988!

A friend of mine came over to give me something in a container. I cannot remember what she called it, but it was a bread starter. It was like some bread dough in a small container. She told me to use it to bake some bread and to save a portion of the new batch before I baked a loaf of bread. She said that this bread dough started long ago (sort of like chain letters??) and it hadn't been broken. She wanted me to give the saved portion to someone else so that the next person could do the same and give a new portion to another person. Just like #2 of the Dictionary.com definition:

2. fermented dough reserved for producing fermentation in a new batch of dough.

It looks like Amish people do this.

I am not starting any new religion by posting this, but I think now I can understand the concept of starting a brand new batch...without using a little batch (bread starter) from the old batch and mix it into the new batch. This was the beginning of the new life for the Israelites. God didn't want them to bring the old customs and start a totally new batch! I suspect if this was one of the reasons why God said:

Exodus 12:19 (New International Version)

¹⁹ For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And whoever eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel, whether he is an alien or native-born.

They were to be cut off from the community of Israel! God was very strict about this. God wanted to end the life in Egypt, the old life, for the people.

It can be said about us, too. Just like we are made a brand new christian when we believe in Jesus, the old cannot be there. We are brand new, born again. We took off our old clothes and wear a new one. New bread needs a brand new ingredients, not to be mixed with the old. To me the concept of 'old' can be better understood with the 'bread starter' method because if the yeast is everywhere in the air, I wouldn't know which one is old.

Matthew 16:5-6 (King James Version)

5And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.
6Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

Here's my thoughts. My friends' bread starter got started long time ago and it continued, adding little more of the new batch. Jesus didn't want us to continue our old way like Pharisees and the Sadducees' traditions. The law ended when Jesus came.

Galatians 3:19 " Why, then, was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised. God gave his law through angels to Moses, who was the mediator between God and the people."

Our Father is so wonderful. He wants to make us brand new. Jesus made it possible.

God was, is, and is to come.

God said to Moses "I AM who I AM." (Exodus 3:14)

The original word for "I AM" is הָיָה . It is pronounced haya.

I always imagined that the original word for "I AM" would be Jehovah because I had heard that Jehovah meant self-existing one, but the original word here is not Jehovah. Haya means to exist, breathes, etc... See Blue Letter Bible.
Yehovah (Jehovah) means existing one.

The other day I wrote that God is the same. He was, He is, and He is to come. John wrote that in the book of Revelation 1:4. In the letter to the Hebrews 13:8, it says that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever."

God existed, and he exists, and he will exist. That means he is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Is it written in the Old Testament? I could not find it. But the Jewish people say that God is "who was, is, and is to come." It is in Siddur Sim Shalom. I was wondering where in the Old Testament it said so. But now that I know the meaning of הָיָה (haya), I think that it is in the Hebrew language itself that explains God is who he was, is, and is to come. Doesn't it look like the meaning of הָיָה (haya) explains in itself that God was, is, and is to come? I think so!

Exodus!! (Shemot)

After Jacob's life ends, the Israelites continue to live in Goshen, Egypt.

The word Exodus is Greek.

In the Hebrew Bible, Exodus is called "Shemot" and it means names. The first verse starts with "And these are the names," and that is why it is called "names," just like Genesis is titled Beresheet and it means "in the beginning." Genesis 1:1 starts like this: "In the beginning...."

Moses' mom put baby Moses in a basket of "ark" (KJV). The word ark is the same word used in the story of Noah, but the tar Moses' mom used is different from Noah's. I was guessing that they may be the same. Well, I was just wondering if the mom was praying that the God who saved Noah's life by putting him in the ark would save Moses by putting him in the basket of ark.

Alpha and Omega, Alef and Tav

I saw a very interesting thing in the Bible the other day.

In Genesis, there is a word that appears here and there and that word doesn't really have any meaning to it. You can see it in Genesis 1:1. It is the word את (et). It looks like people debate about it. They are trying to figure out what it is. The word has letters א (alef) and ת (tav). "What is this alef- tav?" is what they say. Alef is the very first letter in Hebrew. Tav is the very last letter in Hebrew. It is like alpha and omega in Greek.

I am trying to memorize a few chapters in the book of revelation. After I was in Genesis for awhile, I went back to the New Testament and read the book of revelation. Then I saw it.

"What is this alef-tav?" we ask.

Jesus said in the book of revelation, "I am the alpha and omega."
If Jesus said it in English, it would have been "I am the a and z."
If Jesus said it in Hebrew, it would have been "I am the alef and tav."
People say that the word made up of alef and tav in Genesis is Jesus, and I couldn't figure out why they could say that, but now I see it. What a joy we experience when we actually see something directly from the Bible and understand what others are saying!

What is this alef-tav?

"I am the alef and tav," says Jesus.

Judah means praise

When Leah had the fourth son, she named him Judah because she praised the LORD.

Genesis 29:35 And she conceived again, and bare a son: and she said, Now will I praise the LORD: therefore she called his name Judah; and left bearing.

Now will I praise the LORD = Judah

Exactly which part of the name is praise?


Both Christians and Jews say hallelujah (hallelu=praise, jah=LORD) to praise the LORD. Many people have heard that the word baruch (ch sound is like ch in Bach) means to bless. I thought Psalm 1 uses baruch for "How blessed is the one who ..." but to my surprise, the Hebrew word for the "blessed" in Psalm 1 is "asher" as in the name of Asher, which means happy. I even learned the word "tehilla" which means to praise with songs, like David wrote psalms. None of these sound anything like Judah. So I explored.

The Hebrew name for Judah is Yehuda. And it derived from yada which is related to hand. The following is from this website.

1.YADAH - yaw-daw - to worship with the extended hand. The giving of oneself in worship and adoration. To lift your hands unto the Lord. It carries the meaning of absolute surrender as a young child does to a parent - "pick me up, I'm all yours".

I still don't know how yadah became Yehuda. Anyone?
I see that the spelling of Yehuda is close to Yahweh (the Jewish people say Adonai whenever they see the word in the Bible), or Jehovah.

Sarah is in the name of Israel!!

Every year I get stuck in Genesis where Abraham's, Isaac's, and Jacob's lives are recorded because there is so much to ponder. But I successfully moved on to the next portion!! Then I saw something I never saw before.

Genesis 33:28 (NLT2007)
"Your name will no longer be Jacob," the man told him. "From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won."

El means God, but I what was the meaning of Israel? I could not answer that. So I looked up my Strong's concordance. Here is what I don't understand. I see something in my concordance to see the meaning of a word, then I get excited about what I see. Then I Google the same word to find out more, then I come up with different definitions and get disappointed. This happens a lot when I research Hebrew words. Anyway, below is from Biblos.com. I am glad I saw this on line!

Israel
From sarah and 'el; he will rule as God; Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity: --Israel. (http://strongsnumbers.com/hebrew/3478.htm)

Sarah's name is in it! I never noticed it before. It is not Isra and el, but it is i + sarah + el. If a Hebrew reader reads my blog, I would love to know what the Jewish people's view/understanding/thoughts are regarding this. But for now, I keep my excitement in my heart, believing that God is showing me a new aspect of Genesis I never saw before. I learned that Sarah is the only female whose years of life is recorded in the Bible, and I now see that Sarah's life is continuing in Jacob"s life because her name is literally in the new name God gave to him. It is a special name for Jacob.

Joshua's name came to my mind immediately because I just did a little research a couple of months ago. Israel's "I" part is the Hebrew letter yod, which is the same letter that Moses added to Joshua's name (in Hebrew his name is Yehoshua), and the yod indicates God's name. Jacob's grandma's name Sarah (rule with power as a princess) is sandwiched between yod (indicating God's name) and -el (God).

God's name + rule with power as princess+ God = Israel.

My October 20th blog has a link to the story of the name of Joshua. Joshua's original name was Hosea, or, without "y" sound.

Numbers 13:16 (NIV)
These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua.)

Moses gave the "y" part to him. And the letter was to protect Hosea (Hoshea) from the danger. If I combine the message from my blog from October and the story of Jacob, then it could mean that God wanted Jacob to know that he can choose to walk with God and if he did, then God is with him all the way to the victory. Doesn't God talk to us the same way now, too?

Why I study Hebrew

The Little Mermaid story is a good illustration to explain my thoughts.

Ariel found a fork in a sunken ship she and her friend often visit to explore because she is interested in the human world. Forks are not used in her world so she went to her seagull friend who knows about the humans because he sees them from the sky. But the seagull couldn't figure out what it was, so he came up with the name "dinglehopper" which is used to comb hair. It fits Ariel's image and it actually works well as a comb!! So she accepted it as the truth until she actually tried to use it to comb her hair in the human world... Then of course she finds out that it was not for the hair.

I had some dinglehoppers I believed. Those were the teachings I learned without Jewishness. I don't want that any more. I want to know what is written, being guided by the Holy Spirit. Without the Spirit, the written words are dead. Jewishness seems to be ignored from the Christian world. Not everything has to be from Jewish point of view, but some things cannot be found without knowing the Jewish teachings. (One example is why Joshua's name was Hoshea at the end of Deuteronomy.)

I am writing this because I don't want to loose passion for Jesus and the Father who sent him to us.

The name change of Abram and Sarai

Why Hebrew? Because I have come to believe that it is eventually a shortcut to understand the Bible.

Each Hebrew letter has meanings just like Chinese characters do.

Here is one of the examples I learned from making efforts to understand Hebrew.

When Abram's name changed to Abraham, and when Sarai's name changed to Sarah, we (English readers or Japanese readers) learn that Abram means 'exalted father' and Abraham means 'father of a multitude". Sarai means 'my princess' and Sarah means 'princess'. One website stated that the meanings of Sarai and Sarah are identical.

I learned that the letter H makes the difference. In Hebrew alphabet, the letter Hey ( H ) represents God's presence inside human. Interesting. Both Abram and Sarai received the letter Hey. Isaac was God's own fulfillment of His promise (Galatians).

Praise God.


(from 09/25/2008)

interesting Hebrew

We all need bread each day just like the Israelite people collected manna in the wilderness each day. Here is my bread of the day. ( kind of like "a-ha!" moment)

I like studying Hebrew language to read the Bible. This is a quote from "Zola's Introduction to Hebrew", written by John Parsons. This is my Hebrew textbook I bought a few years ago.

The original Torah was written without any vowel points at all. This meant, of course, that in order to read the text properly, the reader was responsible for supplying the missing "intonations" or vowels.
Why is this the case? Why would the Lord provide only the consonants without the vowels? Some sages have said that by supplying the vowels, the reader must be active and do his or her part -- that is, the reader must supply the intonation and "exhale" the words that the Lord has so graciously inspired.
The reading of Torah, then, involves two things: the text itself and the reader who brings to the text the willingness to breathe out the divine inspiration. And without the Ruach(the Spirit), the text itself is dead, "for the letter killeth, but the Spirit gives life" (see 2 Cor. 3:6)

How interesting!
The original Old Testament was written in Hebrew without any vowel symbols. The language doesn't really have any vowels. The symbols (or points) were created to add to the language later to make it easier to read. I didn't know that. In the book of Acts you can see that the Jewish people read the Bible in the synagogue every sabbath. The reader was called out and read the portion from the scriptures. Then, the reader has the responsibility to read it correctly.

The reader cannot just read the scriptures mindlessly in order to read it correctly out loud in front of the congregation. Now I understand that besides his/her mind to concentrate on the pronunciation, he/she has to 'exhale' the words, using his/her breath. Breath in Hebrew is 'ruach', and it also means 'the Spirit'. So, the reader needs breath = the Spirit to make the scriptures alive and deliver it to the people who are listening.

Isn't it the same today in many ways? We need the Holy Spirit to help us understand the Bible. That is why we should pray before we read the Bible. I understand it a little more now... John Peason's explanation of the Hebrew language helped me learn a lot.

Even from the beginning of the world, even in the Old Testament days, God wants us to come to Him and depend on Him. We cannot just study the scriptures for the sake of studying if we are looking for life from it. God made it that way so that the Spirit can aid us. The Holy Spirit teaches us.

Isn't that interesting!

Hellelu-jah
(from 7/29/2008)