Why "bi-lingual posts?

[Ben Avraham]

Shalom and welcome to all readers,

I would like to address some comments about "writing using Hebrew words" Well, Yes I understand, those who read these posts are all English speakers. Some might not be familiar with Hebrew, yet Hebrew is important, why?

Jews wrote the Bible for a Jewish society. The New Testament was written in Hebrew and Greek, yet was circulated more in Greek since Greek was the primary language of that time. We can read the Bible in English, yet without the understanding of basic Hebrew and Greek, we are going to miss out on deeper meanings.

For instance, if I were to write "Ark" (Teivah) what is the reason behind both words? Well, when you see the word "ark" in the Bible, of course, you are going to think about the big ship Noah built, where he and his family and representatives of all animal kinds were harbored for a year. Yet, "Teivah" is the Hebrew word for "ark" The same word is used for the basket that Mriram made for Moses when she put the basket with her little brother in the Nile River near the royal palace.

What is in the word "teivah" ? In Hebrew, only the consonants are spelled out, the vowels are not. So, "Teivah" in reality has only three letters "t v h" So, what do those letters tell us? They are the Hebrew letters "Tav, Beit, Hey" (A good place for you to familiarize yourself with basic Hebrew is at; "hebrew4christians.com"

In Hebrew, each letter is symbolic of different things; "Tav" = covenant, "Beit" = House, "Hey" = behold, or revealed. So, when we see the word "teivah" or "tvh" we could understand the word "ark" as "The Covenant House Revealed" We would not get that in English. The Ark of Noah was a "house" where he and his family lived for a year throughout the flood. God's covenant or promise to him was in effect, that he would be saved with his family while the lost and pagan world would be destroyed, provided he build a "house" (the ark) to ride out the flood.

God had already picked out Moses for a big task, to take His people out of Egypt. He would unite the 12 Tribes into One Nation under a covenant. So, right there in that little reed basket, Moses' "house" God had the "covenant" in mind.

The name "Yeshua" or "Yeshuah" is Hebrew for "Salvation" Yes, we know it is Jesus, yet the original name is "Yeshua" we can not deny that. . This is a Bible Study sub-forum, so, in Bible study, we need to get familiar with the original languages, in this case, Hebrew and Greek. All are welcome to enter and read the posts. It is OK, to disagree, and even point out why you may disagree. We can all agree to disagree. Rabbis do that all the time, especially in the Yeshivas. But do it politely, and with respect. There is a fine line between disagreeing and "bullying!" I know why I am saying this.

We can consider the posts on this website "classrooms" and yes, we can learn from each other. But if you don't like a classroom, you can go to another one. Every contributor has students. That is good. I know the saying; "If you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen" Well, I'll stay in the kitchen for now.

Thank you again for your comments, but just be polite and courteous.

 

[Josheb]

1 Corinthians 10:23

To most English speaker in this forum the phrase, "Tribe of Y’hudah," is meaningless. An otherwise comprehendible (and perhaps noteworthy) comment is made meaningless by its use. A person could guess at the meaning, or look it up, but having to do that repeatedly in a post (assuming there's only one such post) is unnecessarily laborious when a simply alternative exists: stop self-aggrandizing with your knowledge of Hebrew and post in a profitable way everyone can understand. That sentence could be half as many words with twice the meaning and import.


Just saying