MTHB Part 3 - Abstract vs. Concrete

Shalom / haha Shalom and blessings if I were to give you a word like faithful does any image come to mind that would clearly portray the idea of faithful no probably not because it's impossible to create an image of faithful as it is an abstract word an abstract is something that cannot be sensed by the five senses now how about if I give you the word Rock sure that's easy because we can easily imagine a picture of a rock it's a concrete concept a concrete is the opposite of an abstract it is something that can be heard smelled tasted touched and see every Hebrew word phrase concept and idea is rooted in the concrete let me give you an example in 1st Samuel 2 verse 35 we read and I will raise me up a faithful priest that shall do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind and I will build him a sure house and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever now here we have the abstract word faithful all of the translations available today recognize that their readers are Westerners which are more comfortable with abstract concepts rather than concrete ones for this reason the concrete words and phrases and ideas of the Hebrew text are removed and replaced with abstract ones in the translation now the Hebrew word behind the word faithful is the verb am on now of Aman means secure and each Hebrew verb can have several different forms the niffle form is the passive and it means to be sick or we could translate that as firm the Hipple is causative to make secure and we can translate that as support the phrase faithful priest in Hebrew is Cohen net Mon now this is the niffle form so it literally means a firm priest now take a look at the phrase sure housed in the Hebrew that's Beit naman yep it's the exact same verb and verb form that we just looked at now Mon being the niffle form meaning firm the idea of being firm is a concrete concept and this can be seen in Isaiah 22 23 and I fastened him as a peg in a firm place here again is the niffle form of the verb I'm on net I'm on but let's plug in the literal meaning of these verbs into the text and read it again and I will raise me up a firm priest that shall do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind and I will build him a firm house and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever let's take a look at another example Deuteronomy 1 verse 32 yet in this thing he did not believe Jehovah your God belief another abstract word the Hebrew word is Maha meaning and this is the hill form the causative form of the verb am on and it means support so let's put that in the verse give it more of a concrete flavor to it yet in this thing you did not support Yahweh your God now notice that this slightly changes the meaning of the verse what does it mean to believe in God what does that mean to us it means that I I know that he's gonna do what he's gonna do and and I trust him to take care of things but now when we put the concrete meaning of that Hebrew verb in there it now shifts the responsibility onto ourselves if I say I support God that means that I have to do something to support him I'm often asked how do you know the Hebrews thought in concrete that's a fair question actually if anyone reads the Hebrew text rather than a Western translation it's actually pretty obvious let me demonstrate with just a few verses Exodus 5 verse 21 ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh very abstract but if we take the Hebrew text and read it literally then what we have is you have caused our smell to stink in front of Pharaoh now there's concreteness for you let's take a look another example Exodus 17 verse 14 write this for a memorial in a book and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua take the Hebrew translate it literally and what we have is right this memorial in a scroll and place it in the ears of yahushua joshua notice the difference there the hebrew concretely says write it on a scroll and then place it in the ears now while this is a literal translation does it have to be understood literally no because the Hebrews were very figurative this is how they expressed abstract ideas all abstracts in Hebrew are routed into something concrete so in the case of this verse they don't necessarily physically literally take the scroll and stick it in his ear but they read it and take the words that are written on the scroll and place them in the ears of yahushua okay another example exodus 40 verse 13 and thou shalt put and thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments and thou shalt anoint him and sanctify him that he may minister unto me in the priest's office all right again let's take the hebrew translate it literally into english and you will dress aha with the special garments and you will smear him with oil and you will set him apart as special and he will be adorned for me now because the mechanical translation is just that a mechanical translation the concreteness of the text is preserved allowing the reader to taste the Hebrew flavor of the text you

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Keywords: faithful, abstract, concrete, hebrew, thought, five, senses, priest, house, firm, aman, secure, niphil, hiphil, support, כהן, נאמן, kohen, ne'eman, בית, believe, god, jehovah, yahweh, מאמינם, western, anoint, sanctify, holy, adorn, Mechanical, translation

Id: edPEN63awto

Length: 7min 37sec (457 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 06 2009

Reddit Comments

[u/newappeal]

I have a firm belief in the nonsense of this video.

[u/[deleted]]

I like how the last example contains the word "special"