Welcome to my Hebrew reading & language series.
Genesis :
The men of God back in the day had a connection to the Almighty and they were able to pronounce future events before blessing their children, especially when old and near death. We enter chapter 49 in today's reading, and we see Jacob (who is Israel) calling his sons together to speak to them and tell them what their futures hold.
This reading is a bit longer than most that I make because it is hard to cut off a father who is disgusted with his elder sons for having sold their brother into bondage, and the oldest for having defiled his father's bedroom. This is a speech of sorts that seems to go into a blessing when he gets to his son Judah (after whom the "Jews" get their name). Somehow, the "Y" sound was replaced with a "J" as seen in the names Yeshua that changed to Jesus and now, Yehuda which changes to Judah in translation.
As I mentioned above, Reuben is called as unstable as water and told he will not be a leader for having "defiled" his father's bed. Simeon and Levi are called violent and he curses their anger and cruel wrath. "I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel" is what the text states and at this, I must guess that he is repeating what he has heard from the Everlasting Creator himself.
Then he comes to speak of Yehuda, saying that his brothers will praise him and his hand will be on the neck of his enemies. Quite the opposite of the sentiments spoken about the first two. "Who dares to approach a lion..." Those are the words spoken of the next leader, I think. The last paragraph of today's passage confirms that Yehuda is he!
It is strange that several bible texts that I looked at fail to close quotes in the texts. I am leaving it that way so as not to edit the word of YHVH which is prohibited.
One note about the language, see the word "violence" in the passage below. It occurs as the second to last word of verse five in the Hebrew text. In Hebrew, it is pronounced Hamas. That is who Israel is fighting. The name of the organization is called "violence" The word is not mentioned much in Genesis, which is called B'resheet in Hebrew, but I thought I would mention it because I saw the parallel when I read it.
Today's reading
English
49 Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall happen to you in days to come.
“Assemble and listen, O sons of Jacob,
listen to Israel your father.
“Reuben, you are my firstborn,
my might, and the firstfruits of my strength,
pre-eminent in dignity and pre-eminent in power.
Unstable as water, you shall not have pre-eminence,
because you went up to your father's bed;
then you defiled it—he went up to my couch!
“Simeon and Levi are brothers;
weapons of violence are their swords.
Let my soul come not into their council;
O my glory, be not joined to their company.
For in their anger they killed men,
and in their wilfulness they hamstrung oxen.
Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce,
and their wrath, for it is cruel!
I will divide them in Jacob
and scatter them in Israel.
“Judah, your brothers shall praise you;
your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
your father's sons shall bow down before you.
Judah is a lion's cub;
from the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He stooped down; he crouched as a lion
and as a lioness; who dares rouse him?
The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler's staff from between his feet,
until tribute comes to him;
and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
Hebrew
The story continues next week as the
other boys get theirs...
Info on each letter starting at the beginning
If you are just starting, my lessons are all here starting at Alef, adding vowels (the dots and lines) as we go. I explain the meaning of each letter and its numerical value. Just go to my blog and scroll to the bottom or click here
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Thanks for reading.
Greetings @hebrew ,
Thank you for this lesson from the original Hebrew language. It is interesting no matter how many times one has heard the story...one can learn something new...God's word is alive and powerful....Hebrews 4.12..from the original Greek language.
Oh yes..thank you for the reminder...the Tetragramatin is not to be said..
instead Adonai...Adonai Elohanu ..God..Adonai Ekauth...the Unique One...(reference to Christ Jesus....found Deuteronomy...apologies for the misspellings.
Thank you again.
Kind Regards,
Bleujay
The spirit of God does teach us new things each time we open the book, PDF, or scroll containing his word, more so when we look at it with a lens into the culture and think of his people and the language they spoke. Aramaic or Hebrew (or even Arabic) are old languages that add to our understanding and they are so similar, when spoken, that the differences are like those of the peoples of Britain, Canada or southerners in The States. Some of the words change and certainly the pronunciations a bit, but we can understand each other.
I am glad you stopped in to read what I have to show and say. I am a faithful believer in Yeshua and have read the Christian writings, some in Hebrew. I actually respect Ha Shem enough not to speak The Name in common situations, but I do speak it with bread and wine on the eve of shabbat and the eve of havilah (the end of shabbat). I speak it in songs of praise or reading the word. Not speaking it at all is like going into a store and asking for "the manager" Why? Because we do not know that person of authority who presides there. That is something to think about.
What if nobody spoke or used the name Jesus in their daily lives or at church? Worse, what if everyone said it wrong or butchered the pronunciation? I have visited other countries and hostesses would ask my name for a seating queue then they would both write it and say it wrong. It is not a hard name either. It is widely spoken by all nations and pronounced correctly because it is a name of a well known place. It makes me feel that the person writing it wrong or saying it wrong is a low effort worker.
I appreciated your comment so much that I nearly wrote a post about it. Smiles and Shalom
Greetings @hebrew
Thank you for your kind reply...yes it is nearly a post. Smiles!
Well said...and understood...very true.
I should have written 'Sacred' Tetragrammaton in my previous reply.
Amazing moment to actually dialogue on these things....thank you.
Cheers!
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