This entry comes about because of the current study underway on the doublet של. The reasoning is explained below. I share it at this time because I am aware of someone who may currently need to hear it. However, it is pertinent to all.
God certainly has his ways of keeping me honest. So the first thing I must point out from the last Blog in talking about the methods being used for highlighting hidden words, is that I have highlighted seven examples here of how things could be looked at differently if not using the “proximity rule” being given priority over the order of letters. I am still trying to discern, and welcome input. Please work with it on your own, or if you know of a teaching about this, let me know.
There are some very confusing things about this word כסל, which I think has to do with mankind’s perception vs. God’s perception, but see for yourself. This is the EDBH entry, and I will show you why the title of this blog is somewhat different. It might be called a matter of faith/faithfulness אמונה emûnâ.
❶ being a conceited and stubborn fool
⦁ Psalms 92:5-7 NKJV
5 O LORD, how great are Your works!
Your thoughts are very deep.
6 A senseless man does not know,
Nor does a fool (h3684. כְּסִיל ḵesîyl) understand this.
7 When the wicked spring up like grass,
And when all the workers of iniquity flourish,
It is that they may be destroyed forever.
This entire study was an offshoot of the של cognate permutations investigation.
And then the question arose whether looking at the clustering of doublets would be helpful in discerning which direction to go with the meaning in a passage, as obviously, many words carry a spectrum of meaning. Here are the other doublets from כסל for you to see.
- In this process, I may be being convinced that order takes priority over proximity, and may (if this trend continues) need to make a correction in Blog 131. The Messiah Path / God Speaks, where the priority was shown as proximity over order. I will continue to ponder. 🤔
- Why that speaks of any importance has to do with two concepts introduced early in the website. The first is microcosm/macrocosm. Patterns are repeated in larger and smaller scales. (Post 14. Synthetic Grasp of Life) The second is multiple witnesses establish truth. (Post 02. Multiple Witnesses) If we look at the scale of each verse, seeing a hidden or obvious word repeated more than one time gives it more weight, helping to establish truth. So, in verses with more than one highlight there is reinforcement of the concept. Some verses have many witnesses.
This helpful suggestion will be repeated again, but should benefit your understanding of Scripture. The caveat is that English translations sometimes use one English word for different Hebrew words. But if you see words as above in bold, they are single Hebrew words. So you may consider the words in bold as a vocabulary list of sorts, words that include the concept in the doublet. So here, things that “challenge/encourage” us include “your works,” “your intentions,” “a man,” “a fool,” the wicked.” These are a part of the LORD’s method of teaching us in life, challenges and encouragement. (And of course with teaching comes testing/measuring. – microcosm/macrocosm.)
- The “he” הוא pronoun at the end of verse 20 refers back to “the good” טוב.
- Take notice of the “idiom” in verse 20 – NKJV “Do not be concerned about your goods;” literal words “Your eyes not pity your goods.” It helps in understanding Hebraic thought. To pity people and to pity goods – in our words “to have concern” – and once again, we are reminded that other people are more important than our “stuff.”
- h2347. חוּס ḥûs; a primitive root; properly, to cover, i.e. (figuratively) to compassionate: — pity, regard, spare.
- AV (24) – spare 16, pity 7, regard 1;
- (Qal) to pity, have compassion, spare, look upon with compassion
- The people are told repeatedly not to “pity/have compassion” on persons transgressing his way (Dt7:17, 13:8, 19:13, 19:21, 25:12) in the writing of Moses. It is important to contrast Moses with two other important leaders in the Hebrew Scriptures, one of which comes out here, with David: 1 Samuel 24:10. But you should follow this word through the remainder of TaNaKH.
- Joshua is another leader who is somewhat closer to “the people” than Moses, and thus is able to lead them into the “Promised Land.” Once again, it is about “measures/intensity,” but we must address that at another time. (That is not this word כסל.) (Sandals have to do with “measure,” and while Moses was told to remove both sandals in the presence of the Angel of the LORD, Joshua was only told to remove one.)
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⦁ Psalms 49 NKJV
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
1 Hear this, all peoples;
Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
2 Both low and high,
Rich and poor together.
3 My mouth shall speak wisdom,
And the meditation of my heart shall give understanding.
4 I will incline my ear to a proverb;
I will disclose my dark saying on the harp.
5 Why should I fear in the days of evil,
When the iniquity at my heels surrounds me?
6 Those who trust in their wealth
And boast in the multitude of their riches,
7 None of them can by any means redeem his brother,
Nor give to God a ransom for him—
8 For the redemption of their souls is costly,
And it shall cease forever—
9 That he should continue to live eternally,
And not see the Pit.
10 For he sees wise men die;
Likewise the fool and the senseless person perish,
And leave their wealth to others.
11 Their inner thought is that their houses will last forever,
Their dwelling places to all generations;
They call their lands after their own names.
12 Nevertheless man, though in honor, does not remain;
He is like the beasts that perish.
13 This is the way of those who are foolish,
And of their posterity who approve their sayings.
Selah
14 Like sheep they are laid in the grave;
Death shall feed on them;
The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning;
And their beauty shall be consumed in the grave, far from their dwelling.
15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave,
For He shall receive me.
Selah
16 Do not be afraid when one becomes rich,
When the glory of his house is increased;
17 For when he dies he shall carry nothing away;
His glory shall not descend after him.
18 Though while he lives he blesses himself
(For men will praise you when you do well for yourself),
19 He shall go to the generation of his fathers;
They shall never see light.
20 A man who is in honor, yet does not understand,
Is like the beasts that perish.
- **re: the word נמשל – currently in the midst of a study on two roots, נשל and משלwhich hopefully will clear up some of this. First, this word נמשל occurs only in this Psalm, in verses (Hebrew) 13 and 21. If we were looking at cognates for משל and for משל, this word obviously contains both. We are also currently in the midst of doing a full cognate permutations study on של. Hopefully more to come soon. For now,
- p173 נשל disengage; cut from moorings;; release; unloose (D82)
- p144 משל determine role or character; rule by command;; determine (B62) (most common usage is “parable”)
To me (judge for yourself) this psalm and this word have much to say about both our transitory life here on earth and our eternal destiny.
OK, you convinced me••• the remainder of Psalm 49:
- Multiple times here “grave” is Sheol, in other translations sometimes underworld, or hell.
- The other important word to mention is translated here as beasts. It is from the root p.21 בהם subordinate to another;; force down (B12)
❷ unshakable trust
⦁ Psalms 78:5-8 NKJV
5 For He established a testimony in Jacob,
And appointed a law in Israel,
Which He commanded our fathers,
That they should make them known to their children;
6 That the generation to come might know them,
The children who would be born,
That they may arise and declare them to their children,
7 That they may set their hope in God,
And not forget the works of God,
But keep His commandments;
8 And may not be like their fathers,
A stubborn and rebellious generation,
A generation that did not set its heart aright,
And whose spirit was not faithful to God..
And the doublets:
See the “vocabulary list” that are for us “a measure of striving.”
- Vocabulary.
❸ folly
⦁ Psalms 85:8-9 NKJV
8 I will hear what God the LORD will speak,
For He will speak peace
To His people and to His saints;
But let them not turn back to folly.
9 Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him,
That glory may dwell in our land.
❹ star; object of misplaced faith
⦁ Isaiah 13:10
10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations (h3685. כְּסִיל ḵesîyl)
Will not give their light;
The sun will be darkened in its going forth,
And the moon will not cause its light to shine.
❺ loins; flank of body
⦁ Leviticus 3:3-5
3 Then he shall offer from the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire to the LORD. The fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails, 4 the two kidneys and the fat that is on them by the flanks (h3689. כֶּסֶל ḵesel), and the fatty lobe attached to the liver above the kidneys, he shall remove; 5 and Aaron’s sons shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt sacrifice, which is on the wood that is on the fire, as an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the LORD.
▸ CWSBD H3689. כֶּסֶל kesel: A masculine noun meaning loins, confidence, stupidity. The first use can actually mean the waist area, the kidneys, etc. (Lev. 3:4, 10, 15; 4:9; 7:4; Job 15:27). The second use is more ambiguous, meaning that in which one puts trust or confidence (Job 8:14; 31:24; Ps. 78:7; Prov. 3:26). The final usage is a false self-trust or stupidity (Ps. 49:13[14]; Eccl. 7:25). See the related Hebrew verb kāsal (H3688) and Hebrew noun kislāh (H3690).
Concordance
H3689. I. כֶּסֶל kesel masc. noun
(loins, flank)
Lev. 3:4,10,15; 4:9; 7:4; Job 15:27; Ps. 38:7(8).
II. כֶּסֶל kesel masc. noun
(confidence)
Job 8:14; 31:24; Ps. 49:13(14)(KJV, NASB, see III); 78:7; Prov. 3:26.
III. כֶּסֶל kesel masc. noun
(folly, stupidity)
Ps. 49:13(14)(NIV, see II); Eccl. 7:25.
- This entire study took place because the definition given in EDBH seemed to be much more targeted than most are; that is to say it focuses on one aspect of the word, “stubborn and foolish;” but it seemed there might be a more “positive” aspect when looking at the subdefinitions, for example “unshakable trust,” because it seems that “faith,” אמונה, is exactly “unshakable trust.” Thus, a bit more investigation into other occurrences of כסל.
- ¿Or, is there a “purposeful deviation?” You will notice that in all these investigations that “Israel” is included with כסל and its doublets. Perhaps we are looking, once again, at the difference between mankind’s perception and the perception of the LORD (יהוה). I’m saying perhaps what mankind sees as foolish is what God sees as a positive. (There are numerous examples given in Scripture of how God’s perception opposes ours – some examples: [these together: 2S4:4 + 2S9:1-13] 1S16:7; Job22:29-30; Ps28:27: Mt19:30, 20:16, 23:12; Mk10:31; Lk13:30, 18:9-14 And recall discussion of placement of seating at the table, e.g. Lk14:7-11 – recall Mephibosheth.) It is good to be invited to sit at the table of the King. Your perspective might be that it is foolish to live in Israel, where one lives under constant threat of one’s neighbors. Perhaps not. Perhaps not.
- And one should expand this concept to a larger scale – “Many who are first will be last and last first.” Abraham is a father of a multitude of nations.
- So, when I do the listing for finding the meaning of the doublet של, I will slightly modify the definition of כסל to avoid misinterpretation and make it more clear that there are both positive and negative aspects. I will include three words, “stubborn; determined; foolish.”
Determination.
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