Ancient
Hebrew Research Center
Biblical
Hebrew E-Magazine
August, 2007 Issue #039
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Issue Index
Biblical Word of the Month – Slave
Name of the Month – Dan
Question of the Month – 400 or 430?
Verse of the Month – Exodus 20:13-15
MT Excerpt – Genesis 3:20-24
AHRC Excerpt – The Hebrews
________________________________________________________________________
Biblical Word of the Month - Slave
By: Jeff A. Benner
The Hebrew word commonly translated as servant is the noun עבד eved. However, this word more means “slave” than it does “servant.” This noun comes from the verbal root עבד avad meaning “to be enslaved” as can be seen in Exodus 1:13.
And Mitsrayim (Egypt) caused the
sons of Israel to be enslaved with severity.
The original pictographs for the word eved is 
. The is a picture of an eye meaning to see or
experience, the is a picture of a house and the is a picture of a door. When these three
meanings of each letter are combined they define the word as "experience
the house door," now compare that with Exodus 21:6;
Then his master shall bring him to
God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost; and his master
shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for life.
________________________________________________________________________
Name of the Month - Dan
By: Jeff A. Benner
The next son of Jacob in our series is Judah. This name was presented in Issue #9. The next son after Judah is Dan.
And Rachel said, God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son: therefore called she his name Dan. Genesis 29:34 (KJV)
The Hebrew verb דין Deen [H:1777] means “to judge” such as we can see in the verse above. This is the root of the name דן dan [H:1835], meaning a “judge,” and is also found in the verse above. In Jacob’s final words to Dan he also makes the connection between these two words.
Dan shall judge (deen) his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. Genesis 49:16 (KJV)
_______________________________________________________________________
Question of the Month – 400 or 430?
By: Jeff A. Benner
Q: Why are the years of Israel’s sojourning different in Genesis 15:13 and Exodus 12:40?
A: The Hebrew text of Genesis 15:13 says "arba (4) me'ot (hundred) shanah (year)" - 400 years and Exodus 12:40 says "sheloshiym (30) shanah (year) v’arba (and 4) meot (hundred) shanah (year)" - 430 years. It is likely that at some point a scribe was copying the text of Genesis 15:13 and accidentally skipped over the words "sheloshiym shanah v” (30 years and). This is not uncommon. There are many mistakes in the Hebrew Bible where words, phrases even sentences are accidentally deleted or even duplicated. The 430 years is also confirmed in Galatians 3:17.
If the original number was 430 years, does this mean that Israel was in the land of Egypt for 430 years? This would not coincide with the genealogy provided in the Biblical text which indicates Israel was in Egypt for approximately 200 years (the only variable being the age of Kohath when he bore Amram and the age of Amram when he bore Moses). However, if we assume an age of 61 years for Kohath when he bore Amram and an age of 62 years for Amram when he bore Moses (this may sound like an old age but Abraham was 87 when he bore Ishmael, Isaac was 60 when he bore Jacob and Jacob was 87 when he bore Levi), then there would be 430 years from the birth of Isaac to when Israel entered the Promised Land. Genesis 15:13 does not say Israel would be in Egypt for 430 years (though this is how most interpret this passage) but that Abraham’s descendents (possibly meaning with the birth of Isaac) would sojourn in a land that did not belong to them.
________________________________________________________________________
Verse of the Month – Exodus 20:13-15
By: Jeff A. Benner
|
לֹא
תִּרְצָח׃
לֹא
תִּנְאָף׃
לֹא
תִּגְנֹב׃ |
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. (ASV)
לֹא (lo)
This word negates the following verb.
תִּרְצָח (tir-tsahh)
The base word is the verb צרח (tsarahh) meaning “to kill,” or more correctly, “to murder.” The prefix ת identifies the verb tense as imperfect - will murder - and the subject of the verb as second person, masculine, singular - you will murder. Because of the preceding word this would be translated as “you will not murder.”
לֹא (lo)
This word negates the following verb.
תִּנְאָף (tin-aph)
The base word is the verb נאף (na’aph) meaning “to commit adulter.” The prefix ת identifies the verb tense as imperfect - will commit adultery - and the subject of the verb as second person, masculine, singular - you will commit adultery. Because of the preceding word this would be translated as “you will not commit adultery.”
לֹא (lo)
This word negates the following verb.
תִּגְנֹב (tig-nov)
The base word is the verb גנב (ganav) meaning “to steal.” The prefix ת identifies the verb tense as imperfect - will steal - and the subject of the verb as second person, masculine, singular - you will steal. Because of the preceding word this would be translated as “you will not steal.”
The following is a literal rendering of this verse from its Hebraic meaning.
You will not murder, You will not
commit adultery, You will not steal.
In following issues we will continue with this chapter.
________________________________________________________________________
Mechanical Translation Excerpt - Genesis 3:20-24
20 and the human called out the title of his woman
“Hhawah [Living]” given that she existed a mother of all of the life, 21
and “YHWH [He exists]” of “Elohiym [Powers]” made for the man and for his woman
tunics of skin and he clothed them, 22 and “YHWH [He exists]” of
“Elohiym [Powers]” said, though the human had existed like a unit from us to
discern function and dysfunction and now otherwise he will send his hand and he
will take also from the tree of the life and he will eat and he will live to a
distant time,
23 and “YHWH [He exists]” of “Elohiym [Powers]” sent him from the garden
of “Eden [Pleasure]” to serve the ground which from there he was taken, 24
and he cast out the human, and the “Keruv [Sword]” and a blazing one dwelt from
the east to the garden of “Eden [Pleasure]”, the sword overturning herself to
guard the road of the tree of the life,
For details on this new translation see the web site at
http://www.mechanical-translation.org
_______________________________________________________________________
AHRC Website Excerpt – The Hebrews
The first person mentioned in the Bible as a "Hebrew" is Abraham.
"One who had escaped came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew" (Genesis 14:13).
Is Abraham the first Hebrew? The Hebrew word for a "Hebrew" person is עברי (eevriy) and comes from the root word עבר (ever) which means "to cross over." A Hebrew is "one who has crossed over." The name of one of Abraham's ancestors was עבר (ever - Genesis 11:16, written as Eber in English translations). This name also comes from the same root word making it highly possible that Eber is the father (progenitor) of the eevriy (Hebrew) people.
The Bible is the story of God and his covenant relationship (Hebraicly understood as crossing over from death to life) with an ancestral line beginning with Adam through his descendants Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jacob's descendants who became the "nation of Israel" also known as "the Hebrews." It is possible that a Hebrew was one who had "crossed over" into a covenant relationship with God, which would have begun with Adam. When I refer to the "Ancient Hebrews" I am referring to this ancestral line from Adam to the Nation of Israel.
This article is located on the web site at
http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/11_who.html
________________________________________________________________________
Jeff A. Benner
Ancient Hebrew Research
Center
Please feel free to use, copy
or distribute any material within the "Biblical Hebrew E-Magazine"
for non-profit educational purposes only.
________________________________________________________________________