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        PLEAD (V) The following is an excerpt from the book The Living Words. Words like "holy" and "worship" are what I call religious words—invented words with religious connotations that have nothing to do with the Hebrew language of the Bible. Prayer is another one of these words. So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. Genesis 20:17 (KJV) In our modern religious culture, prayer is a communication between man and God. While this definition can be applied to some passages of the Bible, such as in the verse above, it is not a Hebraic definition of the Hebrew word פל ל palal [H:6419] which is "to fall down to the ground in the presence of one in authority pleading a cause," "to intercede." This action can be seen in Isaiah 45:14 where the Sabeans fall down and make supplication to Cyrus. ...and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication (palal) unto thee... (KJV) I remember when I was in Sunday School we were taught that "praying" to God was more like "talking" to him like we do with a friend. So, what is the Hebrew word for "talking"? That would be דבר davar [H:1696]. And Yahweh talked with Moses face to face just as a man talks with his friend. Exodus 33:11 This verse brings up an interesting dilemma when we compare Exodus 33:11 with Exodus 33:20. And [Yahweh] said, you cannot see my face because man cannot see me and live. In one verse, we have Moses talking with God face to face, but just a few verses later God tells him no man can see his face and live. Is this a contradiction in the text? I don’t think so. If you will recall in our discussion on the word "face," we looked at a couple of other verses from this same chapter. And the LORD said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it: And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way. Exodus 33:1-3 (KJV) We also read later in the chapter: And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. Exodus 33:14 (KJV) Yahweh is not going to lead Israel to the Promised Land but instead sends his "face" to lead them. The "face" can, in Hebraic thought, be another person who acts with the same personality as the sender. This "face" is identified as a messenger of Yahweh in verse 2; therefore the "face" of Yahweh is synonymous with the "messenger" of Yahweh. Apparently, in Exodus 33:11, Moses is talking with Yahweh but in Exodus 33:20 he is speaking with the "face" of Yahweh. The following is an excerpt from the book Ancient Hebrew Dictionary. In our modern religious culture prayer is a communication between man and Elohiym. While this definition could be applied to some passages of the Bible (such as Genesis 20:17) it is not a Hebraic definition of the Hebrew word palal. By looking at the etymology of this word we can better see the Hebraic meaning. The word palal comes from the parent root pal meaning "fall" (The root pal is most likely the root of our word fall which can etymologically be written as phal). Pal is also the root of the Hebrew word naphal also meaning "fall". The word palal literally means to "fall down to the ground in the presence of one in authority pleading a cause". This can be seen in Isaiah 45:14 where the Sabeans fall down and make supplication (this is the Hebrew word palal) to Cyrus. PROVIDE.PROTECTION (V) The following is an excerpt from the book The Living Words. A nomadic camp might have as many as fifty tents, all members of the extended family and their servants. This was "home," a place of serenity, beauty, love, compassion and protection. These descriptions are the meaning behind חן hhen [H:2580]. A very common style of writing found in the Bible, especially in Psalms and Proverbs, is a form of poetry called parallelism where the writer expresses one idea in two or more different ways using synonyms. When doing Hebrew word studies, this is very beneficial, as the synonyms of the word you are studying will help to define that word. Here are a few examples where we will see the word חן hhen [H:2580] being paralleled with some of the descriptions provided in the paragraph above. The underlined words are also parallels. She will give to your head a wreath of hhen, a crown of splendor she will deliver to you. Proverbs 4:9 The doe is loving and the female goat is hhen... Proverbs 5:19 Hhen is a deception and beauty is a vapor... Proverbs 31:30 When reading an English translation of the Bible, an English dictionary is somewhat useless. Instead, one needs to examine the Hebrew word behind the English to find the real meaning of the word. The same is true for the Greek translation of the New Testament. When working with words in the Greek New Testament, we need to find the Hebrew word behind the Greek and take our definitions from it. A common New Testament word is carij hharis [G:5485] and while this word is usually translated as "grace," such as in "unmerited favor," we need to take our definition from the Hebrew which is the word hhen. And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace (hharis) of God was upon him. Luke 2:40 (KJV) A more Hebraic view of this verse is the child grew in the "beauty of God," he received love, compassion and protection from God. Derived from the parent root חן hhen [H:2580] is the verbal root חנן hhanan [H:2603] with the same meaning as hhen. Another verbal root derived from hhen is חנה hhanah [H:2583] meaning "to camp" or "encamp" and its noun מחנה mahhaneh [H:4264] meaning "camp." The verb hhanah and the noun mahhaneh can be found in the following verse. And the sons of Israel encamped (hhanah) each to his camp (mahhaneh) and each to his standard, to their army. Numbers 1:52 " PURCHASE (V) The following is an excerpt from the book Ancient Hebrew Language and Alphabet. The participle form of this verb is often translated as possessor or creator (see Genesis 14:19) and is the Hebrew word The following is an excerpt from the book His Name is One. From a Western perspective, the idea of one being named ""Jealous"" seems odd, especially as a name for God. As a name represents the character, this implies that God is by nature jealous. Our cultural understanding of the word is a type of anger felt over the suspected unfaithfulness of a spouse. As we shall see the Hebrew word has a very different meaning. The parent root קן (qen) is a nest. The first letter of the parent root is a picture of the sun at the horizon where the light is gathered during the sunrise or sunset. The second letter is a sprouting seed, the beginning of new life that came from the parent plant. Combined, these letters form the meaning, ""A gathering for the seeds"". A bird goes about ""gathering"" materials for building a nest for her ""seeds"", eggs, of the next generation. Several words are derived from the parent root קן (qen - nest), all related in meaning to the building of a nest. The child root קנה (qanah) is the construction of a nest by the parent bird. ""And he blessed him and he said blessed is Abram to God most high, builder of heaven and earth"" (Genesis 14:19). Some translations translate the above verse as, ""Creator of heaven and earth"". The ancient Hebrews did not see God as an unknowable force that creates the universe for some unknown reason; rather he is the bird that goes about gathering all the necessary materials for building a home for his children. Man was not created as an additional component to the creation; the earth was created as a home for man. Another word derived from קן (qen) is קנא (qana). This is the word translated as ""jealous"" in our introductory passage. The Hebraic meaning of this word is the passion with which the parent guards over the chicks in the nest. While our Western mind may see the term a ""jealous God"" in his feelings and actions toward us, it is in fact his feelings and actions toward our enemies. The heathens and false gods are like predators invading the nest and God fights them protecting his children from their clutches. " |