WORD STUDY TIME TO SHINE

Transcription

1 WORD STUDY TIME TO SHINE Isaiah 60:1: Arise, shine, for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon thee. What probably runs through most peoples minds when they hear this verse is Wake up, time to rise and shine. I guess metaphorically this verse is a slap across the head telling us to Wake up, stop feeling so sorry for yourself, and be enlightened, your light has come. This verse is addressed to Jerusalem, Israel, the church, you and me and it is telling us more than to just wake up. The word arise is kumi which has a very broad range of meanings. Generally the word has the idea of arising and being restored. When Jesus healed the lame man at the pool he most likely used the identical word in Aramaic in his command to be healed. To Jerusalem which was in ruin, to the Jews who were in captivity, to us as we walk through the dark valley we all

2 receive the same command, kumi, arise and be restored. If you have been beaten down, under oppression, or just plain worn out, the command is to arise and be restored. Not only are we to arise and be restored, but we are to shine. The word shine is not halal (praise) as one would expect, but it is the word or which is the word for light. Grammatically, if the word is or it should be rendered as enlightened. What are we enlightened about that will cause us to arise and be restored? It is the fact that the light has come. Many rabbis see this light as the Messiah. When the Messiah comes all will be restored. Since we believe the Messiah has already come in Jesus, then the final question is: At what point is our restoration come? It comes when the light or the Messiah comes which means that our restoration is already here. In other words, if you are wandering around in that dark valley, then you need to be enlightened to the fact that the Messiah is here, Jesus has come to bring light to your dark valley. That dark valley is dark only because you will not open your eyes to see Jesus. True you may still be in the valley but He will lighten your way through the valley and He will restore your strength to pass through that valley. That final phrase, The glory of the Lord has risen on you uses the word zarach for risen. This word is commonly used with the rising of the sun. The word glory as indicated in an earlier study expresses God s lovingkindness and compassion. As you walk through your dark valley just look off to the

3 West, the Son is rising. God s lovingkindness and compassion is rising to bring the warmth and comfort you need for your journey. So as we pass through our dark valleys and feel abandoned, lost and/or hopeless we are reminded by the prophet that the coming of the Messiah, the coming of Jesus brings us enlightenment that he will say: Arise and be restored. He will bring us the strength we need, He will light our way and walk through that valley with us covering us with His lovingkindness and compassion. As David said in Psalms 23, Surely goodness (walking in harmony with God) and lovingkindness shall follow me all the days of my life. The Light has come, the Messiah is here and we do not have to cross Jordan alone, we do not have to pass through the valley in darkness for He, the light, will walk with us. WORD STUDY BARRENNESS OF LIFE

4 Isaiah 58:11: And the Lord shall guide thee continually and satisfy your soul in a drought. Twas right, said they, such bird to slay, that bring such fog and mist. Ah, well a day, what evil looks, had I from old and young Instead of the cross an Albatross around my neck was hung. -Samuel Taylor Coleridge Rime of the Ancient Mariner. In Coleridge s longest poem, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, he writes a Christian allegory discussing the nature of natural events in a world of religious uncertainty. He explores the question of post hoc ergo propter hoc (rationalization of natural occurrence). The poem tells the story of a man on his way to a wedding when he is stopped by an elderly Mariner who insist on telling his story. As the Mariner relates his story the gentleman listening moves from bemusement, to impatience to fear to fascination. I find myself moving through this same

5 cycle as God takes me through my journey to discover His heart. I have gone from bemusement to impatience to fear and now to fascination. The Mariner tells how his ship was blown off course into the Antarctic. An Albatross appears and guides them out of the Antarctic. The Mariner shots the Albatross with a cross bow and the crew curse the Mariner as they feel this will bring bad luck. Luck does not seem to favor them for a while and the Mariner is forced to wear the dead Albatross around his neck by the crew to remind them as to who is responsible for their misfortune. Then their fortunes change and the crew insist it was proper to have shot the Albatross, then fortunes change again and again the Mariner is blamed for having killed the Albatross and Mariner continues to wear the Albatross around his neck. We are forced to consider the question, is the Albatross responsible for all the fortunes or misfortunes the crew suffered? The Albatross is symbolic of the Christian soul and its journey to discern the influence of the spiritual world with the natural world. Was it the Albatross that really lead them out of danger or was it just a natural occurrence of the migration of the Albatross. As I travel this journey to discover the heart of God I find myself in the same situation of the Mariner. I find times I really need an answer to prayer or to hear from God, so I queue up my I Pod to my favorite worship song and then, wow, I get my answer to prayer. The next time I need answer to prayer or to hear from God I queue of that song again, but nothing happens. So I start to fast and pray, but things only get worse. I go to church, I toss a tithe in the offering plate

6 and then, wow, I get my answer to prayer. But then there is that little voice inside of me asking if I am not like this ancient Mariner. Are these little things I do, listening to worship music, fasting, praying and paying my tithe merely an Albatross that I wear around my neck? Are my fortunes and/or misfortunes the result of these Albatrosses or just natural events? Is it God or an Albatross around my neck that I can blame for every fortune or misfortune, for every prayer that is answered or not answered? Isaiah 58:11 tells us that God guides us. The word guide is nachah which is simply to lead. The word nachah is spelled Nun, which represents faith and Cheth which is a heart joined with God s heart that leads you to the Hei, the presence of God. If we are led (nachah) by God then our soul will be satisfied in a period of draught. It will be His presence that will satisfy us. The word satisfied is shava which is the same word for the number seven and means complete or total. We will be satisfied in days of draught. The word draught in Hebrew is tsachach which means barrenness or lack of accomplishment. This is a time when we have no answer to prayer and we seemingly are not hearing from God. Yet the Bible promises we will be shava satisfied or complete and total during this time. At times I stop and look at my own situation and I seem to be in a time of tsachach (draught, barrenness) a time when God does not seem to be doing anything in or with my life. Is my so called misfortune the result of an Albatross around my neck or a cross around my neck? Have I been led to my present state, this state of seeming tsachach or barrenness, lack of

7 accomplishment by an Albatross (my own soul) or by the cross? If I have been led by the cross then according to Isaiah 58:1 these events, this tsachach, barrenness, lack of accomplish are meant only to lead me to a completeness in Christ, even if there is no deliverance, no accomplishments, His grace will be sufficient for me. I think of my time of silence during my silent retreat. I accomplished nothing in the eyes of the world, I experienced no answers to prayer, yet I never felt more complete in Jesus than I did during that time of tsachach, barrenness or lack of accomplishment. When the Mariner wore the albatross around his neck it was a metaphor of carrying a burden around his neck in doing penance. When I put my faith in Jesus Christ, trusting in Him and Him alone for my salvation, He removed that Albatross from around my neck and replaced it with a cross. Thus I should carry no burden around my neck to achieve accomplishments. I cannot point to my misfortunes or lack of accomplishments (tsachach) as the result of sins for which I must do penance. I can only say that my present tsachach barrenness and lack of accomplishments are being orchestrated by God and although I may feel like I am in a draught, Isaiah 58:11 tells me I can look to him and he is all I need to satisfy my soul. WORD STUDY HOUSE OF PRAYER

8 Isaiah 56:7: For my house will be called a house of prayer for all the people. Luke 2:37: And she (Anna) never left the temple, serving God night and day with fastings and prayers. When someone subscribes to our website they give us their e- mail address. I love to look at these addresses and view the creative expressions people come up with for their address. The other day I noticed one had the word Ihop. I had to write this person to see if they were talking about a pancake house (International House of Pancakes) or a house of prayer (International House of Prayer), it was a house of prayer. This got me to thinking, however, just what a house of prayer really is? Isaiah 56:7 tells us that God wants his house to be called a house of prayer for all the people. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that it is impossible to please God without faith. Faith is at the very root of pleasing God. In Luke 7:9 we find that Jesus marveled at the faith of the Centurion. When we see the word marvel we think of awe or amazement. Indeed this word in the Greek ethaumasin does carry that idea, but when we drill down a little further and we find that ethaumasin represents a joyful or wonderful feeling. The word used in the Aramaic is dama which is similar to the word zamar in Hebrew which is a word for praise but in its Semitic

9 root it has the idea of pruning. It is looking beyond all of one s faults and seeing that something which is special or different and rejoicing in that. When we look and marveling at the Grand Canyon, we have a feeling of joy at something beautiful while overlooking the fact that it is also a very dangerous and treacherous place to travel. It wasn t that Jesus was shocked or taken by surprise at the faith of the Centurion, it was that His heart was warmed and made joyful at his faith. I am sure as s Roman Centurion he had done a lot of things in his life that he would not be proud of but Jesus only saw His faith and it pleased Him. That marvelous feelings we get when we see God s beauty in nature is the same marvelous feeling God gets when he sees that simple childlike faith in us. He zamar(s), prunes or cuts away all those things which we would be ashamed of and just focuses on our faith and finds delight and joy in that. So we can please God with our faith, but what about serving Him. How do we serve him? Is being a missionary serving him, full time Christian work, or going to church, paying tithes? I suppose so but I think the Bible gives us a better understanding of what it is to serve God. In Luke 2:37 we learn that Anna served God in the temple with fastings and prayer. Fasting is going without food, right? Well, not really. Going without food is just an expression of fasting. The Aramaic word used here is tsom which is identical to the Hebrew word tsom. The word in Greek used here for fasting is nesteials. The Septuagint uses this Greek word nesteials for the Hebrew word tsom. All three words means fasting. I could not drill down very far with the Greek word nesteials other than fasting. But the Aramaic word tsom and its Hebrew equivalent tsom does offer some insight. In its Semitic form the Aramaic

10 and Hebrew words tsom has the idea of submitting the very necessities of one s life to receive some knowledge. In ancient times it was used for a soldier who would give up his life to be recognized by one of his gods and receive the knowledge of the Gods. In this context it means to submit to the Divine Will in order to bring about a transformation through the revelation of His hidden knowledge. That is the very essence of fasting. That is why going without food, the very basic necessity of life, is one of the most common expressions fasting. But there are other ways to fast. I believe it was Mike Bickel, the founder of the International House of Prayer, who speaks of a fasted life style. I am not too sure of what he means by this but I am led to understand that it involves denying yourself the things of this world, the things that feed the flesh as well as fleshly desires in order to submit to the Divine Will. I believe when Mike Bickel speaks of a fasted life style he is giving an excellent definition of the Aramaic and Hebrew word tsom. Anna lived a fasted life style. She lived in the temple denying herself of the things of the flesh to pursue the Divine Will of God. This was called a service to God. Then she prayed. The word in the Greek used for prayer here is de esesin which really means petition. The word used in my Aramaic Bible is tselutha. The Septuagint uses de esesin for the Hebrew word thapol in Isaiah 56:7 which is translated as prayer, but this prayer in the Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew are not only prayers of petition but also intercessory prayers, prayers of petition for others and not oneself. Anna lived in the temple living a life of fleshly denial and praying in intercession for others day and night. That is called a service to God. It was not being a prophetess that was called her service, it was her fasting and prayer. The root word for prayer in Hebrew as it is in Aramaic is palal which has a numerical value of 140. The mind or heart of God has a

11 numerical value of 140. The Gematria indicates that prayer is speaking out verbally the heart of God. Is that not what you are doing when you pray a prayer of intercession? What then is this house of prayer that we are reading about in Isaiah 56:7? The word house is byith which means not only a physical place of dwelling but a spiritual place of dwelling. It could be a tent, a palace, a tabernacle or a house. It could also be the spirit, the heart, or the mind where are desires dwell. With that thought in mind we could translate the house of prayer as a place where the heart of God dwells. It is a place that one enters and expresses the heart of God verbally. That is one way to translate the words byith tepilah (house of prayer). But soft, if faith pleases God, and it takes faith to enter the heart of God, it would follow that when we enter the heart of God our faith has made His heart joyful and thus we enter His joy. Yet it is that joy which comes from our faith, so really it is our faith that is ultimately responsible for the joy of the Lord that we feel. When the Centurion expressed his faith it created a joy in the heart of Jesus such that the healing power came out of Jesus, but Jesus made it clear that it was the Centurion s faith that activated this power. The combination of faith pleasing God and prayer proclaiming the heart of God created a house of prayer that brought about the healing of the Centurion s servant.

12 BEYOND THE DALETH A NEW BEGINNING Isaiah 55:12: For you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you with singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Summer and winter, springtime and harvest Sun moon and stars in their courses above Join with all nature in manifold witness To thy great faithfulness, mercy and love. Great is thy faithfulness, Great is thy faithfulness Morning by morning new mercies I see. Thomas Chisholm, Great is Thy Faithfulness

13 Have you ever been filled with the joy of the Lord such that it seems like all nature joins with you in praising God. I really believe that this is what the prophet Isaiah is trying to express here. Recently, as I was sitting on my porch, I noticed a squirrel running across the lawn. Suddenly he ran up to by the bottom of the stairs to my porch. You know how they are, once they see you they stop, get up on their hind legs, and twitch their nose at you as if to say: Hello there, any peanuts today? and then they run off. Only on this occasion, I suggested to my furry chipmunk friend, that he join me in a little worship session with our creator. As if to answer he gave a little squeak and then ran off. I took that as a Praise the Lord. Crazy, no? Well, what do expect from a guy who is always going through a Looking Glass with Hebrew letters visiting an alternative world to get spiritual insight. I know Isaiah 55:12 is just a metaphor and a personification. The mountains really do not break forth with singing nor do the trees clap their hands do they? Actually in the Hebrew the word for breaking forth is yiphasechu which could have two possible roots. It could be pasach which is to break forth with a loud joyful noise. But there is another possible root which would be paras which is the word used when a child is born or breaks forth through the womb for a new beginning. Both words have the idea of breaking forth either with a loud joyful noise or a new beginning or both. This breaking forth is done with rinah which is simply a joyful noise. Since we are given a separate word for joyful noise, I can only assume that the intended root word has to be parats (a breaking forth as in a child

14 breaking forth from the womb) rather than pasach as a breaking forth with a joyful noise. That would make the word rinah (joyful noise) too redundant, even for Hebrew. So I would say that the root word for yipasechu would be parats which would mean the mountain are breaking forth with the joy of a new beginning. So how would this verse apply to us, personally, today, three thousand years after it was written? I think we would all love a new beginning. As my little furry friend and I shared the joy of the Lord together my mind went back to the realities I would be facing this day. Would the day be filled with its usual problems related to health, finances etc? I really didn t find any hope of a new beginning to rejoice about. As I ponder this thought I opened my Hebrew Bible to take a closer look at Isaiah 55:12 and have a little chat with Parats (breaking forth with a new beginning) and give him a little piece of my mind, I mean what right has he got to go around spouting out breaking forth with new beginnings when there was no such thing in sight. I looked at the verse and noticed a blank spot where Parats (breaking forth in new beginnings) was supposed to be. That figures, I thought, Parats (breaking forth in new beginnings) is just as elusive as ever. Suddenly I heard someone say; Oh yeah? I looked around and there I saw Parats (breaking forth in a new beginning). Parats is spelled Pei, Resh and Sade. I looked at Pei, Resh, Sade and saw they were dressed in military fatigues and each wore sergeant strips. Pei, (which represents a mouth) shouted Tend hut! Tend what, who? I ask, Just what or whom am I tending to? I question. Resh (which represents following a path with an unknown destination) shouted Forward March! Sade (which represents performing a humble task) began a cadence One, Two, Three

15 Four, One two three I decided to play along and marched back into my house and through my Looking Glass where I found myself in the midst of a field filled with hundreds of holes that have been dug by many other Christians this day. I was ordered by Sergeants Pei, Resh and Sade to start digging. Why am I digging a senseless hole? I asked. But Sergeants Pei, Resh and Sade just began to sing: You re in God s army now, to satan you must not bow. You begin a little bit by digging God s ditch, you re in God s army now. Huh? I asked. I still don t get it, what does digging a ditch have to do with a new beginning? Pei, (mouth, speaking) said that Lamentations 3:23 tells us that God s mercies are new every morning. The mountains and hills break forth with joy every morning as every morning brings new mercies. You come forth in joy and lead in peace because every day is a new day. This joy in Isaiah 55:12 comes from the newness of God s mercies every day. I get it, I replied scornfully: So what am I digging for? Pei (the first letter to parats, (breaking forth with new beginnings), replies that he is the number 100, Resh salutes and says, Number 200, reporting, sir and Sade snaps to attention and barks, 90 present and accounted for, sir. As I continued to dig, I added this up and found it totaled 390. Suddenly my shovel struck something solid. Hey, I shouted, I struck a Mem. Well, pull em out Parats ordered. So I pulled out Mem who was attached to Shin, Kap and Lamed, (masekel) which means understanding. Boy, it was hot down there, thanks for digging us up. I looked at Masekel (understanding) and said with surprise: Why you are understanding. Right, answered Mem. Then looking at Pei, Resh, Sade he shouted, Hey, guys look, it s our counterpart Parats and immediately Mem, Shin and Kap (masekel- understanding) ran over and shook hands and

16 embraced Pei, Resh and Sade (Parats breaking forth with new beginnings). I put down my shovel, scratched my head and asked, Numerical counterpart? Sure nuf, replied Paras (breaking forth with new beginnings) we share the same numerical value of 390 with Masekel (understanding), we re related. You just unburied our kinfolk Masekel (understanding) who were buried under all the cares of that world on the other side of your Looking Glass. Well, after the joyful reunion between Parats (breaking forth with new beginnings) and Masekel (understanding) I reminded Parats (breaking forth with new beginnings) that they really needed to return to my Hebrew Bible. But before we passed through my Looking Glass Pei, Resh, and Sade (parats breaking forth with new beginnings) snapped to attention and saluted me and said: Nice digging, you really found yourself a blessing. They were right, I was on my way to having one miserable day with the cares of my world, but when I dug through that day I found the understanding that God was giving me another new day, a new day of life with a little blessing to start my day, which I had never realized was meant to be a new beginning for a new day, a simple beginning, one I would not have recognized but for my friend Parats (breaking forth with a new beginning). I found myself back on my porch and there was my little blessing on his hind legs, twitching his nose. He gave another little squeak, I swear it sounded like parats (breaking forth with a new beginning). For you see, every day is a new day with God, a new beginning. If I can t rejoice as the mountains and hills over this new day or beginning in a

17 beautiful world that God created for me, then I must dig to find out the blessings that God gives each day, if I am to fully comprehend the meaning of Isaiah 55:12 in my life. With that I toss a peanut to my little morning greeter, this little bit of God s creation, I reflect how he gave me my first shovel full of blessings for the day. WORD STUDY THOU SHALT NOT DELIGHT Exodus 20:17: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that [is] thy neighbor s. For you King James only people I just want to assure you that it is ok to substitute the word donkey in this verse. Especially if you happen to be reading this verse to a Junior High Sunday school class. Take it from a man of experience. There is no quicker way to lose control of your class than by quoting this verse directly from the King James Version. The Bible does not change, but the English language does. Actually, I would be more incline to suggest that the word for donkey chamar would best be suited to a mule. However, that

18 is a city boy talking and I must defer to my Uncle Otto who was a farmer (you can read about him in my book, Biblical Truths from Uncle Otto s Farm). Apparently a mule is not a donkey but a hybrid of a horse and a donkey. Mules were apparently specifically bred because they were considered to be more patient, hardy, faster, less obstinate, more intelligent and lived longer than a donkey. Mules have been breed as far back as 3,000 BC in Ancient Egypt. They is no mentioned of mules in the Bible simply because we have traditionally taken the word gimmel to mean a camel. Yet, new research using radioactive-carbon dating techniques shows that camels weren t domesticated until hundreds of years after the events documented in the Book of Genesis in fact camels were not domesticated until the 10 th Century or the time of King David. This, little known fact would call into question such passages as Genesis 24:11, And he made his camels to kneel down without the city. The good scholars of the National Geographic and CNN s Joe Baden are very charitable in explaining that the Bible authors simply transplanted the nomadic standards of their time into the distant past and deception was not intended. In other words the Bible was not being deceitful just not accurate. It was written over a period of thousands of years by different writers and of course they could not know camels were not domesticated at that time. Of course for us evangelical Christians them are fightin words. All these scholars are doing is to use a pleasant way of saying that the Biblical record is not accurate and is fallible, proof positive. Well, I am not about to go to the mat without a good linguistical fight. If you take the Hebrew word for camel, gimmel, and trace it to its Semitic root you find it does not have to be restricted to a camel but only to an animal or even a person

19 that carries a burden for another. In fact the ancient sages took the word gimmel as the name for the letter gimmel which represents lovingkindness or one who shows loving kindness by accepting the burden of another. Mules are actually, in many ways, better desert animals than camels, they are faster and more intelligent and less obstinate than camels and much easier to manage. Unless we know for sure that the Bible is referencing camels we should render the word gimmel as mules and chamor as donkeys. I know this might upset your image of Abraham riding along on a camel as you see in your phony Hollywood movies, but, hey I have scientific carbon dating on my side. So this brings up the question. If mules or gimmels were to be more highly prized than donkeys chamor in Biblical times then why does the commandment in Exodus 20 command us to not covet our neighbors mules or gimmels rather than chamors or donkeys? An even better question would be why does the Bible even list the things we are not to covet? I mean it does not give a list of things not to steal, it just says don t steal. I mean my neighbor doesn t even have an ox or donkey and I certainly would not covet his pet pit bull dog Sparky. I believe the answer lies in the Hebrew word for covet. It is the word chamed which is closely related to the word chamor, or donkey. It actually carries the same Semitic root and would suggest that there is a play on words. The chamor (donkey) in its verbal form means to be agitated, to ferment or to be obstinate. That is a good description of a donkey. Actually, the word chamor is sometimes used for wine. The old saying should be rendered as stubborn as a donkey, not as a mule. The word chamed (covet) means an object of desire or

20 something in which you delight. I once heard a Jewish grandmother refer to her granddaughter as her little chamed. So when we are commanded not to covet, it is more than just to desire something that belongs to our neighbor but we are not even to delight in something owned by our neighbor, lest we desire to steal it. It seems the commandment runs from the most important possession of your neighbor to the least important. It starts with not coveting his wife to his manservant and maidservant to his ox and finally his chamor, the thing that is least value in his household. That is where we might find a play on words. We are not to chamed (delight, desire) something that is chamor (that which is the least valuable). How many times have you heard someone say, Well, he will never miss it anyway. He has a millions dollars in the bank, he will never miss the thousand I can con him out of. When we see the list of the Ten Commandments it often just says, Thou shalt not covet. But that is not what the Bible is saying. It is ok to covert, chamed (delight, desire), like that Jewish grandmother chamed her granddaughter. What we are commanded to not do is chamed (delight, desire) something that belongs to our neighbor even that which is of the least value, causing you to seek to own it. Well, at least I don t have that problem with Sparky the Wonder dog.

21 WORD STUDY WHILE HE IS OFFERING Isaiah 55:6b call ye upon Him while He is near. Ok, I am still meditating on Isaiah 55:6 and this idea of calling on God while He is near. I would like to examine this phrase from a pre-masoretic understanding which would give a little different twist to this verse from I have offered over the past two days and suggest to you another face to our seventy faces of Torah. Every English translation I have read renders this pretty much the say way: Call ye upon Him while He is near. If we accept this rendering, then we have little choice but to believe that there are times when God is not near. There are times when He will distance Himself from us. Yet, that is so contrary to what we teach that God is an ever present and constant companion. I find it very difficult to accept the shrug of the shoulder: Well that is the Old Testament and of course we live under a

22 new covenant now and this passage just doesn t apply to us today. I have two problems with this view. The first is that if this does not apply to us today and we can just throw it out, then how much more of the Bible do we throw out. How much more of the Bible does not apply to us? Do we have a right to pick out what we want and toss out what seems contradictory to us? The other problem I have with this view is that if the Old Testament does not apply to us today, then I pretty well wasted my life studying something that has little meaning for us and who wants a wasted life? So I am left to do my own excavation and see if I can find some meaning in this, at least something that makes sense to me. This phrase: Call upon him while He is near is just three words in the Hebrew: qua eu beiuthu qrub. This literally means call him in become him near. Now, that sure makes a whole lot of sense. Obviously, no matter what English translation you use, you are going to end up with a paraphrase or someone s opinion. A common question I get is, What is the literal translation of this verse. Well, here is a literal translation and even if you do a word for word literal translation, you are still going to have to make your best guess as to what it means. So I am going to make my best guess on what call him in became him near means and I will let the Spirit of God inside you guide you to your own personal understanding, as I am only sharing with you my personal understanding of what this phrase means. My first question is why do we call upon the Lord? That seems to imply cupping our hands over our mouths to project our voice. When you call out to someone you usually do that

23 because they are either at a distance from you or you are in a situation where it is hard for the person to hear you. The word in Hebrew for call is kara which really harkens back to an old English use of the word call which we do not use too much today. But was used quite a bit by Shakespeare and during the time of the translation of the KJV. This is a call in the sense of making a choice. For instance, during the time of the military draft, someone would say they have been called to service when they got their Greetings letter. Today in Christian circles I often hear someone say: God has called me to do such and such. This is the idea behind kara a calling or choosing someone or something to come to your aid. So calling upon the Lord is calling upon Him to aid you in favor of calling on someone else like the arm of the flesh to come to your aid. So we are to call upon God while he is (near). This while he is part is just one word in Hebrew, beiuthu. which is from the root word hayah and means to exist or to become. In this form it is a qal infinitive construct. In the use of the qal infinitive construct in this verse we see an example of how the study of linguists of Biblical Hebrew have seriously suffered from the lack of attention paid to the pre-christian primary versions of the Hebrew Bible, which, for example would be the Septuagint and the Targumim. Not only the syntax but the morphology (structure of a word) would be more correctly or better understood than the standard renderings offered by the Masoretic scholars. Modern translators have limited themselves to the methodology of linguistic per se, without the integration of other materials as mentioned to create a linguistic picture as a whole. What I am saying is this. Although I acknowledge that the word beiuthu is in a qal infinitive construct form, I take issue with the rendering that is given to it as it is really a Masoretic rendering and opinion that has pointed this up as an infinitive construct.

24 Principles noted in the Septuagint and Targumim, which predate the Masoretic text, would suggest a more proper rendering of this word to be he having made himself available [to us] is near rather than while he is near Finally, the word near is qarav which means near but it can also have a rendering which would mean to offer or make available. Thus you could have, he having made himself available [to us] is offering [himself to us]. Thus, another option we have in the rendition of this verse would be: Choose to call upon the Lord who having made himself available is offering Himself. I know, that is a far cry from Call upon the Lord while He may be found, but if you are one of those radicals who like to leave the reservation every so often, here is your chance. You can pick up a rendering which I believe was the real intent as understood during the time of Jesus and the latter is a rendering developed hundreds of years after the birth of Jesus through the application of the Masoretic text which was not a part of pre-christian literature. When I was teaching in a Junior High School, I would often call upon a student to take a note to the principal s office. Of course looking for any excuse to get out of class I was besieged with raised hands and twenty five students all saying: Me, me, choose me. This, I believe, is picture of what is being shown in this verse that when we get ourselves into a bind and we start to look for help, God and the arm of the flesh are both raising their hands: Me, me, choose me. God is the eternal volunteer who has made Himself available but He is not going to take that note to the principal s office unless we call or choose Him. After all the arm of the

25 flesh and the enemy are also offering their bids. We must choose who or what is going to help us. WORD STUDY LOVE (CHAV, RACHAM) John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 21:20: Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? We are all familiar with the three words in Greek expressing three levels of love, Agape (unconditional love), Phileo (brotherly love, friendship) and Eros (erotic love). Hebrew actually has four words for love, but they are not always translated as love. You have Ahav (love), Racham (tender mercies) Dodi (beloved as spousal love), and Ra ah (brotherly love, or friendship). It would be wrong to try and make a parallel between the Greek words for love and the Hebrew words which creates a real problem in translation as love is at the very root and center of Scripture. I suppose we could say the closest toahav is Agape, Ra ah is like Phileo and Dodi is

26 like Eros. Yet this would not be accurate as Ahav is used in cases whereagape would not fit, Ra ah, although rendered as friendship, is also rendered as Shepherd and consuming passion and is often used by David to express his love for God, so it would be very inappropriate to consider Ra ah equivalent to Phileo in many cases. Dodi is used by Solomon toward his beloved to express a sexual desire, but it does not carry the lustful, self-gratification of Eros. There is a fourth word in Hebrew for love and that is racham which is often expressed as a romantic love or rendered as tender mercies. It is rarely used in the Old Testament but is frequently found in the Aramaic New Testament where it is spelled the same and sounds the same in Aramaic as it does in Hebrew. In the Greek New Testament, we find that the word used for love in John 3:16 is Agape. In the Peshitta or the Aramaic Bible, it is the word Chav which is similar to the Hebrew word Ahav and means love. However, in John 21:20 where we read about the disciple that Jesus loved the Greek uses the word Agape, but the Peshitta uses the Aramaic word Racham which is identical to the Hebrew word Racham. We know that Jesus and His disciples did not speak in Greek, but spoke in a Northern Old Galilean dialect of Aramaic. Aramaic is very difficult to translate into another language. I believe the original manuscripts of the Gospels were written in Aramaic and translated into Greek about twenty years later, but even if I am wrong and they were originally written in Greek, the writer would still have had to translate his words and those of Jesus directly from the Aramaic. We have Aramaic manuscripts that date earlier than our earliest Greek manuscripts which were lost around 300 AD (oddly about the same time as Constantine). Still, even if Jesus and His disciples used two different Aramaic words for love, the writer and/or translator putting his words into Greek would have been stuck with only one possible word that would fit and that would be Agape. So when Jesus said that God so loved the word He used the Aramaic word Chav but when speaking of the disciple that Heloved we have the word Racham. These are two entirely different words, both meaning love. The most logical conclusion is that we are dealing with two levels of love and

27 thus this would suggest that he either loved the world more than His disciple or he loved this disciple more than the world. In other words we face the old dilemma of Tommy Smother of the Smother brothers: Mother always loved you best. Is it true that God loves everyone, but does He have his favorites? Did He love Joseph more than me which is why he got to be a prime minister and I am just a bus driver for the disabled? Did God love Moses more than Miriam and Aaron which is why He spoke face to face with Moses but not with his brother or sister? Note John 21:20 does not say the disciple whom Jesus loved, but the disciple whom Jesus loved following. In the Greek and Aramaic it is more properly rendered as the disciple whom Jesus loved who followed Him. The world does not follow God, but this disciple did follow Jesus. The key difference between the words Chav which is used in John 3:16 as God loving the world and Racham as used in John 21:20 of the disciple that Jesus loved is that Chav is a love that is not necessarily returned. Chav is speaking of a love that flows from just one person and is not completed. For love to be completed, it must be returned. Racham is a completed love. Love can be pretty lonely and painful if it is not returned. A young teenage girl can moon over some handsome dude who doesn t even know she is alive and feel depressed, sad and broken hearted, she can Chav. But if that skinny little teenage guy looks into her eyes and says: I love you. She is immediately transported to cloud nine where birds sing and flowers look beautiful again. Love can exist if it is not returned, but it cannot sing until it is shared. As a pastor I performed many weddings. I have always been delighted to watch Chav turn into Racham as I spoke those words: I now pronounce you husband and wife. At that moment the reality sets in on this couple, that they have now declared to the world that they love each other and are committing their lives to each other. In that declaration they know that they are truly loved Racham. You see, God loves the word but the world does not love Him in return. It is when we love Him in return that His love is complete, it is when we love Him in return that he is able to rejoice over us with singing (Zephaniah 3:17). Salvation is

28 not just about getting saved and going to heaven, it is about completing the love that God has for us, bringing that joy and celebration to the heart of God that has been mooning over us for years, like that teenage girl and then to suddenly look into His eyes and say: I love you. Why do the angels rejoice over one sinner that repents? The same reason you cry at a wedding, you are rejoicing over seeing the joy of two people (not just one) who have found each other in love and share that love and return that love to each other. The angels rejoice for the same reason you read Jane Austen, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, or Grace Livingstone Hill, they love a good romance where two people love each other. It is not that God loves one person more than the other, He loves all equally, it is just that very few will love Him in return and complete His love, bring Him the joy of His love, awaken Him in that love, and cause Him to sing with joy in that love. You and I, simple little frail human beings, have the ability to bring joy to the God of the Universe by simply saying: I love you. Have you told Him today that you love Him? Is God s love for you just Chav (one-sided)? Or is it Racham (completed, shared)? Do you want to give the all mighty, allpowerful God a thrill and make His day? Tell Him you love Him. Happy Valentines Day! Ylang ylang (Cananga odorata) has a sweet, soft, flowery fragrance that has made it a romantic favorite. In Indonesia, the petals are often strewn across a marriage bed. Ylang ylang is extremely effective in calming and bringing about a sense of relaxation, and it may help with releasing feelings of

29 anger, tension, and nervous irritability. It has a long history in skin and hair care products, particularly in Asia, where it is used to promote luxuriant hair. This is my favorite scent and I love the fact that this flower is the most fragrant at night. Watch this video to learn more about this beautiful tree at Laura, Distributor # Write to us to order or visit our Essential Oils website by following this link If you enjoy our Hebrew Word Studies please LIKE us on FaceBook.Thank You!