Today’s Old Testament chronological reading is in Gen 19 and 20.
The Psalms/ Proverbs reading is in Psalm 31.
The New Testament reading is in Matthew 23.
Hebrew root words.
The common theme running through all three readings today, is the righteous or humble, vs. the proud.
Gen 19:1 he bowed himself. Strong’s H7812, שחה shachah, a primitive root meaning, “to bow oneself down.” The 3-letter root is shin + chet + hey.
shin ש = two front teeth, thus sharp, press, eat, two, again
chet ח = the wall, thus outside, divide, half
hey ה = man w/ raised arms, thus look, reveal, wonder, worship, breath
The story: The sharp (shin) wall (chet) refers to the wall of a pit dug into the ground, according to the Ancient Hebrew Lexicon. The sharp walls which go straight down illustrate someone going down, or bowing down, in worship (hey).
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Gen 19:7 wickedly. Strong’s H7489, רעע raah, a primitive root meaning “to be wicked.” The 3-letter root is resh + ayin + ayin. The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon states that originally the ayin in this root was a ghah, a letter which exists in paleo Hebrew and other Semitic languages, but which has been absorbed by the ayin in modern Hebrew.
resh ר = the head of man, thus head, first, top, beginning, man
ghah § = rope, thus twisted, goat, dark, negative
ghah § = rope, thus twisted, goat, dark, negative
The story: a man (resh) who is dark and twisted (ghah) does dark and twisted things (ghah); to be wicked, to do wickedly. The idea is that actions are fruit which comes from seeds, and wicked deeds come from a hidden seed of like kind.
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Psa 31:23 faithful. Strong’s H539 אמן aman, a primitive root meaning, “to support, to stand firm, to believe.”
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Psa 31:23 proud. Strong’s H1346 ga’avah, a concrete noun meaning, “pride;” from Strong’s H1342 גאה ga’ah, a primitive root meaning, “to be lifted up, to be exalted.” The 3-letter root is gimel + aleph + hey.
gimel ג = the foot, thus foot, walk, gather
aleph א = the ox head, thus strength, power, leader
hey ה = man w/ raised arms, thus look, reveal, wonder, worship, breath
The story: To lift (gimel, i.e. something is lifted so that it can be carried by walking to another place) strongly (aleph) on high (hey, as the man’s upraised arms are held aloft).
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Mat 23:12 to humble. To make or bring low. – Vine’s
To abase; to reduce to a low state. To make humble or lowly in mind; to abase the pride of; to reduce arrogance and self-dependence. – Webster’s 1828 Dictionary.
Not proud or haughty; not arrogant or assertive; reflecting, expressing, or offered in a spirit of deference or submission. – Webster’s
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Mat 23:12 to exalt. Haughty self-exaltation, and, contrastingly, of being “raised” to honor, as a result of self-humbling. – Vine’s
To raise high; to elevate; to raise with pride; to make undue pretensions to power, rank or estimation; to elevate too high or above others. – Webster’s 1828 Dictionary.
To raise in rank, power, or character; to elevate by praise or in estimation; to glorify. – Webster’s
The Pharisees exalted themselves to sit in Moses’ seat. Yeshua taught us instead that the meek would inherit the earth.
Chiastic structures.
Gen 18, Abraham the intercessor
CENTRAL AXIS) Gen 19, The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
Gen 20, Abraham the prophet
Note that as wicked as Sodom was, as illustrated in Gen 19, God would have spared the whole place if He had found just ten righteous. He only found four to save from the destruction of the city, and one of those looked back with longing and was turned into a pillar of salt (“Remember Lot’s wife,” Luk 17:32).
But here we learn that intercession and prophecy are two sides to the same coin. The intercessor speaks on behalf of men to God. The prophet speaks on behalf of God to men.
Links to previous studies.
Gen 18:1-19:38 Chiastic structure
Gen 19:1-38 Chiastic structure and sign of Messiah
Gen 20:1-15 Chiastic structure
Gen 20:1-18, Abraham the prophet
Psalm 31 Chiastic structure
Matthew 23:1-39 Chiastic structure
Matthew 23, Beware of hypocrisy
Matthew 23, The burden of Torah
Matthew 23, Restoring the weightier matters of Torah
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