The Word and Creation

I’ve always been fascinated by the first chapter of John in the New Testament. It’s here that I first became acquainted with the Savior’s name-title The Word and, by linked association, His role as Creator. The passage regarding The Word having first made all things and then later having “dwelt among us” provides support to the various Christian denominations that teach that Christ played the central role in the physical creation of all we see around us.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”( John 1: 1-3)

I obviously don’t understand the entire scope of this name-title given to the Savior, which is also referenced in Revelation 19:13, but my Biblical Hebrew studies have recently helped me understand what it may mean in part. It turns out there are also passages in LDS scripture that support the Hebrew language insights that I’ll refer to here.
 
In Hebrew, the terms for "word", "act(ion)", and "thing" are all related to the same three-letter root דבר (dalet-bet/vet-resh), which are loosely equivalent to the English letters D-V-R. While reading the examples of linguistic connections between the set of Hebrew terms related to speech, action, and existence, it’s important to remember that in Hebrew and other Semitic languages word relationships are founded on consonant patterns. That’s in part because across the whole range of spoken language throughout history, vowels are fluid, meaning they’re much more prone to change within a word over time than consonants.

We see that three-letter root I mentioned above (D-V-R דבר) in such words as “to speak” (leh-dah-BEHR  לְדַבֵּר) and in the noun “a saying”  (dah-VAHR דָבָר), which also means "thing". In the book of 1st Kings we also find the same root present in the phrase "the acts of Solomon", deev-REY she-loh-MOH דִּבְרֵי שְׁלֹמֹה. So the Lord's title referenced in John (The Word) seems to be linked to His role as the Creator: "and all things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." Human speech is passive when not backed by the authority and power of God. In contrast, the Lord's spoken commands are actions that result in things coming into existence. See Genesis 1:3, 1:11, and the following scripture as examples:

“So shall my word be that goeth out of my mouth (the speech part): it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please (action), and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." (Isaiah 55:11, inserts added)

 The significant link detailed above is easily lost in the New Testament Koine (Common Greek) since the terms in that language for "word" (logos) and "thing" (pragma) have no linguistic connection. Interestingly though, the Hebrew doctrinal and etymological links resurface in several places in the scriptures, including Moses 1:27, 30-32.

“And it came to pass, as the voice was still speaking, Moses cast his eyes and beheld the earth, yea, even all of it; and there was not a particle of it which he did not behold, discerning it by the Spirit of God. 

And it came to pass that Moses called upon God, saying: Tell me, I pray thee, why these things are so, and by what thou madest them? 

And behold, the glory of the Lord was upon Moses, so that Moses stood in the presence of God, and talked with him face to face. And the Lord God said unto Moses: For mine own purpose have I made these things. Here is wisdom and it remaineth in me. 

And by the word of my power have I created them, which is mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth.” (Emphasis added)

Arising from the Dust

There are several words in Hebrew for “dust” (אָבָק ah-VAHK, אֲדָמָה ah-dah-MAH, and עָפָר ah-FAHR, for example), but the one that seems to appear most often in the Old Testament is ah-FAHR. It means “dust, dirt, earth, soil”. In the scriptures, however, it has many symbolic meanings. Dust signifies “humility, humiliation, contrition, sorrow, corruption, sin, worldliness” and even “death”, both physical and spiritual.

In reading the Old Testament in Hebrew, it’s interesting how often the word surfaces in different contexts. Here are a few passages that shed light on these symbolic meanings.

“And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads.” (Joshua 7:6)

“Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” (Psalms 103:13,14)

“My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.” (Psalms 119:25)

“And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.” (Genesis 3:14)

This last reference offers a strong contrast to what we are to do in leaving behind all association(s) with worldliness, corruption, and spiritual death.

“Shake thyself from the dust; arise, sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.” (Isaiah 52:2)

I’m struck by the order and beautiful simplicity of the process. Lying in dust is equivalent to spiritual death, or the sleep of death. We then arise at God’s call, leaving the corruption of earthly appetites and sin behind, even going so far as to shake off whatever traces of our former, worldly selves might still be clinging to us. Then the majesty of the Lord’s mercy becomes apparent as we are invited to sit down. This isn’t an insignificant invitation. I'll mention two examples that underline the graciousness of God in this respect.

First, in ancient Middle Eastern culture, sitting down generally involved two types of social interactions; sitting in counsel/judgment or sitting within a close social circle. On the first point, the most common words for chair in Hebrew are כִּסֵא  (kee-SEH) and קָתֶדרָה (kah-teh-DRAH ). If the second word sounds familiar that’s because it’s the root of cathedral, which originally meant a place (seat) of judgment. As for sitting within close social circles, the seating would normally happen at meal time or at night once the day’s work was over. In both cases, those whom the Lord sanctifies (frees from sleep/spiritual death and worldly corruption) are invited to assume their place of friendship within His Kingdom.

Secondly, the verb "to sit (down)" in Hebrew (לשבת, lah-SHEH-veht ) holds a broader meaning than exists in English and other Western languages. It carries the additional idea of "to dwell or reside", so the Lord's invitation to arise from the dust and then to sit down carries the implied message that once we are cleansed we may stay permanently with Him.

The Abrahamic Test and “Binding”

The one good thing about having occasional bouts of insomnia is that a sleepless night gives me the rare opportunity to read uninterrupted for several hours. Last week I had one of those experiences and ended up reviewing what’s often called "Abraham's Test". The account of God commanding Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, is found in Genesis, chapter 22.

“And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” (Emphasis added)

I’ve read this passage dozens of times before in English, but this time around I discovered something that’s only evident in the text's original language of Biblical Hebrew. You’ll notice that I highlighted “whom thou lovest” above. For some reason, the translators who produced the King James Version of the Bible translated the verb “to love” in the present tense here in spite of the fact that it was conjugated by the original author using the past tense. In Hebrew, the passage literally reads “whom thou hast loved” or “whom thou loved” (אֲשֶׁר-אָהַבְתָּ, ah-SHEHR ah-HAHV-tah) instead of “lovest” (אוהב, oh-HEHV ).

Reading the account of Abraham’s experiences last week impacted me more deeply than it ever had before because the wording in the original language implies something very profound that’s lost in the English translation. The fact is I "have loved" our children in the past, but that love obviously still continues in the present as well. So there appears to be a dual meaning in the passage above that made the test all the harder. God's use of the past perfect tense communicated finality and inevitability regarding the ultimate outcome. In referring to Abraham’s feelings of love for Isaac as being in the past, the message could have been interpreted by the patriarch as his relationship with Isaac was then (at least temporarily) ending, that he had already lost Isaac, and that he would in fact be required to follow through and sacrifice his son, just as Elohim would with His Beloved Son. There is no hint of the pending “ram in the thicket” that would eventually substitute for Isaac as the required offering. This must have made the test all the more faith-stretching and heart-breaking.

Some final thoughts on Abraham’s test and his life in general:

In Judaism, the account of the trial of Abraham’s faith is referred to in Hebrew brewHeHas the Akedah (עֲקִידָה), which means “The Binding”. This term relates directly to Abraham tying up or binding his son’s hands, arms, and/or feet to prepare him to be sacrificed.  Genesis 22:9 reads:

"And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.” 

Over time the Akedah came to represent the ultimate trial of one’s faith, especially as related to Abraham’s test, but the theme of binding also runs throughout the entire narrative of the Patriarch's life. Abram himself was once physically restrained to be sacrificed while in the land of Ur, something that adds a sharp sense of irony to the command God later gave him to offer up Isaac. (See Abraham 1:15-20.) Then came the figurative binding nature of the covenant that Jehovah established between Himself and Abram, who He then names Abraham (Father of a Multitude), detailed in Genesis, chapter 17. Through the Abrahamic Covenant, generations of the patriarch’s literal and spiritual posterity that were likened in number to the stars of heaven or the grains of sand on the shore are bound to him and to God. Later came the Akedah, which included more references to literal and figurative binding, including:

1) The tying up of Isaac

2) The binding (restraining) of the ram in the thicket

3) The figurative binding of Abraham's heart to God’s

Touching on the third point, perhaps there’s no greater tribute to the nobility of Abraham’s character than that God chose him to participate in this exercise in empathy, what we know as "The Abrahamic Test". The patriarch, who was above all a father, earned firsthand insight into Heavenly Father’s tender feelings as an Eternal Parent and came to understand, perhaps better than any mortal being, the emotional cost to God of voluntarily offering up His Son for us.