The only way you might be convinced of that would be for you to do the same degree of investigation into their use that I have been doing for years now. It is by way of experiencing the process that such impressions come. Repeatedly (multiple witnesses 😉) over the past year, I have come to that conclusion. It is an “impression” that one gets by doing a thing over and over. Perhaps I’m just convincing myself. I welcome others to undertake the process, as scientists may attempt to recreate another scientist’s theory.
Today I show you two examples. It falls upon you to look for additional witnesses to determine whether you are convinced. Of the Gospel writers, John’s style of writing may be most compelling, or the easiest to spot. I believe you may find good examples also in the writings of Paul, who was clearly a Hebrew scholar. The following three roots are in the same cognate permutations group:
I have shared with friends and family over the past year about cycles, much of which we will likely need to share here as background. This cognate permutation group meaning (progress/regress) brings the cycle idea to mind. The idea of cycles is reflected well in an often-shared passage:
⦁ Genesis 8:22
22 “While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Winter and summer,
And day and night
Shall not cease.”
See the Teacher’s use of the metaphor of rain in his sharing:
- ⦁ Matthew 5:43-48
- 43 “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
- See the list of connected passages referred-to in NKJV:
- And please recall we have mentioned numerous times that rain and water reflect teaching. And the importance of the message is in the measure that comes at any particular time…
⦁ Psalms 65:9-13
9 You visit the earth and water it,
You greatly enrich it;
The river of God is full of water;
You provide their grain,
For so You have prepared it.
10 You water its ridges abundantly,
You settle its furrows;
You make it soft with showers,
You bless its growth.
11 You crown the year with Your goodness,
And Your paths drip with abundance.
12 They drop on the pastures of the wilderness,
And the little hills rejoice on every side.
13 The pastures are clothed with flocks;
The valleys also are covered with grain;
They shout for joy, they also sing.
⦁ Matthew 7:24-28
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock (g4073. πέτρα petra).
26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching,
29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
- Looking at g4073. πέτρα petra rock in the Septuagint (LXX):
See the association of water and rock.
See that צור is in this group:
Also, see that Egypt (h4714. מִצְרַיִם miṣrayim) is from the root צור. The Hebrews learned a lot from their generations in Egypt (some very critical, and some that might be better “unlearned,” like a Log in the eye… undoubtedly there is a collective consciousness that remains in this people)
⦁ ▸
▸ h4714. מִצְרַיִם miṣrayim; dual of 4693; Mitsrajim, i.e. Upper and Lower Egypt: — Egypt, Egyptians, Mizraim.
▸ h4693. מָצוֹר mâṣôr; the same as h4692. מָצוֹר mâṣôr in the sense of a limit; Egypt (as the border of Palestine): — besieged places, defense, fortified.
AV (5) – besieged places 2, defence 1, fortress 1, fortified 1;
- “Matsor”, a name for Egypt
- (TWOT) siege, entrenchment
▸ h4692. מָצוֹר mâṣôr; or מָצוּר matsuwr; from h6696. צוּר ṣûr; something hemming in, i.e. (objectively) a mound (of besiegers), (abstractly) a siege, (figuratively) distress; or (subjectively) a fastnessu: — besieged, bulwark, defence, fenced, fortress, siege, strong (hold), tower.
AV (25) – siege 13, besieged 2, strong 2, besieged + h0935 2, bulwarks 1, defence 1, fenced 1, fortress 1, hold 1, tower 1;
- siege-enclosure, siege, entrenchment, siege works
- siege
- enclosure, siege-works, rampart
▸ h6696. צוּר ṣûr; a primitive root; to cramp, i.e. confine (in many applications, literally and figuratively, formative or hostile): — adversary, assault, beset, besiege, bind (up), cast, distress, fashion, fortify, inclose, lay siege, put up in bags.
AV (38) – besiege 21, lay siege 3, distress 3, bind 2, adversaries 1, assault 1, bags 1, beset 1, cast 1, fashioned 1, fortify 1, inclose 1, bind up 1;
- to bind, besiege, confine, cramp
- (Qal)
- to confine, secure
- to shut in, beseige
- to shut up, enclose
- (Qal)
- (Qal) to show hostility to, be an adversary, treat as foe
- (Qal) to form, fashion, delineate
We are taught by the limits that are placed upon us, though very often we do not like them. (Limits must be accompanied by love – which is reflected in the balancing of judgment and mercy. If there is no balance of love, limits often bring only bitterness.) Constraints prevent us from moving, but such constraints/limits also enable us. The measure, again, is important. We put constraints on our children for safety and to help them be stronger. Too much restriction, however, prevents their growth.
- From the פרז = צור cognate permutation group (constrain/enable) shown above, see רפס:
⦁ Proverbs 6:1-5
1 My son, if you become surety for your friend,
If you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,
2 You are snared by the words of your mouth;
You are taken by the words of your mouth.
3 So do this, my son, and deliver yourself;
For you have come into the hand of your friend:
Go and humble yourself (h7511. רָפַס râp̱as);
Plead with your friend.
4 Give no sleep to your eyes,
Nor slumber to your eyelids.
5 Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
And like a bird from the hand of the fowler.
- Thus “humble yourself” is our own constraint of our will and our desires. Recall, it is in the often-upside-down ways of the Teacher (see especially the Sermon on the Mount, and Matthew 23:12; Luke 14:11, 18:14.
- See the words of the Teacher:
Looking at g1259. διαλλάσσω diallassō “rock” in the Septuagint (LXX):
Looking then toward NKJV, examples in Job:
Job 5:12 פר …
🤔🤔🤔 בר/רב/פר cognate permutations (“actualize/inhibit” OR “facilitate/restrain”)
⦁ Job 5:12
12 He frustrates the devices of the crafty,
So that their hands cannot carry out their plans.
⦁ Job 5:12
12 מֵ֭פֵר מַחְשְׁבֹ֣ות עֲרוּמִ֑ים וְֽלֹא־תַעֲשֶׂ֥ינָה יְ֝דֵיהֶ֗ם תּוּשִׁיָּֽה׃
- Please see that סור is also in the פרז cognate permutation group shown above.
- We have shared before that there is not always a one-to-one correspondence in numbering verses when referring to LXX, in addition to the somewhat different wording by way of the Greek to the English:
- The occurrence of διαλλάσσω as highlighted above in Job 36 is in a verse that does not occur in our current Hebrew or English versions. In NETS, it appears to translate as “take leave of,” which probably relates more to the usage in Job 5:12.
⦁ Job 36:26-29
26 “Behold, God is great, and we do not know Him;
Nor can the number of His years be discovered.
27 For He draws up drops of water,
Which distill as rain from the mist,
28 Which the clouds drop down
And pour abundantly on man.
29 Indeed, can anyone understand the spreading of clouds,
The thunder from His canopy?
See that the cognate permutation meanings of פר and of שפר/סור/פרז are virtually the same. This makes sense based upon the definition of ש on p.299 in EDBH: “The ש establishes facts as to what is or what should be.” It is very often seen as “which is.” And of course Sibilants as a group have similar meanings [[also EDBH p.299: “In addition, words that contain similar consonants have similar meanings irrespective of the order of the consonants.”]]
The idea is: (constrain/enable); (actualize/inhibit); (facilitate/restrain)… very similar.
In the parable of building a house on a rock vs. sand, sand is g0285. ἄμμος ammos, appearing in Septuagint and translating as both h6083. עָפָר ‘âp̱âr dust (Gn13:16, 28:14) and h2344. חוֹל ḥôl sand (Gn22:17, 32:12).
You could see how the teacher might be looking at עפר (another פר word).
עפר/עבר cognate permutations (greaten/lessen activity)
- You perhaps can see a similar meaning there to the three above. In addition, see that on EDBH p.299, “The ע indicates motion,” so one might think more along the movement end of the continuum compared to the rock צור. Also, note the חול cognate permutations (encourage/discourage). This fits also in the same ballpark, if you think of encouraging or discouraging action (Hebrew verbs being action verbs).
- It seems to me that the Teacher is pointing out these contrasts, the ends of the spectrum/continuum. It is all so logical, and thus in the next two verses, the people are astonished; he teaches as one having authority.
⦁ Matthew 7:28-29
28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, 29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
The two visual representations we have used in the past year for “cycles” include:
Look back to Post 14. Synthetic Grasp of Life, particularly the discussion about physics and action/reaction, “equal and opposite reaction.” These are some of the “laws” that science has discovered over centuries. We might call them “consequences.” Think of cycles, especially as represented on the sine wave graph, reflected in Genesis 8:22 above, and think of all of our pairs listed above as the changing of direction on the wave: (constrain/enable); (actualize/inhibit); (facilitate/restrain); (greaten/lessen activity); (encourage/discourage). With all of these spectra, continua, you can see how Hebrew and the cognate permutations are excellent representations of the nature of life on this planet. The Teacher spoke of this pattern somewhat obscurely:
⦁ Matthew 16:2-3
2 He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ 3 And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.
⦁ Luke 12:54-56
54 He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A shower is coming.’ And so it happens. 55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and it happens. 56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?
Interpretation is important. And Scripture can help us in interpreting what is happening around us, in “the present time.” Become aware of the cycles around you. And remember that it is God who is in control. The more we fight what God is doing, very likely the stronger will be the push of the design of Creation. (We have spoken before of phenomena such as antibiotic resistance, etc.) The idea of “humbling ourselves” is a means of going with the flow – the flow of God. Or one might say, as did Lennon and McCartney, “Let it be.” Allow the lesson to come. We may temper the lesson by way of love. But there must be a cycle of nurturing and weaning. The messages cry out everywhere from Scripture, and from life. Keep your heart attuned to the LORD. It is God who will Teach, if we will but learn.
Blessings, PG
Ⓒ Copyright Philip E. Gates; LogAndSpeck.com January 2025.