“Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?”

The Galilean town of Nazareth (circa 1900 A.D.) 

Although this post has more to do with historical irony than it does Biblical Hebrew, I’ll do my best to weave some useful linguistic information into the story as I go along.

The starting point for this discussion is the origin of the name for the Galilean town of Nazareth (נצרת nah-tzeh-RAHT), the place where Jesus spent almost all his childhood and most of his adult years. Its origin can’t be nailed down with any certainty, but the name seems to stem from a Hebrew word for “offshoot, offspring, shoot, sprig, sprout” (נֵצֶר neh-TZEHR), a term that may be related to the numerous olive groves planted in the surrounding areas. New branches and shoots that sprout out of a tree’s older limbs and exposed roots extend the life of the tree in cases where the main trunk has died off or has become unproductive. When these shoots are grafted into other olive trees, they can enhance the productivity of the host tree and improve the quality of its fruit. 

Here’s where the historical irony begins.

Based on what we know of Nazareth at the time of Christ’s birth, the ancient town would have been considered an unlikely and even unfitting place for the Son of God to be raised and begin His ministry. More than one scriptural passage from the New Testament hints that the Galilean town was probably regarded with some degree of contempt at the time of Christ. When Phillip reported back to his friend Nathaniel that he had found the long-awaited Messiah, the latter dismissed Philip’s invitation to “come and see” with the geographic jibe, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” In contrast, the Lord unconditionally embraced his personal connection to the town as demonstrated by the following: (1) in mortality He answered to the name "Jesus of Nazareth" (see John 18:5), (2) He referred to himself on at least one occasion following his resurrection by that same title (Acts 22:8), and (3) He apparently never discouraged his apostles from referring to him by the name (Acts 2:22, 4:10, and 10:38).

But the irony gets even better.

The modern and Early Christian Era Hebrew terms for “Christianity” and “Christian” are respectively nahtz-ROOT (נַצְרוּת) and nohtz-REE (נוֹצְרִי). For obvious reasons these words don’t directly reference Jesus’ name or his titles of Christ or Messiah, as happens in other languages; instead the Hebrew translation of Christianity is something akin to “Nazarinity”, with Christians being referred to as Nazarenes. It appears that there were tactical reasons behind this practice since Roman political leaders and the Jewish hierarchy both had something to gain by linking the budding Christian faith and Jesus’ followers to what was generally considered an insignificant, backwoods town. For example, during the Apostle Paul’s hearing for sedition in front of the Roman governor Felix, the High Priest Ananias’ spokesman refers to Christianity as “the sect of the Nazarenes” instead of the sect or religion of Jesus (Acts 24:1-5).

A rural road leading into present-day Nazareth

But the core meaning of the Hebrew terms for Christianity and Christian seems to have shifted over the centuries. The present-day usage of nahtz-ROOT and nohtz-REE focuses more on the linguistic relationship in Hebrew between the noun for “sprout, branch, shoot” and the Jewish view that Christianity is merely an off-shoot religion that grew out the living trunk of Judaism. So in Modern Hebrew, Christianity might be better translated something closer to “branching-off-ity” than “Nazarinity”.

The amazing thing is that Biblical prophecy addresses both of these meanings. 

If the term nahtz-ROOT was originally meant to emphasize Christianity’s link to the otherwise unremarkable rural town, the linguistic association has only worked to further validate Nazareth’s long-foreseen and honored place as the predicted hometown of the Messiah.

“And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.”

(Matthew 2:23, emphasis added)

If, on the other hand, the Hebrew terms for Christianity and Christian are meant to underline the “off-shoot” religion’s subordinate relationship to the "father trunk" of Judaism, this meaning also fulfills Biblical prophecy.

 וְיָצָא חֹטֶר, מִגֵּזַע יִשָׁי; וְנֵצֶר, מִשָּׁרָשָׁיו יִפְרֶה.

"And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch (neht-ZEHR נֵצֶר) shall grow out of his roots.”

(Isaiah 11:1, emphasis added)  

From the Christian perspective, Christ Himself was the prophesied-of Branch that came directly out of the ancestral roots of the House of Judah. (Please see the caption that describes the photo below.)

Off-shoots (nahtz-REEM) growing out of the roots of an older olive tree

A Linguistic Connection Between Power and Temples

Sometimes during my lunch breaks at work I pull out my set of Biblical Hebrew flashcards. I like to review key words that tend to resurface throughout the Old Testament, and one of those I came across a few weeks ago was the word for temple, hey-KHAL (הֵיכָל). The great thing about this and many other words in Biblical Hebrew is that often you’ll find common consonant combinations that reveal associated meanings.

In the case of hey-KHAL (הֵיכָל), we see the three letter root yod-khaf-lamed ( ל+ כ + ׳). This root appears is many words related to the idea of power and ability, including the noun יְכוֹלֶת (yeh-KHOH-leht), which signifies “power, ability, capability, capacity, competence, possibility” and the verb לִיכוֹל (lee-KHOHL), which means “to be able to, capable of, possess power to”. Lastly, the Hebrew term for “almighty” or “omnipotent” is kohl yah-KHOHL (כֹּל יָכוֹל), literally translating to “all-powerful, all-capable”.

After reviewing this word, I thought about how temples have been a focal point in God’s relationship to mankind over the centuries, and that whenever the Lord has established His covenant relationship with people in various times and places throughout history, He has always commanded them to build temples. One of the Lord’s key promises as part of this covenant relationship is that He will manifest His presence and power in temples as long as His people live worthy of these blessings.

The temple-power connection resurfaces throughout the scriptures, especially when temples are dedicated. The first example we have is related to the tabernacle that Jehovah commanded Moses and the people of Israel to build while in the wilderness. Shortly after the tent and all its contents were consecrated and dedicated to the Lord, He demonstrated His power in various ways to the wandering Israelites.

“And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up the cloud covered the tabernacle, namely, the tent of the testimony: and at even there was upon the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until the morning. So it was always: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.”

Numbers 9:15-16

Later, at the dedication of the Temple of Solomon, Jehovah again showed His acceptance of the structure and the sacrifices made by His people to build a House of God through manifestations of His power.

“Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the house. And the priests could not enter into the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house. And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth forever.” 

2 Chronicles 7:1-3

The last example comes from the prayer given to the Prophet Joseph Smith by revelation prior to the dedication of the Kirtland (Ohio) Temple, the first temple constructed during the “dispensation of the fullness of times” (see Ephesians 1:10). This prayer was first read publicly at the initial dedicatory session on March 27, 1836. The brief except I’ve included below references the temple-power connection in several places.

“And that all people who shall enter upon the threshold of the Lord’s house may feel thy power, and feel constrained to acknowledge that thou hast sanctified it, and that it is thy house, a place of thy holiness. And we ask thee, Holy Father, that thy servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power, and that thy name may be upon them, and thy glory be round about them, and thine angels have charge over them.”

 Doctrine and Covenants 109:13, 22

Later that evening, during a priesthood session that took place inside the temple, various demonstrations of Divine power were poured out on the church members. The Prophet Joseph described them in this way:

“A noise was heard like the sound of a rushing mighty wind, which filled the Temple, and all the congregation simultaneously arose, being moved upon by an invisible power; many began to speak in tongues and prophesy; others saw glorious visions; and I beheld the Temple was filled with angels, which fact I declared to the congregation. The people of the neighborhood came running together (hearing an unusual sound within, and seeing a bright light like a pillar of fire resting upon the Temple), and were astonished at what was taking place. This continued until the meeting closed at eleven P.M.”

History of the Church, 2:428

The personal take-away for me is that I'm reminded each time I attend our modern-day temples that I and every other person who is there can have access to God's power (according to our desires) in overcoming challenges and unholy influences in the world.

Amen

Before commenting on some of the varied meanings of the Hebrew word amen, I’ll write briefly about why the language has so many nouns and verbs that carry an unusually high number of multiple meanings. Compared to other languages, especially modern ones, Biblical Hebrew includes a relatively small total vocabulary. For example, The Second Edition of the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary lists 171,476 words in current use[i]. On the other side of the spectrum, Biblical Hebrew only has about 8,000. Because the Old Testament Hebrew vocabulary set is so limited, a comparatively high number of meanings are assigned to each word. This makes the language both easy and difficult to learn. Easy, because there are fewer total words to memorize in order to become fluent in the language, and hard, because it requires more time and research to learn the full scope of each word’s possible related meanings. 

When I first started studying Hebrew, it was both exciting and daunting to learn that many nouns and verbs represent five or more ideas. Take the well-known word shalom, for example. Most Westerners are only familiar with one primary meaning, that of “peace”, but shalom actually carries at least nine distinct meanings, including: peace, safety, tranquility, completeness, comfort, wholeness, well-being, hello, and goodbye.

So, what does this have to do with amen? It's another example of a Biblical Hebrew word that takes on various related meanings. Church and synagogue goers everywhere are very familiar with its two main scripture-based meanings, but its last two have added depth to my personal worship as I've learned more about their origins. 

First we’ll start with the primary meaning of amen as expressed today. It operates as a voiced agreement with a prayer, talk, or testimony and means “true”, “surely (it is so)”, or “may it be so.” This Hebrew word gets its principle meaning from neh-eh-MAHN נֶאֱמָן, which signifies “true” and “faithful”. We see the same three-letter root אמן (A-M-N א-מ-ן) from amen and neh-eh-MAHN appear in other Biblical Hebrew words and phrases that also include references to the idea of "truth". The word ahm-NAHM (אָמְנָם) from 2 Kings 19:17 is an example. It signifies "indeed" or "of a truth".

Amen is similarly anchored in the principle Hebrew word for “truth”, eh-MEHT אֶמֶת. Underlining this point, the common modern-Hebrew phrase beh eh-MEHT בֶּאֱמֶת means “Really?” or “Are you serious?”, although it's literally translated as “In truth?” As a matter of fact, the word amen is so rooted to the idea of “truth” in Hebrew that the Savior Himself is referred to as The Amen in Revelation 3:14. In this verse notice how the Lord uses the words faithful, true, and witness, which are all directly linked in meaning to the word amen, immediately after referring to Himself as "The Amen".

“And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God…”

The self-application of the word amen as one of His Divine titles makes sense seeing that He is “the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). 

The next usage of amen is as a sealing witness by a speaker at the end of a discourse or testimony. In this case, amen changes from being a statement of agreement coming from the hearer to being an affirmation by the speaker that what he or she has just said is accurate and true. In a sense, it functions like a New Testament “verily”, except that it comes at the end of a discourse instead of at the beginning, in effect sealing the individual’s words as a personal witness or testimony. This is the common usage we come across in the scriptures where the Savior or the Apostles are testifying of truth. Besides the examples I’ve given below from the Apostle John’s testimony and the writings of the New World prophet Nephi, see Alma 13:9, Helaman 12:23-26, Ether 5:1-6, and Doctrine and Covenants 81:1-7.

“Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.” (Revelation 1:7)

“And (1) I bear record that I saw the things which my father saw, and the angel of the Lord did make them known unto me. And now I make an end of speaking concerning the things which I saw while I was carried away in the Spirit; and if all the things which I saw are not written, (2) the things which I have written are true. (3) And thus it is. Amen.” (1 Nephi 14:29-30, emphasis added)

Nephi makes three prior testimonial statements here before capping his witness with the final affirmative amen.

There’s even more to amen when we take into account two verbs that stem from the same Hebrew root אמן (A-M-N). The third meaning comes from a verb that incorporates the concept of truth: leh-heh-eh-MEEN (לְהֶאֱמִין). It signifies “to believe”, “to trust”, and “to confide in”.  So when a listener says amen at the end of a prayer, testimony, or talk, it takes on the deeper expression of “I/we (actively) believe that what was said is true,” rather than just being a statement of passive agreement.

The last application of amen that I’ll reference here is the one that I like best, mainly because it's directly effected my personal prayer relationship with the Lord. I’ll explain what I mean by referring to another Hebrew verb that’s founded on the word amen and, again, is linked to the word “truth”. This form is the masculine, imperative (command) form of leh-ah-MEHN (לְאַמֵן), a verb that means “to teach, train, educate, tutor, coach, bring up/raise”. So, this command-form of ah-MEHN אמן, when stated at the end of a prayer, literally means, “Teach and train me (in the truth)”. It also carries an added indirect reference to our Father-child relationship with God since the verb also means to “raise” or “rear (a child)”.

This personalized amen at the end of my prayers reminds me that I need to pause and patiently wait for the Lord’s tutoring inspiration once I stop speaking, instead of rushing off to other tasks that are calling for my attention.

____________________________________________________________

[1] Oxford Dictionaries online

"To Hear is to Obey"

Shema Yisrael at the Knesset Menorah in Jerusalem

“And at the end of that time she said to Janshah, 'I wish to go with thee to thy mother land, where thou shalt marry me and we will abide there.' 'To hear is to obey,' answered he and took counsel with Shaykh Nasr who said to him, 'Go thou home, I commend her to thy care.'”

A Thousand and One Nights, The Story of Janshah (Volume 5, chapt. 74)

A few years back, at a time when my wife and I struggled daily to help our younger son, Kent, learn to follow instructions, I would often respond to his frequent misbehavior by putting him in timeout and reviewing his choices with him. On some of these occasions, especially those days when he had succeeded at wearing me down to the point I didn’t have the energy or will to creatively address his misbehavior, I would just repeat my default phrase “Kent, you need to learn to listen.” Eventually he caught hold the saying himself, and after a few seconds in timeout he would emphatically declare “I will listen!”

My wife and I know now as we knew then that Kent really didn’t have an issue with hearing or listening. In most cases, he had heard exactly what we had asked him to do (or not to do) - the problem was his failure to respond to our instructions.

It’s always interested me that in Biblical Hebrew the verbs “to listen/pay attention/hear” and “to obey” are one and the same: leesh-MOH-ah לִשְׁמוֹעַ. Not surprisingly, the same linkage exists in other regional, archaic languages. The following are some examples where I’ve listed the language followed by the single verb that expresses both “to hear” and “to obey”.

Persian – اطاعت کردن

Turkish – dinlemek

Armenian – հնազանդվել

Macedonian – слуша

The linguistic connection between hearing and obedience was so well understood in ancient Middle Eastern and Central Asian culture that for centuries the automatic response to a command was either “To hear is to obey” or "I hear, and I obey." This phrasing can be found throughout the famous compilation of Islamic Golden Age stories known as A Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights), as illustrated by the citation at the top of this post. The scriptures also point to this concept in various places. I’ll start with the Old Testament and finish with one example from the Book of Mormon.

In the Book of Genesis the connection hearing = obedience and vice versa is made as Jehovah speaks with Abraham:

“That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.” (Genesis 22:17-18) 

First line of "Shema" in Hebrew (Deut. 6:4)

Some of the best known examples of the verbal connection between hear and obey are from King David’s writings. Notice that each time the King of Judah says “hear,” he follows up with a request for the Lord to act upon or respond to (obey) his petition:

“Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.” (Psalms 4:1)

“Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer.” (Psalms 61:1)

My favorite example from the Book of Mormon is found in Mosiah 21:15.

“And now the Lord was slow to hear their cry because of their iniquities; nevertheless the Lord did hear their cries, and began to soften the hearts of the Lamanites that they began to ease their burdens; yet the Lord did not see fit to deliver them out of bondage.”

Obviously God isn’t slow to hear our petitions in the sense that there’s a time delay between when we say our prayers and when He hears them; He knows all things from the beginning, even our thoughts and words before we express them. The verse above uses the Semitic language meaning of “to hear” to communicate the idea that God was slow to respond to (obey) the cries of His people because of their prior failure to hear (obey) Him.   

Repentance as "Re-Turning"

A lot has already been written by Biblical Hebrew commentators about the distinctions between the two main verbs that were translated as "to repent" in English, so I’ll only give a brief overview of this topic before moving on to illustrate the links between the Bible and other LDS scriptures on the Hebraic concept of repentance.

When “to repent” is used in the O.T. in the sense of God’s feelings toward His children's acts of disobedience, especially habitual sin, the verb leh-hee-nah-KHEM לְהִנָחֵם is used. The verbs in English that most accurately describe לְהִנָחֵם are “to regret, to pity, to grieve, to have compassion (on).” The following verse provides a perfect example: 

"And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” (Genesis 6:5,6) 

But the Biblical Hebrew verb that best expresses the idea of repentance as used in modern English is lah-SHOOV לָשׁוּב, which literally means to turn back, to return, or to turn again towards, with a huge emphasis on the “again” element of the verb. In fact, the root of the verb, shoov שׁוּב, is an adverb that means “again”.

Here are several O.T. examples. The first verse demonstrates beautifully the link between repentance and (re)turning towards the Lord.

“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.” (Ezekiel 18:30)

“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:7)

“Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts…” (Malachi 3:7)

“For if ye turn again unto the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him.” (2 Chronicles 30:9)

In addition, Book of Mormon prophets were very familiar with the metaphor and imagery that linked repentance with (re)turning towards God. Note the following examples:

 “But if ye will repent and return unto the Lord your God I will turn away mine anger, saith the Lord; yea, thus saith the Lord, blessed are they who will repent and turn unto me, but wo unto him that repenteth not.” (Helaman 13:11)

“But if the Gentiles will repent and return unto me, saith the Father, behold they shall be numbered among my people, O house of Israel. But if they will not turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice, I will suffer them, yea, I will suffer my people, O house of Israel, that they shall go through among them, and shall tread them down, and they shall be as salt that hath lost its savor, which is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of my people, O house of Israel.” (3 Nephi 16:13, 15)

Even the Savior Himself uses the Hebrew language meaning of "to turn" at times. (See 3 Nephi 30:2.) The Lord's statements here are synonymous, just as the two verbs are in this context.

"Turn all ye Gentiles from your wicked ways; and repent of you evil doings."

To finish off, a few personal thoughts in this subject.

That the Old Testament and Book of Mormon prophets regularly used the verb “to return (again)” to convey the concept of repentance carries an implied lesson: God knew and expected that due to our fallen nature we would often decide to turn away from Him throughout our lives and then find the spiritual need to "re-turn" towards Him. Ideally that returning will happen on an hourly basis throughout the day anytime we notice our focus shifting away from our Father and the Savior. One of my favorite analogies is that while driving, in order to safely reach our various destinations each day, we literally make dozens of small course corrections each minute using the steering wheel. 

The ultimate goal of repentance is returning to our previous relational state with our Father, which includes reunion with God in His presence. All things point towards repentance leading to a final return to our face-to-face relationship with Him that we enjoyed before we came to Earth, an idea that’s captured in several of these verses. (See 2 Chronicles 30:9 above.) As we sincerely repent as often as needed, metaphorically turning our face (gaze) towards His, the Lord promises that we'll again see Him as He is, and know Him personally once again. 

“And seek the face of the Lord always, that in patience ye may possess your souls, and ye shall have eternal life.” (Doctrine and Covenants 101:38)

The Windows of Heaven

"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." (Malachi 3:10)

The phrase "windows of heaven" from this Old Testament verse had always confused me over the years. This may seem like a superficial hang-up, but I could never quite wrap my mind around Malachi’s side-by-side referencing of “windows” and “heaven”. The spatial incompatibility was what threw me off. After all, aren’t windows horizontal elements built into side walls, and isn’t heaven traditionally referenced as vertically being above us?

Ruins from pre-Christian Era dwellings in Sikait, Egypt
which demonstrate examples of "khalonot" (side windows)

Going to the original language of the Old Testament helped me resolve this seeming incongruity. I learned that there are actually two main Biblical Hebrew words that were translated as “window” in the English translation of the Old Testament. And it turns out they have very different meanings. What we would traditionally call a window is signified by the Hebrew word חַלוֹן (khah-LOHN). It’s the side opening in a structure that, in ancient biblical times, would have been typically covered by wood or some other material rather than glass. This is the “window” that’s referenced in 2 Kings 9:30.

"And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window (חַלוֹן)."

A reconstructed circa 1000 B.C. home in the ancient
town of Catal Huyuk (located in modern day 
Turkey), showing an "aruba" opening above the oven

The other Old Testament Hebrew word that was translated as “window”, אֲרוּבָּה (ah-roo-BAH), carries a separate meaning. It signifies an overhead opening in a building or tent, so it can also be translated into English as “chimney” or “smoke and air vent”. In ancient times, the ah-roo-BAH was located at the center of a tent’s apex to allow for general ventilation, allowing smoke from the heating or cooking fire to exit the dwelling space while letting light enter. In permanent structures it took the form of a removable ceiling tile which would have typically been located in a corner of the house or along a side wall. (See the example in the side photo.)

It’s this second kind of window or chimney, an ah-roo-BAH and not a khah-LOHN, that Malachi references in 3:10. As a result, his metaphorical reference to “the windows of heaven” places them above us, instead of to the side. This is the same word we find in Genesis 7:11, the first Biblical reference to “the windows of heaven.” It’s used to describe the rains that came down from above during the Great Flood of Noah’s time.

“…the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven (השָׁמַיִם וַאֲרֻבֹּת vah ah-roo-BOHT hah shah-mah-YEEM) were opened.”

An example of a smoke vent "aruba"
at the apex of a portable tent

So in Malachi 3:10, the prophet is referencing the metaphorical overhead windows through which the Lord pours out the blessings of heaven upon people who are tithed. The light that would come directly through the opening of the tent or roof alluded to in this verse might also symbolize these various blessings, including spiritual knowledge and truth since light is associated with both.

But it gets even better. It turns out there's another level of meaning in this verse. Malachi uses a word play on two Biblical Hebrew homophones (words that are spelled differently but pronounced the same – sew, so, and sow, for example) in order to teach a key doctrinal lesson about obedience and God’s covenant relationship with those who keep His commandments. This second noun עֲרוּבָּה, also pronounced ah-roo-BAH, makes up the second word in Malachi's word play. It's spelled the same as the term for “chimney” or “vent” in Hebrew(אֲרוּבָּה)  except that in the first consonant place ע (ayin) is substituted for א (alef). Although the two terms are pronounced identically, the second word means a “promise”, “pledge”, or “guarantee”. It appears in a modified (constructive) form in Genesis 38:20.

"And Judah sent the kid of the goats by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive the pledge (hah eh-rah-VOHN הָעֵרָבוֹן) from the woman's hand; but he found her not."

Based on this creative word play, the central promise found in Malachi 3:10 can alternatively be read:

“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the ‘guarantees, promises, pledges’ of heaven (ah-roo-BOHT hah-shah-MAYEEM אֲרֻבּוֹת הַשָּׁמַיִם), and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”

The Linguistic Connection between Temples and Mountains in Hebrew

Model of the Temple of Herod

While studying Hebrew verbs this past week I came across a new one I hadn’t learned before. It’s לְהַרִים (leh-hah-REEM), which means “to lift, pick up, raise up, hold up, elevate”. Although I wasn’t familiar with this verb, I recognized the root consonants ח - ר (h - r) as the ones that make up the word for mountain, הַר (hahr). So it turns out that the word mountain in Hebrew literally means “lifted up, raised, elevation”.

In English the same meaning is expressed using the adjective “exalted”, which is derived from the Latin verb exaltare. This word is composed of the two Latin roots ex or “up” + altus or “high”. Like the Hebrew verb leh-hah-REEM, exaltare signifies “to raise, elevate”.

Being the language fanatic that I am, I enjoyed learning about the derivation of the word “mountain” in Hebrew, but what was even better was to be able to apply it to the Old Testament references that link temples (The House of the Lord, בֵּית-יְהוָה Beit Adonai) to mountains, especially in the Book of Isaiah.

Galilean mountains, Israel 

A few examples include:

“And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.” (Isaiah 2:2)

“For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the first fruits of your oblations, with all your holy things.” (Ezekiel 20:40)

The connection makes perfect sense since Temples of God have historically been, and currently are, unique places on Earth where God elevates or lifts His children’s view, focus, behavior, and commitment to Him, and where ultimately we can commune with Him in a way that we can’t in any other place in mortality.

The Expanded Meaning of "To Sit" in Hebrew

“I am now going to take exception to the present translation of the Bible in relation to these matters. Our latitude and longitude can be determined in the original Hebrew with far greater accuracy than in the English version. There is a grand distinction between the actual meaning of the prophets and the present translation.”

Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 290-291

In a previous post I mentioned that the verb “to sit (down)” in Hebrew, lah-SHEH-veht, has a much broader meaning than the same verb does in English. The English verb only relates to the actual action of sitting down, but in Hebrew the verb includes the added meanings “to dwell or reside”. The implication is that scriptural invitations from God for us to sit mean that we are being invited to remain with Him permanently. Notice that the Hebrew verb used in the following Old Testament verses for “to sit” and “to dwell” are the same (lah-SHEH-veht), so they all use the same root of shin-vet (sh-v) in various conjugated forms.

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

 “And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac dwelt (veh yeh-SHEHV וַיֵּשֶׁב) by the well Lahai-roi.” (Genesis 25:11)

“I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit (i.e., ‘dwell, stay’, loh eh-SHEHV לֹא אֵשֵׁב) with the wicked.” (Psalms 26:5)

“If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit (yesh’-VOO יֵשְׁבוּ) upon thy throne for evermore.” (Psalms 132:12, emphasis added)

But this verb in Hebrew also carries an additional connotation that reveals itself in a few related words. The Hebrew word for “tribe”, “clan”, or (my preferred term in English) “an extended family”, is SHEH-veht (שֶׁבֶט), which is derived from the verb “to sit (down)”. The relationship between the verb and this noun becomes clear when we consider that in ancient Middle Eastern culture usually just family members, immediate and extended, routinely sat together in council or in social gatherings. So when the Lord uses the verb "to sit" as an invitation, He means that we are all invited to dwell with Him as part of His Eternal family.

In New Testament writings, the Apostles often referenced this expanded meaning. See Ephesians 2:6 as an example.

“And (Christ) hath raised us up together, and made us sit (i.e., dwell) together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” 

Hebraisms in the Book of Mormon

A sample of Demotic writing, a type of "reformed Egytian"

Just a quick point before diving into what (for me, at least) is a fascinating topic: This post will only deal with “external” or logical evidences of the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. Gaining a spiritual or internal witness that the book was written by prophet-authors under the Lord’s direction and by inspiration is a completely different matter. It requires the reader to study the book with an open mind and heart, then to ask God in prayer about its authenticity. (See Moroni 10:3-5, Book of Mormon.) Although we should never accept “external” evidences in place of spiritual witnesses of Divine truth, they often support and reinforce the spiritual knowledge a person has gained. It’s from this perspective that I’ll describe just a few of the thousands of linguistic evidences that the various writings that make up the compilation we know as the Book of Mormon was written by Semitic groups using the linguistic structure of the “learning of the Jews.”  (See 1 Nephi 1:2 and 1 Nephi 3:19)

Click on the following link for a brief explanation of the origin of the Book of Mormon.

Book of Mormon

LDS Book of Mormon scholar-linguists such as Sidney B. Sperry and Hugh Nibley have written extensively about Hebraisms in the Book of Mormon. I’ll touch on just a few examples of these unique linguistic elements that these authors haven’t already commented on, at least not to my knowledge. The Hebraisms I’ll reference here are examples of (1) Hebrew possessive constructs, (2) the use of conjunctions for lists, and (3) other Classical Hebrew idioms that weren’t commented on by Sperry in an article I'll reference at the end of this post. At this time I won’t delve into a fourth category of Hebraisms - singular nouns in English that have plural endings in Hebrew - since I already covered that topic in my blog post dated January 24th, 2014.

Possessive Constructs

In English we generally express possession through the use of possessive pronouns that function like adjectives (my, your, his, her, our, etc.) or by using an apostrophe + an "s". But in Hebrew, the most common grammatical construct used to show possession is the preposition sheh שׁ (of) + a corresponding indirect personal pronoun (me, you, him, her, us, etc.). For example, notice the differences in possessive syntax between English and Hebrew detailed below:

English construct - “Yesterday I saw his dog.”

Hebrew construct - “Yesterday I saw the dog of him.” (Eht-MOHL rah-EE-tee eht hah-KEH-lehv sheh-LOH .אתמול ראיתי את הכלב שלו)

The sentence using the Hebrew possessive structure sounds extremely unnatural and foreign to us, just as it would have to 19^th Century English speakers such as Joseph Smith. But for some reason, perhaps as a type of “external” evidence that I discussed earlier, the Lord preserved the original Hebrew-based structure in many passages of the translation of the Book of Mormon into English. The following is just a short list of examples from my study of the book last month. Again, the phrasing sounds foreign because it truly is foreign to 19th Century English.

“Wherefore, he has given a law; and where there is no law given there is no punishment; and where there is no punishment there is no condemnation; and where there is no condemnation the mercies of the Holy One of Israel have claim upon them, because of the atonement; for they are delivered by the power of him.” (Note that “his power” wasn’t used here in 2 Nephi 9:25, emphasis added)

This is one of my favorite examples because it sounds so unusually awkward to the English-trained ear:

“Behold, great and marvelous are the works of the Lord. How unsearchable are the depths of the mysteries of him; and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways. And no man knoweth of his ways save it be revealed unto him; wherefore, brethren, despise not the revelations of God.” (Jacob 4:8, emphasis added)

And finally,

“Hearken, O ye house of Israel, and hear the words of me, a prophet of the Lord.” (Jacob 5:2, emphasis added)

Again, the common English structure would be “my words”, but this phrase can be seamlessly rendered in Hebrew as “eht hah-mee-LEEM sheh-LEE (מילים שלי), “the words of me.”

Conjunctions

I’ll use only two of many examples here from the Book of Mormon. In 19^th Century and contemporary English, lists are grammatically structured using commas to separate each of the items in sequence, with the last member in the list being flagged with an “and”. In Classical and Biblical Hebrew, however, an initial “and” (vav ו) marks each item in the list, not just the last one. For comparison, note the following passages. The first comes from the Old Testament: 

“The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun.” (Genesis 35:23, emphasis added)

These next two passages are from the Book of Mormon. They both show the same Hebrew-based conjunctive structure:

“And four of them were the sons of Mosiah; and their names were Ammon, and Aaron, and Omner, and Himni; these were the names of the sons of Mosiah.” (Mosiah 27:34)

“Therefore the people of the Nephites were aware of the intent of the Amlicites, and therefore they did prepare to meet them; yea, they did arm themselves with swords, and with cimeters, and with bows, and with arrows, and with stones, and with slings, and with all manner of weapons‍ of war, of every kind.” (Alma 2:12)

Hebraic Idioms

Some of the most common Hebrew idioms that emigrated to the Americas from the Middle East as God guided various groups here are the expressions “As I live”, “As thou livest”, and “As the Lord liveth.” These phrases were often used in ancient Semitic languages to initiate an oath. The Hebrew root contains two parts: a conjugated form of the verb "to live" (xai חַי), followed by the person whose name the oath-taker is referencing.

From the Old Testament:

“And the mother of the child said, As‍ the Lord‍ liveth, and as‍ thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And he arose, and followed her.” (2 Kings 4:30)

From the Book of Mormon:

“But behold I said unto them that: As the Lord liveth, and as we live, we will not go down unto our father in the wilderness until we have accomplished the thing which the Lord hath commanded us.” (1 Nephi 3:15)

“And it came to pass that I spake with him, that if he would hearken unto my words, as the Lord liveth, and as I live, even so that if he would hearken unto our words, we would spare his life.” (1 Nephi 4:32)

“Lift up thine eyes round about and behold; all these gather themselves together, and they shall come to thee. And as I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on even as a bride.” (1 Nephi 21:18)

To close out this post, I included a link to an article by Sidney B. Sperry of Sperry Symposium fame. In it he details a wide array of Hebrew idioms found in the Book of Mormon. (The PDF can be found at the bottom left of the webpage.)

Sperry article

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.