The Teaching Tools of Scripture
The Hebrew Testament Scriptures were penned (for the most part) in ancient Hebrew, God’s beautiful language. Ancient Hebrew is the original language, the language that God gave to Adam, the language in which God said, “Let there be light!” and there was light. It is the language from which all other languages have been derived (Gen 11:1-9). In particular, God gave the Torah to Moses face to face on Mount Sinai – Moses wrote it in Hebrew, every word in its place as dictated by God. As one studies Hebrew, it becomes more and more apparent that not only the themes of Torah were God-inspired, but every word, even every letter, is in the place pre-ordained for it by God. Ancient Hebrew is a very pictorial written language, and the characters themselves convey an inspired message, which gives deeper meaning to the translated written message.
One problem with English, is that abstract concepts such as faith, or holy, or love, are defined by other abstract concepts. To have faith is to believe. But what does to believe mean, really? It is another ethereal something that is hard to grasp and therefore anyone can make it mean almost anything. Hebrew, however, is a concrete language. Its letters began as pictographs, symbols for concrete objects which anyone can look out of their window and see and experience and understand, even five-year-olds. Its letters stand for things like houses, families, water, heads, oxen, seeds.
For example, the Hebrew word for “unity” comes from the primitive three-letter root achad, Strong’s H258. The letters are an aleph, chet, dalet. Almost all Hebrew words come from three-letter roots that contain their essential meaning. Three letters to provide a single essential meaning. Even the nature of the Hebrew language reveals theological truths. It is just so fascinating.
The aleph, in ancient Hebrew, was the pictograph of an ox. The pictorial meaning of aleph is strong, leader, or first, as the ox is in front of the plow. The chet depicted a wall or fence, so it can also mean outside, divide, or half. The dalet depicted a door, also meaning, to move, as through a doorway; to hang as a curtain in a doorway; or to enter.
The parable being told by the Hebrew Root Word for unity then, the meaning that even five-year-olds can understand, is to strongly (aleph) fence (chet) the door (dalet). How does that parable convey unity? Let’s say you are in a theater and a fire breaks out. The first thing everyone does is head for the door. EXIT! But what if you are in a theater, and a fire breaks out, and there is no way out, because the door is strongly fenced? The only option then is to put out the fire.
Many many spouses, when a fire breaks out in their marriage, head for the exit. But biblically, the man and his wife are united, so the door is strongly fenced. A united husband and wife do the only option open to them: they put out the fire. And that is the original pictorial meaning from the Hebrew Root Word. It is really beautiful! (This example is from Living Word Pictures by Dr. Frank Seekins).
Investigation into the Hebrew Root Words in a passage reveals so much that out of necessity translation misses. Another example is the Hebrew for “husband” as in, “For your Maker is your husband,” Isa 54:5. ‘Husband’ is from the primitive root, bet + ayin + lamed = ba’al. Of course this word has a negative connotation because the Canaanites worshiped an idol they called Baal. But long before there were Canaanites, there were God’s words in Hebrew, and husbands. 🙂
The bet is the picture of the house or family. The ayin is the picture of the eye. The lamed is the picture of the shepherd’s staff. The parable being told to define ‘husband’ biblically then, is the household (bet) which is watched over (ayin) like a flock is watched over by the shepherd (lamed). Isn’t that beautiful?
As far as I know, the only language where the roots tell a parable which defines that word, is Hebrew, the original language. Greek does not have the same function. But by using the Septuagint, the Hebrew Scriptures translated into Greek, we can trace the Greek words back to their Hebrew counterparts and discover the parables for Greek Testament words as well.
Examples:
Shabbat in the Ancient Hebrew Pictographs
Genesis 2:18, Ezer K’negdo, The Comparable Helper
Genesis 9:18-29, The Power of a Parent’s Words
Exodus 12:15, Hebrew Root Words
Exodus 20:10-17, The Ten Words
Exodus 23:20-33, Hebrew Root Words, part one and part two
Leviticus 10 and 11, Hebrew Root Words
Leviticus 24 and 25, Hebrew Root Words
2 Kings 18 and 19, Hebrew root words for trusting and holding fast
There are many studies in the Psalms using the Hebrew Root Words; the Psalms Indexes (Book One, Book Two, Book Three, Book Four, Book Five) are linked to them all.
Proverbs 1, Hebrew Root Words
Proverbs 4:23, Hebrew root words
John 15:9-10, Greek Root Words
Index of Hebrew Roots
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