Tânia Cristina Giachetti Ministério Seara Ágape https://www.searaagape.com.br/livrosevangelicosonline.html 1 The Lord wants to talk to His people (Study about some Jewish themes) Ministério Seara Ágape Ensino Bíblico Evangélico Tânia Cristina Giachetti São Paulo — SP — Brazil 2013-2014 2 I dedicate to all those who wish to know the Lord of Hosts, Jesus Christ. 3 I thank the God Most High, to God who fulfills His purpose for me. 4 “And God, who knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us.” (Acts 15: 8) “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.” (1 The. 5: 19-22). 5 Index Introduction 7 Languages spoken by Jews – Hebrew & Aramaic 8 Difference between the words ‘Hebrew’, ‘Israelite’ and ‘Jew’ 11 The names of God 12 The Messiah 22 The glory of God 33 Biblical study on the words: Grace / mercy 36 Hosanna 38 Amen 39 Hallelujah 40 Anointing 41 Biblical study about some words and Hebrew expressions: Mazzaroth 45 Tohu VaVohu 47 Tehom (bottomless pit or Abyss) 48 Abaddon or Apollyon 48 The pool of Siloam 51 The expression: ‘Until Shiloh comes’ 54 Urim e Thummim 56 Nazirite / Naziriteship 56 Mazel tov and luck 58 Leah and Rachel, the Church of the OT and NT 63 Gentiles 66 The sacrifices of the Old Testament 68 Eglah Arufah 82 Para Aduma 86 The Gates of the Old City of Jerusalem / Islam 89 / 112 6 Notes: • Words or phrases enclosed in brackets [ ] or parenthesis ( ), in italics, were placed by me, in most cases, to explain the biblical text, although some verses already contain them [not in italics]. • The version used here is the New Revised Standard Version, NRSV – 1989 (1995) • NIV = New International Version (it will be used in brackets in some verses to facilitate the readers’ understanding). • Here it will be used the Concordant Hebrew English Sublinear (CHES), based on the vocabulary of the Concordant Version of the Old Testament (CVOT ), the transliterated Hebrew. • In some parts of the text will be used the Concordant Greek Text Sublinear (CGTS), the Greek New Testament Version – 1984, based on KJV/AV translation, known as Greek Textus Receptus. • In many texts we’ll use ‘Lexicon Strong’s Concordance.’ Strong’s Concordance is a concordance of the King James Bible (KJV), created by the English theologian Dr. James Strong (1822-1894), along with a team of theologians, and first published in 1890. It is about a cross-reference between each word in the KJV and the original text in Hebrew or Greek. To each word in its original language is given an entry number for the biblical concordance of KJV. Lexicon means a dictionary of ancient classic languages. In order to interpret Lexicon Strong’s Concordance properly it’s necessary to take into account the cultural context of that time, because Strong’s numbers do not consider figures of speech, metaphors, idioms, common phrases, cultural references, references to historical events, or alternate meanings used by the writers of that time period to express their thoughts in their own language. 7 Introduction This book arose in parallel with the wish of writing some Jewish themes to put on my website, both for Christians (in special Evangelical Christians) and for the Jews themselves. Browsing on Internet I saw many things that surprised me about many topics, both by Jews and Christians; in fact, even a reaction of despair in many people to discover certain truths, but not knowing how to deal well with them, as if suddenly they were frustrated and confused children by learning that Santa Claus does not exist. I also came across issues truly ‘dangerous’ from the spiritual point of view, because the devil has used them to confuse believers and take from their hearts the faith in Jesus Christ. One of the things I’ve seen is that, by the desire to please God and take His gospel to the Jews, Christians have assimilated many wrong concepts from Jews, and for us who live today and know the salvation brought by Jesus are not appropriate to be preached anymore or accepted as true knowledge. Among them we can mention: the names of God, the word Shekinah (to describe the glory of God), Mazel tov and many other subjects that I ended up removing them from the original study, for they were causing certain doctrinal conflicts. Many teachings are from esoteric and mystical origins, as for example the Kabbalah, and from Hebrew books such as the Mishnah, the Talmud, Tosefta, Gemara and others, which arose during the Middle Ages and the Intertestamental Period, in the four hundred years of ‘silence of God’, without true prophetic inspiration and ended up establishing themselves only in human wisdom, and often, in mystical concepts of that time. The last three topics were added now in 2020. May the Holy Spirit teach you to put into practice each word that is good for your spiritual growth. Above all, may you be an instrument of blessing in His hands, stimulating many lives to understand the purity and simplicity of God’s word. The bible says: “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.” (1 The. 5: 19-22) It is also written: “As for you, the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and so you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, abide in him” (1 Jn. 2: 27). Shalom! May the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of us. Tânia Cristina 8 111 Languages spoken by the Jews Let’s start by talking a little about one of the languages spoken by the Jews, known as Aramaic . Aramaic is the designation given to the different dialects of a language with its own alphabet and with a story of more than three thousand years, used by people living in the Middle East (Actually, all descendants of Noah’s sons). It was the religious and administrative language of several empires of the Ancient times, besides to be the original language of many parts of the biblical books of Daniel and Ezra, as well as the Talmud. Aramaic was understood and spoken by many peoples, including the Jews, mainly by the people connected to the court, who needed that commercial and administrative language to make their political agreements and commercialize their products with other nations. Belonging to the family of African-Asiatic languages it is classified in the subgroup of Semitic languages to which also belong Arabic and Hebrew . The formal language of the Babylonian Empire was Aramaic (whose name derives from Aram Naharayim, ‘Mesopotamia’, or Aram, ‘highlands’ in Canaanite, and ancient name of Syria). The Persian Empire, which conquered the Babylonian Empire a few decades after the start of the Jewish exile, adopted Aramaic as an official language. Aramaic is also a Semitic language North-Western, quite similar to Hebrew. Aramaic lent many words and expressions to Hebrew, mainly due to be the language used in the Talmud and other religious writings. Aramaic was possibly the language spoken by Jesus. From the 7th century AD the Aramaic which was used as an official language in the Middle East was replaced by Arabic. However, Aramaic is still used in liturgy and literature among the Jews and some Christians. The story of Aramaic can be divided into three periods: Archaic 1100 BC-200 AD including: Biblical Aramaic, from the Hebrew. The Aramaic of Jesus. The Aramaic of Targum. Middle Aramaic (200-1200 AD) including: Syriac literary language. 9 The Aramaic of the Talmud and Midrashim. Modern Aramaic (1200 AD to the present century). Syriac is a dialect of middle Aramaic (200 – 1200 AD) spoken historically in much of the Fertile Crescent. Appearing around the 1 st century AD, classical Syriac became one of the main literary languages throughout the Middle East from the 4 th to the 8 th century. It became the main vehicle of Eastern Orthodox Christianity and culture, spreading across Asia, reaching the Malabar region (south India) and eastern China, and was an important means of communication and cultural dissemination among Arabs and, to a lesser extent, the Persians. Initially a means of Christian expression, Syriac had a fundamental cultural and literary influence on the development of Arabic, which replaced it in the region at the end of the 8 th century. Syriac remains the liturgical language of Syriac Christianity. Written in the Syriac alphabet, derived from the Aramaic alphabet, the Syriac belongs to the western branch of the Semitic linguistic family (source: wikipedia.org). The Hebrew language is more directly related to the language of old Ugarit, the capital of a northern kingdom of the coast of Syria (now called Ras Shamra), as well as the Phoenician and Moabite kingdoms. In the OT is called ‘the language of Canaan’ (Isa. 19: 18) or ‘the language of Judah’ (NRSV – 2 Kin. 18: 26-30, Isa. 36: 11-13; Neh. 13: 24) or else, the Jews’ language (KJV). The term ‘Hebrew’ occurs for the first time in the book of Ben Sirach (Apocryphal Book). Thus, the Hebrew writing comes from the Northern language – Semitic or Phoenician. The Book of Sirach is also known as Book of Ecclesiasticus (Ecclus.: ‘Book of the Church’ or ‘Book of the Assembly’, which was the name given by Saint Cyprian of Carthage) or the Book of the All-Virtuous Wisdom, written by a Hellenistic Jewish scribe, sage, and allegorist from Jerusalem, Joshua ben Sira or Yeshua ben Sira (Joshua son of Sirach or Jesus son of Sirach) around 200-175 BC in Hebrew tongue, possibly in Alexandria, Egypt, where he is thought to have established a school.