Posted by Navah on Jul 4, 2016 in Hebrew Study
So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife. Gen 20:17-18 (KJV) Let us recall the context. Avraham moved his family from Mamre, where he encountered the three messengers, to Gerar. In Gerar Avimelech kidnapped the ninety-year-old barren Sarah for a wife and got into a trouble: he had to bargain...
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Posted by Navah on Jul 4, 2016 in Hebrew Study
In Greek the word pistis is translated as “faith.” According to Strong Dictionary, pistis is persuasion, that is, credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly constancy in such profession. Hence, we find that in the Graeco-Roman mindset faith is an intellectual acceptance of what is true and we have to admit this is a very abstract concept. However,...
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Posted by Navah on Jul 4, 2016 in Hebrew Study
What is “hope?” In our western gentile culture “hope” is perceived as to expect and wish or to intend with some possibility of fulfilment like in “Keep your fingers crossed. I hope to take the test” or chance like in “I hope it is not going to rain.” But what is “hope” from Hebraic perspectives? Let us read from the Book of Ezekiel 37, the resurrection chapter, where the Hebrew word for “hope” is...
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Posted by Navah on Jul 4, 2016 in Hebrew Study, The Patriarchs' Saga
The question “Did God lie to Avraham?” may seem an absurd, but as we will learn below, we indeed have the reason to ask it when we read a verse like this, And Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my master being old too?” And Yehovah said to Avraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I truly have a child, since I am old?’ (Gen 18:12-13) וַתִּצְחַ֥ק and mocked שָׂרָ֖ה Sarah בְּקִרְבָּ֣הּ within herself לֵאמֹ֑ר...
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Posted by Navah on Jun 23, 2016 in Hebrew Study
The Hebrew word “satan” is one of the words in the Scripture that has been extremely misused in the Christian theology. This word does not denote a name of a fallen angel. This word satan appears only twice in the Torah (in Num 22:22 and Num 22:32), but with total of 27 occurrences in the Tanak. Again, satan is not a personal name but a title. The Torah is very monotheistic in its approach to good and evil (Deu 32:39) that it is YHVH who brings life and death...
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Posted by Navah on May 19, 2016 in Hebrew Study
There is a confusing rendering in KJV (King’s James version of the Bible) that seems to say that the Father can lead us into temptation. But, does the Father lead us into temptation? Let us first read from the English text of KJV, And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil … Mat 6:13 (KJV) Does anybody see anything wrong with this translation? The word “temptation” has a very negative connotation. According to American Dictionary of the...
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