y
t
au
T b
l g
“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”
Tat word “meditate” is the Hebrew verb dbd, hagah, which literally means “to groan, sigh, muter, or speak.” Tis dif- fers from the Christian concept of medita- tion, which has more to do with reflection. Te word meditation comes from the Latin word that means “to consider or contem- plate, the process of deliberately focusing on something specific and reflecting on its meaning."
In the biblical Hebrew, there is a dual con- cept of meditation. First, dgiy, see-cha, which has to do with rehearing in one’s mind or thoughts (similar to the Christian concept of meditation). Te other, dbd, hagah, is not reflection with the mind, but with the mouth. It is rehearsing the Word of God in speech: “to speak, talk, uter, or muter.”
The Hebrew Dimension God is omniscient, so confessing the Word of God in any language is going to release power and blessing. However, it is my belief that proclamation in the original Hebrew language will release the fullest measure of God’s blessing and provision.
Confessing the Scriptures in Hebrew So, if going to the root, which is Hebrew, is the most accurate form of confes- sion and is likely to produce the fullest measure of blessing, you may be asking yourself, “How do I do this?” Aſter all,
10
JewishVoiceToday.org | May/June 2011
—Joshua 1:8
how many have studied Hebrew or gone to seminary?—probably only a handful of those who are reading this article.
Confession of God’s Word is an avenue to deposit faith in our spirits. It is the confession of the Word that releases the truth and the promises of God in our lives.
Te good news is that there is a way. Tis is not a new challenge. As Jews began to leave the old country at the close of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th cen- tury, they setled in America, and in their struggle to survive and be accepted, they began to assimilate into American culture. Te use of Hebrew in prayer and Yiddish as a spoken language began to disappear. To preserve Hebrew prayer in the syna- gogue, a method called transliteration was employed. Tis simple process, which we see utilized in dictionaries, uses English leters to sound out the Hebrew words.
Let’s look at a few examples:
Te Hebrew word for “peace” is qely, Shalom. While you may recognize the
Hebrew word for peace from seeing it so oſten, most cannot read the Hebrew char- acters. But when we use the transliterated method, it now becomes very readable: sha•lome.
Let’s try another one, the Hebrew word for “Jerusalem,” milyexi. Most can’t read milyexi , but when we apply the transliteration method, it becomes easy: Ye•roo•sha•la•yim.
Even more complex sentences become easy to recite with a litle practice. Let’s try one more example. Many of our Jew- ish prayers begin this way:
mlerd jln epidl` ipc` `z` jexA
Ba•ruch a•tah Ado•nai, Elo•hei•nu me•lech Ha-o•lam
“Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe”
In short order, you will be declaring these Hebrew verses like a native Hebrew speaker!
All Scripture references from the NKJV unless otherwise noted.
What Scriptures do you confess aloud to build your faith? Click on the “Discussions” link on the
Facebook.com/JewishVoice page and give us your thoughts.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28