March 30 - The Many Names of God

1. The English words for Deity, God, Gods, gods, Jehova, Lord, LORD, etc, come from three basic Hebrew words (Elohim, Jehova, Adonai). The English word choice depends upon the context of the sentence. In many cases it simply is not known which specific God is being dealt with. 
2. Deuteronomy 10:9 is a good example of the frequent repetition of various names for Deity. What is the point of this repetition? Anytime a word is repeated is for emphasis (Verily, Verily / Wo,wo / Lord of Lords, etc). The point of the repetition in this verse is simply to say "The True God"... Which true God? It doesn't matter, because as we learned from the word Ma'lak, anyone who is a messenger of God will deliver the same message.
3. Genesis 22:12 - There are two words used before verbs that NEGATE the verb : אַל־ and לֹו. The first use means "Not right now", and the second means "Not EVER". The "Not Ever" form is the one used with regard to the Ten Commandments. In this verse, the messenger of the Lord told Abraham not to lift his hand (to slay) using the "Not right now" form, because a ram was about to become the sacrifice. 
4. Sometimes literary license is needed in translation, due to idiomic expressions, or cases where there are no similar words in English. This license can introduce doctrinal/theological bias. The ram is significant to Christians because it becomes a symbol of the Savior's sacrifice in saving Isaac. To the Jews, who don't believe in Jesus as the Messiah, this command to not slay Issac is interpreted as the divine direction not to perform human sacrifice. Bruce Satterfield's argument then is "Why did they use the 'don't kill right now' form of the negation word?", surely the Lord would use the "Not Ever" form if that were the case.
5. The sacrificed ram following the test of Abraham sealed the Abrahamic Covenant.

February 11, 2015 - Idioms, Scriptures have lost Tree significance

Today I tried to drink from the firehouse of Brother Satterfield's exceptional lesson but I'm afraid I couldn't keep up. I do however have enough clues that I might be able to reconstruct many of his thoughts using the scriptures and some Hebrew insights to share it properly in another blog. But for now, here are some interesting highlights:

1. *IDIOMS. Common in English and Hebrew (And most languages). They exist as a way of respectfully discussing special topics such as using the bathroom (an idiom in itself), sexual topics, and I would add the topic of death to the list. As languages and cultures devolve, they become more literal, crude, as they move further from respect.
2. Translators must figure out these idioms and find some way to translate them - doing so literally would not make any sense in English. For example, Hebrews used the expression "to cover ones feet" with regard to 'going to the bathroom'. This expression has been incorrectly translated a number of times in the King James Bible. When King Saul was with his men, he told them he needed to go cover his feet, but it was rendered go to sleep in a cave. This translation of going to sleep has been repeated, probably because covering ones feet provides the imagery of pulling a blanket over the person.
3. *CONSTRUCT STATES. This phrase is a familiar concept to anyone who has read the scriptures and is familiar with what we think of as strange word orders. There is no word for "of" in Hebrew, so they simply put two nouns together. Anytime we see two nouns together, we simply stick an "of" between them in English. Examples include "Altar of Stone" (Eng. Stone Altar); Plates of Brass (Eng. Brass Plates); Sword of Laban (Eng. Laban's Sword).
4. *TREES have enormous significance in the Bible that has been lost in English. Beginning with Adam and Eve's Tree of life, and tree of knowledge (death); Then a bunch of trees in the old testament (I couldn't write fast enough); The familiar biblical reference to "The plains of Moriah" is actually "The Tree of Moriah" in Hebrew. Aparently Abraham always lived near/under trees. Lehi's dream is centered around a tree. He and his family camped near trees, gathered seeds of every kind, etc. Psalms has strong tree imagery. The tree of Shechem, where covenants were made. Joshua put a rock under a tree as a token to Israel's righteous covenant. This same tree was on the plains of Moriah, and was later purchased by King David. Jerusalem was built on this location. And finally, Jesus Christ was lifted up on a tree at this same location. This truly was/is sacred ground.