Isaiah 49:3: and said unto me, You are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.

Transcription

1 WORD STUDY PA AL HAT Isaiah 49:3: and said unto me, You are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. God is saying that we are his servants. The Hebrew word for servant is aved. Aved has a very broad use in the Hebrew, it has the basic idea of laboring for the advantage of someone else. What is the advantage that God is seeking from us? To be glorified. The word used here for glorified is athepa ar. This is in a Hithpael imperfect form from the root word pa al. This has the idea of adorning with brightness, a beauty that is lite up for all to see. As a Hithpael, God is saying that he wants to light himself up in us. We are just a lamp and he wants to be the light for the lamp. The word is also used for a very fancy headdress. This headdress is one that people immediately see and it is very beautiful. Those who study human behavior will tell you that if you wear some sort of hat or something on your head, it will be the first thing someone notices about you. That is why king wears a crown, a soldier a beret, or State Trooper Smoky the Bear hat. A hat may actually define your personality. That is why we take such care in grooming our hair as that is the first thing someone will notice about us. Thus, we have the word pa al used here. God is saying that as His servants, the world will

2 see Him through us. We are to live our lives such that the first things others see is us will be God and His beauty. As servants to God, this is our most important job. The Talmud teaches in Kisvei Kodesh, 24c: God cannot laud Himself, for who can comprehend His essence? Therefore, He exalts Himself in His children, like a father prides himself in his son. With this love, God created us, in order to be exalted through them. It comes out that spiritual delight is revealed in this exaltation. God has given each one of us certain talents and abilities. A better way to put it is that God has given each one of us a pa al or hat to wear. It may be a musical hat, a speaking hat, teaching hat, giving hat, sharing hat, friendship hat well you know the list of spiritual gifts. We may have more than one hat to wear. Each hat, however, is a headdress, a pa al. When people see your pa al or your hat, who do they see? Do they see you or do they see God. We may prophesy in His name, we may cast out devils in His name, we may do great and mighty things in His name but if we do it to draw attention to ourselves, Jesus just may say: Depart from me, we were never intimate or we were never that intimate that people saw me, they only saw you.

3 WORD STUDY TREASURES OF DARKNESS Isaiah 45:3: And I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hidden riches of secret places that you will know that I, the Lord, who called you by your name am the God of Israel. Isaiah 45: 2 tells us that God is going to blaze the trail for us as we journey in our calling and His plan for our lives. In verse 3 he then tells us how He is going to equip us. He is going to give us the treasures of darkness and the hidden riches of secret places. This sounds good until you stop to think about it, what are the treasures of darkness and the hidden riches of secret places. There are four Hebrew words we need to really examine. The first two are orsaroth choshek (treasures of darkness). Sounds like the title of a Stephen King novel. Why would God give us something from darkness, is He not the Light? I don t think I want anything from the dark side. This would almost suggest that we will reclaim the powers of darkness that was originally property of the light, stolen and perverted by the darkness. That sounds good, after all is it not time to take

4 our rod, throw it on the ground and let it turn to a snake and eat the snakes of the occult? I think we would all agree to that but I am not sure that is what this passage is really saying. The word treasure (orsaroth) comes from the root word asar This word has the idea of a storehouse, or treasures that are laid up but not lost. Treasure would be a misleading word to use here as the first thing that comes to our mind in our culture is something of monetary value, such as diamonds, jewelry, gold coins etc. This treasure is a treasure of knowledge. The word asar is spelled Aleph, Sade and Resh and tells us it is knowledge of God s love and power. The word darkness (choshek) also expresses the idea of being obscure or hidden. I know I just got done saying orsaroth is a treasure that is not lost. But Isaiah is drawing a picture here. At this time the Torah, because of the sinfulness of the people, was hidden, yet not lost. During the reign of Josiah the Torah was discovered buried deep in the royal archives. I believe that the treasures of darkness here refers to the deep mysteries of God stored away in His Word. It is not hidden anymore than a library book is hidden in your local library. It is there for you to take out anytime you want it. You may have to search a little for it, and check the card catalogue. I can walk into any library and almost instantly find the section which has works on the Torah and Talmud, because I know the card catalogue number. So too with the Word of God, the more you study it the easier it is to find it s treasures of knowledge. The next two words are matemenu misetarim (hidden riches of secret places). Misetarim (secret places) comes from the root word sathar which is the word for hidden, concealed or secret. Matemenu comes from the root word tamak which has the

5 preposition from in front of it and is used to express hidden, concealed or protected treasures of knowledge. You would express this as: hidden riches of knowledge from concealed or protected places. In other words, tamak knowledge is not as easy to get to as asar. All you have to do to get asar is to search. To get tamak you will need a key card or access code. Maybe a better way to put it is that there are some documents in our legal system that are referred to as public record. Anyone may have access to these documents Then there are records which are classified where you need a certain amount of security clearance to access these documents. To get that security clearance you need to not only prove a need for these documents but also to prove you have the integrity to be entrusted with that knowledge. You generally have to earn this trust. There is certain knowledge of God open to everyone, such as knowledge of His love, his plan of salvation, etc. Then there is knowledge which is hidden (hidden riches of secret places). For this knowledge you will need the cleansing work of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit to access it. The important thing to remember is that there are two levels of knowledge. Many Christians are content with the laid up treasure. Few are willing to earn the trust of God, to seek His heart and be given the security clearance into the hidden riches of secret places.

6 WORD STUDY GOD IS WAITING Isaiah 30:18: And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted that he might be merciful upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment, blessed are all that wait for him. He was there all the time, Waiting patiently in line, He was there all the time. -Gary Paxton- Would you believe those lyrics were written by the man who helped write The Monster Mash? In those words you have his life s testimony. This is something I never really thought about until I heard this song. My first thought, Is that Biblical? Is God really waiting for us to make the first move? This is when I discovered Isaiah 30:18. The Lord is waiting to be gracious to us. Ok, rule number one, never assume that because you like

7 something everyone else will like it. But mercy Maude, that is profound, God is waiting for us, waiting until the right moment to be gracious. There are a few words in Hebrew for wait. In Isaiah 40:31 we learn that those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength. This wait is qavah which is a twisting or binding. It is the word used for making rope. Ever take a close look at a rope. The ancient method of making rope is still used today. Hundreds of thin strands of fabric, each one alone could easily be broken, but when tightly bound together they form a rope that cannot be broken. So in Isaiah 40:31 this waiting is just not sitting back, patiently twiddling your thumbs, but it is a process of binding yourself to God and the more you bind yourself to God, the stronger you become. Isaiah, however, uses a different word in 30:18 for wait which is chakah which is a patiently waiting, like someone waiting for a bus. However, this word is in a Piel imperfect form so it is a continuing process, it is patiently waiting. The word is spelled Chet, Kap, Hei. The Chet indicates moving to a higher level. In other words it is like waiting in line and moving forward. God is patiently letting us run through all our fleshly endeavors trying to satisfy all our needs. Then suddenly He appears next in line. It is then that we discover the next letter in chakah (waiting) and that is the Kap which is the word for palm of the hand. We discover that all this time He has been holding us in the palm of His hand. Thus, we finally do what Gary Paxton did after years of searching for some rainbow end. We invite God to enter our lives and he gives us the final letter in the word chakah (to wait), the culmination of His waiting which is the Hei, His presence which is filled with His graciousness and mercy.

8 Actually Isaiah 30:18 tell us all about it, blessed are those who chakah (wait) for Him. Only our chakah is not in a Piel imperfect form, it is a Qal participle. In others blessed are those who have been waiting for God. Unbeknownst to us, we have been waiting for Him all the time; we just did not see it. At least God s waiting has been in a Piel Imperfect (He is waiting) rather than a Piel Perfect (He has waited). In other words, He hasn t given up, He is still waiting, If that were in an perfect form (He has waited), we would be out of luck, He would have given up long ago. HEBREW WORD STUDY WHERE YOU GO I WILL GO Ruth 1:16: And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave you, or to return from following after you: for where you go, I will go; and where you lodge, I will lodge: your people shall be my people, and your God my God.

9 Someone once wrote a song with the words: You are the only Jesus that some people will ever see. This verse in Ruth is probably the most famous and most quoted verse in the book, and it always seems to focus on Ruth s love for her mother-inlaw that was her motivation for wanting to stay with her. Yet, we all know the big price Ruth would pay for staying with her mother-in-law and not returning to her own people. Historically, the land of Moab, where Ruth hails from, is located in the Transjordan Highlands adjacent to the Land of Judea just opposite of the Jordan River. They were polytheistic and worshipped the god Chemosh who apparently had a wife named Nabu-Chemosh a descendent of Astarte the goddess of sexuality, also known in Ugaritic culture as the goddess Anat who seemed to favor the companionship of mortal men. Solomon allowed his Moabite wives to build a temple in the high lands to the goddess Astarte which required a young woman to have a sexual encounter with a total stranger at least once in her life at the foot of the altar. Under the Astarte cult women were considered nothing more than sex toys for the men and highly prized for their beauty, but remained as property nonetheless. In the Hebrew culture men at least loved their wives and respected them and hence Ruth and her sister would have likely known a relationship with their Hebrew husbands that were not enjoyed by most Moabite women. A beautiful woman under the Astarte cult would normally have a husband who was not much more than a pimp and sell her out for prostitution. On top of all this the Moabites also worshiped Chemosh who is a descendant of Moloch. The sacrifice of children was not that common during Ruth s day, but it did exist when extreme

10 circumstances existed and they wanted to appease Chemosh. Still, Chemosh was a god to be feared and the Moabites believed Chemosh allowed Judah to conquer them because he was angry with them. So another reason Ruth and her sister did not want to return to their people would be because many saw them as traitors for marrying men from the conquering nation, although they had to offer grudging respect out of fear of the wrath of Chemosh. This historical background may shed a little more light onto the motives of Ruth and her sister. Ruth s sister, Orpah, was not a bad sort, she probably loved Naomi just as much as Ruth did but at least she obeyed her mother-in-law which was, culturally, the right thing to do. Ruth was the rebel; she did not go with tradition, stood up to her mother-in-law and defied her, albeit in a loving way. Orpah kissed Naomi, a common Near Eastern practice of saying goodbye. But Ruth refused the customary good by kiss and clung to Naomi. In Hebrew the word cling is devakut, which means she hugged Naomi. Ruth then declares: Where you go. In Hebrew this is Ki el asher. However, Ruth may have been speaking a variant of her own Moabite language. The Moabite language is an extinct Canaanite language which is Semitic in its roots, uses a variant of the Phoenician Alphabet and is the language where Aramaic and Arabic finds its roots. Hence there is a very subtle and interesting play on words here. For in this context what she is saying: Where you go to be blessed, I will go. More specifically to the context, Where you go to be blessed by God I will go. Translators will not go this far as clearly Naomi had nothing to offer Ruth, only poverty, hardship and no hope of marriage some blessing huh?

11 But this play on the Canaanite and Hebrew words goes further as she says: Where you lodge I will lodge. The word lodge in Hebrew is alin which could come from the root word lin which means to lodge, or spend the night somewhere. But that would mean the third letter had to be a Vav and not a Yod. She is talking about living with Naomi in her land, why not use the word dwell, why use the word for spending the night in a motel. Yeah, I know a woman traveling alone would be dangerous and Ruth wanted to protect Naomi, but this does not follow the train of thought here. I believe there is a Canaanite origin in this word for lodge. The Hebrew text uses a Yod, as the third letter. This makes it the Aramaic alayan. The closest we have to the Hebrew would be alavan which means lodge and translators just assumed we had an anomaly here. I think not, I believe the writer deliberately used a Yod rather than a Vav for the third letter to show Ruth was speaking her native language and hence this would be rendered as: Where you will draw closer to God, I will draw closer to God. If we use this rendering then the following statements would make more sense as she would then become one of Naomi s people, a Hebrew, a follower of Jehovah. Thus, Naomi s God, Jehovah would become her God. Yes, Ruth stayed with Naomi because she loved her, but her sister Orpah also loved Naomi. Ruth saw something Orpah did not see, she saw a God so unlike the god of her people, a God who loved her like her husband loved her, not a God who would prostitute her, but from the example of Naomi s son she saw a God who would personally love her and be a husband to her. It didn t matter if she entered a world of poverty or disgrace, she would serve a God who loved her and not use her or abuse her as the Astarte goddess. She had never been in the land of Israel, never visited a Levitical city and joined in worship with others. She never had the advantage of sitting under

12 Levitical teachers, but she had her husband and mother-in-law and in them she saw the God that she fell in love with. Next time you are tempted to tell off that flustered little waitress for getting your order wrong and threatening to tell her manager, just remember the story of Ruth and Naomi, sometimes you may be the only Jesus that some people will ever see, a God who is not as hard and demanding as the god of this world. WORD STUDY HE HAS BLINDED THEIR EYES John 12:40: He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart and be converted, and I shall heal them. This passage has always been a great mystery to me. I have examined this word tetyphloken (He has blinded) in the Greek

13 over and over and there is no getting away from it. Tetyphloken is in a third person singular active tense and must be translated as He made then blind. This leads us to believe that God has deliberately blinded the people and hardened their hearts so they could not be converted. Commentaries, knowing there was no way around this Greek form, have tried to explain this as saying that God knew the people would not repent because of their hardened hearts, but he commanded the message be given anyways and the end result would be the same as if he commanded their eyes be blinded and hearts hardened. Good try, but I am not buying it. There has to be another explanation. I think I found the other explanation when I read this in my Aramaic Bible. The Aramaic word used for he has blinded is awaro which is a third person plural passive voice, not a third person singular active voice. I have rechecked and rechecked and clearly awar, the singular active is not used but awaro the plural passive is used. Hence the Aramaic would read: They have become blind, not he made them blind. Of course, is this to say that our Greek text is wrong and the Aramaic text is right? How do we know if the Aramaic text is wrong and the Greek text is right? Are we to say that for centuries Christians have been studying the wrong text? They have devoted themselves to the study of Greek almost to the exclusion of the Aramaic when all along we should have been reading the New Testament in Aramaic? In study of textual criticism, these questions have haunted me

14 for 40 years. Can we really trust our English text, how do we know it is an accurate translation of the Word of God? Why do pastors and Christian leaders spend years studying Greek when possibly the original manuscripts were written in Aramaic. Then again, without the original manuscripts either in Greek or Aramaic, how can we be sure what we have is truly the written Word of God and not some scribe inserting his own ideas, pushing his own doctrinal and theological agenda when he copied the manuscripts to begin with. Our earliest complete manuscripts, the Sinaiticus and Vaticanus date to the 4 th century with the earliest fragment the Papyrus 45 dating to 250 AD. That is 250 years after Christ. The earliest complete manuscripts in Greek and Aramaic only date to 500 years after Christ. All scholars both evangelical and liberal agree none of the original manuscripts have been found. Hence, how can we be sure the copies of the copies of the copies are really accurate? There was a period of my life when I could not intellectually accept the Bible as the true Word of God. I sided with the scholars who said the Greek text was filled with inaccuracies, grammatical inconsistencies and all sorts of problems. I could not deny the difference in writing styles in books of the Old Testament suggesting passages and phrases adjacent to each other could have been written by different authors separated by hundreds of years and what was given as prophecy was merely historical record. Then one day in total frustration I held my Bible up to God and said: As far as I am concerned this book is filled with inaccuracies and errors, we have no idea what the original manuscripts said or how much man has fooled around with this book. There are hundreds of other works not included in this book and only by popular vote of a group of men who had

15 personal professional agendas was it decided what books to include in the final canon. I have every reason to believe this book is only the works of man, but I believe that you, God Jehovah, exist and loves me and if you love me you want to talk with me and I will accept by faith that despite all the human equations involved, you managed to get into my hands your inspired Word to me and I will believe this book is your inspired inerrant Word by simple faith. In other words, despite all of man s influence, self-interest, human faults, God managed to give us a final product which is his inspired Word. Once I declared this, that Book suddenly became alive, I began to study it with an interest I never had and found bells and whistles going off with every verse. I cannot prove that the Bible is truly God s Word, I just know it is, I believe it is by simple faith and I have grown to love it as life itself. No one knows what was in the original manuscripts. No one knows if Mark 16:9-20 was really in the original manuscripts or not. If it is in my Bible, I will believe it. No one knows if the New Testament was originally written in Greek or Aramaic, but I will study the New Testament in both languages and let the Holy Spirit tell me which rendering to accept. You may disagree with my rendering, but that is not my concern, that is a matter between me and the God I love. You find your own rendering. Ultimately, my personal study is just between the God I love and myself. I for one will accept the Aramaic version of John 12:40 and render this as Their eyes have become blind, and not the Greek rendering He has made their eyes blind. If you want to wave your Koine Greek flag over this verse go right ahead and I hope you have a long, cold winter and believe me it can get cold up here in Yankee land.

16 WORD STUDY The Seven Princes of Persia Esther 1:14 And the next unto him was Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, which saw the king s face, and which sat the first in the kingdom. I have heard the story of Esther many times, I have seen it in various movies, filmstrips (remember Sunday School filmstrips), heard it dramatized on the radio and read many children books and adult books on the story. Never, however, have I heard anyone talk about the Seven Princes of Persia. I never gave it much thought myself until one day I was practicing my Aramaic and reading some ancient Jewish literature where I discovered a bit of historical fact and an interesting lesson on ancient Evangelism and the effects of living a righteous life. Historically, there were seven princes or advisors from seven different nations which had been conquered by the Persian

17 empire. History on the Persian Empire can get a little confusing and I will be oversimplifying this for the sake of writer s cramp. Briefly, Cyrus the Great united the Medes and the Persians as one empire and conquered the Babylonian Empire. We read about this in the Book of Daniel. When Cyrus died his son Cambyses II took the throne and almost immediately he and his half-brother Smerdis took off to Egypt. Now keep in mind that as you read various histories on the Persian Empires this record has passed through various cultures and languages so the names may take on Greek, Latin, Aramaic, Hebrew and my gosh, so many other forms that you have a real problem trying to determine who is who. So if you read this story on your own you may find Smerdis coming under a different name entirely. Back to our story, Smerdis returned from Egypt to Persia (now Iran and Iraq) where he was assassinated by the Magi and replaced with an imposter called Smerdis the Pretender and placed on the throne of Persia. The seven powers or princes exposed this scandal and got rid of the imposter and Cambyses immediately returned to power whereupon he died and was replaced by Darius Hystaspis who also died very shortly after that and was replaced by his son Ahasuerus (Xerxes in the Greek) who became the husband to Esther. All this really happened within a few years after Daniel had found himself in the lion s den. It is believed that these are the seven princes who were the advisors to Ahasuerus. Now remember what I said about names. We really are not sure what the real names of these individuals were and in fact they may have gone by many names during their lifetime. However, understanding Semitic literature we know that when stories are retold, the names take on metaphoric meanings. It is sort of like telling the

18 story of the Lincoln and Douglass debates. Rather than say Lincoln and Douglass you would say: And the Great one addressed the Small Pompous one. The story remains true, just embellished with colorful metaphors to aid in understanding. Why does Scripture feel it necessary to give the names of each prince when only one prince really gives the best advice? It is most likely because these names are metaphoric to give better understanding of the heart of King Ahasuerus. You know the story, Queen Vashti committed an act of disobedience. Actually Vashti may not be her real name as it means the conclusion of my feast or banquet. In other words, for dessert King Ahasuerus wanted everyone to gaze upon his wife with rather cardinal desires. I mean you have to admit the old boy was really bombed from all that drinking and probably not in his right mind. There is nothing to indicate that Vashti was asked to pose nude, but you have to admit that to just come and stand before a bunch of drunken slobs to get their personal jollies while gawking at her is not exactly a woman s idea of a gentleman showing her a good time. I mean when Ahasuerus came into his right mind he must have realized what he had done, not only to dishonor his wife but the throne as well. In a sense Queen Vashti s act really saved the old boy s gizzard. Still he was stuck with the problem of her disobedience. What do you do? You can t overlook this disobedience which under Persian rules is a capital crime and yet she disobeyed for the good of the king. So King Ahasuerus called in the old advisors, the seven princes for advice. Now remember each name has a special meaning within the Semitic languages. Jewish literature

19 teaches that the first prince or advisor was said to be from Africa and called Carshena which means to condemn as in to condemn to death. He most likely advised King Ahasuerus to execute his wife Vashti for her disobedience. The second advisor is said to be from India called Shethar, which means to bring forth and split in two. I doubt King Ahasuerus could stomach that one. The next advisor believed to be from Idumer was Admatha which means bloodshed. King Ahasuerus quickly rejected that advice. The fourth advisor was Tarshish who is said to be from Egypt. His name means to destroy and humiliate. King Ahasuerus could not do that either. The next was Meres from Resen whose name means to fracture or break, like break every bone in her body. No way with that one. The sixth was Maresena which means to bind up. In other words tie her up and force her to appear before the drunken slobs. Poor King Ahasuerus did not have the heart to do that. The final advisor, the last to speak was Memucan which means one who is upright, true and steadfast. He admitted there was a problem in disobedience but to do physical harm to the poor woman was not right. Yet, the king could not show weakness, so he suggested she just be discharged from her duties and office of the queen. It would punish the queen for her disobedience yet reward her by sparing her life for her act of bravery to protect the throne which was honored in the Persian Empire. King Ahasuerus was a good man, a man with a tender, loving heart. Such compassion is not disgraceful for a king or great leader. Where did this good man, subject to human faults like anyone else, get such a good heart? I believe from God Jehovah. I believe his heart was tender to God because of the influence of an old, elderly advisor, his father s advisor Memucan. For you see the Jewish Targum teach that Memucan s

20 real name was Daniel. There is an old saying that keeps coming back to me Sometimes we are the only Jesus that people will ever see. We are offering an amazing workshop on digging into and meditating on the words of God in an easy and fun way. The classes are free and part of our ministy to the Body. If you are interested in adding fresh zeal to your personal time with God or as a group study then please write us for more information. Blessings, Chaim & Laura WORD STUDY GOING GREEN

21 Isaiah 15:6: For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate, for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing. Yesterday was one of those downers for me. We had yet another snow storm in Chicago, the temperature was dropping into single digits and this was not even the polar vortex that we had had a couple weeks ago. At least the streets were plowed, which is fine you can get through the mound of snow that the plow piled up alongside your car. As I was digging my way out I happened to look around and think of Isaiah 15:6, the grass faileth, there is no green thing. I could see no green thing anywhere, just white snow. I began thinking green, imagining the spring when the trees are filled with green leaves and the green grass is growing. I could even almost sense that fresh smell of the newly cut green grass. I began to really appreciate the fact that God made so much green. My apologies to Kermit the Frog but being green is not so bad. I also found myself coming out of my funk, my stress level was dropping and I started to feel the peace of God again and began feeling rested. In Isaiah 15:6 the prophet is predicting the desolation of Moab. The waters of Nimrim which flows into the Jordan and brings fertility to the area will dry up. The hay will wither away. Actually, there is no word for hay in the Hebrew text, it is just the word wither and due to the syntax translators felt obligated to put something in there that withers so they called it hay. Some translations say vegetation. I tend to agree with the World English Bible which says the grass withers and the tender grass fails. In other words all green plantations disappear such that there is nothing green left.

22 Unlike English where we ask: Do you want the good news or bad news first? You don t get that choice in Hebrew when a progression is given. This progression is showing that the green in this valley will begin to fade unto there is nothing green left. In other words the emphasis is not on the loss of a food supply or grazing for their livestock, but on the loss of something green. The loss of God s gift of a color that heals a troubled mind. The word green in Hebrew here is iereq which your lexicon will simply say means green or green plantations. It is also used for the word spittle which has a greenish color so the emphasis with iereg is not on vegetation but on the color. The Old Testament is filled with color and we, as Christians, simply focus on the symbolism of color. I have always had a problem with Isaiah 1:18: Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow. Why is sin pictured as scarlet? The ancients knew as we know very well today the color scarlet strikes passion. An adulterous woman is pictured wearing Red as red arouses sexual passion. Red has been shown to arouse anger. Film makers know to show a lot of red blood as it arouses violence. In other words color arouses emotions in us. Emotions affect our health. I struggle with high blood pressure and yesterday was a high blood pressure day. Yet surrounding myself with the color green created a relax feeling in me, soothing my stress and when I measured my blood pressure that evening I found it to be right at normal. Even the ancient rabbis who assigned letters to the word for green (iereg) spelled it out so as to show that Green was a color that brings peace and rest. The first letter, Yod, teaches us to be one with our changing world, to calmly and

23 peacefully embrace it. As the green grass fades in autumn and winter, there will be a spring where it will again return. Yod teaches us to trust our creator s faithfulness as demonstrated in His faithfulness to give us our seasons. The next letter is the Resh which is the letter for the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus called our Comforter (John 14:16) that He himself would send to us. I indeed receive this gift of the Comforter while surrounded by God s iereg (green). The Resh is also the letter of healing and it is through this Comforter that we are healed. The last letter is the Quf which is the letter of completion, and fulfillment. The Quf brings us into peace with the changes around us. Thus, God gave us the color green (iereg) to bring us into peace and to sooth our troubled minds. When I need to find peace, I turn to God s medication or prescription: Take two walks in the lush green of My park, sit under My green leaves of My trees and give Me a call. I always introduce my Hebrew classes with a lecture on art as you cannot fully understand Hebrew unless you understand what art is all about. I love to tell of my favorite artist, Vincent Van Gogh. Van Gogh originally aspired to be a pastor and indeed was a missionary to a mining town in Belgium where he began sketching the people in the community. Van Gogh was also a man with a troubled mind who was tortured with depression. The genius of Van Gogh was his ability to take his pain and torment and turn it into color. Well, any artist can do that, but what made Van Gogh stand out for all the rest and indeed is probably the only artist in history to do so, was his ability to take his pain, turn it into color and make something beautiful out of it.

24 click here to order oils or contact me for more information