I am in the process of doing the “deep dive” for the meaning of the two-letter Hebrew word בד, for the background of another entry. When I came to this, God’s Word inspired a connection, from which I felt I must stop and share. I will attempt to show my train of thought, but feel free to question in your mind•••
- One of many lists of roots including cognate permutations of בד:
act surreptitiously/openly (E4) – Cognate Meaning
זבד p.63 apportion property
זוד p.65 plan secretly for an evil act
זות p.66 flow out slowly
סוד p.168 secret information
- This is the “sod/sohd” – “secret” in PaRDeS
סות p.169 ensnare in order to achieve goal
ספד p.174 express value after death
צבט p.212 measure a proper portion
צבת p.212 bundle; tie together in one place
צוד p.214 trap; execute a planned act
צפד p.220 attach; tighten
שבט p.253 control
שבת p.254 stop work; curtail activity before completion
- This is Sabbath/Shabbat
שוד p.257 harm; cause injury
שוט p.257 roam; move swiftly
- Note this is what HaSatan does in Job 1:7 – “going to and fro on the earth”
שות p.259 place; set up
שפט p.268 judge; create order and harmony
- Judging
שפת p.269 establish; put in proper place
- (two more roots after this detailed investigation)
“Putting in proper place” – read Chapter 26 of Isaiah in your Bible; then see reference below for chiastic structure in Isaiah 26 – p.269 in EDBH שפתreference Is26:12 (I will also show you a more nearly literal translation.) – see the “ALSO verses” Gn15:6 and Gn50:10 →
- One tiny but very important comment here. Many months ago a very deep study of the Hebrew letter ב made clear the strength of this preposition, coming from the root בית p.26 protect; contain from which we derive house. We easily lose in translation when we slur over, in 15:6, “And he believed in the LORD,” and look at a definition like the BDB “believe (in).” If I separated out these two Hebrew words, and to get your attention switched the order, then see something like “in the house of the LORD, he believed.” (Ponder “in my Father’s house are many rooms.”)
שׂוד p.275 cover with plaster
שׂוט p.275 turn away
- First, laying some groundwork:
Mark 4:1-2 – (Matt. 13:1–9, 18-23; Luke 8:4–15)
1 And again he began to teach by the sea. And a great multitude was gathered to him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea. 2 Then he taught them many things by parables, and said to them in his teaching:•••
Mark 4:9-13
9 And he said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
- (The Purpose of Parables Matt. 13:10–17; Luke 8:9, 10)
10 But when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parable. 11 And he said to them, “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, 12 so that
‘Seeing they may see and not perceive,
And hearing they may hear and not understand;
Lest they should turn,
And their sins be forgiven them.'” [references: Is. 6:9, 10; 43:8; Jer. 5:21]
13 And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?
- Then we share a brief snippet from Luke. Focus on verses 13-15:
Luke 12:13-21
13 Then one from the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
14 But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” 15 And he said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness (g4124. πλεονεξία pleonexia), for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”
16 Then he spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. 17 And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ 18 So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”‘ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’
21 “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
- Parables can be as simple as taking the Peshat in PaRDeS and using it to hint to earlier Scripture (Remez), and make a teaching from it (Drash), with secret, or hidden, meaning (Sohd) (seen only if one becomes familiar with the Word of God). It is a riddle to most, but seen when one knows the Word of the LORD. John 7:15 And the Jews marveled, saying, “How does this man know letters, having never studied?”
- In the chiasm below, I have added the Strongs references seen.
ISAIAH 26* Chiastic Structure
Derived from Alex Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah, Intervarsity Press, 1998.
▶︎ A. The secure city
26:1 In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah;
a. We have a strong city;
salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.
2 Open ye the gates,
that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.
3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace (shalom, shalom),
whose mind is stayed on thee:
because he trusteth in thee.
4 Trust ye in the LORD for ever:
for in the LORD Jehovah (YAH YAHWEH) is everlasting strength:
▶︎ B. Down to the dust
5 For he bringeth down them that dwell on high;
the lofty city, he layeth it low;
he layeth it low, even to the ground;
he bringeth it even to the dust.
6 The foot shall tread it down,
even the feet of the poor,
and the steps of the needy.
▶︎ C. The righteous waiting for the Kingdom of God
7 The way of the just is uprightness:
thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just.
8 Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee;
the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night;
yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early:
for when thy judgments (h4941. מִשְׁפָּט mišp̱âṭ) are in the earth,
the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
▶︎ D. The wicked blind to God but they will eventually have to acknowledge Him
10 Let favour be shewed to the wicked,
yet will he not learn righteousness:
in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly,
and will not behold the majesty of the LORD.
11 LORD, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see:
but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people;
yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.
▶︎ C’. The Kingdom comes
12 LORD, thou wilt ordain (h8239. שָׁפַת šâp̱aṯ) peace for us:
for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.
13 O LORD our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us:
but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.
14 They are dead (mut), they shall not live;
they are deceased (rapha), they shall not rise:
therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them,
and made all their memory to perish.
15 Thou hast increased the nation, O LORD,
thou hast increased the nation:
thou art glorified:
thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth.
▶︎ B’. Out of the dust -deliverance and the resurrection
16 LORD, in trouble have they visited thee,
they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.
17 Like as a woman with child,
that draweth near the time of her delivery,
is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs;
so have we been in thy sight, O LORD.
18 We have been with child,
we have been in pain,
we have as it were brought forth wind;
we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth;
neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.
19 Thy dead men (mut) shall live,
together with my dead body shall they arise.
Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust:
for thy dew is as the dew of herbs,
and the earth shall cast out the dead (Rapha].
[And the land of Rephaim thou causest to fall – YLT]
▶︎ A’. The safe house
20 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers,
and shut thy doors about thee:
hide thyself as it were for a little moment,
until the indignation be overpast.
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place
to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity:
the earth also shall disclose her blood,
and shall no more cover her slain.
Looking in the Septuagint LXX for g4124. πλεονεξία pleonexia from the Luke passage. ⇩
Showing שפת cognate permutations:
Showing below only the central portion of the chiastic structure in Isaiah 26, the part framed by our words above. Please see what this leads us to see, with שפת cognate permutations highlighted:
One more small tidbit from the deep dive into the word בד, with all its cognate permutations, another group:
remove (B47) Cognate Meaning
פשט p.208 remove
- This is the Peshat of PaRDeS
פשת p.209 pluck
OK. If you have been following along all the way through LogAndSpeck with my painfully slow learning, hopefully you will come to the same conclusions that I have. Here are a few puzzle pieces, and know that I am not here to convince you of anything but that God’s Word is amazing and has all the answers in it. If folks do not believe that by this point, I have failed in my quest.
Please read over all the list of roots again under (E4), with their meanings.
Recall that the one called Teacher in the Greek Scriptures seems to have gone out of his way to challenge the Pharisaic interpretation of Shabbat. I will list a few examples, but first, recall that he was Jewish and in general respected the Shabbat commandment, as did his followers. Read Matthew 12:1-8, Matthew 12:9-14; Mark 1:21-31, 2:23-28, 3:1-6; Luke 4:31-39, 6:1-11, 13:10-17, 14:1-6; John 5:1-23, 7:21-24, 9:1-4. The point was that there are greater principles than following a strict rule of Shabbat, having to do with life and well-being. Perhaps the most memorable quotation is Mark 2:27 And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” As you read through the E4 list, you saw that the root for Sabbath was one of the roots listed. Also you saw that the root for what HaSatan does, roaming about the earth to and fro, is related. Never doubt that that wily one can take even the words of God and twist them so that people make an idol of them (recall his efforts in Gan Eden).
My point here is not to trash Shabbat nor Jewish faith. Nor was it the Teacher’s point. The point is that we are asked to be judges of what is righteous in life. It is that scale upon which we will be weighed. See the central portion of the Isaiah 26 Chiasm. This is precisely what the Teacher was saying in Luke 12:13-15
13 Then one from the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
14 But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” 15 And he said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness (g4124. πλεονεξία pleonexia), for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”
The Teacher’s teaching was a recapitulation of earlier teaching in the Tanakh, and he used the techniques in PaRDeS. I personally would say that he “put the man’s request in its proper place.”
My prayer is that this entry has opened some eyes to see. That is all that one can hope for. See in Isaiah 26:11, the highlighted, your hand they will not see. Recall that the central part of the Chiasm is the focal point.
- And see:
Isaiah 6:9-10
9 And He said, “Go, and tell this people:
‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
10 “Make the heart of this people dull,
And their ears heavy,
And shut their eyes;
Lest they see with their eyes,
And hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart,
And return and be healed.”
There are many more connections that you can follow from this one page, if you so choose: the verses in #2 of שפת, using our techniques, and knowing Psalm 22 was quoted from the cross, etc. Review E4 roots. These meanings all tie together. See ספד. See execute a planned act. Oh, and in the eight verses in which בד occurs, it is translated as “linen.” The connections go on.
Be one who sees – sees the hand of the LORD in all things. Be ביהוה. Your life will change.
Ⓒ copyright LogAndSpeck February 2023. Please cite if copying