Mechanical? Try meditating on God's Word in Hebrew, especially the Psalms.

 

Having done this, especially with the Psalms after completing the entire syllabus outlined in Weingreen, I have to say it really makes learning Hebrew more meaningful. Try this! 

        The Psalms is a great book to start with, especially since most of us already know the contents in English. Psalms are poetry in nature; therefore, they are short verses and packed with meaning. 

        You should go through the Psalms verse by verse. There are verses in it that you are familiar with that you can mediate on throughout the day. I do this all the time. Whether driving or cooking, or while having my shower, I occupy my idle mind with the Psalms in Hebrew. 

        My initial plan was to memorise some of the favourite Psalms in Hebrew. However, I think the more important step is to first meditate on the meaning first. While meditating on the Psalms, I realise that I was able to review my Hebrew grammar, something which I agree can be too "mechanical" while going through Level 1 and 2 Biblical Hebrew. 

        While the grammar and vocabulary are necessary in the learning of any language, we have to supplement it with the syntax and the way words are used to produce a specific effect. 

        This will not only help you review your understanding of concepts such as cohortative, imperative and jussive (which you learnt in Hebrew Level 1), when you see how these words function within the context of a given situation; meditating on God's Word in Hebrew will also help unleash a new zest in learning the language. 

        You will also how beautiful and precise the language is because the Psalms are poetic in nature. Those of you who did English literature (I did not) will be able to understand this better why you were told to read William Shakespeare. What a feeling when you begin to build your confidence in handling the language the way it is used! 

        If you follow this piece of advice, your feeling that Hebrew Grammar (same with English Grammar) is too 'mechanical' and 'dry' will be gone. The new insights that you have gained through the learning of Biblical Hebrew at Levels 1 and 2 seminary level will give new meanings to the text that you are reading. 

        For those who know how to sing, it is a also good to sing some songs in Hebrew after going through the lyrics in Hebrew. Go back to those days when you were in nursery school where you learnt the nursery rhyme by hard and sing along with your teachers. 

        Those of you who are able to download "Daily Dose of Hebrew" on your mobile phone will find the grammar being explained as the verses are parsed, glossed and given the English translation. For example, this morning (Oct 1), the gentleman parsed the Pe-Yod (I-Yod) in Psalm 119: 94. 

”לְֽךָ־אֲ֭נִי הוֹשִׁיעֵ֑נִי כִּ֖י פִקּוּדֶ֣יךָ דָרָֽשְׁתִּי׃“

(Psalm 119:94 HMT-W4)

https://accordance.bible/link/read/HMT-W4#Psa._119:94

        After all, we should realise that when we first started learning English in school, we may begin with the dry bones of grammar, but we are not stuck there. Like the Spirit of God breathing on the dry bones life in Ezekiel's Valley of Dry Bones, those of us who are able to take English further will find a new lease of life, power and freedom in the way we are able use the language to communicate. 

        

Like the green olive tree forever

 

While doing my devotion this morning, I found an interesting description of the olive in Psalm 52:10. 

”וַאֲנִ֤י ׀ כְּזַ֣יִת רַ֭עֲנָן בְּבֵ֣ית אֱלֹהִ֑ים בָּטַ֥חְתִּי בְחֶֽסֶד־אֱ֝לֹהִ֗ים עוֹלָ֥ם וָעֶֽד׃“

(Psalm 52:10 HMT-W4)

https://accordance.bible/link/read/HMT-W4#Psa._52:10

        Here, the Hebrew seems to emphasize the COLOUR of the olive, whereas the Septuagint translation into Greek uses the word κατάκαρπος (meaning, being fruitful) is used instead. 

        On one hand, this appears to be a mistranslation by the Septuagint scholars. However, we have to understand the difference in the demographics of the Old Testament Jews and those living in other areas. 

        In the Tropics, an evergreen tree is very common. We look at beauty from a different perspective. If there colourful flowers on the tree, we say it is beautiful. But, for a country like Israel, where trees do not always grow or remain green all year round, the olive is "beautiful" because its green leaves symbolises its fruitfulness. Abundance of fruits means wealth and prosperity. The olive tree can grow even on land that has little soil.         

        For that reason, the psalmist describes himself like an olive (tree) that is green and fruitful. In some Mediterranean countries like Spain, if given enough nutrition, the olive tree can live for over a thousand years and still remain fruitful. Hence, we now understand that the psalmist knows that he will only be fruitful (or green) for as long as he remains in the house of God. 

        This brings to mind two texts of the Scriptures: 

(1) When the Lord Jesus spoke to His disciples: 

““Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.”

(John 15:4 NAS95)

https://accordance.bible/link/read/NAS95S#John_15:4

(2) When Paul described Israel as a cultivated olive tree: 

Rom. 11:17 ¶ But if some of the branches (referring to Israel) were broken off, and you, being a wild olive (referring to the non-Jews), were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree,

        The Gentiles are referred to as the wild olive tree: 

Rom. 11:24 For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?

        This text does not speak about grafting as us, Gentiles becoming Jews or trying to live like the Jews; rather, in the same light of what the Lord Jesus said in John 15, and what the psalmist in Psalm 52 mentioned, we are to be fruitful. 

        To be fruitful, we are to abide in Christ (John 15: 4, 5).

What is Rosh Hashanah?

 

We say, שָׁנָה  טוֹבָה (Shanah Tovah, literally translated as Good Year) or Happy New Year (to our Jewish friends on Rosh Hashanah (רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה). It is the beginning of their calendar year. 

        It is like us Chinese celebrating the first day of the new calendar year. The Jewish year of 5782 starts on September 7, 2021 being the first month of the Jewish month, Tishrei. 

        The word 'rosh' (רֹאשׁ) means the 'head' or the 'chief' and 'shanah' (שָׁנשָה) means year.' 

        Biblically, this is also known as the Yom Teruah (יוֹם תְּרוּעַה) which can be translated as 'Day of Shouting.' 

        Although the Jews celebrate this day as one of their High Holy Days, being Gentile believers in Christ, Paul warned us against the influence of the Judaizers during his time.  

“Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day — things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ." (Colossians 2:16–17)

  

Christ is Our Focus 

        Our focus should always be on Christ alone, who Alone is the culmination of all prophecies regarding Him and the fulfilment of all the requirements under the Law of Moses. The Law was given to the Israelites so that they could be goaded to the Messiah who was to come.

        Throughout His ministry, Jesus never instructed the disciples (who were Jews themselves) to teach others to follow the Jewish traditions; otherwise, the worldwide church would have been celebrating the Jewish feasts like our brethren of faith from the Jewish tradition. 

        Instead, Christ instituted only one -- the Lord's Supper, -- which is a culmination of all that He came for. This has been the tradition for both the Jewish and Gentile believers. 

        The dispute with the Judaisers became so intensive that the apostles had to call for the Council of Jerusalem, where all the instructions to the Gentile believers were summed up in these words with only four necessities spelt out clearly for the Gentile believers:

"For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials:

 that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication; if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well. Farewell.”

(Acts 15:28–29 NAS95)  

 

        Because Christ is the fulfilment of all the prophecies and feasts of the Old Testament, we are therefore, no longer required to celebrate the feasts as Gentile believers. 

        Those who quote scriptures in the Old Testament to support their idea that these feasts are meant to be celebrated by the Church, have failed to see that Christ is the substance and fulfilment of all the requirements and feasts under the Mosaic Law.  They bring others into bondage once again to the Law, when Christ's work on the Cross was supposed to set us free!

It is Finished!

        When Christ came, He lived a perfect life, free from sins. He was the perfect pascal lamb who was sacrificed as an atonement for our sins. Unlike the Jewish priestly traditions, our Lord only had to do it once and He did it for all. There was no need for Him to lay down His life every year like what the High Priest had to do with the pascal lamb once a year on Yom Kippur.

        On the cross, our Lord cried out, Τετέλεσται, which meant, 'It is finished!'  (John 19:30). Paraphrased, this means, "It's a done deal!" or "All debts paid!" 

        Jesus did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfil it (Matt 5:17):

“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.

        He has delivered us from the bondage of the Law that could not save us, so why, if we have been saved by God's grace, do we now go back to the Law? 

“Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day — things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ." (Colossians 2:16–17)