Genesis chapter 1
Today we are walking in: Torah: The Historical Understanding
Job 34:16
If now thou hast understanding, hear H8085 this: hearken to the voice of my words.
UNDERSTAND
Today we look to the word-UNDERSTAND- H8085 shama`--to hear with attention or interest, listen to understand (language)
The Torah testifies...............
Genesis 11:7
Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand H8085 one another's speech.
The prophets proclaim..................
Nehemiah 8:2
And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear H8085 with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month.
The writings bear witness...........................
1 Kings 3:9
Give therefore thy servant an understanding H8085 heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?
Just Something about That Name
"This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Most High Yah made the earth and the heavens..."9
(Genesis 2:3-4, emphasis added)
The Creation account in Genesis begins by using the Hebrew term Elohim, translated into English as "Yah." After the creation of Man, Genesis Chapter 2 expands the revelation of the Creator, with the first mention of the four-letter Name for Yah-Yah. This Name, considered by many to be too holy to utter, is called the Tetragrammaton (four letters), and is most often translated into English as 'Most High' or 'Most High' using all capitals.
Because ancient Hebrew contains no actual vowels, the correct pronunciation of Yah is uncertain. Even with the inclusion of vowels used in modern Hebrew, there remain hundreds of possible pronunciations of the Name Yah.
The Ten Commandments clearly prohibit taking the Name of Yah in vain-perhaps best understood as "to not use the Name of Yah in a common manner." While discussion and debate still surround the actual intent and wording of this Command, a safeguard against transgressing the instruction developed very early in Juda-ism. To protect against inadvertently-or even intentionally-speaking Yah's Name in vain, tradition soon evolved towards avoiding the use of the Name Yah at all. In honor and respect, Yah's Name soon became 'ineffable' or unspeak-able, and other terms were developed to refer to Yah without speaking the four-letter Name of Yah.
The lone exception to this practice was the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) of Israel, who once a year pronounced Yah's holy Name on Yom Kip-pur (Day of Atonement)-the second of the Biblical Fall Feasts (Leviticus 23). Carrying basins containing the blood of a sacrificial goat, the prepared incense for the Golden Altar, and bearing the names of the tribes of Israel upon his breastplate, the High Priest would enter the holiest place in the Sanctuary-the Holy of Holies. After placing the incense on the altar, and anointing the cover of the Ark of the Covenant (also called the Mercy Seat) with the blood, the High Priest would then declare the ineffable Name of Yah in witness of the yearly atonement and forgiveness for the sins of the people (Leviticus 16). 10
Most Synagogues today, as well as the vast majority of Jewish Biblical texts and literature, use a substitute term for the Tetragrammaton— HASHEM, a Hebrew term meaning "the Name." In Hebrew understanding, the term "HASHEM" has taken on two complementary meanings:
1. The ineffable Name-Yah
2. Lifestyle-Torah
It's important to understand that the Hebrew language is verb-based as opposed to a noun-based language such as English. In other words, Hebrew is a language that is centrally focused on action and movement (verbs), rather than objects and places (nouns). This contrast between Hebrew and most Western languages becomes all the more clear when considering not just the holy Name of Yah, but all names in general. From the Hebrew perspective, names identify the nature and character, the activity and lifestyle of an individual. One of the reasons the Scriptures contain multiple "Names" for Yah is to progressively reveal more and more of His infinite nature and character. Yah's Name is synonymous with His action and activity on the earth-Yah's movement called, the Kingdom of Heaven.
A clear example of this Hebrew understanding is found in the Torah as Moses receives a revelation of Yah's Name that was unknown to the earlier generations.
"Yah spoke to Moses and said to him: 'I am the Most High. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as Yah Almighty, but by My Name Most High I was not known to them."1l (Exodus 6:2-3, emphasis added)
Contextually, Yah is not telling Moses that He neglected to reveal Himself to the Patriarchs -to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In fact, Yah is telling Moses that He had indeed appeared to each of them, but that the revelation of the Name Yah-Most High was given to Moses. As previously discussed, the Tetragrammaton appears first in Genesis Chapter 2. Yet Exodus 6 tells us that the Most High is revealing Himself to Moses by a Name that was not known to the patriarchs. The Bible may be implying that by the time of Abraham-born approximately 1948 years after Creation-the correct pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton (Yah) had gone from respectfully 'unspeakable' to entirely
'unknown. The exchange between Yah and Moses can be thought of as a restoration of the Name of Yah. This was not a restoration of a title or a specific name that Yah prefers His people to use, but rather, this is an increased revelation of Yah's nature, character, and actions (lifestyle). This revelation is given just as Yah is about to manifest Himself to Moses and the Israelites in their deliverance from Egyptian slavery and the oppressive bondage of Pharaoh. The Most High later expounds upon His nature and character contained within this Name:
"Now the Most High descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the Name of the Most High. And the Most High passed before him and proclaimed, "The Most High, the Most High Yah,!, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity (Exodus 34:5-7) of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation."
Remember that when your Bible uses the term "Most High" this is a translation of the four-letter Hebrew Name of Yah—Yah. It is this Name, not the title "Yah" (Elohim In Hebrew) which appears nearly 7,000 times in the Torah and the Tanakh. The revelation of this Name is profound and progressive throughout the Bible, describing Yah's nature and character, and declaring the lineage and the lifestyle of the King of kings and Most High of Most Highs in His Incarnation— Yah in the flesh.
King David, in one of his many Messianic prophecies declared that the Messiah would come in the Name of Yah.
"The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Most High's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Most High has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it. Save now, I pray, O Most High; O Most High, I pray, send now prosperity. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Most High!"13
(Psalms 118:22-26)
Jesus (Yahusha) came in the Name Yah and the lifestyle of Torah. A significant aspect of Yahusha's ministry on earth was to manifest the Name of Yah to His people. Yah's nature and character are fully expressed in His Salvation— Yahusha, Jesus Christ. And the lifestyle and activity of Yah are eternally proclaimed in His Redemption-the Torah, Yah's Teaching and In-struction.
"I have manifested Your Name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world.
They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. "Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. "14
(John 17:6-7)
The Kingdom of Heaven
Another common practice in Jewish writing is to hyphenate all references to Yah's Name, for example G-d or L-rd. While the Bible does not make use of hyphenations, there are four prominent "substitute" terms used in the Bible to refer to Yah without actually using the four-letter Name of Yah. These terms are:
Kingdom of Heaven
Kingdom of Yah
Son of Man
Son of Yah
"The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned." From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'"
(Matthew 4:16-17, emphasis added)
As the Gospels relate the accounts of Jesus' earthly ministry, one particular phrase stands out above most others-the Kingdom of Heaven. In fact, Jesus (Yahusha) taught more on this one topic than any other, including salvation! As defined earlier, the Kingdom of Heaven is Yah's movement and activity on the earth. However, from the Hebrew perspective, the term "King-dom of Heaven" refers not only to the activity of Yah, it also refers to Yah Himself!
When Jesus states that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, He is declaring that the power and Presence of Yah is standing in our midst! Jesus is putting into motion the great move of Yah called the Kingdom of Heaven, which revealed both the Salvation of Yah (the Person Yahusha), and His Redemption (the Principles of Yahusha).
The Kingdom of Heaven-Yah's movement on the earth—is led by Jesus Christ (Yahusha Ha-Mashiach in Hebrew) and walking in the Torah. Paul had this exact idea in mind when he wrote to the believers in Galatia to "walk in the spirit..." (Galatians 5:25). The walk (halachah in Hebrew) refers to the Torah. The Spirit is, of course, Jesus, Himself. Paul meant that believers should allow the Holy Spirit to control their lives so that they could live a life that pleased Yah.
The Holy Spirit would live out the Torah which was written on their hearts and minds (Jeremiah 31:31-33; Hebrews 8:8-12)-this is the New Covenant! Yah is taking what's already written on your heart and manifesting it by His Spirit to produce purpose, obedience, and abundant blessings in your life. The Torah was not abol-ished; it has been placed within us!
When your confession (Jesus) matches your conduct (Torah), it is called Ha Kavod-the Glory of Yah. When the Scriptures refer to the glory, the related Hebrew words are temple, tabernacle, place, and lineage. Therefore, when you walk in the Spirit today, your lineage to the thousandth generation is blessed by the power of the Holy Spirit, and blessed in your obedience to the Torah. The "weakness" of the covenant at Mount Sinai was human disobedience (Hebrews 8). Under the New Covenant, this weakness is overcome by the obedience and righteousness of Jesus in you. His Holy Spirit inspires and enables you to follow His Teaching and Instruction, not written on Tablets of stone, but placed upon tablets of flesh (2 Corinthians 3). This is the New Covenant, first given in Jeremiah Chapter 31, and repeated in Hebrews Chapter 8.
"Behold, the days are coming, says the Most High, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—"not like the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Most High." But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Most High: I will put My law in their minds, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their Yah, and they shall be My people." (Jeremiah 31:31-33; Hebrews 8:8-12)
No comments:
Post a Comment