This was so cool! And so timely! I just listened to a teaching on the 10 commandments and how, as you stated, it actually is/was 10 words as Jewish words have more meaning packed into one than the English vocabulary.
Glad you enjoyed it! Feel free to share it as well. The Ten Words were cut as a covenenat contract and calling them Commandments isn't 'wrong' nessesarily, because they are reitterated as such in Mitzvah, but it misses the much deeper meaning as you pointed out.
What's further facinating is that this sets a two fer grouping of how the further 'law' is broken down into Love the Lord your God with all your hearts, sould, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. That's how the Ten Words are broken up, and that's how the commandments are broken up.
The Synergy is amazing once you strip back all the noise that tries to make it complicated :)
Same here...so much in the Bible that is misunderstood (me included) especially as a Western thinker when the Bible was written from / for an Eastern thinker / audience.
The Eastern vs. Western is a bit consideration as well for certain! Even their conceptualization of time is different (Western looks to the future, Eastern says you can only see the past.)
Yeah, some of my favourite examples of this are the words for "sin", "box" and "Pandora".
Sin has the root word Hamartia which means to miss the target. Which I figured adds some context to some of what you're talking about in this.
Also, I found out that Pandora's Box wasn't actually a box. It was translated later to mean box but in actual fact if you look at the root word, which I can't remember at the moment, it was in fact a vase during the original Greek.
Pandora's name also means either "all-giving" or "all-gifted" depending on how you look at what it means in the original Greek. This seems odd to have a name like that for someone who supposedly released bad things into the world.
בֹּקֶר/Boker/Morning is linked to the word לבקר/levaker/To discern. The morning is a time when things become clear
ערב/erev/Evening is linke to the word לערבב/Learbev to mix. The evening is a time when darkness blurs the lines between objects and makes things difficult to discern from one another.
עוֹלָם/Oilam/World is linked to the word עָלוּם/olum/ hidden because we believe the world to be a place that hides Gods presence.
Hey Michael I loved this piece, it great to see Biblical Hebrew getting some of the attention it deserves. The idea that Chok and Mishpat are seperate entities is well understood in the Religious Jewish community, but I don't remember hearing the distinction you make. It is fascinating and I will have to look it up. The classical understanding is that Chok represents laws without an explanation/at least partially beyond human understanding and Mishpat is something which makes rational sense to the finite mind. This is why most monetary law comes under the umbrella of Mishpat. Whereas the Red Heffer is called a Chok.
This was so cool! And so timely! I just listened to a teaching on the 10 commandments and how, as you stated, it actually is/was 10 words as Jewish words have more meaning packed into one than the English vocabulary.
Again, so cool!
Glad you enjoyed it! Feel free to share it as well. The Ten Words were cut as a covenenat contract and calling them Commandments isn't 'wrong' nessesarily, because they are reitterated as such in Mitzvah, but it misses the much deeper meaning as you pointed out.
What's further facinating is that this sets a two fer grouping of how the further 'law' is broken down into Love the Lord your God with all your hearts, sould, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. That's how the Ten Words are broken up, and that's how the commandments are broken up.
The Synergy is amazing once you strip back all the noise that tries to make it complicated :)
You have no idea! Its an entire world. 😀
I really enjoyed this and look forward to your investigation of Biblical laws. Thanks for writing!
Hi James! Essay on how many Biblical Laws we still follow is coming out this Sunday March 31.
Same here...so much in the Bible that is misunderstood (me included) especially as a Western thinker when the Bible was written from / for an Eastern thinker / audience.
Stay tuned this Sunday, March 31, for the follow-on for how many laws we still follow!
The Eastern vs. Western is a bit consideration as well for certain! Even their conceptualization of time is different (Western looks to the future, Eastern says you can only see the past.)
Yeah, some of my favourite examples of this are the words for "sin", "box" and "Pandora".
Sin has the root word Hamartia which means to miss the target. Which I figured adds some context to some of what you're talking about in this.
Also, I found out that Pandora's Box wasn't actually a box. It was translated later to mean box but in actual fact if you look at the root word, which I can't remember at the moment, it was in fact a vase during the original Greek.
Pandora's name also means either "all-giving" or "all-gifted" depending on how you look at what it means in the original Greek. This seems odd to have a name like that for someone who supposedly released bad things into the world.
A few other cool word connections you may like.
בֹּקֶר/Boker/Morning is linked to the word לבקר/levaker/To discern. The morning is a time when things become clear
ערב/erev/Evening is linke to the word לערבב/Learbev to mix. The evening is a time when darkness blurs the lines between objects and makes things difficult to discern from one another.
עוֹלָם/Oilam/World is linked to the word עָלוּם/olum/ hidden because we believe the world to be a place that hides Gods presence.
Hey Michael I loved this piece, it great to see Biblical Hebrew getting some of the attention it deserves. The idea that Chok and Mishpat are seperate entities is well understood in the Religious Jewish community, but I don't remember hearing the distinction you make. It is fascinating and I will have to look it up. The classical understanding is that Chok represents laws without an explanation/at least partially beyond human understanding and Mishpat is something which makes rational sense to the finite mind. This is why most monetary law comes under the umbrella of Mishpat. Whereas the Red Heffer is called a Chok.
I actually wrote specifically about Chok and Mishpat in this piece. https://yaacovlyons.substack.com/p/the-ethics-of-eternity
For some reason I can't edit this comment but please replace the second time I say Mishpat with the word mitzvah