Bible Geek Word Nerd - Don't Miss the Mark

The Hebrew word for "sin" is CHATA'AH (חַטָּאָה). It means to miss the mark. Hebrew has other words to talk about moral failure or offenses against the Almighty.

 

Bible Geek Word Nerd - We like Pete Enns

We are strangers in a strange land when we pick up the Text. Humility and curiosity ought to be coupled with reverence and fear.

 

Bible Geek Word Nerd - Pele means "wonder"

Pele is Wonder

December 29, 2022

The Hebrew word for "wonder" is PELE (פֶלֶא), an appropriate choice for this day as soccer fans bid farewell to the Brazilian wonder. RIP, Pele. You saved American soccer, too.

Bible Geek Word Nerd - Evil Stories

Evil Stories

October 3, 2022

Micah Mattix writing in The Spectator reminds us that all good stories depend on real evil, which is not simply moral corruption, but rather also includes (quoting the philosopher Agnes Callard) "hunger, fear, injury, pain, anxiety, injustice, loss, catastrophe, misunderstanding, failure, betrayal, cruelty, boredom, frustration, loneliness, despair, downfall, annihilation. This list of evils is also a list of the essential ingredients of narrative fiction."

 

The Hebrew word for "evil" is RA (רַע), which makes its first appearance in the Text in Genesis 2:9, where we read about "the tree of the knowledge of good and EVIL". As Collard writes, even the Hebrew's use of RA extends far beyond moral corruption. RA appears 667 times in the Hebrew Bible, and the translators render it as evil, but also as calamity, displeasure, distress, and many of the words Callard mentions. 

 

Stories that resonate with us -- that is, stories which work -- depend on the presence of real evil -- of RA -- because our own stories are suffused with evil in that broad sense. All of creation groans in anguish, waiting for its renewal by the One who is all Good (TOV (טוֹב) in the Hebrew).

Bible Geek Word Nerd - Say #10 - DABAR

Pictures in Words

 October 1, 2022

The invention of written language is a deeply fascinating subject to explore…at least for some people (ahem, nerd alert). How did cave paintings evolve into hieroglyphs and other pictographic writing? And from there, how did the alphabet emerge?

 

The English alphabet we use today was born in ancient Mesopotamia. Instead of using pictures to represent words or ideas, as in cuneiform and hieroglyphics, the earliest alphabet used pictures to represent consonantal sounds. There are some 30 phonemes (phonetic sounds) in the world’s known spoken languages, whether it be Mandarin or German or English. An alphabet gave mankind the ability to write the thousands of words derived from these 30 phonemes with a finite number of symbols. Imagine the glorious simplicity of recording thousands of words simply by knowing some 20 to 30 phonetic symbols, contrasted with learning more than 2000 to 4000 hieroglyphs (or 55,000 Chinese characters).

 

Like our modern English alphabet, ancient Hebrew uses pictographs for its letters, of which there are 22 (consonants only; ancient Hebrew does not represent vowels as letters). The first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the ALEPH, which is now represented by “אִ”, was originally an ox head. The second letter BETH, now characterized by “בֵּ”, was a picture of a tent or house. Our name for this system derives from these first two letters: ALEPH-BETH (in Greek, it is ALPHA BETA). For real language nerds, a good summary of this history is available at The Institute of Semitic Studies (instituteofsemiticstudies.org/wordpress/languages/alphabet/).

 

One significance of pictographically representing phonemes is that the ancient sages of Judaism saw crucial symbolic meaning in the letters themselves which comprise the Hebrew words. So the letter AYIN (עַ) is the first letter of the word AYIN (עַיִן), which means “eye”. But symbolically, much more meaning is attached to it than mere physical sight. We could diverge into a long thread on that topic, but we shall save it for another day. Knowing the pictographic origins of the Hebrew Aleph-Beth, we can return to our ongoing and soon-to-be-concluded series on Hebrew words for “to say”.

 

We offered our final two selections in our previous post: AMAR and DABAR. They both can mean forms of “to say”, but we emphasized the point that their synonymous nature does not make them interchangeable. Just consider Leviticus 1:1, which in English reads: “The LORD called Moses and SPOKE to him from the tent of meeting, SAYING…” 

 

The English word “spoke” has behind it the Hebrew AMAR, whilst “saying” is DABAR. Why would the Author of the Text use these two similar words in the same sentence, other than clunky repetitiveness? Because although similar, AMAR and DABAR are, in fact, different in profoundly significant respects. The Author intends to imply different meanings and intents with each word. Understanding this detail may not shake your theological foundations but may help you appreciate the Text in new and meaningful ways.

 

Let’s look at DABAR first. Like other words in our series, it can simply mean to speak or to say, but connotatively, it means to establish by decree. It is forceful or direct speech. Occasionally, DABAR is rendered as “to command” by English translators. Some (such as the writer Chaim Ben Torah) contend that it means to speak from the heart. 

 

Pictographically, the three consonants that make up the word – D, B, and R – lead to a deeper understanding of how the Jewish sages interpreted its meaning. In Hebrew, these consonants are DALETH (דָ), BETH (בַ, pronounced as a “v” in this case), and RESH (ר).

 

The letter DALETH is also the Hebrew word for “door” (דֶּלֶת), and the letter originally was pictographically represented as a door (for more on this, Jeff Benner has written extensively at ancient-hebrew.org). The rabbinic sages also note that the first two letters comprise the Hebrew word for "poor person" or “weak person”, DAL (דֶּלֶ), which was also the earlier name for this letter. The sages further reasoned that all of mankind is poor in that we own nothing in this world, and this realization is a “door” unto G-d Himself, unto His household.

 

The Hebrew word for house or household, of course, is BETH (בּיִת), the second letter in DABAR. The rabbinic sages noted that the letter BETH, the second letter in the ALEPH BETH, is the first letter in TORAH’s first word: BE-RESHITH (בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית). They wondered why G-d chose to begin His Word with the second letter, rather than the first. One answer is that we arrive at the beginning of TORAH, NOT at its beginning. The real beginning is G-d Himself, Who preexists the world and all that He created. (The sages also note that G-d created everything by speaking. Thus the entire created order is contained in the 22 letters of the ALEPH BETH. But that side trail deserves its own article.) In other words, we begin G-d’s story on page two or in chapter two; it is already in progress.

 

So, the second letter of DABAR – BETH – reminds us not only that G-d spoke the world into existence, but also that He has spoken a household into existence, which we enter by His door (DALETH).

 

The third letter in DABAR is RESH (ר), which happens to be the Hebrew word for “head” (רֹאשׁ). As with English, the Hebrew does not just mean the part of the anatomy that sits atop your neck. Head can mean “chief” (as in head of household), beginning (as in the holiday we just experienced, ROSH HA-SHANAH, which is literally “head of the year”), or summit (as in the top of a mountain).

 

at DABAR represents G-d’s Word, in the person of Jesus the Messiah, who is not only our door, but also the Household of whom we are a part, and of Which He is the Head.

 

Getting behind the Engish translation, whichever your preferred one is, to the Hebrew or Greek text which underlies it, yields powerful dividends which can enrich your faith and your journey with Messiah. Next, we will conclude this long-running series by looking at AMAR.

 

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.