54. Answers

In life are many blessings. They come in many forms. Ofttimes we don’t recognize the blessings, thinking they may be curses. It all goes back to our inability to really comprehend what is consumed from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God knows. We try our best to understand, but God’s perspective is infinitely larger than ours. So, we must defer to God’s greater knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. 

Sometimes, however, I amaze even myself at how very slow I am to see things. I am so very glad that God is so very patient. I have been working with the same tools I’ve been sharing with you for some time now. I think back to some things I’ve even put on the website from earlier periods. I’ve learned along the way. Some things I would likely go back and write differently, but perhaps it is helpful for readers to see our stumbling, our errors, our downright failures and know that there seems to be hope. I realize none of this seems focused at the moment, but is simply to say, I’ve been blessed with what I think is another very important “revelation,” or “dawning,” which I think will help many of you with your Scripture understanding. It has opened up entirely new vistas for me. I have been following many trails related to this dawning, for days now. I will not put you through the meanderings, but will try to follow a principle I have learned from Scripture, what some people call “progressive revelation.” We all like to see end results to our efforts, I think, but Scripture seems to make it clear that we simply need to be content with doing our part to the best of our ability, realizing others have their part to play as well. If something I do or say moves another a bit farther along the way, my efforts have been worthwhile. 

So, please search the “net” for discussion of “progressive revelation” in Scripture. My very simplified version is that all that we need to know in life is encapsulated in the first four books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. After that, later writings are an attempt to help us understand what those first four books say.

Here is a graphic taken from the teaching at our school: 

This explanation was that the first four books are written by “the finger of God” (Ex31:18; Dt9:10) and are in the Ark of the Covenant/Testimony (Ex25:16; 40:20; Dt10:2, 5; 1Kg8:9; 2Chr5:10, Hb9:2-4). Deuteronomy was maintained as a separate witness (עד) “by the side(צד) of the ark” Dt31:26, the Greek name “second law,” helping denote the “multiple witnesses” concept. Books written since that time all give further explanation of what was written before.

I am not saying I agree or disagree with that concept and saying you should believe this way or not believe this way. I have told you many times there are recurring themes in Scripture and have been showing you some of those themes. My only hope would be that you would study the Bible enough that you could make your own determination. It is not my place to say yay or nay, simply to point out things that I see or am led to. I would only hope that with today’s available tools of study that we, in our time, should be able to move forward the understanding, corporately (that is, within the body of mankind) of the lives of humanity in relationship to our Creator and Sustainer. All of that said, I am going to simply introduce a topic. The topic may already have been discussed by the Sages, and may be “old hat” to many. But it was a new finding for me, and perhaps a new enough concept to you that you may want to investigate. And basically it is only using the tools we’ve been using, and my years of familiarity with the Bible. OK here is the graphic I put together. You may see others like it soon, tying in connections. And again, please recall that we are talking about a perspective of life as revealed in Scripture. And our primary tool is using the study of Hebrew Roots from the Etymological Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew by Clark and Hirsch. (Interesting, I found one day that even their names suggest a “gradual revealing.”)

      Column I Column II

Likely the figure means little to you without a little explanation. First, recognize that Column I words are phonetic cognates with Column II words. I have drawn lines between them to show their pairing. As phonetic cognates, they are related in meaning. For example, the first row are in A46, CM grant/withdraw. The second row is A44 bring about. Third is A6 form. And the last row is A13 contain/restrain. (( N.B. “restrain” is my addition – you decide if it is appropriate. Cognates are: [ אגן contain; עגן restrain; אין absent; הין measure; עין appear; הגןsuit, be appropriate ] It seemed to me to fit the pattern seen elsewhere of the two sides of a concept. In the figure below I marked “restrain” with an asterisk* ))

Again I cannot know motivations – that is up to God to know. Sometimes we humans are “only flesh” – sometimes we simply make mistakes and sometimes we avoid things we would prefer that others not see in ourselves or in others; we try to cover our faults and our defects. Sometimes there are other motivations. Only God is perfect, and God is tolerant of our “flesh” (Thankfully!), so we should also strive to give the benefit of the doubt. Another example of “omissions” is seen on pp.9, 12, and 13 in EDBH, for the Gradational Variant family of אנן and אנה and און and אין shown in Column I. אין is included in the family on p.5, in the entry for און, but not on the other entries. There are many examples like this in the book. We simply have to be both careful to look for these instances and tolerant of the issues that arise, because the book overall adds SO very much to the advancement of our understanding (and in typical Jewish fashion, is a “living example” of the message we are to get!). So, the second overall point is that the Columns here are GV families, while the rows are Cognates. There are no Derivational Variants for these words. An “almost universal,” but not quite, guide is that the Gutturals ח, א, ה, ע do not have DVs, since the DV roots are formed by using gutturals (א and ה) double guttural is difficult to pronounce to begin a word, for certain – again, that is just my experience – you can confirm or deny. The image renewed:

The point is that all eight roots are to some degree related to one another. And, after you have had a chance to test what I will say, you can certainly draw some conclusions on your own. I guess I have made it clear multiple times from the subtitle of the website:

to comments in discussions, that my interpretation of Scripture is that it is a revelation of life on this good earth. That means that it reflects truth as we see life lived out on Earth: it is a true witness. You may choose to reject that interpretation, as you see fit, but I will share what I think the Hebrew is saying. Again, this is an overview from 50,000 feet – I’ve already done a lot of walking the landscape on foot, but there is plenty more to be done, by me and by you as reader. I will hit some of the highlights. I know you will want more evidence. That will likely unfold with time.

We have already spoken about water/rain reflecting teaching by God, and mentioned the ענןroot, “fructify through rain clouds” as one good example, fructify meaning “to make fruitful.” The pillar of cloud in the wilderness, among other things, is an indication of the teaching that took place. How much the Israelites learned in their position of being very dependent on God in the wilderness. Note that in the wilderness, the Israelites (and there are many other examples that can be quoted) are mourning the loss of their life in Egypt (e.g. Nm11:5). There are instances of granting and withdrawal (manna, water, quail•••).

This important root I will show you, from which comes the title of this L&S entry: Answers.

God’s/life’s answers, from the perspective of Hebrew Scripture, is what we have discussed multiple times, that we experience the consequences of our actions. The answers are often humbling, afflicting, poverty, as life situations have recently shown us. Such situations are often experienced as larger groups, nations, etc., not just as individuals.

Follow along a little farther. I will not get to all of the hints this time, but hopefully enough for you to begin to ponder. 🤔 We will also at a later time get to God’s answers to the design of Creation, but not today. I will give you a few words associated with these roots and a few important verse tie-ins, and leave you to some exploration, both looking through Scripture, and meditating in your heart.

The root אנה, column I, row 2, listed here as “cause” is, among other things, the root from which the stand-alone pronoun אני “I” (ego) is derived (there is another “I” pronoun, also, אנכי from אנך be central and pivotal) . Most times “I” is just a suffix, but sometimes for more emphasis it stands alone. A noun for ship is also derived from this root אנה and can be connected in thought to ego, “I,” “the cause.” This is seen well in Jonah chapter 1 when the ship reflects Jonah’s ego/pride, in choosing to run away from what God has asked him to do. The “I” is the cause of the answers that come. You will notice in a later entry the accompaniment of Leviathan (a mighty beast to slay!) that accompanies ships (Ps104:26).

Notice from Ex34:6-7 (please read and re-read over and over) the word iniquity, which comes from the root עון. What an amazing choice of words is “time to advantage; benefit for specific time periods.” Think about how a time such as this pandemic, for example, leads you to certain response. Do you “follow the rules” set down by the authorities at the time, or are your choices to run away from authority, like Jonah? Do you reach out to help those in need or horde things for yourself? There is the Biblical concept of leaving the corners of your field for others to glean.

And do you see that your “children,” be they biological or others upon whom you have influence, learn from what your choices are? This is iniquity – the choices we make under pressure. Are they righteous choices/Godly choices, or ego choices? Others learn and begin to influence further, the “children’s children.”

I will give you only one more root to consider for right now, but hope to come back again for more, LORD (יהוה) willing. Look at the root עין, “appear; emerge.” Two important trains of thought, which should be considered as one (אחד), come from this root. One is the word “eye” and the other is variously translated as “spring or fountain.” (Some translations also give עין as “well” in some places.) Think of the places that springs appear. These are places where we very clearly see God in action (See e.g. Gn16:7, 24:13, 24:16, 24:29-30, 24:42-45; 1K18:5; Ps74:15, 84:6, 87:7; Pr5:16, 8:24). Another word that you might think of is “inspiration.”

עין is also “the eyes of God.” (See e.g. Dt11:12; 2K16:2; 1Ch17:7; 2Ch6:40, 16:9; Pr15:3; Jr16:17; Am9:8; Zc4:10.)

And recall that water, particularly flowing water, and rain, are teaching. These are all tied together. And you can easily see connection to “living water.”

This is enough for today. We will anticipate returning to tie in the other roots shown (and others as well). Some of you already want to talk about God’s answer to all this, but before we get there, we need to get a firm foundation in these concepts. We learn pretty well the physical concepts of our Creation from our very early years. That is the only way we learn to walk, use our hands and our mouth. Grasping the spiritual concepts takes us (at least me) a while longer unless we accept what Scripture tells us. Like learning to walk, we can learn by trial and error, but the “falls” can be quite painful. It is all a part of God’s plan

These are answers to some of your questions, as the Hebrew “eye” sees it, perhaps even before the questions are formed.

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