GIDEONS TRAVEL BIBLE BOOK 4.75″x3″x .5″
Got this photo from eBay
When I was growing up, this travel Bible was a common thing to see. One can still buy newer versions of the same. We stop to ponder the importance of the Psalms and the Proverbs.
Today we will talk about four different Hebrew roots that will help get across the concept. This is an example. How does one communicate a great deal of important information in a small amount of “space?“ It has to be really tightly packed in. We already spoke about this in R. Fohrman’s parable of the Manhattan apartment, how, in order to get a great deal into a limited amount of real estate, it must be condensed, in part by stacking layer upon layer.
And, how does one describe to another something that has never been seen? One has to use images of things that are familiar. Just as the Manhattan apartment is a mental picture of this concept, so is a parable a mental picture. These four roots reflect means of communicating to us in multiple layers. I will not list all of the referent verses here, but please look them up to get the meaning you are intended to get. I share only a brief comment on each.
הלל is the root for the word תהלים, Tehilim, the Hebrew title of the book of Psalms. Perhaps you can see each f these brief definitions within the Psalms.
זמר is the root for the word מזמור, Mizmor, the Hebrew word for “Psalm” in the introductory line of many of the Psalms, for example Psalm 3 “A Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom his son.”
▸ h4210. מִזְמוֹר mizmôr; from h2167. זָמַר zâmar; properly, instrumental music; by implication, a poem set to notes: — psalm.
AV (57) – psalm 57;
melody, psalm
משל is the root for the word משלי, Mishlei, the Hebrew word for the title of the book of “Proverbs.” Mishlei is a book purposely entitled as parables/proverbs/riddles.
שיר is the root for song, as in the book The Song of Songs, Shir-HaShirim, שיר-השירים.
All of these means of communication intertwine a great deal of meaning that involve our senses, getting our minds, our emotions, our heart and our “gut,” to experience what the one creating it is trying to express to us. It is far more than simple prose. I’ve shared before the use of songs in Scripture to “get us involved” in the action (we used the examples of Judges 4 and 5, chapter 4 being the telling of the story in prose, chapter 5, the Song of Devorah helping us to see the “real picture” of what took place, the emotions involved, making it come to life for us. Such are movies and songs and poems in our lives. And if you get the “bigger picture,” such are our lives on earth as God is trying to show us something about an existence that is hidden from our view, the “unseen.” The LORD (יהוה) is a God of emotion, both expressed and restrained.
A beautiful parable is the play, followed by the movie by Rogers and Hammerstein, the musical “Oklahoma.” You should experience it. Some of the lines in the songs do precisely as we are describing, if you position yourself as living in the world portrayed in the play. You are placed into a life at a different time and a different place. The colorful descriptions used allow the person who has never traveled anywhere outside of rural Oklahoma at that time to picture some experience “beyond.” You experience “existence” through their eyes.
“🎶The corn is as high as an elephant’s eye🎵”
“🎵Evrythin’s up-t’-date in Kansas City.
They’ve gone about as fer as they c’n go.
They went and built a skyscraper seven stories high,
About as high as a buildin’ oughta grow! 🎶”
Such is the power of the parable. To get the most out of it requires a skill that must be acquired and nurtured. This is the skill of “willful suspension of disbelief.” If you have never been introduced to poetry, you get something out of it when you first read it. But if you study poetry and experience it frequently, in the hands of many different poets, their communication comes alive for you. If you go to an art museum to see paintings the first time, some of the art may move you. But if you study art and expose yourself to many different artists, you are able to then begin to understand what artists are trying to communicate to you; you may begin to experience a world through their eyes, allowing a view of a world you have never before seen. Communication is much more that black letters written on a white background. Or oil paint on canvas. It is a portrayal of something in such a way that it comes to life. This is all critical to understand. Now, with that as background, please read Matthew 13:10-15 and ponder it for a few moments in its context. And go to Isaiah 6 which is referred to in the Matthew passage, and ponder it. It is all about taking time to allow one’s eyes to be opened; taking time, cultivating the ability to see bushes that burn but are not consumed.
Cultivation takes time. Seedtime and harvest.
Oh, and one more root that must be attached to this discussion:
Psalms 78:1-8 YLT Young’s Literal Translation (I added “/riddles”)
1 An Instruction of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my law, Incline your ear to sayings of my mouth. 2 I open with a simile משל my mouth, I bring forth hidden things/riddles חידה of old, 3 That we have heard and do know, And our fathers have recounted to us. 4 We do not hide from their sons, To a later generation recounting praises of Jehovah, And His strength, and His wonders that He hath done. 5 And He raiseth up a testimony in Jacob, And a law hath placed in Israel, That He commanded our fathers, To make them known to their sons. 6 So that a later generation doth know, Sons who are born, do rise and recount to their sons, 7 And place in God their confidence, And forget not the doings of God, But keep His commands. 8 And they are not like their fathers, A generation apostate and rebellious, A generation! it hath not prepared its heart, Nor stedfast with God [is] its spirit.
- חידה is from חוד:
posing a riddle
Numbers 12:8 read the context
8 I speak with him face to face,
Even plainly, and not in riddles (h2420. חִידָה ḥîyḏâ);
And he sees the form of the LORD.
Why then were you not afraid
To speak against My servant Moses?”
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The “also” verse is the verse quoted above from Young’s.
- Two pertinent points on this root חוד.
- Please note the Gradational Variant family, and be aware that EDBH presents as a Derivational Variant of this family the root אחד: p.7 אחד being one (no cognates listed). This is the root for h0259. אֶחָד ’eḥâḏ as in:
Deuteronomy 6:4-5
4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one (h0259. אֶחָד ’eḥâḏ)! 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
Remember that derivational variants ”individualize” an action. Think of this in terms of the meaning of אחד and the listed family of gradational variants.
- The second pertinent point for חוד, which would be cognate permutations of ב“in” plus את/עד/עת. I have gone through the full exercise of trying to come up with an overall meaning for this two-letter cognate permutation family. My efforts came up with (restrain/express emotion), but please look at these families and consider for yourself. If one looked just at the families of these two-letter words shown below, one might consider something along the lines of “communication within time” or “communication by patience,” which might well fit with “restrain/express emotion.” You be the judge. (God’s amazing patience, his longsuffering, by way of restrained emotion communicates to us his loving nature and his trust in the design of what he has created (our “world”) to be our teacher. Aren’t these attributes we are hopefully learning? 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.)
- In relation to “riddle,” God certainly does communicate to us by way of “riddles” what his nature is, by showing us his creation, which reflects his nature. The world around us serves as a parable for who God is. We are to learn his nature from our interactions in the world, IF we follow the guidance of God’s Word to help us interpret. How can we possibly interpret the “riddle/parable” of life without the Book?
את is from:
• אָת-sign.
• אֵת-(as such unrepresented in English – indicates direct object).
• אֵת-against, among, before, by, for, from, in(-to), (out) of, with. Often with another prepositional prefix.
• אֵת-coulter, plowshare.
GV אתת cut off [cut; penetrate]; p.19 אתה come [to someone]; p.6 אות communicate [project symbol to one’s intelligence]; ¿ no listing יאת entrance ? No DVs
CM אתת pierce (A31); אתה retain/relinquish (A57); אות constrain by external force (A2); (יאת no entry – would be bring together (C49))
עד is from:
• עַד-eternity, ever(-lasting, -more), old, perpetually, [phrase] world without end.
• עַד-against, and, as, at, before, by (that), even (to), for(-asmuch as), (hither-) to, [phrase] how long, into, as long (much) as, (so) that, till, toward, until, when, while, ([phrase] as) yet.
• עַד-[idiom] and, at, for, (hither-) to, on till, (un-) to, until, within.
• עַד-prey.
• עֵד-witness.
• עֵד-filthy. – [previously mentioned – referring to cycle (menstrual)]
GV p.179 עדד tear off [pieces]; p.180 עדה decorate [adorn]; p.180 עוד endure [continue]; p.106 יעד arrange [set specifics] No DVs.
CM עדד pierce (A31); עדה retain/relinquish (A57); עוד constrain by external force (A2); יעד bring together (C49)
עת is from:
• עֵת-[phrase] after, (al-) ways, [idiom] certain, [phrase] continually, [phrase] evening, long, (due) season, so (long) as, (even-, evening-, noon-) tide, (meal-), what) time, when.
GV p.195 עתת time [set a firm hour]; p.183 עות divert [from proper goal] No DVs
CM עתת pierce (A31); עות constrain by external force (A2)
In a way, a pocket Bible is a parable, a parable of an existence much greater than we can fully comprehend. But if we cultivate our abilities, we can become as Moses and as Isaiah. No one can force that. It is a choice. “Here am I! Send me.” (Is6:8)
Now we must circle back one more time, with this foundation, to the Log and the Speck. The current “world” in which you live is a world shaped by your own previous experiences, the memories that have accumulated in your mind (which are clearly influenced by the emotions attached to your experiences). This world is your Log. This world in which you live is a very different world from the world of the person standing in front of you. You see a Speck in their eye, from your perspective. But their Speck is a Log for them. When any two come together, it is a meeting of two different worlds. And always, always we must recall that the other person’s world is just as “real” to them as yours is to you. It is at that point, through acquiring and nurturing this skill of seeing the world through another’s eyes, that we begin to experience the true beauty of God’s Creation, on its many levels. One can begin to “see” the “unseen.” And one can truly love.
Ⓒ copyright LogAndSpeck December 2022. Please cite if copying