PSALMS
BOOK 2
Lesson Seven
INSERT: THE GRAMMAR OF THE HEBREW LANGUAGE FOR UNDERSTANDING SCRIPTURE.
There are approximately 90% of our Scriptures that is understandable in our language, in my case English. But there is the rest that we have no knowledge of unless we have a basic understanding of the Grammar of the Hebrew language.
Remember that the Bible was not written in English, but Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, what the translators have done is to put it into our language for our understanding. I hope to help you have a better understanding of those hidden passages of Scripture, which we miss because of our lack of knowledge of the languages. Paul the Learner
In the introduction of the Psalms on page 13, there is a list of words that help us have a better understanding of the Psalms. I have used some of them in the first two books of Genesis and Exodus, and I will use more of them in Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy.
This problem of a lack of under standing is not new, and I want to take you back to the 11th Century to a man named Moses Maimonides who was both a doctor and a Hebrew sage. He has many ideals that I disagree with but in some things he is brilliant. I now quote from his book The Guide for the Perplexed.
‘If we hear a person speaking whose language we do not understand, we undoubtedly know that he speaks, but do not know what his words mean; it may even happen that we hear some words, which mean one thing in the tongue of the speaker, and exactly the reverse in our language, and taking the words in the sense, which they have in our language, we imagine that the speaker employed them in that sense.’ Chapter 29 Page 204
‘Suppose, an Arab hears of a Hebrew the word ahah, he thinks that the Hebrew relates how a man despised and refused a certain thing, whilst the Hebrew in reality says that the man was pleased and satisfied with it.’ The very same thing happens to the ordinary reader of the Prophets;
Some of their words he does not understand at all, like those to whom the prophet says (Isaiah 29:11), “the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed;” in other passages he finds the opposite or the reverse of what the prophet meant; to this case reference is made in the words, “Ye have perverted the words of the living God” (Jeremiah 23:36).’
‘Beside, it must be borne in mind that every prophet has his own peculiar diction, which is, as it were, his language, and it is in that language that the prophecy addressed to him is communicated to those who understand it.’
SOME EXAMPLES OF THIS STATEMENT
1. The Metaphor frequently employed by Isaiah, and less frequently by other prophets, when they describe the ruin of a kingdom or the destruction of a great nation in phrases like the following:
(a) “The stars have fallen,”
(b) “The heavens are overthrown,”
(c) “The sun is darkened,”
(d) “The earth is waste, and trembles,”
BOOK TWO SECTION SEVEN
The Arabs likewise say of a person who has met with a serious accident, “His heavens, together with his earth, have been covered;” “The light of the sun and moon has increased,” “A new heaven and a new earth has been created,” or they use similar phrases.
So also the prophets, in referring to the ruin of a person, of a nation, or of a country, describe it as the result of God’s great anger and wrath, whilst the prosperity of a nation is the result of God’s pleasure and satisfaction. In the former case the prophets employ such phrases as:
1. “He came forth,”
2. “Came down,”
3. “Roared,”
4. “Thundered,”
5. “Caused his voice to be heard.”
6. “He commanded,”
7. “Said,”
8. “Did,”
9. “Made,”
Isaiah speaking of the destruction of Israel says, “And the Lord will remove man far away” (Isaiah 6:12). So also Zephaniah (1:3, 4), “And I will cut off man from off the earth. I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah.”
When Isaiah received the divine mission to prophesy the destruction of the Babylonian empire, the death of Sennacherib and that of Nebuchadnezzar, who rose after the overthrow of Sennacherib, he commences in the following manner to describe their fall and the end of their dominion, their defeat, and such evils as are endured by all who are vanquished and compelled to flee before the victorious sword [of the enemy]:
“For the stars of heaven, and the constellations thereof, shall not give their light: the sun is darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine” (Isaiah 13:13).
I do not think that any figurative and oratorical phrases, as to assume that at the fall of the Babylonian kingdom a change took place in the nature of the stars of heaven, or in the light of the sun and moon, or that the earth moved away from its center.
For all this is merely the description of a country that has been defeated; the inhabitants undoubtedly find all light dark, and all sweet things bitter: the whole earth appears too narrow for them, and the heavens are changed in their eyes.
He speaks in a similar manner when he describes the poverty and humiliation of the people of Israel, their captivity and their defeat, the continuous misfortunes caused by the wicked Sennacherib when he ruled over all the fortified places of Judah or the loss of the entire land of Israel when it came into the possession of Sennacherib. He says (Isaiah 24:17):
“Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake. The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, and the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard.”
BOOK TWO SECTION SEVEN
At the end of the same prophecy, when Isaiah describes how God will punish Sennacherib, destroy his mighty empire, and reduce him to disgrace, he uses the following figure of speech (Isaiah 24:23):
“Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign,” etc.
This verse is beautifully explained by Jonathan, the son (Bar) of Uzziel in his Targum; he says that when Sennacherib will meet with his fate because of Jerusalem, the idolaters will understand that this is the work of God; they will faint and be confounded. He therefore translates the verse thus:
“Those who worship the moon will be ashamed, and those who bow down to the sun will be humbled, when the kingdom of God shall reveal itself,” etc.
The prophet then pictures the peace of the children of Israel after the death of Sennacherib, the fertility and the cultivation of their land, here the figure of the increase of the light of the sun and moon. When speaking of the defeated, he says that for them the light of the sun and moon will be diminished and darkened; but the light will increase for the victorious.’ Chapter 29 Pages 205, 206
I am some one who believes that, God said what He meant, and meant what He said. But I have come to the realization that unless you have an understanding of Hebrew Grammar, you miss a lot of just what is being said in a passage of Scripture. If this material offends you I am sorry, I did not make up the Hebrew Grammar and I want you to see beyond the words that you read in the Bible. Paul the Learner
If you want to play baseball, you need to understand the rules of the game.
If you want to work on a Ford car, you need to follow the instructions of a Ford Manuel.
If you really want to understand the Scriptures, then you need to also understand the people that wrote those Scriptures.
Look for the key.
Genesis 37:9-10
9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.
10 And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, what is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall thy mother and I and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? KJV
1. Joseph has a dream.
2. Jacob interpreted the dream.
3. From this interpretation we have the key for other references of the sun, moon and stars.
Revelation 8:12
12 And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise. KJV
Question: How do you see this Scripture now?
I know it is confusing, but I am trying to show you another possible explanation of a Scripture. Whether this interpretation is correct, only God knows, for we still see in part and know in part, and until that day comes we will not know for sure, all we can do is guess.
BOOK TWO SECTION SEVEN
FIGURES OF SPEECH
It is most important to notice these. It is absolutely necessary for true interpretation. God’s Word is made up of “words, which the Holy Ghost teacheth” (1 Corinthians 2:13; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21).
A “Figure of speech” relates to the form in, which the words are used. It consists in the fact that a word or words are used out of their ordinary sense, or place, or manner, for the purpose of attracting our attention to what is thus said.
A Figure of speech is a designed and legitimate departure from the laws of language, in order to emphasize what is said. Hence in such Figures we have the Holy Spirit’s own marking, so to speak, of His own words.
This peculiar form or unusual manner may not be true, or so true, to the literal meaning of the words; but it is more true to their real sense, and truer to truth.
Figures are never used but for the sake of emphasis. They can never, therefore, be ignored. Ignorance of Figures of speech has led to the grossest errors, which have been caused either from taking literally what is figurative, or from taking figuratively what is literal.
The Greeks and Romans named some hundreds of such figures. The only work on Biblical Figures of speech in the English language is by Dr. Bullinger (Published by Eyre and Spottiswoode, London, 1898), from which we have taken the whole of the information given here as well as in the your study of the Psalms.
He has classified some 217 separate figures (some of them with many varieties or subdivisions), and has given over 8,000 illustrations.
In Genesis 3:14, 15 we have some of the earliest examples. By interpreting these figures literally as meaning “belly,” “dust,” “head,” we lose the volumes of precious and mysterious truth, which they convey and intensify. It is the truth that is literal, while the words employed are figurative.
Jesus used Figures of speech, see some examples:
Luke 13:31-32
31 The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get thee out, and depart hence: for Herod will kill thee. 32 And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. KJV
Herod was a man, not a fox. Jesus was saying that Herod was like a fox.
Matthew 13:34-36
34 All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:
35 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things that have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. 36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. KJV
Jesus spoke to the multitudes in parable (Figures of speech), thus fulfilling Isaiah’s Prophecy. But I am so glad that Jesus also gave us the answers to those parables. But what if He had not done so, would this be the result that would take place:
BOOK TWO SECTION SEVEN
1. Person number one, will I believe that the tares mean this.
2. Person number two, say’s I disagree with your interpretation of this passage of Scripture, I believe that it means this.
3. Person number three, say’s you both are wrong, for I have figured it out and I know that I am right because of this and this. That’s way he was referring to this.
Matthew 13:36-43
37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; 38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; 39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. 40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. 41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; 42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. KJV