Ancient
Hebrew Research Center
Biblical
Hebrew E-Magazine
February, 2010 Issue #052
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Issue Index
Biblical Word of the Month – Offering
Modern Word of the Month – Shalom
Name of the Month – Enoch
Question of the Month – Concrete Thought?
Verse of the Month – Genesis 2:11
MT Excerpt – Genesis 7:10-16
AHRC Excerpt – Hebrew Nouns
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Biblical Word of the Month - Offering
By: Jeff A. Benner
The most frequent Hebrew word translated as “offering” is מנחה (minhhah, Strong's #4503). This noun is most likely derived from the root verb ינח (Y.N.Hh, Strong's #3240), which means to deposit in place, especially for safekeeping or as a pledge. From this perspective, a minhhah (offering) is something that is given as a pledge.
And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: (KJV, Genesis 4:3)
Maybe the difference between Cain and Abel’s offering wasn’t the offering itself, but the pledge or action behind the offering.
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Modern Word of the Month - Shalom
By: Jeff A. Benner
The word שלום (shalom, Strong's #7965) is used in Modern Hebrew as a greeting, similar to our use of “hello,” or as a farewell, similar to our use of “good-bye.” A common phrase in Modern Hebrew using this word is mah shlom’kha and literally means “What is your shalom?” and is used the same as the English phrase “How are you?” The phrase mah shlom’kha is used when speaking to a male, but when speaking to a female this would be mah shlo’mekh.
The common greeting on the Shabbat
(Sabbath) day is “Shabbat shalom.” While this is usually translated or
interpreted as “Shabbat peace,” the Hebraic meaning is much deeper. The word שבת (shabbat, Strong's #7676) comes from the verb שבת (Sh.B.T, Strong's #7673) meaning “to cease” or “stop,” hence it can
mean “to rest” but in the sense of stopping from physical activity. Therefore,
the Shabbat day is a day of ceasing. The word שלום (shalom, Strong's #7965) literally
means “whole,” or “complete.” Therefore the phrase Shabbat shalom more
literally means “May your day of ceasing make you whole
and complete.”
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Name of the Month - Enoch
By: Jeff A. Benner
And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch: (KJV, Genesis 5:18)
The name חנוך (hhanokh, Strong's #2585) means “dedicated” and is derived from
the verb root חנך (Hh.N.Kh, Strong's #2596)
meaning “to dedicate.”
Genesis chapter five is
the only place in the Tenach (Old Testament) where Enoch is mentioned. However,
the New Testament mentions him three times (Luke 3:37, Hebrews 11:5 and Jude
1:14). In Jude we read;
And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, (KJV, Jude 1:14)
This prophesy of Enoch is not found in the Tenach, but is found in “The Book of Enoch,” a work that has long been lost and only discovered in the 17th century.
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Question of the Month – Concrete Thought?
By: Jeff A. Benner
Q: How do you know that the Ancient Hebrews thought concretely?
A: I am often asked this question and it is a legitimate question as we only have the Biblical text for our evidence. How can we possibly know how they “thought” when we can only read their “words?” When we read the Bible in English, we are reading a translators interpretation of the text and this translator will frequently take the Hebrew text and convert the Hebraic context into a modern Western context. Let’s look at a classic example from the book of Exodus.
And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua (KJV, Exodus 17:14)
When we read the Hebrew text for this verse literally, we can see the concreteness of the text, demonstrating how the Hebrew thought, that has been removed by the translator.
And YHWH said to Moses, Write this memorial in a scroll, and place it in the ears of Joshua (Literal, Exodus 17:14)
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Verse of the Month – Genesis 2:11
By: Jeff A. Benner
שֵׁם
הָאֶחָד
פִּישֹׁון
הוּא
הַסֹּבֵב אֵת כָּל־אֶרֶץ
הַחֲוִילָה
אֲשֶׁר־שָׁם
הַזָּהָב׃
The name of the first is Pishon: that
is it
which compasseth the whole land of
Havilah, where there is gold (ASV)
שֵׁם (shem)
This word means “name.”
הָאֶחָד (ha-eh-hhad)
The base word is אחד (ehhad) meaning "one" with the prefix ה (ha) meaning "the"
– the one.
פִּישֹׁון (pi-shon)
The name of the river is pishon.
הוּא (hu)
This is the masculine singular pronoun –
“he.” Hebrew only has a masculine and feminine pronoun; there is no neuter (it)
like there is in English. Therefore the river, a masculine proper name, is
referred to as a “he.
הַסֹּבֵב (ha-so-veyv)
The base word is the verb סבב (savav) meaning to go
around. This verb is written in the participle form and would be translated as
“going around.” This verb is prefixed with the letter ה (ha) meaning "the" – the one going around.
אֵת (eyt)
This word preceedes the definite object of the verb.
כָּל (kol)
This word means “all.”
אֶרֶץ (eh-rets)
This word means “land.”
הַחֲוִילָה (ha-hha-vi-lah)
This is the place name Hhavilah with the
prefix ה (ha) meaning "the"
– the Hhavilah.
אֲשֶׁר (a-sher)
This word means “who” or “what.”
שָׁם (sham)
This word means “there.”
הַזָּהָב (ha-za-hav)
The base word is the noun זהב (zahav) meaning “gold.”
This noun is prefixed with the letter ה (ha) meaning "the" – the gold.
The following is a literal rendering of this verse from its Hebraic meaning.
The name of the one is Pishon, he is
going around all the land of the Hhavilah, which there is the gold.
In following issues we will continue with this chapter.
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Mechanical Translation Excerpt - Genesis 7:10-16
10 and it came to pass to the seven of the days and the water of the flood existed upon the land, 11 in the year of six hundred years to the life of “No'ahh [Rest]”, in the second new moon, in the seventeenth day to the new moon, in this day all of the springs of the deep sea cleaved abundantly and the chimneys of the sky had been opened, 12 and the rain showers existed upon the land forty days and forty nights, 13 in the bone of this day “No'ahh [Rest]” and “Shem [Character]” and “Hham [Hot]” and “Yaphet [Wonder]”, the sons of “No'ahh [Rest]” and the woman of “No'ahh [Rest]” and the three women of his sons with them came to the vessel, 14 they and all of the living ones to her kind and all of the beast to her kind and all of the treaders treading upon the land to his kind and all of the flyer to his kind, all of the birds of all of the wings, 15 and they came to “No'ahh [Rest]”, to the vessel, two of two from all of the flesh which in him is the wind of life, 16 and the coming of the males and females from all of the flesh came just as “Elohiym [Powers]” directed him and “YHWH [He exists]” shut round about him,
For details on this new translation see the web site at
http://www.mechanical-translation.org
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AHRC Website Excerpt – Hebrew Nouns
A Noun is defined as a person, place or thing and is the most
common type of word in the Biblical text. Some common examples of nouns in the
Biblical text areבן (ben - son),מלך (melek - king),ארץ (erets - land),יד (yad - hand),חי (hhai - life) andעץ (eyts - tree). Proper nouns are names of specific persons
and places such asיעקב (Ya'aqov - Jacob) andמצרים (Mitsrayim - Egypt).
Every noun is either masculine or feminine. An obvious masculine noun isאישׁ (iysh - man) and an obvious feminine noun would beאשׁה (iyshah - woman). As can be seen in this example the suffixה (ah) can be
added to a masculine noun to make it feminine. Another example is the wordמלך (melek - king), a masculine noun whereasמלכה (mal'khah - queen) is the feminine form. However, some
nouns cannot be identified as masculine or feminine by any suffix, or lack of
it. The wordעץ (eyts - tree) is a masculine whileרוּח (ru'ahh - wind) is feminine. The gender of a noun is important
as will become evident in later lessons.
A simple noun is composed of the two or three letters of its root such asמלך (melek
- king) which comes from the root מ-ל-ך (M-L-K).
Also coming from the root מ-ל-ך is the verb מלך (malak - to reign). Other nouns are
derived from this root by placing specific letters as fixes (prefixes, infixes
or suffixes) to the root such as we saw with the word מלכה (mal'khah - Queen). Other nouns derived
from מ-ל-ך are מלכוּת (mal'khut
- Kingdom), ממלכוּת (mam'lekhut - Reign) and מלוּכה (melukhah - Royal).
This a part of an article located on the web site at
http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/42_lesson01.html
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What's New
We are always adding
new material to the AHRC and Mechanical Translation websites; here is what is
new on these websites.
We have two additional
Ancient Hebrew inscriptions on the website including the Aaronic Blessing inscription
and an inscription on an ancient
offering bowl.
We have also added the Parshah readings for the
entire year to the website.
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Editorials
Do you have a comment or personal insight into the articles
in this issue of the E-Zine? If so, let us know.
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Corrections
Did you find any errors needing correction in the articles
in this issue of the E-Zine? If so, let us know.
In the July 2009 issue, the final paragraph of the Question
of the Month was;
Even
though these letters do not appear to have been in the original texts, they are
still excellent teaching tools.
Thanks go to Rob for pointing out that this should read;
Even though these
letters do not appear to have been enlarged in the original texts,
they are still excellent teaching tools.
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Copyright © 2010
Jeff A. Benner
Ancient Hebrew Research
Center
Please feel free to use, copy
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