Bible Geek Word Nerd - Say #9 - the Big AMAR and DABAR

Say #9 - Say it ain't so

September 19, 2022 

Long, long ago, on a keyboard far away, we began typing out a series of posts on various Hebrew words translated as some form of “to say”. 

 

We’ve made the point ad nauseam that Biblical Hebrew has orders of magnitude fewer words to work with (about 8000) than does English. Consequently, Hebrew words often do double and triple duty, which can present challenges and obstacles to translation. It is the single best argument for reading the Text in multiple translations if you want a better understanding of what’s being written. Moreover, translators are human with all of the biases and a priori commitments “that flesh is heir to”. As is often said in the world of hermeneutics, context is king. The very same Hebrew word which plainly means one thing in one part of the text, might necessarily mean something completely different in another. This is why it is literally impossible to have a literal translation of the Hebrew Bible. 

 

As it relates to our ongoing series, there are about 27 different English words used by the NIV translators for “to say”, running from “add” and “announce” to “talk” and “utter”. These 27 words comprise 6,239 occurrences and are all derived from 11 Hebrew verbs, of which we have discussed nine. 

So much for a level set. Now let’s jump into the final two verbs, which are the Big Ones in the Hebrew Text: DABAR (דָבַר) and AMAR (אֲמַר). 

 

AMAR is by far the more common of the two, appearing 5308 times in the Hebrew Bible. DABAR occurs 1144 times in the Text. While they are obviously similar in that they each mean some form of “to say”, there are both significant and subtle differences between them which have potentially profound implications for how you read the Text.

 

AMAR means “to utter, to say”. In the Hebrew Bible, it is also rendered as answer, appoint, boast, challenge, command (though there is another Hebrew verb which is more common for that English word), declare, demand, require, and utter. AMAR gives us the Hebrew nouns EMER (אֵמֶר) and IMRAH (אִמְרָה), which mean utterance, speech, or word, but also commandment and promise.

 

AMAR enters the Text in the beginning on the first page of the Bible. Genesis 1:3 reads, “And G-d SAID, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” The word is used 30 times in the first three chapters of Genesis. Its final use is in Malachi 3:14, which tells us, “‘You HAVE SAID, “It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty?”

 

DABAR (or DAVAR, depending on how the “B” is pronounced) means “to speak”, and in the Text, it might be rendered as answer, declare, talk, or teach (though there is another word more commonly rendered as “teach”). Its noun form is DABAR, appearing the phrase “the word of the LORD”, for an important example.

 

DABAR makes its first appearance in Genesis 8:15, “Then G-d said to Noah…” And its final use, like AMAR’s, is in Malachi, one verse before AMAR’s final use: “’You HAVE SPOKEN arrogantly against me,’ says the LORD. Yet you ask, ‘What HAVE we SAID against you?’”.

 

It would be a grave error to think that simply because they are synonyms AMAR and DABAR are interchangeable. They are not. In our next post, we will look at some important differences which might encourage you to look behind your English translations to discover some of the hidden beauty in the Text.

Bible Geek Word Nerd - Dust

Dust in the Wind

September 16, 2022

Kerry Livgreen, founding member and lyricist for the classic rock band Kansas, channeled the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes when he wrote the seminal hit, “Dust in the Wind”. For Livgreen, it was a meditation on our mortality and how fleeting it all is. The Hebrew word that gives us the common refrain about vanity is HEVEL (הֶבֶל), which does not mean “vanity”, but rather “vapor” or “breath”.

 

This post is not about HEVEL. That will come later. This post is about Livgreen’s masterpiece and our inevitable dance with death. We buried a loved family cat today after she passed

from life. We lay her still body in the ground and said the standard funeral refrain, “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust”, from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer (worth having on your shelves for lots of reasons). Here is the prayer in its entirety:

 

“In sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, we commend to Almighty God our brother; and we commit his body to the ground; earth to earth; ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The Lord bless him and keep him, the Lord make his face to shine upon him and be gracious unto him and give him peace. Amen.”

 

The Hebrew word for “dust” is APHAR (עָפָר).

 

APHAR appears over 100 times in the Hebrew text, beginning with its very first use in Genesis 2:7: “Then the LORD God formed a man from the DUST of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” We will come back to this verse because there are profound implications related to the words used in the Text. But as this post is on only one of those words, we will confine ourselves to APHAR and dust.

Consider “dust” and contrast it with similar or related words like “clay” or “dirt” or “soil”. Unlike the related words, dust connotes dead, worthless, and lifeless. Dust is dry (in fact, APHAR can also mean “dry dirt”). 

 

Genesis tells us that G-d did not form mankind from clay. He did not form mankind from fertile soil or mud. Rather, He formed us from dry, dead, lifeless dust. Like ash, which is only formed after burning what was once living, dust connotes death.

 

The prophet Zephaniah, in describing G-d’s coming judgment on the earth, records, “‘I will bring such distress on all people that they will grope about like those who are blind, because they have sinned against the LORD. Their blood will be poured out like DUST and their entrails like dung.”

 

APHAR is also connected to the curse of our Fall. In Genesis 3:14, the serpent is condemned to eat dust: “So the LORD God said to the snake, ‘Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat DUST all the days of your life.” Genesis 3 continues the theme of dust being associated with the curse when G-d speaks to Adam: “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for DUST you are, and to DUST you will return.’”

 

The curse on the created world – all of creation – is death, and our destiny is APHAR. For all of human history, mankind’s greatest enemy, his staunchest foe, and his everpresent companion is death, because we are dead, waiting to be buried.

 

At least, we were dead until the Son of G-d conquered death for all time. And though we all will pass from this world to eternity through the doorway of death, those who know Jesus do not need to fear either death or the coming Judgment. As we are reminded in the Book of Common Prayer, there is a “sure and certain hope of the Resurrection unto eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ; at Whose coming in glorious majesty to judge the world, the sea shall give up her dead; and the corruptible bodies of those who sleep in Him shall be changed and made like unto His glorious body; according to the mighty working whereby He is able to subdue all things unto Himself”. All things. Even dust.

 

Bible Geek Word Nerd - Annointed to Serve

Annointed to Serve

September 13, 2022

The Hebrew verb MASHACH (מָשַׁח) means “to smear” and occurs 69 times in the Hebrew Bible. You will find it in Exodus 29:2 when the Text tells us: “and from the finest wheat flour make round loaves without yeast, thick loaves without yeast and with olive oil mixed in, and thin loaves without yeast and BRUSHED with olive oil.” The Holman Christian Standard and English Standard versions have the loaves SMEARED with oil. The NASB renders the verb as “SPREAD”. You must go all the way back to the earliest English Bibles to get the sense for how we most often see this verb rendered into English. The Geneva translation (older than King James) says the bread is ANNOINTED, as does King James’s translation.

 

MASHACH is most often translated as “to annoint”. In fact, of the 69 occurrences in the Text, it is taken to mean annoint 93% of the time. MASHACH the verb gives us MASHIACH (מָשִׁיחַ) the noun, which we have as “messiah” or “annointed one”. In the Hebrew Bible, this noun is obviously applied to the promised Messiah, Yeshua. But it is also used for priests (Leviticus 4:3), kings (1 Samuel 16:6), and servants of the LORD (Isaiah 45:1). Which brings us to the passing of HRH Elizabeth II and this article by the eminent Rowan Williams.

 

“It singles out someone to occupy a position whose point is to manifest something about the whole community’s life—and to do so first by just being there, holding the ideals and aspirations of the community (and also carrying its projections). It is the rationale of the theological tradition that tells us that priesthood is not about an individual’s successful or meritorious performance but about fidelity to a position, for the sake of the community’s peace and well-being…. And this is what the royal anointing means at its most important level—a gift of the Holy Spirit to hold a fragile human person in faithfulness to this place where community can gather for restoration and renewal.”

 

https://www.firstthings.com/.../queen-elizabeth-servant...

Bible Geek Word Nerd - Honor

Honor

September 13, 2022

A very interesting and thought-provoking article from Orthodox priest Father Stephen Freeman has led us to consider the various words Hebrew has for “to honor”. There are principally three words which get translated into English as “honor”. 

 

One Hebrew verb rendered as honor is HADAR (הָדַר), which means variously “to honor or adorn”. Famously, this verb is at the heart of a passage in Leviticus 19, where we also find Jesus’ Second Great Commandment (Leviticus 19:18). Verse 15 reads, “Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or SHOW FAVOURITISM to the great, but judge your neighbour fairly.” 

 

But the word which we suspect sits at the center of Father Stephen’s article is likely to be KABAD (כָּבַד). Not only is it the most frequently occurring of the words which give us “to honor”, it is also the more flexible in its meanings.

 

Fundamentally, it means “to be weighty or heavy” and gives us both nouns and adjectives that tell us this. For instance, Eli the Priest in Samuel’s day was described as HEAVY, so heavy in fact that his weight caused his neck to break in a fall (1 Samueal 4:18). Like many Hebrew words, though, its sense is seldom simply plain and literal. For instance, the same word is rendered in Genesis 12:10 as “severe” in describing the famine in Canaan. In Genesis 50:9, the word is used to describe the company that went with Joseph to bury Jacob; in English, we read it as a “GREAT” (ASV, ESV, KJV, NASB) or “LARGE” (NIV) or “IMPRESSIVE” (HCSB) company. In Genesis 13, the word is used to describe Abram’s wealth in livestock and silver and gold.

 

KABAD is also at the heart of the Fifth Commandment: “HONOUR your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.” English has quite a few more words than does Hebrew in general, and this becomes quite striking in the consideration of a particular word such as KABAD. Our English thesaurus offers about 40 words which mean roughly “to honor”, while Hebrew has two or perhaps three. Father Stephen and his Orthodox tradition use “venerate”, and that word fits well with the Fifth Commandment. VENERATE your mother and father… It resonates well.

 

Read the article. It might provoke some thoughts.

 

https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/.../veneration-and-the-heart/

Bible Geek Word Nerd - Say #8: Good News

Say #8 - Good News for All

September 11, 2022 

We have been at this “to say” series since the Summer…although we did take off a couple of months. Still, it has lingered for longer than we expected…like a stutter, perhaps. But we are winding down. There are three more words to present. We had been intending to discuss two of them in one post because they are the most common, but the slight differences between them might be worth two posts. We shall see.

 

Today we are going to talk about the news and how sharing the news gives us a fascinating word with Messianic implications.

 

St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, in Chapter 10 says: “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’”

 

“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.”

If your Bible has footnotes – or if you’ve studied the Hebrew Bible – you know that Paul is citing a passage from the prophet Isaiah. We mentioned this passage in our post on our foot obsession. Let’s have the whole poetic prophesy in its context:

 

“Awake, awake, Zion, clothe yourself with strength! Put on your garments of splendour, Jerusalem, the holy city. The uncircumcised and defiled will not enter you again. Shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned, Jerusalem. Free yourself from the chains on your neck, Daughter Zion, now a captive. For this is what the LORD says: ‘You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed.’ For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: ‘At first my people went down to Egypt to live; lately, Assyria has oppressed them. ‘And now what do I have here?’ declares the LORD. ‘For my people have been taken away for nothing, and those who rule them mock,’declares the LORD. ‘And all day long my name is constantly blasphemed. Therefore my people will know my name; therefore in that day they will know that it is I who foretold it. Yes, it is I.’ HOW BEAUTIFUL ON THE MOUNTAINS ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS, WHO PROCLAIM PEACE, WHO BRING GOOD TIDINGS, WHO PROCLAIM SALVATION, WHO SAY TO ZION, ‘YOUR GOD REIGNS!’ Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy. When the LORD returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes. Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. The LORD will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.

 

Who brings Good News… 

 

Imagine the city in tension, their army, led by the King perhaps, in the field against a hostile foe, perhaps one with superior numbers. They wait, in the Gate, on the Walls, for news of the battle’s outcome. That news comes by way of a runner, who carries the information with him. If his news is bad, that’s awful. If his tidings are good? Well, how blessed are his feet!

The Hebrew word that lies behind this phrase “who brings good news” is BASAR (בָּשַׂר).

 

We find BASAR in 1 Samuel 4, when the news was not good. “The man who BROUGHT THE NEWS replied, ‘Israel fled before the Philistines, and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of G od has been captured.’” And overweight Eli keeled over and died from a broken neck. Another occurrence involving the bearing of tidings is the death of Saul at the hands of the Phiistines: “ They cut off his head and stripped off his armour, and they sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to PROCLAIM THE NEWS in the temple of their idols and among their people.” David, upon learning of Sau’'s death, composed a poem (because of course, he would): ‘Tell it not in Gath, PROCLAIM it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines be glad, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised rejoice.” 

 

But let us return to the verse which begain this exploration of BASAR. We have cited Isaiah. It is a gloriously hopeful reference point (and perhaps you can understand why we have a foot obsession: we WAIT (QAVAH) for the Kingdom to be revealed in this Dark Time.

 

The so-called minor prophet Nahum echoes Isaiah (maybe Paul was thining of Nahum?): “Look, there on the mountains, the feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace! Celebrate your festivals, Judah, and fulfil your vows. No more will the wicked invade you; they will be completely destroyed.”

 

How often are you telling “bad news”? Salacious stories that grab attention and distract people from the main Message? We LOVE (AHEV) bad news – gossip that grabs attention and makes us more important – that elevates us at the expense of the story.

 

Do you remember the rest of the story about Saul’s death? It might be time to re-read 1 Samuel 31 and 2 Samuel 1. Gossip mongerers do not enjoy a reward.

Bible Geek Word Nerd - Say #8 - NEUM

Say #8 - NEUM declares...

September 11, 2022

There’s something very formal and official about the English verb “to declare”. In fact, one of its principle definitions is "to announce officially”. Thus, we Americans have a Declaration of Independence, not a Statement or Pronouncement or Announcement of Independence, though they would each work reasonably well.

 

To declare something seems to be more authoritative and proper.

 

So given our Western and American frame of reference, let’s take a look at the Hebrew verb NEUM (נְאֻם). 

It is actually precisely a noun that means, variously, utterance, oracle, or declaration, but one that gets rendered into English more than 360 times as the verb “to declare”. So Thomas Jefferson, were he writing in ancient Biblical Hebrew, would have penned the NEUM of CHUPHSHAH or MAMLAKHAH (or something like that…ancient Hebrew does not really have a word for “independence”, which suggests a whole range of implications beyond the scope of this post).

 

You will find NEUM in Genesis 22, after G-d tested (NASAH) Abraham:

 

“[The Angel of the LORD] said, ‘‘I swear by myself, DECLARES the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.’” 

 

The bookend verse is in Ezekiel 44:

 

“‘The Levites who went far from me when Israel went astray and who wandered from me after their idols must bear the consequences of their sin. They may serve in my sanctuary, having charge of the gates of the temple and serving in it; they may slaughter the burnt offerings and sacrifices for the people and stand before the people and serve them. But because they served them in the presence of their idols and made the people of Israel fall into sin, therefore I have sworn with uplifted hand that they must bear the consequences of their sin, DECLARES the Sovereign LORD. They are not to come near to serve me as priests or come near any of my holy things or my most holy offerings; they must bear the shame of their detestable practices. And I will appoint them to guard the temple for all the work that is to be done in it.”

 

NEUM is almost always used with words that G-d Himself declares and occurs most often in the prophetic books Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. 

 

In Numbers, Balaam’s “oracle” or “prophecy” in chapter 24 uses NEUM six times, though the translators usually render it “oracle” or “prophesy”, which is not wrong, but it is an interesting choice. But even then, the source of the NEUM is G-d Himself. It’s almost as if nobody dares to declare except the LORD.

 

There is an interesting exception to this rule in Proverbs 30:1, “The words of Agur, the son of Jakeh, the pronouncement. The man DECLARES to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal…”

 

Our favorite use of NEUM is Psalm 110, which is said to be one of the most frequently cited Psalms in the New Testament. Verse 1 “declares”:

 

“The LORD SAYS to my lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’” When the LORD declares, we ought to listen…

Bible Geek Word Nerd - Expelled

The Expelled

September 8, 2022

SHALOM! Peace be unto you.

 

The Summer has been…interesting. And it is time to renew this page. We have left things unfinished. Certainly, you have been waiting with bated breath for this very post, our first in nearly two months. August was a whopper of a month. But the doldrums have passed and we are, like Richard Nixon said, “Tanned, rested, and ready.” Except, we are not really tanned. And there’s been too much activity and too little vacation to be rested. But we are indeed ready to rumble.

 

We know we left off in a series about the Hebrew words for “to say” (and there have been many detours along that journey). This post will also be a detour. The “to say” series has three more posts (or three more words). But hang tight for this little sidebar. Don’t cast us out!

 

Hey, that leads us right to the sidebar! Talk about segue!

 

There are two Hebrew words for “to cast out” or “expel”: YARASH (יָרַשׁ) and GARASH (גָּרַשׁ). It’s nice that they rhyme. YARASH is by far the more popular verb in the Text, occurring 231 times to GARASH’s 47 instances. This is most likely due to YARASH having more shades of meaning. In addition to “cast out”, it means “take possession of” and its opposite “dispossess”.

 

 

 

So in Numbers 21, the children of Israel dispossessed the Amorites (verse 32) and took possession of their land (verse 35). Same verb, different renderings in English.

GARASH, though, is the word that interests us here. 

 

It first appears in Genesis 3:24 during the saddest, most tragic story in Scripture. “And He DROVE OUT the man…” from the Garden of Eden. Next, it is the verb Cain uses to describe what G-d has done to him: “Today you are driving me from the land” (Gen 4:14). In Exodus 6, G-d tells Moshe that Pharoah will “DRIVE OUT” from Egypt the children of Israel, because of G-d’s might hand.

 

It’s later in Exodus – after Pharaoh drove them out – where we want to focus your attention because the word has significant implications for understanding the context of Jesus’ story.

Exodus 23:28 tells us: “ I will send the hornet ahead of you to DRIVE OUT of your way the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites.” Exodus 33:2 says, “I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.”

 

All the “ites” living in the Promised Land will be expelled from the land. Where would they go? It is a question the Jews asked themselves, and in Jesus’ day, they answered it. The Galilean Jews of Jesus’ day assumed that all of the expelled “ites” drifted northeast across the Jordan to settle in that “far country” (see the Prodigal Son parable for that term). They called the land across the Jordan the territory of the GERASHIM (the expelled ones).

Those Six Nations driven out variously by the hornet and G-d’s Angel settled across the Sea of Galilee.

 

So, now read Mark 5 and Luke 8 about the demon-possessed man living across the Sea of Galilee. Consider how Greek (and English) have twisted the Hebrew name of YESHUA to become Jesus. Is it possible that the region of the GERASENES is supposed to be the region of the GARASHIM?

 

Maybe this offers a little insight into your understanding of that story.

 

(IMAGE: Grace Lutheran Church, Pasadena, CA)