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December 4, 2011 |
| Brushing up Your Hebrew | ||
Each Christian knows and uses some Hebrew words, perhaps without realizing it and perhaps without knowing what they mean. This lesson will be a review of those words.
Amen - probably the Hebrew word most commonly used by Christians, and probably the least understood word. It means 'certainly' or 'may it be so'
Yahweh - "The word Yahweh is a modern scholarly convention for the Hebrew יהוה […] for which the original pronunciation is unknown. The most likely meaning of the name may be 'He Brings Into Existence Whatever Exists', but there are many theories and none is regarded as conclusive. The traditional rendering of the name, as found in English Bibles, is 'I am who I am' or 'I am that I am'1
Jews did not pronounce the personal name of God even though it appears in the Old Testament more than 6800 times. When they saw it in the scriptures they said something else like "adonai" which means lord or "hashem" which means 'the name'. As a result of not pronouncing it, the pronunciation was lost.
Hallelujah - This is a compound word made from allelu and yah. Allelu means "praise" and yah is the short form of Yahweh, the personal name of God. Therefore the meaning is "Praise Yahweh".
Maranatha - This is a compound word made from mar and anatha. Mar means "lord" and anatha means "come quickly". Therefore the meaning is "Lord, come quickly" which is a plea for the second coming.
Now that you know "yah" and "mar" you have another word "MarYah" which was one way Jews referred to God in the time of Jesus.
Torah - The word Torah means the "law" or "instruction" and refers to the first five books of the Old Testament.
Bar Mitzvah - The word bar means "son" or "son of" and Mitzvah refers to the individual laws within the Torah. The word "bar" can refer to a father - son relationship but it has other uses. As used in Bar Mitzvah and in other words "bar" does not literally refer to a father - son relationship. The meaning would be more like "dedicated to".
Bat Mitzvah - This is the same as Bar Mitzvah but for bats … "daughters".
Adam - The word adam means "man" but it is strongly connected to the word earth, especially red earth. So it would not be wrong to interpret it as "earthling".
Elohim - While not a common word for Christians, this word means "God" or "god". The word is interesting in that the "im" ending makes it a plural form word. This means the word could be a plural or a singular word. This is similar to the word Jesus which ends in an "s", but in that case we know it is singular. This is one of very few hints in the Old Testament that God is a plural being, a trinity.
Elohim was used as a root word for many other names. When that was done only the "El" part was kept
Bethel - This is a compound word made of Beth (also commonly seen as Bet, Bayth, or others) meaning "house" or "house of" and the word "el" which is short for elohim which means god. So Bethel means House of God.
Bethlehem - This is a compound word made of Beth, which you now know, and lechem, which means "Bread". So the word means House of Bread. It is appropriate that Jesus should be born there. In John 6 Jesus repeatedly refers to himself as the bread of life. That symbolism continues on into Communion, where we eat bread.
Eden - The exact meaning is a little unclear. It probably means a place of pleasure, or delight, or paradise2.
Hosanna - This is a curious word. As some words do, its usage has drifted from its meaning. "Strictly [speaking, this word is] a cry expressing an appeal for divine help "save! Help, we pray!"; in a liturgical usage, a shout of praise and worship 'hosanna, we praise you' (Matthew 21.9)3"
Immanuel - This is a compound word made of Immanu, meaning "with us" and El. We see Immanuel being used in Matthew 1 "22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 "The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" (which means "God with us")." (Matthew 1:22-23 referring to Isaiah 7:14)
Israel - This is a compound word made of Isra and El. El you know as Elohim or God, but the meaning of Isra is not clear. It probably means struggle, strive, persist, or persevere. Jacob's name was changed to Israel by God after Jacob spent the night wrestling with an angel of God. So the name would seem to be saying something about Jacob and God struggling - and that was typical of the Israelites relationship with God.
Messiah - The word means "anointed" so in referring to a person it means "the anointed one". The word Christ has exactly the same meaning but is a Greek word.
Pharisee - The word means "separated", a reference to being separated unto God.
Rabbi, Rabi, Ravi, Rebbe - The word means "master" but not so much in the master - slave sense but in the master - student sense, where the person is a master in his field of learning. Therefore a master who is willing to take on and train students would be called a teacher.
Sabbath - The word means "rest" particularly "rest from labor". The days of the week in our calendar are named after Norse gods or after the Sun and the Moon which were also worshiped as gods. The Jewish calendar does not do this. "With the exception of the [Sabbath], the weekdays have no names. They are simply numbered."4 Therefore the Jewish days of the week are, in English, "first day, second day, third day, fourth day, fifth day, sixth day, rest"
Satan - The word Satan is not a personal name, it is a title meaning "adversary". The Jews say HaSatan which means "the Satan" and thus "the adversary". The Satan's personal name is not known. All names associated with him are titles or names of things he is associated with. Lucifer is a reference to bright heavenly bodies.
Shalom - The word means "peace". It is the root word for Jerusalem which means City of Peace. The word Shalom appears in many places in the New Testament we don't see it because "peace" is used. For example: Matthew 10 "12 And when you enter a household, invoke the peace of the household."
When is it useful to know this? In Luke 19:41 it says "As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace - but now it is hidden from your eyes." We don't know what Jesus means here until we know he is talking to the City of Peace. It could be reworded as "If you, even you, the City of Peace, had only known on this day what would bring you peace." So he's saying the City of Peace does not know what would bring it peace.
Sheol - The word has a physical world meaning and a spiritual world meaning. It can mean grave, as a place where a physical body is buried, or it can mean the place where the spirits of the dead go.
All names in Hebrew have meaning. Sometimes the name was a single word but it was also often a compound word - two or more words put together.
We've seen the meanings of some names like Immanuel and Israel but there are many more. Some of these names are explained in the Bible. Samuel for example is explained as meaning "God has heard". We can see the El in his name.
It appears that God also used the meanings of names to convey information in the Bible. The following comes from the genealogy of Adam from Genesis 55.
| Hebrew Name | Hebrew Meaning |
|---|---|
| Adam | man |
| Seth | appointed |
| Enosh | mortal |
| Caiman | sorrow |
| Mahalalel | blessed Elohim |
| Yared | shall come down |
| Enoch | teaching |
| Methuselah | his death shall bring |
| Lamech | despairing |
| Noah | comfort |
The Aramaic New Testament is a version of the New Testament that gives the actual names of people. So in Matthew 10:2-4 it says6
2 But the names of the twelve Apostles were these: the first of them, Shimeon who was called Kaypha, and Andraeus his brother, and Yaqob Bar Zebedee, and Yohannan his brother,
3 And Philippus, Bar Tolmay, and Thoma, and Mattay the Tax Collector, and Yaqob Bar Halphi, and Lebai who was called Thadi,
4 And Shimeon The Zealot, and Yehuda Skariota, he who betrayed him.
| Jesus | - Yeshua, which means God's salvation. Because the Hebrew language at the time had no vowels, the exact pronunciation is a little uncertain. Most people, including Jews in Israel, say Yeshua, but there are variations from Yoshua to Yehoshua. When the name was translated to Greek it became Iasous, then in early English it was Jesu (with a soft J that sounds like a Y) then later the J became hard, the 'ay' became 'ee', the 's's became 'z's and the 'oo' became 'uh'. As a result Jesus now sounds nothing like Yeshua. |
| What is Jesus' last name? He doesn't have one (it isn't Christ). No one had last names then. When a full name was needed he would have been called Jesus son of Joseph of Nazareth. | |
| When is it useful to know this? Matthew 1:21 says "21 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." It seems like there should be a connection betweenJesus name and the salvation he would bring but that doesn't make sense until you know that Jesus, Yeshua, means "God's Salvation." | |
| Simon / Peter | - Shimeon who was called Kaypha. Shimeon means "He who has heard/hears [the word of God]". Kaypha means rock. |
| This is important in understanding what Jesus says in Matthew 16:18 "Also I say to you, that you are Kaypha, and upon this stone I shall build my church, and the gates of Sheol will not withstand it." | |
| "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, a small rock and upon the large rock I will build my congregation {Gr. ekklesia - called out ones}, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against her." - Jubilee Bible 2000 | |
| So why is "Peter" used in the Bible when it isn't even close in sound to "Kaypha"? Peter is the Greek word for Rock |
Azazel - (Evil character from X-Men) - This is a name used in Leviticus 16:8-10. There are various interpretations of the meaning of it but it may be Satan's name.
Sarah - "Princess of multitudes" (Genesis 17:15-16)
Daniel - Note the "El" in this name. The name means "God is my Judge"
Michael - Note the "El" again. The name means "Who is like God?" It's a rhetorical question used to make the point that there is none like God. Michael is one of two angels named in the Bible. All of them have names that end in "El" (Gabriel, Uriel)
Yerushalayim - ?
Kfer Nahum - ?
Bayth Lechem - ?
1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahweh
2 http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Eden.html
3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosanna
4 http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/m_calint.htm
5 Gallups, Carl (2013-11-05). The Rabbi Who Found Messiah: The Story of Yitzhak Kaduri and His Prophecies of the Endtime. WND Books
6 Significant help from http://bibleseo.com/gospels/jesus-disciples-names-meaning-occupation/