Wednesday, December 28, 2005
The Chronicles of Moses
"When a prophet of the LORD is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams.
But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house.
With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD.
Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?"
But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house.
With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD.
Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?"
(Numbers 12:6-8 NIV)
The first five books of the Bible are the foundation of the Christian faith. Moses' The Pentateuch (meaning "five-volumed book") goes together like C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia or J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. But did you know that the Hebrew titles of the individual books are not the same as the English titles? The Hebrew titles are actually the first few words of each book.
Genesis is Greek in origin and comes from the word geneseos, which means 'birth' or 'genealogy'. The Hebrew title is bereshith, which means 'in beginning'.
Exodus is a Latin word derived from Greek Exodos, which means 'exit'. The Hebrew title is we'elleh shemoth, which means 'these are the names of'.
Leviticus comes also from Greek and means 'relating to the Levites'. The Hebrew title is wayyiqra', which means 'and he called'.
Numbers is oddly named. It is named for the census lists of chapters 1 and 26. The Hebrew title might do better justice to the content. Bemidbar, the Hebrew title, means 'in the desert'.
Deuteronomy is said to have come from a mistranslation of a phrase in Dt 17:18. Deuteronomy means 'repetition of the law'. The Hebrew title is 'elleh haddebarim, which means 'these are the words'.
How wonderful it is to still have this collection!
The first five books of the Bible are the foundation of the Christian faith. Moses' The Pentateuch (meaning "five-volumed book") goes together like C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia or J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. But did you know that the Hebrew titles of the individual books are not the same as the English titles? The Hebrew titles are actually the first few words of each book.
Genesis is Greek in origin and comes from the word geneseos, which means 'birth' or 'genealogy'. The Hebrew title is bereshith, which means 'in beginning'.
Exodus is a Latin word derived from Greek Exodos, which means 'exit'. The Hebrew title is we'elleh shemoth, which means 'these are the names of'.
Leviticus comes also from Greek and means 'relating to the Levites'. The Hebrew title is wayyiqra', which means 'and he called'.
Numbers is oddly named. It is named for the census lists of chapters 1 and 26. The Hebrew title might do better justice to the content. Bemidbar, the Hebrew title, means 'in the desert'.
Deuteronomy is said to have come from a mistranslation of a phrase in Dt 17:18. Deuteronomy means 'repetition of the law'. The Hebrew title is 'elleh haddebarim, which means 'these are the words'.
How wonderful it is to still have this collection!
# posted by Wesley Son of Cornelius @ 3:24 PM 
