Remember the Sabbath day, to KEEP it holy. Ex.20:8
WHAT does that MEAN??
Having an accurate understanding of the words used in the Scripture is ESSENTIAL in having an accurate understanding of the Scripture itself and what it is saying/meaning. I have found an excellent tool for helping my understanding in the Hebrew Scriptures; the ANCIENT HEBREW RESEARCH CENTER website by Jeff A. Benner ( http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/ ). I am learning the ancient Hebrew language through his website, as well as gaining valuable information about the culture and philosophy of the ancient Hebrews. I can not express ENOUGH what a difference his teachings have made for me! Below, is some of the information he has concerning the point of this topic...
Having an accurate understanding of the words used in the Scripture is ESSENTIAL in having an accurate understanding of the Scripture itself and what it is saying/meaning. I have found an excellent tool for helping my understanding in the Hebrew Scriptures; the ANCIENT HEBREW RESEARCH CENTER website by Jeff A. Benner ( http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/ ). I am learning the ancient Hebrew language through his website, as well as gaining valuable information about the culture and philosophy of the ancient Hebrews. I can not express ENOUGH what a difference his teachings have made for me! Below, is some of the information he has concerning the point of this topic...
"On a frequent basis we attach a meaning of a word from the Bible based on our own language and culture to a word that is not the meaning of the Hebrew word behind the translation. This is often a result of using our modern western thinking process for interpreting the Biblical text. For proper interpretation of the Bible it is essential that we take our definitions for words from an Ancient Hebraic perspective. Our modern western minds often work with words that are purely abstract or mental while the Hebrew's vocabulary was filled with words that painted pictures of concrete concepts. By reading the Biblical text with a proper Hebrew vocabulary the text comes to life revealing the authors intended meaning. Below each entry is a number corresponding to the "Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible" entry for the word. " ~Jeff A. Benner
*taken from the "Word Meanings" page of the Ancient Hebrew Research Center website- Jeff A. Benner
(the words are written in red to the left of the page)
http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/27_home.html
Ancient Hebrew Word Meanings
Keep ~ shamar
By Jeff A. Benner
Keep ~ shamar
Many times I have heard it said that no one can keep all of the
commands but, this is not true. From an Hebraic perspective of the word shamar
behind the English word keep, it is possible to keep all of the commands. The
problem lies in our understanding of keep as meaning obedience, but this is not
the meaning of shamar. It should first be recognized that not all of the
commands of the torah are for all people. Some are only for the priests, some
are only for men and some are only for women. Some are only for children and
some are for leaders. But, it should also be understood that even if a command
is not for you, you can still keep it. The original picture painted by the
Hebrew word shamar is a sheepfold. When a shepherd was out in the wilderness
with his flock, he would gather thorn bushes to erect a corral to place his
flock in at night. The thorns would deter predators and thereby protect and
guard the sheep from harm. The word shamiyr derived from this root means a
thorn. The word shamar means to guard and protect and can be seen in the Aaronic
blessing, May Yahweh bless you and keep (guard and protect) you. One keeps the
commands of God by guarding and protecting them.
AHLB# 2853 (V)
(the words are written in red to the left of the page)
http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/27_home.html
Ancient Hebrew Word Meanings
Keep ~ shamar
By Jeff A. Benner
Keep ~ shamar
Many times I have heard it said that no one can keep all of the
commands but, this is not true. From an Hebraic perspective of the word shamar
behind the English word keep, it is possible to keep all of the commands. The
problem lies in our understanding of keep as meaning obedience, but this is not
the meaning of shamar. It should first be recognized that not all of the
commands of the torah are for all people. Some are only for the priests, some
are only for men and some are only for women. Some are only for children and
some are for leaders. But, it should also be understood that even if a command
is not for you, you can still keep it. The original picture painted by the
Hebrew word shamar is a sheepfold. When a shepherd was out in the wilderness
with his flock, he would gather thorn bushes to erect a corral to place his
flock in at night. The thorns would deter predators and thereby protect and
guard the sheep from harm. The word shamiyr derived from this root means a
thorn. The word shamar means to guard and protect and can be seen in the Aaronic
blessing, May Yahweh bless you and keep (guard and protect) you. One keeps the
commands of God by guarding and protecting them.
AHLB# 2853 (V)
Ancient Hebrew Word Meanings
Holy ~ qadosh
By Jeff A. Benner
Holy ~ qadosh
When we use the word holy, as in a holy person, we usually associate
this with a righteous or pious person. If we use this concept when interpreting
the word holy in the Hebrew Bible then we are misreading the text as this is not
the meaning of the Hebrew word qadosh. Qadosh literally means "to be set apart
for a special purpose". A related word, qedesh, is one who is also set apart for
a special purpose but not in the same way we think of "holy" but is a male
prostitute (Deut 23:17). Israel was qadosh because they were separated by the
other nations as servants of God. The furnishings in the tabernacle were qadosh
as they were not to be used for anything except for the work in the tabernacle.
While we may not think of ourselves as "holy" we are in fact set apart from the
world to be God's servants and representatives.
AHLB# 2700 (c)
******
Obviously, the BEST way to understand the Scriptures is to UNDERSTAND the LANGUAGE it is written in... however, very few English speaking people understand the (modern) Hebrew language, and I would dare say even FEWER understand the ancient Biblical Hebrew language. THEREFORE, we must to do very best we can to understand to the extent we are able-- using some type of TRANSLATION of the Hebrew Scriptures. Using the King James translation, Ex. 20:8 says, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." And applying the knowledge of the more accurate meanings of the two words above (Keep/shamar; Holy/qadosh) used in that translation, we can gather that a closer definition/meaning of that verse is about GUARDING the Sabbath day and MAKING SURE it is set apart and protected as a different day from all the rest. We are able to DO that by adhering to YHWH's instructions concerning that day :)
* a little something extra...
I am currently in the (LOOOONG) process of trying to learn the ancient Biblical Hebrew language, and I looked up this Scripture in the language it is written in... it says (transliterated....) "(?) et-yom hashabbat laqadosho"
Using the small understanding I have acquired so far, *my* amateur "interpretation" is this:
(?)= the first word I do not "know" for myself... I could look it up (and will), but I'm not going to put it right here because I wanted this little section be SOLELY *MY OWN* understanding (so far) from what *I've* learned-- anyone can look up definitions from a book (and there's probably no other way to learn)... but I wanted *this* to be from my personal efforts. [ it "probably" means "remember", "observe", "acknowledge"... something like that]
et-yom= et is a "word" used before a definite object of the verb, it has no meaning of itself-- it is merely an indicator of a DEFINITE object (example: it would be used before "THE book", but it would NOT be used before "A book"-- because THE book is speaking of a DEFINITE/PARTICULAR book, A book is speaking of any book).
yom is the word for "day".
hashabbat= ha is prefixed to this word, meaning "the".
shabbat is the word for "Sabbath".
laqadosho= la is prefixed to this word, meaning "to" or "for".
qadosh is the word for "holy"-- set apart.
o= this is suffixed to this word and means "of him" or "his".
So, the transliteration of this Scripture would be: " [?] (the definite) day the Sabbath to/for holy-his"
An English rendering/translation of that would be: " [?] THE (definite) Sabbath day for it is His holy (set apart) day."
When I did this it was very thrilling and exciting for me to be able to SEE for *MYSELF* what the Scripture SAYS :D I can't explain how that feels and what that means to me... "I'm *DOING* it, I *AM* learning!! :D " *YEAH* And I noticed the "et" in front of day, THE day-- THE Sabbath day. NOT "a" Sabbath day... men have switched the Sabbath to fit their own purposes so many times throughout the centuries, but it's important that we guard THE Sabbath-- not just "a" Sabbath. It's not enough to take just any day of rest each week. It must be THE Sabbath. That's what I saw, anyway. AND... there was something else I saw, as well... did you catch it? Did you see it?? That one small letter at the end-- "o". It means "of him" or "his". I've never seen or heard ANY emphasis put on it being HIS day that He set apart for Himself, on this particular verse, before. I know in other places it talks about it being YHWH's Sabbath... but no one ever mentions it on THIS verse-- maybe because the King James translation leaves it out...?? But it was a *treasure* to me to find that! :D "o"-- HIS set apart Sabbath :D
:) <3 " (?) et-yom hashabbat laqadosho" ~ " (?) THE Sabbth day for it is HIS holy day" <3 :)
Using the small understanding I have acquired so far, *my* amateur "interpretation" is this:
(?)= the first word I do not "know" for myself... I could look it up (and will), but I'm not going to put it right here because I wanted this little section be SOLELY *MY OWN* understanding (so far) from what *I've* learned-- anyone can look up definitions from a book (and there's probably no other way to learn)... but I wanted *this* to be from my personal efforts. [ it "probably" means "remember", "observe", "acknowledge"... something like that]
et-yom= et is a "word" used before a definite object of the verb, it has no meaning of itself-- it is merely an indicator of a DEFINITE object (example: it would be used before "THE book", but it would NOT be used before "A book"-- because THE book is speaking of a DEFINITE/PARTICULAR book, A book is speaking of any book).
yom is the word for "day".
hashabbat= ha is prefixed to this word, meaning "the".
shabbat is the word for "Sabbath".
laqadosho= la is prefixed to this word, meaning "to" or "for".
qadosh is the word for "holy"-- set apart.
o= this is suffixed to this word and means "of him" or "his".
So, the transliteration of this Scripture would be: " [?] (the definite) day the Sabbath to/for holy-his"
An English rendering/translation of that would be: " [?] THE (definite) Sabbath day for it is His holy (set apart) day."
When I did this it was very thrilling and exciting for me to be able to SEE for *MYSELF* what the Scripture SAYS :D I can't explain how that feels and what that means to me... "I'm *DOING* it, I *AM* learning!! :D " *YEAH* And I noticed the "et" in front of day, THE day-- THE Sabbath day. NOT "a" Sabbath day... men have switched the Sabbath to fit their own purposes so many times throughout the centuries, but it's important that we guard THE Sabbath-- not just "a" Sabbath. It's not enough to take just any day of rest each week. It must be THE Sabbath. That's what I saw, anyway. AND... there was something else I saw, as well... did you catch it? Did you see it?? That one small letter at the end-- "o". It means "of him" or "his". I've never seen or heard ANY emphasis put on it being HIS day that He set apart for Himself, on this particular verse, before. I know in other places it talks about it being YHWH's Sabbath... but no one ever mentions it on THIS verse-- maybe because the King James translation leaves it out...?? But it was a *treasure* to me to find that! :D "o"-- HIS set apart Sabbath :D
:) <3 " (?) et-yom hashabbat laqadosho" ~ " (?) THE Sabbth day for it is HIS holy day" <3 :)