Bible Study Evidence of Design in Scripture

[McTricks]

Open your Bible to Matthew 5:17

Rabbinical Proverb
“We really won’t understand the Scriptures until the Messiah comes. Yet when He comes, He will not only interpret the passagesâ€â€He’ll interpret the words, the very letters, and even the spaces between the letters!â€Â

Jesus said, in Matthew 5:17-18,
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the Law till all is fulfilled.â€Â

Hebrew Letters
JOT = smallest Hebrew letter
’ (yodh)

TITTLE = small decorative extensions
ב (beth)

Now turn to Genesis 5

The Genealogy of Genesis 5

Adam (5:1)
Hebrew: adam
Means “manâ€Â

Seth (5:3)
Hebrew: sheth
Means “appointedâ€Â
Eve said, “For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.†(Genesis 4:25)

Enosh (5:6)
Hebrew: enosh
Means “mortal,†“frail,†or “miserableâ€Â
From the root word anash, a verb meaning “to be incurable.â€Â

Kenan (5:9)
Hebrew: qeynan
Often means “sorrow†or “dirgeâ€Â

Mahalalel (5:12)
Hebrew: mahalal’el
First compound name in the chapter.
Mahalal means “blessed†or “praiseâ€Â
El is the name for God
Together they mean “The Blessed Godâ€Â

Jared (5:15)
Hebrew: yered
From the verb yaradh meaning “shall come downâ€Â

Enoch (5:18)
Hebrew: chanok
Means “initiated†or “commencement†or “teachingâ€Â

Riddle
Question: Who was the oldest man to ever live, yet he died before his father?
Answer: Methuselah
(Enoch, his father, was taken to heaven without dying. See Genesis 5:24)

Methuselah (5:21)
Hebrew: methushalach
Compound: Muth means “deathâ€Â
Shalach means “to bring or send forthâ€Â
Together, “his death shall bringâ€Â
Tradition: God will send judgment


Lamech (5:25)
Hebrew: lemek
Means “despairingâ€Â
This word is the foundation for our words “lament†or “lamentation.â€Â

Noah (5:29)
Hebrew: noach
Derived from the verb nacham meaning “to bring relief†or “comfort†or “restâ€Â
And he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will comfort us concernin our work …†(Genesis 5:29)

Let’s Review the Meanings
Adam (Man)
Seth (Appointed)
Enosh (Mortal)
Kenan (Sorrow)
Mahalalel (The Blessed God)
Jared (Shall come down)
Enoch (Teaching)
Methuselah (His death shall bring)
Lamech (The despairing)
Noah (Comfort, Rest)

The Message in the Names:

Man (is) appointed mortal sorrow, (but) the blessed God shall come down teaching His death shall bring the despairing comfort.

 

[cyberjosh]

:o That's impressive. I study Biblical Hebrew and I know the names always reveal the character or circumstances of one's life but I've never quite seen any thing like this. I will definately look into this. And whether or not that really works as a revelatory message in Scripture, your research into the names is well done. 8-)

God Bless,

~Josh

 

[cyberjosh]

All right, I'm back and I've looked into it:

That really is some neat word play but in all honesty the Hebrew can be taken several different ways. First of all Kenan means "posession". The hebrew word "to mourn/be sorrowful" comes from the same root qan but they are different words. Its hard to explain without going into detail but qan in pictoral Hebrew denotes a gathering of objects, and since Hebrews think in concrete terms the image of a bird gathering sticks for a nest was closely associated with this word. Many words from qan are associated with activities of birds, and among them are the words "nest", "to mourn" (as a song - of a bird), and even the word jealous/zealous (in Hebrew: qana) comes from the root qan in the sense of a mother bird being very zealous to protect her nest. The idea of gathering sticks to "make" a nest also generated the idea of "creating" something and very often a child word from qan is used of God creating something.

The reason I go into this detail is to show that though the ideas are all connected they are still different words. This site here goes into great detail and does something very similar to what you did, but translates the words differently(within reason).

I'll give you one example that would have confused me thoroughly if I had not previously studied Hebrew. The name Mahalalel can be taken to mean more than one thing based on the translation of the root word halel - which often does mean praise, however (as the link points out) it can validly be taken another way. The link takes the "name sentance" in a more sorrowful way (but the Bible isn't supposed to be all happy) of man's fall and rejection of God:

When 'Enowsh had lived (hayah - existed) 90 years he fathered Qeynan (qeynan - sorrowful possession)." (Genesis 5:9) "Qeynan had lived (hayah - existed) 70 years and he fathered Mahalal'el (mahalal'el - ma, to question, halal, God's light)." (Genesis 5:12) "Mahalal'el had existed (hayah - lived) 65 years and he fathered Yered (yered - to descend)." (Genesis 5:15)

From the perspective of the parade of names, we've gone downhill. "Enowsh (mortal mankind), Qeynan (in sorrowful possession), Mahalal'el (questioned God's light), and Yered (descend)."

Wait, why did he translate halal (or halel) as "light" when its most often translated "praise"? That would have confused me had I not known that halel has a second meaning as a noun which means The North Star, and it is translated as such in Job. The idea is connected though: The Hebrews viewed praise & worship not in abstract terms but in concrete ideas, and thus praise & worship (halel) is like looking at a bright, shining star for guidance in awe and following after it for direction (almost all generations of man knew how valuable the North Star was for direction). Thus halel can mean praise and also north star. And so in this link the guy takes "North Star" as "light" and the preposition "ma" as a question (which is a valid assumption as it often is a question prefix, like manna (literaly translated "What is it?" - ha! Israelite bread in the desert was called "What is it?"! :D).

Anyway, as nifty as that is I must be somewhat intellectually cautious of looking too deep beyond what is intended to guard against error. <--------True and sincere motive, I promise.

However I have no doubt that individually every name in the Bible has a purpose, for names meant far more to the Semitic people of that day than they do to us, it denoted their very own character, thus why God put so much emphasis on revelations of his names, especially Jehovah (Yahweh).

P.S. See here for a brief description of the various connotations of halel - it's really neat. I worked with the guy who made that website a year or so ago. I was moderator of the forums there until unfortunately they crashed.

God Bless,

~Josh

 

[cyberjosh]

I really hate myself for doing this but I did find a site that debunks that word play: here.

I don't like doing things like that, because in the end it doesn't matter, because the riches of God's word and truth always win out against questionable, hidden, and ill-discernable messages. And as I have already said in substitute to try give hope and try to maintain some enthusiasm about studying the names: Names are very important in the Bible and do convey meaning. However I don't think you can just string them together like that. Sorry. :smt102

Oh well, the truth of God's amazing word is waaaay cooler! And Hebrew does help. :D

God Bless & in all sincerity,

~Josh

 

[cyberjosh]

Oh, by the way: Welcome to the boards McTricks, nice to have you here! If you don't mind would you tell me your real name? We try to be friendly around here on a first name basis.

God Bless,

~Josh

 

[McTricks]

Even if the names have individual purpose, other meanings, and can be put together in other ways, it still can be put together like this.


In the LORD, and the Him ONLY -

~James

My name's James, by the way

(And I'm 13)

 

[cyberjosh]

Even if the names have individual purpose, other meanings, and can be put together in other ways, it still can be put together like this.

Possibly, but I'm just saying to excercise caution. For example its easy to believe that the Bible code is legitimate but it is quite circumstantial as other books can produce ELSs to make hidden words as well, not to mention that the ELS technique completely depends on each letter, and textual differences between manuscripts (even if only in spelling) make it near impossible to tell which was the original reading. If you are short even one letter the whole word matrix shifts.

However, for something more condensed and connected such as Jehovah Nissi, or El Elyon, it makes sense as compound names. But when it comes to long geneologies I would council caution lest you put too much stock in something which you can never really prove/know is there. And definately not all geneologies will have such a feature.

God Bless,

Yeshua (Josh - The LORD saves - I have the same name as Jesus)