{Word Study} Thirsty Yisemah

Transcription

1 {Word Study} Thirsty Yisemah WORD STUDY THIRSTY Exodus 17:13; And the people thirsted there for water and the people murmured there for water. Thirst Hebrew: Yisemah thirsty, overwhelming desire for either the natural, or for the hidden knowledge of God. This verse follows the story of Israel crossing through the desert on their way to the promised land. In Exodus 17:1 God commands the children of Israel to stop and make camp at Raphidim. It is a wonder that God asked them to camp in this area. Not only was there no water but they were later attacked by the Amalekites at Raphidim. From all human reasoning, this was not the place to set up camp. Now the Bible only says that there was no water at Raphidim, it does not say Israel was without water. Obviously they carried water with them and one reason to stop and setup camp would be to replenish your supply of water. But here God had them camp at a place where there was no water. They were to stay until God said it was ok to move on. When the cloud started to move they moved. But the cloud did not move. As each day passed the water they brought into camp with them was slowly being used up. The Bible say in Exodus 17:3 that the people thirsted there. The word thirst in Hebrew is Yisemah which comes from the root word tsamah and means thirsty but it also means an overwhelming desire for things either of the natural world or of God. Here s what caught my attention. Every English translation says the people were thirsty past tense. One version even says they were tormented by thirst. The word in the Hebrew is yisemah. That yod in front of the word, that little tittle that we are commanded not to remove gives some very important insight into this story. That yod puts this word into a simple qal imperfect form. Qal (simple),

2 not piel (intensive). Imperfect (incompleted action often rendered as a future tense). They were not tormented by thirst, they were not dying of thirst, and in fact they were not thirsty at all. But they were filled with desire, desire for the flesh. Being in an imperfect or future tense suggest that they were going to be thirsty. The question was, what were they going to be thirsty for? They had enough water for the day, maybe the next day or maybe longer. They were not thirsty yet, they had not reached the crisis stage yet, but it was looming out there in front of them. I can imagine them sitting around the camp fire at night belly aching: That crazy Moses, why does he make us camp at a place where there is not water. If we don t leave now we will never have a enough water to make it to the next oasis. Not only that, Bunkie, Moses will probably make us stay here until the water is gone and we will die of thirst right here. Moses was not worried about water. Oh he was thirsty just like the rest, only his thirst was for the hidden knowledge of God where the others thirsted for natural things, like security for your own fleshly gizzard. Moses was just focused on obedience to God. If God wanted them to camp at Raphidim, then by golly they were camping at Raphidim water or no water. But the people were focused on the natural world and not on eternal things and they began to murmur out of fear. Are you camped at Raphidim? Maybe you just received a layoff notice, a medical report, an unexpected bill, a failing relationship? Are you like Israel, fretting over the fear of funds drying up, health failing, relationships falling apart, even before they do? Are you fretting over no water even before you get thirsty? Yet you are thirsty in the sense of yisemah, you are filled with desire. What do you desire or thirst for? Are you yisemah (thirsting, desiring) natural security or do you seek to use this experience to for the flip side of yiseman, to discover the hidden secrets of the God you love?

3 Devotional: Luke 2:14 Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar and Nevim Arith Hayomim: Luke 2:14: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. KJV Luke 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased. NASB This season of the year brings back those absolutely horrid memories as a child of being forced to participate in the annual Christmas pageant. It was always the pastors or deacon kids who got the plum role of playing Joseph and Mary. The gifted got to be shepherds or (one could only dream) a wise man who got wear the purple robes, crowns and carry the special gifts. The rest of us average dudes were forced to don the obligatory white sheet and coat hanger halo. We were then instructed to say, or worse yet to sing, Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, and good will toward men. This, of course was straight from the King James Version and not those devil inspired, liberal, modern English versions which dared to change the Bible and say: Peace among men with whom he is pleased. Yet, years later we softened to the modern translations as our bastions of fundamentalism like Moody Bible Institute and Dallas Seminary, from which many of our preachers hailed, started to teach from these translations. I mean if our Evangelical Christian version of the Vatican declared it was ok, then it was ok. Still, these modern translations presented a major deviation from, what could be, one of the most commonly quoted Scripture verses. I mean Good will toward men has a universal appeal which transcends all theologies and doctrines. Even an atheist would not consider it below his dignity to quote such a passage. Then, along comes these scholars with their Greek Bible and take this

4 perfectly good and appropriate quote and change its meaning entirely from good will to all men to what could be interpreted as an elite Peace only to those whom God is pleased with, (my paraphrase of a paraphrase of a translation). Sure, maybe they are saying God is pleased with all men, but can He be pleased with sinners who refuse to get born again? Well, you can be sure that our local Wal-Mart will not plaster: Peace only to those whom God is please with over their stores at this time of year. No sir, thanks to our commercial system the King James Version will stay in business and we will continue to see On earth peace, good will toward men, and I say: Amen, you tell em King James. Still, as one who fancies himself a diligent Bible student, I am afraid I have to side with our modern translators as the earliest Greek manuscripts, which the King James scholars did not have access to, clearly show that the Greek word used for good will is eudokias which means with whom he is pleased. I know, a real bummer to those who are not born again Christians for we all know God cannot be pleased with someone who refused to say the sinner s prayer. Ok, I do find it disturbing that this verse in the original Greek seems to honor the select few who are smart enough, unselfish enough, holy enough, and indeed lucky enough to live in a society to hear the Gospel to make this right decision. I cannot help but go back to that old Gospel adage that I am just a sinner like everyone else, saved by the grace of God and these angels were not bringing honor to the select few who made the right choice but bringing honor to God and God alone. When I read this passage in the Aramaic and consider some of the understanding of certain Aramaic words that I have gleaned from Jewish rabbis, I find that these angels were not bringing any honor to men or those who make the right decision, but were indeed declaring all honor and praise to God. Everything is tied up in those words good will. In the Aramaic the word good or tov is indeed there where the word good is not in the Greek. The Aramaic word tov is

5 identical to the Hebrew word tov and means to bring into harmony, to be in one accord, or in unity. The word will in Aramaic is seweeyana and looks very similar to the word that is used in this passage which is sawra. Sawra means hope and good news. It is also the word used for a positive imagination. Hope is nothing more than to imagine something positive taking place. The shepherds understood what the angels sang and the shepherds spoke the Southern dialect of Aramaic, so therefore the angels must have sung this in the Southern dialect of Aramaic and what is recorded in the Aramaic Bible may be the closest to what was said. In English that would be Glory to God in the highest and on earth He (this child that is born) will bring all men into harmony with God. Which you know smacks much closer to On earth peace and good will to all men more than peace among men with whom He is pleased. So let s chalk one up for the King James Version, Wal-Mart and all those little scholars dressed up in white sheets and coat hanger halos. You spread that Christmas message. Devotional: Luke 2:14 Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar and Nevim Arith Hayomim: Luke 2:14: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. KJV Luke 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased. NASB This season of the year brings back those absolutely horrid memories as a child of being forced to participate in the annual Christmas pageant. It was always the pastors or deacon kids who got the plum role of playing Joseph and Mary. The gifted got to be shepherds or (one could only dream) a wise man who got wear the purple robes, crowns and carry the

6 special gifts. The rest of us average dudes were forced to don the obligatory white sheet and coat hanger halo. We were then instructed to say, or worse yet to sing, Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, and good will toward men. This, of course was straight from the King James Version and not those devil inspired, liberal, modern English versions which dared to change the Bible and say: Peace among men with whom he is pleased. Yet, years later we softened to the modern translations as our bastions of fundamentalism like Moody Bible Institute and Dallas Seminary, from which many of our preachers hailed, started to teach from these translations. I mean if our Evangelical Christian version of the Vatican declared it was ok, then it was ok. Still, these modern translations presented a major deviation from, what could be, one of the most commonly quoted Scripture verses. I mean Good will toward men has a universal appeal which transcends all theologies and doctrines. Even an atheist would not consider it below his dignity to quote such a passage. Then, along comes these scholars with their Greek Bible and take this perfectly good and appropriate quote and change its meaning entirely from good will to all men to what could be interpreted as an elite Peace only to those whom God is pleased with, (my paraphrase of a paraphrase of a translation). Sure, maybe they are saying God is pleased with all men, but can He be pleased with sinners who refuse to get born again? Well, you can be sure that our local Wal-Mart will not plaster: Peace only to those whom God is please with over their stores at this time of year. No sir, thanks to our commercial system the King James Version will stay in business and we will continue to see On earth peace, good will toward men, and I say: Amen, you tell em King James. Still, as one who fancies himself a diligent Bible student, I am afraid I have to side with our modern translators as the earliest Greek manuscripts, which the King James scholars did not have access to, clearly show that the Greek word used for

7 good will is eudokias which means with whom he is pleased. I know, a real bummer to those who are not born again Christians for we all know God cannot be pleased with someone who refused to say the sinner s prayer. Ok, I do find it disturbing that this verse in the original Greek seems to honor the select few who are smart enough, unselfish enough, holy enough, and indeed lucky enough to live in a society to hear the Gospel to make this right decision. I cannot help but go back to that old Gospel adage that I am just a sinner like everyone else, saved by the grace of God and these angels were not bringing honor to the select few who made the right choice but bringing honor to God and God alone. When I read this passage in the Aramaic and consider some of the understanding of certain Aramaic words that I have gleaned from Jewish rabbis, I find that these angels were not bringing any honor to men or those who make the right decision, but were indeed declaring all honor and praise to God. Everything is tied up in those words good will. In the Aramaic the word good or tov is indeed there where the word good is not in the Greek. The Aramaic word tov is identical to the Hebrew word tov and means to bring into harmony, to be in one accord, or in unity. The word will in Aramaic is seweeyana and looks very similar to the word that is used in this passage which is sawra. Sawra means hope and good news. It is also the word used for a positive imagination. Hope is nothing more than to imagine something positive taking place. The shepherds understood what the angels sang and the shepherds spoke the Southern dialect of Aramaic, so therefore the angels must have sung this in the Southern dialect of Aramaic and what is recorded in the Aramaic Bible may be the closest to what was said. In English that would be Glory to God in the highest and on earth He (this child that is born) will bring all men into harmony with God. Which you know smacks much closer to On earth peace and good will to all men more than peace among men with whom He is pleased. So let s chalk one up for the King James Version, Wal-Mart and

8 all those little scholars dressed up in white sheets and coat hanger halos. You spread that Christmas message. {Word Study} Voice Qol WORD STUDY: VOICE Exodus 19:5: Now therefore if you will obey my voice indeed and keep my commandments, then you will be a peculiar treasure until me above all the people, for all the earth is mine. Voice: Hebrew qol: sound, cry, thunder, rumor or report. In its primitive form to disclose an idea. Have you ve been half asleep And have you heard His voice I ve heard Him calling my name. Is this the sweet sound That calls the young believer I think it s one and the same. I ve heard it too many times to ignore I know it something I suppose to be. (Revised from Paul Williams Rainbow Connection) If you will obey my voice. This is a tricky one. If you want to push my annoy me button, simply ask me; So what is God saying to you? I hear people all the time saying: Well God said this to me or that to me. My first thought is Psychology 101 where we learned of something called auditory hallucination which was called a psychosis. This schizoaffective disorder is a key sign of schizophrenia. My psychology professor had another name for it, psych ceramic (crackpot). Like I said, this is a tricky verse. Jesus talks about His sheep knowing His voice (John 10:27). Paul heard the voice of Jesus on the road to Damascus and Moses heard His voice. Is this referring to an impression, thought or feeling as we interpret it today? The word for voice is qol which is speaking, calling, voice

9 etc. The word used in the New Testament in Greek is phone (guess what English word we get from that) and in the Aramaic it is gal which is identical to the Hebrew word. All have the idea of a noise, tone or sound. The word gol is spelled Qof which represents God speaking through a natural or human instrument, Vav is a connection between heaven and earth and the final letter is a lamed which represents divine instruction. In other words this voice of God can came from a natural instrument, such as a preacher, teacher, prophet, friend etc., or through a natural event. This voice is also heard as you spend time alone with God and make that connection between heaven and earth. This voice can be heard through a study of God s Word where we receive divine teaching. Yes, I have successfully skirted the issue of an actual audible voice. So let me confront it head on. Ultimately the word in Hebrew, qol, simply carries the idea of a disclosure. It can be an impression, thought or feeling which is so powerful, it actually seems like an audible voice, as Paul Williams expressed in his song: Rainbow Connection which I slightly revise to fit my thesis. Qol (voice), by its very nature is a Semitic word and can be highly poetic, i.e., a simile or metaphor, again used as Paul Williams used in his song. Finally, Qol (voice), can be just that, an actual, audible voice. One thing is very clear, when God wants to speak to you personally, He will do it in a way where you will not question your sanity. He is an infinite God, with infinite ways to disclose his thoughts. Qol (voice) expresses this infinity. God created each of us with a Qol, a listening device, so to speak, that is planted within us. It could be a bird flying to your window each morning or a squirrel coming to your door. A cool breeze, a starry sky, a song, a touch from a stranger, anyone of these may trigger that listening device He has planted within you and it will be the Qol, the voice of God. Yes, it may even be audible, but God is so vast, so limitless, it is just one of the countless ways He has to speak to us.

10 Besides, an audible voice is just too ordinary as a means of communication. Such a communication would be below God s dignity. God loves to be creative and inventive. He is the master poet. When you know Him and are intimate with Him, that Qol within you will be tuned into His receiver and if His transmitter sends a little bird tapping at your window in the morning, you will know it is God speaking to you. Others will think you are as nuts as if you heard an audible voice, but that is only because they do not have the same Qol or listening device implanted in them. Let them tune in to their own listening device, their own Qol and they will hear from God in a way that will make them appear just as nuts as if they are hearing an audible voice. Devotional: Matthew 8:31 Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar and Nevim Arith Hayomim: Matthew 8:31: So the devils besought him, if thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. You American bum, we want picture of American bum, will give ten dollar for picture of American bum. Japanese tourists overheard speaking to a homeless man in downtown Chicago Let me say at the outset that I do believe that demons can possess a human being. I worked for an evangelist and teacher who was known throughout the world for his deliverance ministry and I do not question for a moment that Jesus cast demons out of people in his day as well as today. This man of God that I worked for, however, often warned not to look for demons under every bush. That was good advice as you may be addressing a physical problem or mental problem and not a demonic problem at all. You could end up doing more harm than good. You must use great spiritual discernment before you

11 address a problem as demonic. As I study the Gospels in the Aramaic I am beginning to realize that same advice would apply to our study of the Scripture. There are cases where Jesus cast demons out of people and there are cases where Jesus merely healed a person. The difference is not always clear in our Greek text but in the Aramaic is becomes very clear and also helps to resolve some mysteries. This passage, I believe, is one example that should be studied in the Aramaic as it may answer a few questions. The word used for devils in the Greek is daimones. Greek is a very precise language and you have little choice but to render this word as demon or devil. In other words the Greek word clearly applies to a supernatural spirit. However, the word used in the Aramaic is dewana which could mean a demon or it could mean an insane or mentally ill person. People living in the Semitic regions in those days, as still today, consider every illness as demonic. Medical science has proven that this is not true as we are now able to successful treat many of these illnesses without casting a demon out of the person. I am cautious in saying that as there are cases which medical science cannot address and are only addressed through prayer, fasting and commanding a demon to leave in the name of Jesus. Still, that word in the Aramaic, dewana, does leave the door open to two possibilities. It could refer to demonic activity or it could refer to just mental illness. Let s take this story for instance. There are many questions that arise if we consider rendering dewana as demonic. First, in verse 29 we learn that these two dewanas were hiding out in a tomb and when they saw Jesus they cried out Jesus, thou Son of God, art thou come hither to torment us before our time? First, it is not unusual that these men would have known or heard of Jesus as his fame was growing at this time. In verse 28 we learn that these men were Gararenes or Gentile Syrians. This area of Gararenes were known for raising pigs as their primary occupation. To call Jesus Son of God did not have the implications that those of a Hebrew heritage would have if

12 they used that term. To the gentiles any holy man was considered the son of a god. The phrase, torment us before our time is a cultural phrase. If these men were mentally ill and not demon possessed then they were most likely referring to the evening time where these roaming mentally ill people were sometimes brought in and used for entertainment. They were made to sing, dance and act is humiliating and foolish ways. The insane were free to roam about the towns and were constantly teased and tormented by certain individuals, not unlike many of the mentally ill and homeless are today in our cities. Because of their dress, and behavior they tend to become a source of amusing interest to certain people as I overhead from some Japanese tourist in downtown Chicago trying to get a picture of an American bum. If these men were simply mentally ill, they no doubt feared they were about to be used as a possible teaching illustration for this holy man and his disciples. However, these men then beseeched Jesus. If they knew His name they knew His reputation as a healer and they begged him: If you cast us out The Greek word used here is ekballo which means to banish or cast out. Remember these men would be speaking Aramaic and not Greek. The Aramaic word used here is mapaq which comes from the root word paqah which is identical to the Hebrew word and means to deliver or save. Thus, these men said: If you would deliver us or heal us, allow us to go away into the herd of swine. The word in the Aramaic used for go away into is simply al. This has the idea of attacking. It is often used today to express the idea of attacking. For instance the word would be used in the sentence: The wolves are al the sheep. We would render that as: The wolves are entering into the sheep. But the Semitic people would understand that as the wolves attacking the sheep. Thus these men, knowing how pigs were considered unclean to the Jews were willing to prove their conversion by attacking the pigs and chasing them off the mountain. I have always had two questions concerning this story as seen in the Greek. First, why did the demons have to ask

13 permission to enter into the pigs, the most unclean animals, but did not need permission to enter these men? Secondly, why go into pigs and then cause them to run off a mountain where their new home or possession was short lived. The answer may lie in how we render this passage from the Aramaic. I am not saying these men were not demon possessed; I am merely pointing out another option and passing on a word of advice from my former employer who was one of the leading teachers in the deliverance ministry Don t be looking for a demon under every bush use deep spiritual discernment. {Word Study} Stiff Necked Kasha Oreph WORD STUDY STIFF NECKED Exodus 33:3: For I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: Lest I consume thee in the way. Stiff Necked Hebrew: kasha oreph Kasha: to be hard, stubborn, obstinate difficult. Oreph: neck, to turn the back. By the time this passage was written the children of Israel were two and half months into their journey (Exodus 16:1). Traveling a direct route from Egypt to the land of Canaan, the Promised Land, is about 250 miles. If they traveled 3-4 miles a day they should have arrived by this time. Instead God has some things to teach them before they could enter this land. They had to be introduced to His mercy, grace, power, and they had to learn faith and to walk in faith. But the people of Israel were not doing their homework, they were not proving to be the best students and God called them kasha oreph, still necked. What is it to be stiff-necked? Could you and I be stiff-

14 necked? This word is translated from two Hebrew words kasha oreph. Kasha means to be hard or stubborn, difficult and obstinate. As a former high school teacher I know how difficult it is to teach Shakespeare to high school students who just want to graduate, get out of school and start their vocation and enter their Promised Land. I also know how difficult it is to teach Bible College students Classical Hebrew when they would rather just get on with their ministry enter their Promised Land rather than memorize declensions. Rather than accept academic discipline and learn to think, reason and concentrate all tools they would need to survive in the world and in ministry or on the mission field, these students became kasha (stubborn, difficult, and obstinate). The second word in stiff-necked is oreph which means neck but as a verb means to to turn back. Many times I had students who quit my Hebrew class and dropped out of school because it was too difficult, they oreph or turned back. We know we will not reach our promised land over night, after all 250 miles through a desert is a long walk. But we have our supplies, things are going quite well. There is that cloud by day and fire by night of God leading us. We watched the Red Sea part, we watched our enemies drown. We walked three days in the desert without water and just when it seemed all hope was lost, we arrived at Marah which had water only to discover that the water was poisoned. We complained, who wouldn t? But the Lord didn t rebuke us for complaining, He only went ahead and freshened the water. Then He led us to a place which had palm trees and more water than we needed. We got refreshed, firm in the knowledge of God s care and guidance and ready to continue our journey to the Promised Land. Then we found ourselves back in a desert, this time for sixties day. Our food supplies were running out, the Promised Land seems further away than ever. Once again we began to murmur. Again the Lord did not rebuke us, He only does a greater miracle and sent manna from heaven and a supply of quail with these words then you shall know that the Lord has

15 brought you out from the land of Egypt. Can you relate? Do you have a promise from God? Have you watched God deliver you with great miracles? But like the people of Israel you are getting tired, you think you should have arrived at your promise by no, but you just keep returning to that old difficult school of learning faith and trust in God. Many Christians reach the point of becoming stiff necked. What is it to be stiffnecked? I render these two words, kasha oreph, as Having your head on backwards. We stop looking at God and His promises. We stopped looking at the things we cannot see and preferred to look at what we can see, looking back to Egypt where there were no wanderings in a desert and depending upon God for our daily bread and water. We look back at a time before we committed ourselves to God when things seemed better. Has God given you a promise and you have waited and waited. In the natural that promised should have been fulfilled long ago. Your supplies are running low, you have no idea how much further it is to your promise. Beware, the people in our story never received their promise, it was their children who did. They did not enter the Promise Land because they were kasha oreph, they stopped looking to God and lost hope in their promise and started looking to the natural. God could not fulfill his promise; he had to give it to their children. God can not fulfill His promise in us when we allow ourselves to become kasha oreph, stiffed necked, looking to what we can see rather than what we can not see. Devotional: John 8:32 Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar and Nevim Arith Hayomin: John 8:32: And you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.

16 I used to love to have arguments uh, discussions with my Jehovah Witness friends. Invariably we would approach an impasse such as John 1:1 which they render as The Word was a god. They would argue that in the Greek there is no definite article in front of the word God so therefore it must be rendered as a god. I would throw out my usual argument that in the Greek when you have two nominatives (in this case logos and Theos) that have the same ending in the same sentence the grammatical way of determining the direct object is to add the definite article (ho) to the subject and leave it off the direct object. Even though logos comes at the end of the sentence we do not assume logos is the subject, like in English, as the order of words do not determine the subject or predicate. Therefore John was only using good grammar by making it clear that the subject was logos and not Theos so we would properly render the verse as The Word was God and not God was the Word. Well at that point they would come back with their ace in the hole and say: But we teach the truth. Then I would throw out my trump card by pulling a Pilate and asking: What is truth. Actually, I didn t know any more than they did what I was talking about when I used the word truth, but if you can t convince em, confuse em, as my old Theology professor would say. But then again, maybe they understood that word truth better than I did. When they said they had the truth, they were saying that they only were expressing what they believed God revealed to them personally. I feel I need to take a better look at this word truth. So once more with lexicon in hand I return to my quest to understand those words we use so often but do not understand, such as truth. This time I will examine it in the Aramaic and John 8:32 is a good place to start. According to this verse it is truth that will make you free and I like freedom. Actually, the expression: The truth shall make you free is an old Jewish saying that predates Jesus and was in common use

17 during His time. Oral tradition, later recorded in the Talmud, that No man was free but he that exercises himself in the meditation of the law. Jesus was most likely addressing this study of the law and coming to a proper understanding of the law. The word for free in the Greek is eleutherosei which means to liberate or release from captivity. In the Aramaic the word is harar which means to think. In Hebrew the word harar means much the same but as a noun it means a mountain. In a feminine form it means a pregnant woman. Not that the woman is large like a mountain but that a mountain was representative of a place you go to meditate, think, and draw closer to God. Before they knew about raging hormones a pregnant woman was thought to be closer to the mind of God because she has been granted a miracle (giving of life) by God. Hence this word that is used for free in the Aramaic has the idea of independent thinking. In this context it is thinking that is independent of the teachings of the fathers who gave their personal interpretation as to what the law meant and how to apply it. When you know the truth, you will understand the law of God for yourself and not have to rigidly follow man s interpretation, regardless of how learned or smart that person may be. Man s interpretation can be a guide, but ultimately you or the revelation inside you makes the decision. So what is truth? There is an interesting play on words here. The word truth in Greek is aletheia which is used to describe, you guessed it, truth. It is also used for reality, sincerity and a divine revelation. In the Aramaic, however, we see a subtle play on words. The Aramaic word used here is identical to the Hebrew word, sharar. Freedom is spelled Hei, Resh, Resh truth is spelled Shin, Resh, Resh. The words are spelled the same except one starts with a Hei and the other starts with a Shin. The word sharar means to be firm by twisting and tightening. It also means to rule or command. An age old teaching about leadership is to make a

18 decision, stand firmly and tight by that decision and accept responsibility for that decision. I believe what Jesus is saying here is that He is truth, He is the commander of what is and what is not, He will not change, nor alter his position and he accepts full responsibility for the consequences of his instructions or commands. Yet, to follow His instructions you will receive orders from no one else, you will have the freedom to think on your own. In other words you can make the decision as to how to interpret the law. You will decide if walking a mile on the Sabbath is breaking the Sabbath or not or if eating pork to survive when no other food is available is breaking the dietary laws or saying That dress looks fantastic on you when you hate it, is a lie or not. Let the Truth the Jesus who lives inside you decided. As Jiminy Cricket would say: Let your conscience be your guide. In this case your conscience is the Jesus who lives inside of you. Oh, by the way, that play on words. The difference between the word truth (sharar) and freedom (harar) is that the one has a Shin which represents the power and passionate love of God and the other has a Hei which represents the presence of God. When you accept Jesus as the sharar (truth) in your life or your authority and not man s then you will have the freedom to receive His passionate love, power and presence. With that you can move a harar (mountain).