(Our blog is taken from our Jewish Brother Jacob’s A Little Learning Together, which he often includes with prayer request emails he sends out)
Please note: Jacob uses a couple of abbreviations. One is KG for Koine Greek, the type of Greek the Renewed Covenant Scriptures (RCS) is written in. KG is much more Hebraic & Jewish than Attic Greek, the Greek of the philosophers. Jacob uses RCS in short for Renewed Covenant Scriptures because it is a much more accurate term than “New Testament”.
Jacob explains this in his teaching. For more – and why Jacob uses the terms he does – after reading our blog, please scroll up to the window The Deeper Hebrew & Jewish Roots of the Bible from A-Z. Simply click or tap the title, then click or tap + or picture to open the window.
Please scroll down to G Glossary.
A little learning together
Knee in in Hebrew is actually very much related with and uses the same Hebrew letters for the Hebrew word bless. Virtually all Hebrew nouns come from verbs because Hebrew is a very active action-oriented language!
There was also the idea of bending the knee in the Torah. In Gen. 24:11 we read of Eleazar’s camels bending down; it’s virtually the Hebrew word for blessing.
An excursus:
Eleazar was sent back by Abraham to find a wife for Yitzchak (“Laugh” “Isaac”) from where Abraham had come from in modern day Iraq, about 500 miles east of where Abraham then was in what would become the Land of Israel.
The rabbis ask the question “Why not find Yitzchak a wife from among the Canaanites where Abraham lived? Why send for one 500 miles away, going back to where Abraham has lived?”.
One of the great Torah commentators points out very correctly that the Canaanites were totally morally bankrupt. Abraham was old enough and more importantly had a high enough what’s called in Hebrew spiritual level such that the Canaanites could not negatively influence his character and conduct.
The word Canaan is thought to mean ‘low’, although there is a lot of discussion about this among scholars.
In any case the rabbis point out that Yitzchak was not yet at the spiritual level of his father. Thus, a Canaanite wife would have pulled Yitzchak down; he would not have pulled her up spiritually.
That one needs to be at a spiritual level sufficiently high enough above others who don’t live a Godly life and not be brought down, is also Illustrated in what we see happen to Shimson “Samson”, by getting involved with Delilah.
The great Torah commentator goes on to point out that Abraham came from a land of Idol worshipers, and that idol worship was merely an intellectual assent to something. The Canaanites on the other hand again, were totally morally bankrupt and that was much worse. Their character was totally morally bankrupt and this was reflected outwardly in how they acted.
You’ll recall that it was S’dom and Ammorah (“Sodom and Gomorrah”) which were in the land of Canaan, thought to be the area west of the Dead Sea, that was destroyed because of their totally morally bankrupt character and conduct.
(The Dead Sea, in Hebrew Salt Sea, is about 18 miles or so east of Jerusalem, which is in the middle of Israel. Yericho “Jericho” is about a mile or so, maybe a little more, northwest of the northwest corner of the Dead Sea).
You’ll recall that when the two men who had been with Mashiach in Gen. 18 and visited Abraham to tell him he would have a son the next year, that they went on to those cities. When the men of the city found out they gathered at Lot’s house and called for Lot to send them out “…that we would know them” cf. Gen. 18-19.
“Know” in Hebrew is not intellectual as is the Greek word for ‘know’ “gnosis“. Know in Hebrew means “experience, intimacy, personal relationship”. It is also used to indicate a physical act; cf. Gen. 4:1 “Adam knew his wife and she conceived”.
In Luke’s Greek rendering of Luke 1:34 he shows Yeshua’s mother Miryam’s (“Bitter”, KG transliteration “Mariam” English “Miriam”) Hebrew response to the angel in being told she would be with child.
Unfortunately, this is translated as “how can this be, I am a virgin”. In fairness it’s understandable; to translate it as follows would confuse Westerners. The bigger issue though is translating Yeshua’s mother’s name as “Mary”, which is totally intellectually dishonest and is done to hide her Jewish identity.
The good doctor Luke’s KG in Lk. 1:34 is literally “…(a) man not I have known” (KG a form of “gnosis” ” know”; not “parthenos” ” virgin”). The good doctor Luke was steadfast in relaying an accurate – and very Hebrew and Jewish-based answer by Miriam. Luke’s KG puts “know” at the end of Luke 1:34 for emphasis.
To return:
As we learned together above, “knee”, and also bowing as well, come from the root letters of the Hebrew verb bless. In order to bless someone else one should understand that in Hebrew blessing also has the idea of community. One must be willing then in a sense to bend their knee in order to be a blessing to others.
Further, blessing also means a water spring and has the idea of conduit. A conduit pipe for example is a means for wires to pass through from a main source of electricity to another where it can be used.
The same very much with blessing! We see in the Hebrew of Kohelet (“Preacher” the Hebrew name of Ecclesiastes) that King Solomon says that he planted things and he watered them. We see in that a form of the word blessing because he had a conduit that went from the source of water to where it was needed in order to water what he had planted.
The rabbis astutely & correctly point out that a water spring without a conduit cannot get the water from its source to where it is needed. We must understand in the very very dry Middle East how extremely important water is!
So, in short, as our wonderful LORD is the source of blessing He provides this through a conduit – us. That conduit began with Abraham Gen. 12:3, cf. the end of 12:2 where in Hebrew the LORD tells Abraham “… be (a) blessing”.
Abraham was to be the conduit through whom blessing would flow eventually to the world. We have to remember that a conduit that needs to go some distance has a number of conduit pipes attached together.
The LORD in short told Abraham Isaac and Jacob that the families of the earth response was they would be blessed through them. In short, the Hebrew indicates a response and something set in motion without stopping.
Frankly, no Gentile source or Institution is spoken of in the Bible as either the source or the conduit through which blessing is provided.
The unfortunate notion of blessing that too many of my very dear Christian brethren hear, that of giving to such and such a place and blessing coming to “me” as though that’s the end of it, is at best incorrect or at worst deliberately misleading! Cf. what Paul says at the end of 2nd Corinthians 2 regarding the use of the Word.
As one of the great Torah teachers correctly points out blessing includes community, whereas one of the Hebrew words for curse has the meaning of a state of isolation. This is the second Hebrew word for curse used in the very well-known verse about blessing/cursing the descendants of Abraham Gen. 12:3.
My dear Christian brother should also be well aware that while Genesis 12:3 is well-known, the LORD also spoke in a similar way to Isaac and Jacob (Cf. Gen. 26 & 27).
Those who understand that they are a conduit through whom blessing flows, so that blessing can flow to others because it first flowed to them from the LORD, understand more deeply what blessing is about.
The Hebrew and Jewish understanding of things which is very very Biblically based, is that God works through what’s called in Hebrew His creatures. If someone needs say $1,000 for rent so they don’t get evicted, they don’t come home and miraculously find – not to say it couldn’t happen – but they don’t normally find 10 $100 bills on their kitchen table. Nor is there a check for $1,000 from the First Heavenly Bank and Trust in their mailbox.
The LORD acts through his creatures. He will bless someone materially so that they can be a conduit to others.
Our wonderful LORD also extends the opportunity for the one who is the conduit to be blessed by blessing. Think about it; if God supernaturally produced $1,000 cash on your kitchen table, someone would not have the opportunity to be blessed by blessing you!
In order for us to bless others, we must be in a sense willing to bend our knee.
This is not always easy but this is one time when bending the knee is never painful!
All the best
Jacob
Gen. 12:3
PS We have several hours audio teaching on the actual Biblical Basis of Blessing on the website. From the Home page you can simply scroll up to the third teaching window The Deeper Hebrew & Jewish Basis of the Bible from A-Z.
Click or tap the window title, please click or tap the window title again and the window will open. Simply scroll down to B Blessing.
For tithing simply please scroll down to T Tithing.
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