The language of ivrit ( עברית ) Exodus 3, Post #1
Welcome to my Hebrew reading & language series.
Exodus 3:1-6
And now we are starting chapter three in Exodus. Moshe (Moses) heads up the mountain where mal'akh YHVH (the angel of YHVH) appeared to him in flame of fire in the midst of the bush. He saw that the bush was burning but was not being burnt up. Moshe turned aside to find out why the bush was not being burned.
That is when God chose to speak to him. He called out to Moshe using only his name. Moshe responded and God told him to come near and take off his sandals because the place he where he was standing is Holy Ground.
He introduced himself to Moshe as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and Moshe hid his face because he was afraid to look at the God. Moshe did not want to look at "The God" and I love that "The" is used as if to say the others are faking it. They are not gods at all.
The other thing that strikes me is how the messenger (called an 'angel' in English) is the one who appears as a burning bush, then Elohim speaks once the oddity is observed.
Today's reading
English
Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, "I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned." When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." Then he said, "Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, f or the place on which you are standing is holy ground."
And he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
Hebrew
The story continues next as God brings up slavery...
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Every idolatrous culture knew that their idols were not gods, but all they "acted as if" and pretended together, to the point where it was socially unacceptable to speak against their statues. Moses experienced THE God, who spoke to him without form or image, and began by teaching him about holiness and proper behavior on holy ground. Moses didn't have to "act as if" because he saw the fire, he saw the bush, he heard the voice and the voice responded to him. He spoke to God as a man speaks to a man. He hid his face, because he was standing before pure righteousness.
Amen. We all do a little of that "as if" when we go about saying, "Well, my god would never allow (x, y or z) to happen..." but in a sense, we are imagining the god we believe in instead of reading diligently about YHVH as he speaks directly to us in the scriptures. If we do read it, we find out that he did allow the apostles to die horrific deaths, and many times "his people" would even sacrifice their own children to other gods. He did not stop them from doing it but he called his prophets to warn the evil people to stop, or warn them of impending judgement for what they are doing. He gave everyone free will and he doesn't take back his word or his gifts.
It is really great that you come here every week and take in the trinkets of Hebrew that I leave for you.
Thank you.
I love any thought provoking discussion and these posts allow me to look intently into the scripture in it's original language and every time I see it with fresh eyes, I see something I never noticed before. So thank you for posting these each week!
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