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GENERATION The following is an excerpt from the book The Living Words. And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness. Genesis 15:6 (KJV) What does one mean when saying, "I believe in God"? The dictionary defines "believe" as "To accept as true or real." Is a belief in God simply knowing God exists and he is who he says he is? Not from a Hebraic perspective. The Hebrew behind this word has absolutely nothing to do with the English definition given above. Instead, it is a very concrete concept that can be experienced through the senses and not the mind. The Hebrew word behind the translation "believe" is the verb אמן aman [H:539]. Just a simple cursory look at the various ways this word has been translated indicates that there is much more to this word than just knowing that something exists. The King James Version uses the following translations for the verb aman: believe, assurance, faithful, sure, established, trust, verified, steadfast, continuance, father, bring up, nurse, be nursed, surely, stand fast, and trusty. The basic meaning behind the Hebrew word aman is "to support" as can be seen in the following passages. And bring your younger brother to me and he will be a support (aman) for your words and you will not die and they did this. Genesis 42:20 And Naomi took the child and placed him in her bosom and she was for him for a supporter (aman - as a nurse). Ruth 4:16 And your house will be supported (aman) forever and your kingdom will be before you for an eternity, your throne will be firm for an eternity. 2 Samuel 7:16 My mercy will guard him forever and my covenant will support (aman) him. Psalm 89:28 And I will thrust him like a tent peg in a place of support (aman)... Isaiah 22:23 This last passage is an excellent illustration of the concrete understanding of this word. Firm ground is chosen as the site for setting up a tent so when the tent pegs are driven into the soil, the firm ground will "support" the tent even in a strong wind. In this same way, Abram "supported God." Now, let’s look at Genesis 15:6 in its context. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed (aman) in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness. Genesis 15:5,6 (KJV) At first glance, and from a Greek perspective, it appears that the word "believe" is referring to Abram’s knowledge that God will follow through with his promise to provide him many descendents, but as we shall see this is not what is meant by Abram’s "belief." God’s promise to Abram that he would have many descendents was repeated to Abram’s son Isaac. And I will make your descendants numerous like the stars of heaven and I will give to your seed all these lands and all the nations of the land will be blessed through your seed because Abraham heard (shama) my voice and obeyed my charge and my commands and my decrees and my teachings. Genesis 26:4,5 The verb שמע shama [H:8085] means "to hear." When the Bible speaks of "hearing" the voice of God, it means "pay attention to what is spoken and respond." The word shama is also found in a passage often called the "sh’ma." Hear (sh’ma), O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD Deuteronomy 6:4 (RSV) This word was used as a sort of motto in ancient Israel and is found inscribed on many objects such as the broken piece of pottery (left) and coin (right) in the images below. The word shama is a synonym of aman as can be seen in the following passage. And Moses answered and he said, "They will not support (aman) me and they will not hear (shama) my voice..." Exodus 4:1 Why did God promise to give Abram many descendents? Because Abram was obedient to the voice of God, as indicated in Genesis 26, and Abram supported God as indicated in Genesis 15. Will you "support" God through your actions (a Hebraic perspective) or only through your mind (a Greek perspective)? GO.DOWN (V) The following is an excerpt from the Ancient Hebrew Research Center Website. This verb is derived from the parent root . The first letter is the (resh - R), a picture of the head of a man. The second letter, (dalet - D), is the picture of the tent door. The roof of the nomad's tent was low and one needed to stoop down to enter or exit through the dooway and the verb RaD means to go down. GRAIN The following is an excerpt from the Ancient Hebrew Research Center Website. When studying the Tenach/Old Testament each word must be understood through its Hebraic understanding. Too often we use Webster’s Dictionary or own understanding of a word to interpret the passage. What do the words create, covenant, choice and pure mean to you when you read them in your Bible? Did you know that all of these words are related to each other in the Hebrew, meaning they all come from the same root and have a common meaning? We often think in abstracts, something that cannot be seen, heard, felt, smelled or tasted. A good example of an abstract thought is "purity". Can you draw a picture of purity? Can you smell, taste or hear it? The ancient Hebrews were concrete thinkers and in order to understand a word from their perspective you must understand it in its Hebraic concrete understanding. The Hebrew vocabulary is a root oriented system beginning with two letters combined to form a "parent" root. By adding other letters (in a specific fashion) new roots and words are formed out of the "parent". In this series of the "word of the week" we will be looking at the parent root "BaR" and its offshoots. This parent root was written as in the ancient pictographic Hebrew script. The first letter (reading from right to left) is the picture of a tent floor plan and means "house" or "family". The second letter is the head of a man and means "head". When combined these two letters mean "family of heads" and is the Hebrew word for "grain". Grains consist of a head with a cluster of seeds and grains consist of a variety of species including barley, wheat, etc. – families of heads. The Hebrew word "BaR" literally means "grain" as previously mentioned but its meaning can also be extended to mean "soap" or "clean". As will be shown in more detail later, grains are fed to livestock to make them fat. The fat of animals is used to make soap. The soap is of course used to make one clean. It is this word BaR that is also translated as "pure" – "He that hath clean hands, and a pure (BaR) heart (Ps 24:4). The Hebrews understood a "pure heart" as a "clean heart". You must also understand that "guilt" was seen as dirt. In order to remove the dirt from the heart you must clean it. Hopefully this will cause you to begin viewing the Bible from a different perspective, the perspective of its original authors. Next week we will look at a few other words that are derived from this parent root. A common means of forming an additional noun out of a two letter word is to double the word. The word ברבר (pronounced "barbur") is a fowl as seen in the following verse; Ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, beside harts, and roebucks, and fallow deer, and fatted fowl (1Ki 4:23). Again we can easily see the connection between the word "BaR" and the idea of being "fattened". This word is also used in the Aramaic language to mean "field" as a place for growing grains as well as "son" probably through the idea of offspring in connection with the seeds of the grain. GROUND The following is an excerpt from the book The Living Words. A different Hebrew word exists for the "ground" or "soil" of the earth. And Yahweh Elohiym formed the human of dust from the ground (adamah)... Genesis 2:7 The Hebrew behind the word "ground" is אדמה adamah [H:127] and is related to the Hebrew word אדם adam [H:120], which is also found in the sentence above where it is translated as "human." Hebrew authors loved to use similar sounding words together such as seen in the sentence above. Here is another example. And he said, what did you do? The voice of the blood (dam) of your brother is crying out to me from the ground (adamah).Genesis 4:10 Throughout the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, these word puns can be found. They can also be found in the New Testament, but only if the Greek is translated back into Hebrew. One of these many word puns can be found in Matthew 3:9. God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. The Greek word for stones in this passage is liqwn lithon [G:3037] and the word for sons is tekna tekna [G:5043]. However, when these two words are translated into Hebrew, we have אבנים eveniym [H:68] for stones and בנים beniym [H:1121] for sons. God is able of these stones (eveniym) to raise up children (beniym) unto Abraham.