YHWH - The Hand & The Nail

Over the last several weeks we've examined some of the verses of the Bible from a Hebrew perspective, and have discovered that the original pictographic Hebrew letters reveal quite a bit more about the Old Testament than we could ever have imagined. In fact, from the first verse of the Bible to the 'Shema of Moses', the concepts of the 'Trinity' of God and the 'Son of God' are continually affirmed. So today we're going to do another study along that line by examining the name 'Yahweh', the primary Old Testament name for God. The Tetragrammaton

The four Hebrew letters of 'Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey' that comprise one of the names for God Almighty are often referred to by biblical scholars as the 'Tetragrammaton', which is merely a Greek term for something with four letters. The Tetragrammaton should not be confused with any of the other names for God in the Bible, such as Shaddai or Eloheem, but is specifically reserved to describe the name 'Yahweh'. As we've learned in previous lesson, Hebrew was read from right to left, so the name 'Yahweh' shown in the adjacent illustration is presented in that way, beginning with the 'Yud' on the far right, following by a 'Hey', and then a 'Vav', and then another 'Hey'. While the third letter of 'Vav' can be either a consonant or a vowel, it serves as a consonant with a 'W' sound in this instance, and the appropriate vowel points must be inferred. This is quite typical for Hebrew. All we really need to know in this instance is that the four letters that would equate to 'Y-H-W-H' in English would actually have two inferred vowels, and would sound like 'Yahweh'. Of course, some will dispute this pronunciation and instead favor a pronunciation like 'Yehvah', or 'Yahu', or 'Yehovah', since the actual pronunciation was lost centuries ago due to the the Jewish reverence for God's name, and their resulting refusal to speak it out loud. But it really won't matter in our study, because we're truly only interested in the original Hebrew letters, and not the pronunciation of the name. As with the other examples where we've examined the original pictographic Hebrew letters, keep in mind that the modern meanings of these letters often are a mere shadow of the actual mnemonic meanings, since the Hebrew language has evolved quite a bit through the years. Of course, this is true of all languages, where words and meanings are continually changing to reflect the culture. Anyway, with this foundation laid, we can now look at these ancient letters from the original Hebrew, and see if anything additional is revealed about God's name.

The Pictographs

The first letter of the Tetragrammaton is the 'Yud', which appropriately has a 'Y' sound in English. The 'Yud' in pictographic form depicts and arm and a hand, and has the various meanings of 'Work' or 'Throw' or 'Worship'. However, the picture itself can also be employed in these instances, therefore the meaning can simply be 'Arm' or 'Hand' or both 'Arm and Hand'.

The next letter would be the 'Hey', which once again has the English sound 'H', just as we would imagine. The 'Hey' in this picture is that of a man standing up, with his arms held up in the air as if to say "Hey, look!" It represents the act of getting one's attention for a specific purpose. So the various meanings of the letter are about what you might expect, suggesting 'Look' or 'Reveal', but it can also mean 'Breathe'.

The third letter is the 'Vav', which can have the English sound 'V', as by now you would expect, but the ancient form of the Vav carried a 'W' sound, and was called the 'Waw'. But the Vav also can sound like an 'O' or a 'U', making it a very versatile letter. It's both a consonant and a vowel, depending on how it it used. You can see from the picture that it represents a tent peg or nail, and it has the meaning of 'Add' or 'Secure' or 'Hook'. But as with the other pictographs, it can also simply mean 'Peg' or 'Nail'.

Okay, finally we have the last letter of God's name, another 'Hey', which once again depicts someone trying to get our attention. As with the other 'Hey' above, this again means to 'Look' or to 'Reveal', or alternatively can mean 'Breathe'. At first it may seem wierd that we would have two Heys in such a short name, and in the modern Hebrew letters one wouldn't suspect the reason for this. But in a moment it will make plenty of sense.

The Hand and The Nail When we consider all of the potential meanings of the individual letters above, there is really only one sensible pattern that emerges that relates to God. The potential meanings are included in the chart below;

LETTER PICTURE Yud Hey Vav Hey Man with Arms Raised A Tent Peg or Nail Man with Arms Raised

MEANINGS Look, Reveal, Breathe Add, Secure, Hook, Peg, Nail Look, Reveal, Breathe

A Man's Arm and Hand Work, Throw, Worship, Hand, Arm

I almost feel like we need a drum roll before this last part is revealed, because the redemptive plan of God that defines the entire Bible is contained in His name 'Yahweh'. From the pictographs, it is clear that God is conveying the following revelation, which in our English construct would be stated as; "Behold the Hand, Behold the Nail" There, in the very name of God himself, we find the prophecy of our Eloheem, Jesus, at the cross. The very name of the Father carries the burden of the Son, once again written into His Word from the very beginning of creation.

The Menorah Pictographs

This pictographic study piggy-backs on the earlier study of 'Yeshua' in an interesting way that I didn't see coming until it presented itself by accident. It concerns the seven-candled 'Menorah' that was located in the Temple, and I trust you'll find this study equally as exciting, if not a bit bizarre. So let's begin by examining the Hebrew word for 'Menorah' as written in today's Hebrew language.

Reading from right to left, the first Hebrew letter is a 'Mem', followed by a 'Nun', a 'Resh', and finally a 'Hey'. Phonetically this would equal M-N-R-H, and when the proper vowel points are added, the sound is 'Menorah'. You'll remember the Menorah from our prior studies, and from the earlier post on the Tree of Life that illustrated the 49 events of the book of Revelation.

As with all of our Hebrew word studies, we can now refer to the original pictographic letters that were used thousands of years ago, and find an underlying meaning to this word that adds more depth to our understanding of it's role in God's overall scheme;

The first letter is the 'Mem', depicted as a series of waves on the sea, which can suggest the various potential meanings of chaos, mighty, blood, or simply water or waves. In this instance, we'll choose 'Mighty', and the reason will be apparent in a moment.

The second letter is the 'Nun', which is a picture of a seed. This letter can mean either continue, heir, or son, since all of these come from a man's seed. Or, it can simply mean seed. But we'll choose 'Son' in this instance.

The third letter is a 'Resh', which you can clearly see resembles a man's head. This letter can mean first, top, or beginning, since in the ancient world a man was the first or top of his household. In this case the meaning of 'First' fits our purposes best.

The last letter is the 'Hey', which is a picture of a man trying to get your attention. This letter has the alternate meanings of look, reveal, or breathe, but can also mean praise or behold, depending on how and where it is used. But here we'll choose 'Reveal'.

By now you've probably already guessed what the word 'Menorah' means in the underlying Hebrew pictographs;

"The Mighty Son First Revealed"

This is quite a statement, and it made sense on a certain level, though it was slightly puzzling at the same time. Puzzling, that is, until I came across something quite by accident.

For just a moment, let's examine the structure of the Temple Menorah in the adjacent illustration, which is a replica of the actual Temple Menorah as depicted in the Arch of Titus in Rome. We can see that it had seven candles with seven flames, and we know that these flames were to remain lit at all times. In Old Testament times this menorah was intended to represent the seven Festivals of the Lord, which included Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Weeks, Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles. From this we can find some symbolism that refers to Jesus Christ, or 'Yeshua', since the two advents of Yeshua will fulfill all of these festivals in their entirety. Literally and figuratively speaking, they were the first signs of his appearing.

However, in the New Testament we learn that these seven candles also represent the seven churches in the book of Revelation. From this we can find additional symbolism that refers to Jesus, since the letters to the seven churches described the process of sanctification that determines who will inherit eternal life, and who will inherit the Kingdom of God and become his Bride. So in the case of both the Festivals and the churches, Yeshua was indeed first revealed by the symbolism behind this Menorah.

But that's not all there is.

THE YESHUA MENORAH

This next part may surprise you a bit, but just look at at the name 'Yeshua' in the Hebrew letters, and see if any additional Menorah symbolism is revealed;

You may have noticed it already, but if not, look at how the Lord's name has seven flames on top of the letters, just as the Menorah was always to have seven flames burning on top of it. Hebrew letters are somewhat unique in this manner, in that several of them have this flourish at the top that looks like a flame. But the name Yeshua is one of the few words in Hebrew that would exhibit this effect. So, it would seem that while the Menorah has clear symbolism that is revealed in the LIFE of Jesus, it also has a physical component that is revealed in the NAME of Jesus.

What more is there to say? The pictographic studies continue to reveal the deeper things of the Bible.

HaMatzot
In our last word study on the middle 'Matzah', otherwise known as the 'hidden manna' or the 'Afikomen', we found that the original Hebrew pictograpic letters revealed the underlying meaning "The Mighty One you seek was revealed". Well, this next word study is completely related, since it is the word 'HaMatzot', the word used in the Bible for 'Unleavened Bread'. And the underlying meaning of this word is equally impressive, if not more so. I think you'll enjoy it.

HA-MATZOT

The Hebrew word HaMatzot is comprised of the letters Hey, Mem, Tsade, Vav, and Tav, reading from right to left in the adjacent merely a form of the word matzah, and as we know, the matzah was the unleavened bread or wafer that was eaten during the Exodus. It is also an integral part of the second Feast of the Lord, the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It's within this context that the original Hebrew pictographic letters reveal something quite interesting. But first, let's examine the letters and see what they tell us.
THE PICTOGRAPHS

The first letter is the 'Hey', which as we've learned in past studies is a picture of a man trying to get our attention. Depending on the intended context, this word can have the potential meanings of look, reveal, or breath, and can also mean 'behold'.

The second letter is a 'Mem', and this is really the first letter of this word, since the 'Hey' essentially means 'the', as in 'the' matzah in this instance. It depicts waves of water, and has the potential meanings of chaos, mighty, or blood, or just waves. We'll use 'mighty'.

The third letter is a 'Tsade', which is a picture of a man laying in wait on his side. Since he is depicted this way, the potential meanings are understandably that of wait, chase, snare, or hunt. Additionally, it can mean 'seek', which we'll use in this instance.

The fourth letter is a 'Vav', which is a picture of a tent peg that secured the tent in place. So naturally it's potential meanings are that of add, secure, or hook. However it can also mean simply peg or 'nail', which is precisely what is illustrated.

The final letter is the 'Tav', which is depicted as two crossed sticks that form the shape of the cross. This pictograph suggests the various meanings of mark, sign, signal or momument, but can also mean 'cross'.

When you examine the suggested meanings highlighted above, can you form a sentence or meaning with them?
THE MEANING

When examined within the context of the scriptures that describe the 'hidden manna' and 'unleavened bread', the meaning is clear; "Behold, The Mighty One you seek was nailed to the Cross." Cleary, we are speaking of Jesus Christ, the 'Afikomen' that Israel has sought for thousands of years.

The 'Hidden Manna'

In our analysis of the 'Letter to the Church at Pergamum' that will be posted in a few more days, I mention the 'Middle Matzah' from the Passover Seder meal that Christ referred to as the "hidden manna" in that letter. But since that post was getting rather long, it seemed appropriate to shorten it by moving the analysis of the word 'Matzah' to the 'Hebrew Studies' section, where it really belongs anyway. So when you read that lesson in a few days, you can refer back to this one for context.
THE HIDDEN MANNA

The 'hidden manna' that Christ mentions in that letter alludes to a Jewish tradition during the Passover meal that went something like this; during the meal, the Seder leader would take a linen bag with 3 Matzah wafers in it, remove the middle matzah, and break it in half. Then, they would place one half back in the linen bag, and wrap the other half in a linen napkin and hide it in the house while the children covered their eyes. Then, after the meal was over, the children would be turned loose to find the matzah, known as the 'Afikomen'. When it was found, the child who discovered it would receive a reward.
THE FULFILLMENT

At this point, your Christian antennas should be in the fully upright position, because the symbolism here is taken directly from Christ's crucifixion and resurrection. And in a way, it amazes me that this tradition is still not associated with Jesus Christ within the Jewish community. It would seem to me that it could refer to nobody else, no matter how far we stretched the symbolism. Here are the associations; 1) Jesus is the 'Son of Man' that was the middle figure of the 'bread of life' Godhead (Father - Son Spirit). He indeed was the middle matzah. 2) Jesus was broken for our transgressions, just as the middle matzah was broken. 3) Jesus was wrapped in linen after he was crucified, just as the middle matzah was wrapped in linen, becoming the 'Afikomen'. 4) Jesus was hidden away in a tomb, just as the Afikomen was hidden away. 5) The child that found the Afikomen would receive a reward, just as those with "faith like a child" find Jesus Christ and receive the reward of eternal life. There is a bit more to this tradition that I'll probably explore in a separate lesson during Passover week this spring, but for now it sets the table for the following word study on the underlying meaning

of 'matzah'. Given the above tradition, this meaning is REALLY interesting, which you'll see in a moment. Personally, this has ended up being my favorite Hebrew word study so far.
MATZAH

I accidentally stumbled across the Hebrew for 'matzah' tonight while preparing for another lesson, and the individual letters struck me as being quite significant, based on my current understanding of the tradition of the Afikomen. In the adjacent Hebrew text, we see that this word 'matzah' begins with a 'Mem', followed by a 'Tsade', and ending with a 'Hey', reading from right to left. And in the original Hebrew pictographs that are the backbone of this study, these letters would be illustrated in the following way;

The 'Mem' is a picture of water, or specifically, waves of water. This letter carries with it the potential meanings of chaos or mighty or blood, or it can simply mean water or waves. In this instance, it appears to mean 'mighty', which will become apparent in a moment.

The 'Tsade' is a picture of a man laying on his side, which seems rather strange at first. But the picture illustrates the potential meanings of wait, chase, snare or hunt, all of which can be related to a man resting in this position. In this instance, we'll use the idea of hunting, or to 'seek'.

The 'Hey' we've seen many times in these studies, and it's a man trying to get our attention. It has the potential meanings of look, reveal, or breathe, but can also mean behold. In this instance, we'll use the meaning of 'reveal'.

THE MEANING

When we consider the context of the hidden manna, which is the middle matzah of the Seder dinner tradition, the implied meaning is clearly apparent, suggesting the following; "The Mighty One you seek was revealed." Notice how the mnemonic meanings of the pictographs coincide perfectly to the tradition of hiding and then finding the 'matzah', known as the 'Afikomen'. The children would seek the matzah, which would be revealed ONLY to the seeker. If you did not seek, you did not find. Does that remind you of any particular scripture? It should.

But you might wonder why I used the words "WAS revealed" in the meaning above, instead of "IS revealed", which would be another possibility. The answer is simple. You see, Afikomen is not even a Hebrew word, but rather a Greek word, and it's the only Greek word that has found it's way into the Seder tradition. This tradition began in the first century A.D. after Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, and while this word is generally associated with 'dessert', ironically enough, Afikomen simply means"I came." In other words, the Lord announced to the Jewish community that while they still seek their Messiah even to this day, their Afikomen "WAS revealed" back in the first century. He has already come, and He died on a cross to save them, and the rest of us, from our sins. One day soon when the 'sign of the Son of man' appears in the sky, the Jewish community will finally find their Afikomen, Jesus Christ, and on that day, they will receive their reward of eternal life.

Yeshua 'haMashiach'
In the last Hebrew lesson we revealed the mnemonic meaning behind the name 'Yeshua', or Jesus, as it was illustrated in the original Hebrew pictographic letters that were used in antiquity. As they have done with every other subject we've examined, the pictographs revealed something specific and consequential about our Messiah. So today we'll examine the second half of His title, 'haMashiach', or Messiah, and see what else may be revealed about the ministry of Jesus and the role that he will play in the last days.
'haMashiach'

The Hebrew letters above show the proper Hebrew spelling of the name 'haMashiach', which consist of the letters 'Hey' (the 'H' sound), then 'Mem' (the 'M' sound), then 'Shin' (the 'Sh' sound), then 'Yud' (the 'Y' sound), and finally the 'Chet' (the hard 'H'). And in addition to these, several vowel points are inferred between letters where necessary. As you read these letters, always remember that the Hebrew shown above reads from right to left. So let's jump right in and see what additional information the ancient pictographic letters may tell us about our Messiah.

The first letter is the 'Hey', which is a picture of a man trying to get our attention. As we discovered in prior studies, this letter serves as the word 'the' in modern hebrew. In the pictographs however, it carried the meaning 'look' or 'reveal' or 'breathe', and could alternately mean 'behold'.

The second letter is the 'Mem', which depicts waves of water, and specifically, water in a state of chaos. This letter can represent 'chaos' or 'mighty' or 'blood', or it can simply suggest 'waves', 'sea', or 'water'.

The third letter is the 'Shin', which is symbolized by two front teeth. This letter carries with it the various meanings of 'sharp' or 'press', or 'eat', or 'two', or by extension even 'consume' or 'destroy'. These are all things that are done with the two front teeth, or are related to the two front teeth.

The fourth letter is the 'Yud', which is a picture of the arm and hand of a man. This letter has the potential meanings of 'work' or 'throw' or 'worship', because that is what we do with our arms and hands, but it can mean 'create' or simply mean 'arm' or 'hand' as the picture suggests.

The last letter is the 'Chet', which is a picture of the walls within a tent or house. It has the potential meanings of 'outside', 'divide', or 'half', and carries with it the idea of 'separation', because that's what walls do.

THE MEANING

As always, the context of the subject at hand often determines the context of the interpretation. So in this instance we should be looking for the meaning that would be appropriate to the Messiah. Fortunately, that context is extremely clear, and when we combine these meanings the following sentence emerges;
"Behold, His blood destroys, saves, and divides"

Over the last two millennia, nothing has been as divisive in this world as the blood of Jesus Christ. Those that believe in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ are saved by His blood and will have eternal life, but those who deny the blood of Christ will ultimately be destroyed. And in the end, it is the word of God that will divide them for an eternity.

The Yeshua Pictographs

Today's Hebrew study will focus on the name of Jesus, which in Hebrew was 'Yeshua'. Once again, the pictographs will be quite revealing, providing information in a nutshell that is revealed throughout the course of the entire New Testament.

The name of Yeshua is composed of four Hebrew letters, which reading right-toleft are the 'Yud', the 'Shin', the 'Vav', and the 'Ayin'. We're all familiar with the common translation of "He Saves" that is associated with this name, and certainly that corresponds to scriptures such as Matthew 1:21, which states "She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. But there is a little more to the story. Hidden within His name are a few other attributes in addition to the fact that he saves.
THE PICTOGRAPHS

As with each of our other studies, we'll now substitute the ancient Hebrew pictographic letters for the modern Aramaic Square Script letters, and see what kind of mnemonic meanings emerge.

The first letter is the 'Yud', which has a 'Y' sound and is represented by the arm and hand of a man. This letter carries the implied meanings of 'work' or 'throw' or 'worship', along with a few other similar connotations that are all related to working or doing something. It can also mean simply 'arm' or 'hand'.

The second letter is the 'Shin', which has a 'Sh' sound or an 'S' sound, and is represented by two front teeth. This letter has the potential meanings of 'two' or 'sharp' or 'press' or 'eat', but it can also mean 'consume' or 'destroy' or anything that relates to the function of teeth or eating.

The third letter is the 'Vav', which today has a 'V' sound, an 'O' sound, or a 'U' sound depending on how it is used, but in ancient times it was called a 'Waw', and carried a 'W' sound. It is represented by a tent peg, and has the potential meanings of 'add' or 'secure' or 'hook', but it can also mean simply 'peg' or 'nail'.

The last letter is the 'Ayin', which has a short 'A' sound, and is represented by a human eye. Potential meanings include 'watch' or 'know' or 'shade', or anything that relates to the functions of the eyes such as to 'see', 'understand', or 'reveal'. And as with the other pictographic letters, it can simply mean 'eye'. . THE MESSAGE When we combine the various meanings that are available for each letter, and consider the context provided by the person they are describing, I think the message that they convey becomes clear; "He who creates, destroys, saves, and reveals" Jesus was our Creator (John 1:1-3), and it is He who will destroy those who destroy the earth (Revelation 11:18). He is also the only name by which we are saved (Act 4:10-12), and He is also the revealer of mysteries (Daniel 2:28). The fact that all of these qualities are wrapped up in his name is certainly no coincidence.

haShamayim - "The Heavens"

It's been 2 or 3 weeks since our last Hebrew word study, so this week we'll continue with our analysis of the very first sentence of the Bible;
"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

If you've read the previous posts in this 'Hebrew Studies' section, you've seen the incredible mnemonic meanings that the pictographs revealed for the first three words 'Beraysheet', 'Bara', and 'Eloheem'. Today we'll look at the next word in this sentence, 'haShamayim', which is the word for "The Heavens", and see if the pictographs for this word will be equally revealing.

The illustration to the left shows the modern Hebrew rendering of haShamayim, which employs the letters Hey, Shin, Mem, Yud, and another Mem. When the vowel points are inserted in the appropriate places, the proper pronunciation would sound like this; 'HahShah-Mah-Yeem'. Now, you may recall from prior lessons that when the 'Hey' is used at the beginning of a word, it generally means 'the', and is not necessarily an integral part of the word that it is attached to. In this instance the modern Hebrew understanding is that it serves as the word 'the', as in 'the heavens'. The vowel point included in most Hebrew translations is a 'patach', which adds a short 'A' sound after the

'H' sound, giving it the sound 'Ha' as in the word father. Of course, the 'ha' at the beginning of this word is not really part of the word, per se. The actual word for 'Heavens' begins with the Shin.
HEAVENS

The next letter, the 'Shin', is actually the first letter of the word 'Heavens', and it makes a 'Sh' sound, or in this case a 'Sha' sound due to the implied 'hamatz' vowel. The hamatz gives this letter a short 'A' sound just like the 'patach' did with the letter Hey. Then, we have a 'Mem', which predictably has a 'M' sound. And as with the prior letters, this letter also has an implied vowel point, which in this case is the 'patach', and so the Mem makes the sound 'Ma'. These two letters, the Shin and the Mem, form the word 'Shama' or 'Heaven' in the singular. The last two letters in 'Heavens' are the 'Yud' and the 'Mem', and once again reaching back into our memory banks, you'll recall that when we have a Yud and a Mem at the end of a word, it forms the suffix 'eem', which turns the subject into a plural. In other words, the 'eem' would represent the 's' ending in our English translation 'Heavens', and would turn our singular word Shama (heaven) into the plural Shamayeem (heavens).
THE PICTOGRAPHS

Okay, at this point we know that the Hebrew word for 'Heaven' in this instance is 'Shama'. So let's break it down in the original pictographic form of Hebrew, and you'll see that these letters convey the simple meaning of the word heaven that was provided in the creation account itself.

The 'Shin' is symbolized by two front teeth, and has the potential meanings of 'sharp' or 'press' or 'eat/consume/destroy' or simply the number 'two'. As with all Hebrew letters, the immediate context of it's use will determine which particular meaning is implied in that instance. In this instance we'll chose the number 'two' as the implied meaning, for reasons that will become quite clear in a moment.

The 'Mem' is symbolized by waves of water, and has the potential meanings of 'chaos' or 'mighty' or 'blood', or, as with all of these pictographs, it can take on the simple meaning of the picture itself, which in this instance would be 'waves' or just 'water'. Again, the context determines the rendering, and in this instance the reason for choosing this meaning will become clear in a moment.
THE MEANING

When we combine these pictographic letters, we have the simple understanding of 'two waters' for the word 'Heavens'. Although it may not seem clear at first, there is a simple reason why God used this symbolism;

And God said, Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water. So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse sky. And there was evening, and there was morningthe second day. (Genesis 1:6-8) During day 2 of God's creation, he separated the water above from the water below. In other words, he was dealing with 'two waters' in his creation of the sky. The first 'water' is on the earth, while the second 'water' is presumably above in the upper atmosphere, separated by the expanse called 'sky'. And this upper water may represent heaven itself as we think of it, therefore 'the heavens' is interpreted as 'the two waters'

'haSatan' - Consuming and Imprisoning

The last few Hebrew word studies we've done have all pertained to God's name or God's creation account, and in each case, the original pictographic form of the language revealed a spectacular additional layer of meaning that was not conveyed by the modern Hebrew text. So this week, I thought it would be interesting to examine the name of the adversary, and see what the pictographs may reveal about his name and overall nature. The results were actually quite interesting, and quite consistent with what we have learned about him throughout scripture. haSatan

From Webster's 'New World Hebrew Dictionary', we find the word 'satan' interpreted in the following manner; satan nm 1. Satan; 2. accuser; opposer; 3. obstacle. The name of Satan appears in the Old Testament Hebrew as 'haSatan' when we render it phonetically, with each letter 'a' sounding like a short 'o', as in the word 'on'. The word 'haSatan' can be interpreted as either a name, as shown above, or as an attribute such as 'accuser' or 'opposer' or 'obstacle'. When we combine the potential meanings of this word, we can see how the common interpretation of 'the adversary' is appropriate. As you can see in the illustration of the Hebrew letters, the 'Hey' is the first letter of his name, which gives us the first part of that interpretation, which is the word 'the'. You may recall from our prior Hebrew word studies that when the Hebrew letter 'Hey' precedes the object, it is pronounce 'ha' and it means 'the'. We saw this with 'haEloheem' which meant 'the powers', or 'haShamayim' which

meant 'the heavens'. But this letter is technically not part of the name of Satan, or at least, it does not describe his essence. The next three letters will do that. So let's review his entire name as presented in scripture, and see what it reveals. The Pictographs

As we learned in the lesson on the Tetragrammaton, the letter 'Hey' is intended to get one's attention. It's a picture of a man with raised arms, and it's meanings include 'look' or 'reveal' or 'breathe'. It also carries many associated meanings such as 'behold', and it can even mean 'praise'. The particular meaning that is used in each instance would depend entirely on the intended context, and yet they are closely related.

The second letter of 'haSatan' is really the first letter of his name, and it is the letter 'Shin', which the original Hebrew depicts as two front teeth. The meanings for this word include 'two' because of the two front teeth, but it also carries the meanings of 'sharp' or 'press' or 'eat/consume'. All of these meanings can be associated with teeth, and again, context determines which particular meaning is implied.

The next letter of this name is the letter 'Tet', which in ancient times was depicted as a basket. This basket was a very understandable symbol for the meanings 'surround' or 'contain', because that is what baskets do. imprisonment is a related concept as well. However, it also carried the meaning 'mud', presumably because that is how mud was carried in the making of bricks. But it can also mean simply 'basket' or 'container'.

The last pictographic letter in this name is the 'Nun', whose symbol was a seed. As you would imagine, the meanings of this letter are all associated with what results from seeds, and include 'continue' or 'heir' or 'son'. And as with all the other pictographs, it can also mean 'seed'.

The Meaning In order to develop the proper context for these pictographs, we only need to reflect on what we know of Satan from scripture. When we consider how Satan has persecuted Israel, who along with Jesus Christ is the heir to the kingdom of God, then the inferred meanings of each letter become clear. The pictographs simply reveal the role he has played throughout scripture; "Behold he who consumes and imprisons the heir."

"Bara" and the "Son of God"

Time for another short Hebrew lesson, once again using the original pictographic form of the language. Last week we discovered that the very FIRST word of the Bible, 'Beraysheet', which means "in the beginning", revealed the Son of Man pressing himself on the Cross. That was an interesting study that confirmed the New Testament claim that Jesus was slain from the beginning of creation. This week we'll examine the SECOND word of the Bible, 'Bara', which means "created", and see if it has anything additional to offer about the Creator. The results may surprise you.

In the illustration above you can see that the word 'Bara' is the second word in Genesis 1:1, which is read from right-to- left in Hebrew. This word is accurately translated as "created" in our English versions, and the proper meaning of this word can be found in Webster's 'New World Hebrew Dictionary'; Bara/-'ah/-atee v created; (pres bore; fut yeevra; v=b). From this, we know we have the proper interpretation of the word, at least in our modern day understanding. But there is much more that the word offers in it's original and ancient pictographic form. Consider the meanings of these individual letters as shown in the chart below; LETTER Beyt Resh Aleph PICTOGRAPH House or Tent Man's Head Ox's Head MEANINGS Family/House/Inside First/Top/Beginning Strong/Power/Leader

Let's start at the top. Just as the word 'Beraysheet' began with a 'Beyt' and a 'Resh', so the word 'Bara' begins with a 'Beyt' and a 'Resh'. And it has the same pictographic meaning in both instances, which is "son" or "son of", as with the 'Bar Mitzvah' example given last week. Then we have an 'Aleph', the ox's head that depicts a powerful leader. And once again, we learned that this was the symbol most commonly associated with God himself, and that the symbol often was used to mean "God". When we combine these ideas then, the word 'Bara' simply means "Son of God" in the pictographs. In other words, the Son of God was the Creator, as described by John;

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made." (John 1:1) Coincidence? For those that don't believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, how would they explain the routine occurrences of examples just like this? How do they explain that this word translated as "created" in the modern Hebrew literally means "Son of God" in the ancient pictographic form? Also, how can the Jewish community deny their Messiah any longer, when the FIRST TWO WORDS of their own Torah identify Jesus Christ as the Son of God who created the world? But there is even more that will be revealed next week.

'Eloheem' - Revealed Through Blood

This is the third word in our analysis of Genesis 1:1, where the ancient pictographic forms of the Hebrew letters have alot more to say about God and His word than just the surface meaning of the words that they form. The first word we examined was the very first word of the Bible, 'Beraysheet', which means "in the beginning" in today's translations. But we discovered that there was an underlying meaning in the pictographs which suggested that "The Son of God will be pressed by his own hand on a cross". Then, the second word of the Bible, 'Bara', is typically translated as "created", while the pictographs of the word openly point to the "Son of God" as the Creator. This week we'll examine the third word of the Bible, 'Eloheem', and we'll see what the pictographs have to say about this commonly used name for God. To begin with, the word 'Eloheem' is generally rendered as 'God' in our western translations, and it is the plural form of 'El', which is also used for 'God'. In other words, it should be rendered as 'Gods'. But more specifically, the word Eloheem really suggests the concept of 'powers', as in the PLURAL form of 'power'. God is the ultimate power, and His essence is 3 in 1, or a plural form of 'power'. From this, you can see how we arrive at the translation 'God', because the 'Eloheem' are in fact the plural 'Trinity' of God. But as with the first two words noted above, we are more interested in what will be revealed by the ancient pictograph letters within this word.

You can see from the Hebrew words above, which are read from right to left, that the third word of

Genesis 1:1 is indeed 'Eloheem'. The first letter is the 'Aleph', which has the vowel sound of a short 'E' in this instance. The second letter is the 'Lamed', which has the sound of an 'L'. The third letter is the 'Hey', which sounds like an 'H'. The fourth letter is the 'Yud', which in this instance has the sound of a 'Y' as it would sound in the word 'story'. The last letter is the 'Mem', which has the sound of an 'M'. When combined, they result in 'E-L-H-Y-M', which phonetically sounds like 'Eloheem' when the vowel point is added to the Lamed. These letters and their associated pictographic meanings, listed in their proper order, are noted in the chart below; LETTER Aleph Lamed Hey Yud Mem PICTOGRAPH Ox's Head Shepherd's Staff Man with Raised Arms Arm and Hand Water/Waves MEANINGS Strong/Power/Leader Teach/Yoke/Bind Look/Reveal/Breathe Work/Effort/Throw/Worship Chaos/Mighty/Blood

Okay, now for the fun part. We've learned previously that the Aleph and Lamed form the root 'El', which is a commonly used name for "God", but really means the "power" that teaches or yokes or binds, as explained above. So we have the first two letters covered. Now, one of the primary meanings of the third letter 'Hey' is "reveal", while the fourth letter 'Yud' generally means "work", and the final letter 'Mem' carries the meaning "blood". In total then, the underlying meaning of the word 'Eloheem' can also read; "God revealed His work through Blood." Now, we don't have to think to much to establish just HOW His work was revealed, because it is Jesus through whom God's "work" was revealed, and it was Jesus whose "blood" atoned for our sins, for all time, as described by Paul in the following passage; "So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy lifenot because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." (2Timothy 1:8-10)

"In the Beginning"

Throughout our summer sessions we opened our classes with a short Hebrew lesson, with special attention being paid to the ancient 'pictographic' form of the Hebrew letters. If you recall, there were many times where the pictographs added an additional level of understanding to the surface text, revealing things that were not available through a conventional study. So over the next few weeks we'll post several times on what the original pictographic Hebrew reveals about the very first sentence of the Bible; "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1) In our English translations, the meaning is simple; God created the heavens and the earth. We can gain additional insight into this verse by cross-referencing it with other verses that deal with the creation, such as John 1, but in the end we are generally limited to one layer of meaning. But when we examine this verse in the Hebrew language there is MUCH MORE that God reveals to us. In fact, would you be surprised to learn that Jesus Christ's death on the cross was prophesied by the very FIRST WORD in the Bible, as written in Hebrew? Well, if you attended our summer sessions, you wouldn't be surprised at all. But if not, just stay with me for a few moments while we examine this verse in the ancient pictographic form. But first, here it how it is rendered in today's Hebrew Bible, reading from right to left;

As you can see, I've added a phonetic English equivalent under each word to aid our understanding. While the Hebrew language reads from right to left, we'll flip it over to read from left to right as we do in English. The sentence would then read something like this; "Beraysheet bara Eloheem et HaShamayeem v'et HaArets" Now, we're going to examine just the first word from this sentence, which is "Beraysheet". In virtually any translation you read, this is rendered as "In the Beginning", and that would be a correct translation according to almost any scholar you would care to consult. Webster's Hebrew Dictionary also confirms this interpretation; Beresheet (or bresheet) 1. adv at the outset; at the beginning; 2. nm the book of Genesis (Bibl.). Okay, so what, right? So far we've only confirmed what we already knew from our English versions. But now we'll move to the pictographic form of these SAME letters, and they will give us an incredibly powerful second layer of mnemonic meanings which are available in every word of every sentence of every paragraph of every book of the Bible. But first we have to identify which pictographs we're looking at.

The original Hebrew language was written in 'pictographs' that you would equate to Egyptian Hieroglyphics. In fact, Egyptian Hieroglyphics were originally derived from the Hebrew language, but that's for another day. In this instance, the Word Beraysheet is comprised of the following letters, with their associated pictographs; LETTER Beyt Resh Aleph Shin Yud Tav PICTOGRAPH House/Tent Man's Head Ox's Head Two Teeth Arm and Hand Cross Sticks MEANINGS Family/House/Inside First/Top/Beginning Strong/Power/Leader Sharp/Press/Eat/Two Work/Throw/Worship Mark/Sign/Monument

While each pictograph has a meaning of it's own, Hebrew always formed words by combining pictographs to convey an idea. In this instance, the first two pictographs 'Beyt' and Resh' form the word 'Bar', which means 'son of'. For instance, Jewish males have their 'Bar Mitzvah' at age 13, announcing that they are a 'son of the covenant'. The next letter is the 'Aleph', which is depicted as an ox's head, with the ox having the connotation of strength and power. Not surprisingly, this symbol was often associated with God. The symbology of this letter even appears to have been employed by God in the sacrifice of the Red Heifer, which was a portrayal of Jesus' eventual death at the cross. So in this instance, we can translate this letter as 'God'. Now we come to the letter 'Shin', which is depicted as two front teeth. This symbol represents the act of biting or 'pressing' against something, or eating or destroying something. It can also represent the number two, since there are two front teeth in the pictograph. But in this instance we adopt the idea of being 'pressed' by those consuming teeth. Then there is the 'Yud', which has the pictograph of an extended arm and hand. Since we do our work with our arms and hands, this symbol would point to the ideas of Work or effort, or throwing something, even throwing worship to God. Of course, it can also have the simple symbolic meaning of the arm and/or 'hand'. Finally, we have the 'Tav', which is made by crossing two sticks in the shape of a cross, which was the way that the Hebrews actually used sticks to keep the rib cage of a lamb open while they roasted it. This symbol also has the meaning of a mark or sign, or a signal or monument. But in this analysis, we'll just use the idea of a 'cross'. The Message: When combined then, the overall message that can be gleaned from this first word of the Bible is the following;

"The Son of God will be pressed by his own hand on a cross" Isn't that fascinating? And it's been hiding right there in plain sight for thousands of years. And in case you think that's NOT what this message is claiming, consider how well the message correlates to everything we know about the destiny of Jesus in this world, according to His own words; "The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my lifeonly to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father." (John 10: 17-18) ....and also consider what John recorded in the book of Revelation; "All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast - all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world." (Revelation 13:8) It would appear that not only was Jesus slain from the creation of the WORLD, but His sacrifice was recorded from the creation of the WORD.....and by the very FIRST word.

The Trinitarian 'Shema of Moses'

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one." Because of passages like this one, known as the 'Shema of Moses', much of Christianity appears to believe that the Old Testament portrays a singular personage of God, rather than the Trinity that most Christians are accustomed to. In the minds of many, the portrayal of a triune God consisting of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is only described much later in the New Testament. But this is far from the truth, because the plural nature of God is found virtually everywhere in the Old Testament when we examine the original Hebrew language that it was written in. The truth is, even the very first sentence in the book of Genesis points to the Trinity of God, since the plurality of an 'Elohim' (Gods) is described as the Creator, not the singularity of an 'El' (God). In the same way, the names and attributes used for God throughout the Old testament are often plural renderings, from 'Adonai' (Lords) instead of 'Adon' (Lord), to 'Elohim' (the powers) and 'HaElohim' (all the powers) instead of 'El' (the power). Even some attributes of God are potrayed in plural form, such as the 'Panim' (faces) of God, rather than the 'Pan' (face) of God. These are not the only examples, but suffice to say there are literally hundreds that point to the plural nature of God. Given this fact, it would probably come as no surprise that Abraham, Moses and the Prophets of Israel were ALL clearly trinitarians. While this would be hotly disputed by orthodox Jews today, and even some Christian denominations, I believe that the original Hebrew language and meanings clearly indicate this as fact. So today we're going to isolate and examine one of these Old Testament

verses, the 'Shema of Moses', in order to demonstrate this point. The Shema from Deuteronomy 6:4 would read this way in it's original Hebrew;

You may recall from our summer sessions that when man's original language was confused at Babel, all languages west of Israel wound up reading from left-to-right, while all languages east of Israel, and including Israel, read from right-to-left. Therefore, what you see in the text above should be read from right-to-left, beginning with the word 'shema'. So the original Hebrew would then read this way; "Shema Yeeserael Yehvah HaElohim Yehvah echad." Okay, now we'll do a little translating. The first word is "shema", which simply means 'hear', while the next word is "Yeeserael", which is obviously 'Israel'. After that we have the name of the LORD, which is rendered in this instance as 'Yehvah'. Of course, other renderings could suggest 'Yahweh' or 'Jehovah' or 'Yahu' due to the variability of the Hebrew characters. Since ancient Israel forbid God's name to be pronounced, the original rendering has been lost. But for the moment, let's just use the translation "the LORD", since that is what we find in most western Bibles. Next, we have the term "Ha-Elohim", which is generally translated as 'God' in most versions, and that is followed by another "Yehvah" or 'Yahweh', which again we'll translate (for the moment) as LORD. And finally, we have the word "echad", which has been translated as 'one'. All told, we then have the following translation that is provided in most western Bibles; "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one." That sounds fairly straight-forward on the surface, seemingly indicating one solitary God rather than a plurality. But as you may have already surmised from the opening paragraphs of this post, this English rendering is a gross mistranslation of this verse because it eliminates all of the plural forms of the original Hebrew. When we re-insert the plural forms of God's name, as we should, the proper transliteration reads this way; "Hear, O Israel: Yahweh and our Elohim are a united one." A "united one"? Hmmm. Why would Moses have to confirm to Israel that Yahweh and the Elohim were a UNITED ONE? Wouldn't that have been their natural assumption if God had been appearing to them in the wilderness as a singular God? Well, yes, and so we have to realize this was NOT what was happening. Instead, Israel was experiencing the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in the wilderness, and Moses needed to eliminate their confusion with this statement. Having just come from Egypt, where a multitude of gods had been worshipped, Moses did not want them falling back into the idolatry of polytheism. He had to tell Israel that the three personages of God they were experiencing were actually ONE united essence. From a structural perspective, here is how the proper translation is made; we have "Yahweh" AND our "Elohim", where the word Elohim is a plural, which immediately suggests something more than

just a solitary figure. The word 'El' is generally rendered as 'God', but actually means 'Power', therefore the plural form 'Elohim' actually means 'Powers'. So in reality, this verse is saying "Yahweh and our Powers". And then as the clincher, the word 'echad' should not be translated as "one", but rather as 'united' or 'unified', which are the two primary definitions offered in Webster's Hebrew Dictionary; "eekh ed" /-ahah/-adetee v UNITED: UNIFIED; (pres me-akhed; fut ye'akhed) For something to become 'united' or 'unified', there must be MORE THAN ONE to begin with, right? This obviously points to a 'united' or 'unified' Godhead of Yahweh (Father) with the Powers (Son and Holy Spirit), rather than pointing to 'one' solitary personage of God. There is no other logical explanation. And we didn't have to jump through a bunch of exegetical hoops to arrive at this viewpoint. To the contrary, it is those that DENY the Trinity of God that have to display incredible footwork in order to morph the text into something other than what it is. Of course, problems have developed with the 'Shema' because a prominent Rabbi in Israel changed the Shema almost 1,000 years ago to read differently than what is contained in the Bible. In order to erase the triune implications that were clear and apparent in Moses' original statement, Rabbi Moses Ben-Maimon (otherwise known as 'Rambam') substituted the word 'Elohenu' for 'HaElohim', and the word 'yachid' (alone) for the word 'echad' (united). So today, the Shema of Moses pronounced throughout Israel would sound like this; "Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our God Yahweh is alone" But Rambam was not entirely successful in wiping out the allusion to the Trinity, because the word 'Elohenu' still implies a plurality. In reality then, the Shema that Israel pronounces today would actually read like this; "Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our Gods Yahweh are alone" It seems that God has a sense of irony and a sense of humor, because no matter how much Israel and certain Christian denominations attempt to eliminate or obfuscate the record of the Son, the allusions to His presence and His essence will still remain. For any that have questions on these interpretations, I would encourage you to read Yoel Natan's "The Jewish Trinity", because the triune nature of God is coming under increasing fire in our day. To know the counterfeits, you first have to know the real thing.