Words have meaning, or as one Torah teacher say, “meanings have words!” Words are born out of the spirit and thus contain Life or death, and those who love it shall eat of it - Prov. 18:21.
The Hebraic mind-set, which will be the central theme of this blog, is very functional so therefore names and words perform a function describing something, not just giving it an identity. Again we can see this portrayed in the Name of Yeshua - His Name, as close as we can figure it out right now, describes His “Function”, His very reason for Being - His Name tells us that HE IS THE SALVATION OF YHWH, but his transliterated Greek Name, Jesus, has nothing to do with WHO HE IS, IT ONLY IDENTIFIES, AND LARGELY INCORRECTLY SO, THE MESSIAH FOLLOWED BY THE DENOMINATIONS.
It is a fact that we have all used words incorrectly in ignorance of their actual meaning, but as we grow, develop and learn one of the sure signs of that growth and maturity is the improvement of precision of one’s vocabulary. There should be no exception to this natural rule, not ever, in fact if there is it may very well indicate either lack of growth or REBELLION! Therefore I would posit that for those of us leaving the denominations behind us and progressing towards a more Torah observant lifestyle one should be able to mark the same signs of growth in our vocabulary as well.
So seeing as words do indeed contain life and death we should be extremely careful when using them, in fact we are going to be held accountable for every word that we use whether it be spoken, written, broadcast, texted or what ever, if it is communicated it is to be judged. Matt. 12:36.
This brings me now to the reason I feel the need to pen this blog - I have, in the course of my research on another matter, been drawn to the meaning of a particular word and its potential implications in our spiritual life and growth.
I am addressing this to people who are, have been or will later be parenting youngsters in their homes, and it is hoped that each one of us will lead our homes and fill our roles so as to be an example to others and especially our children, therefor it is expected that we will obviously require our children to learn and apply their education with due diligence, therefore I ask these question of each of us reading this blog:
Should we not also apply the same criteria we expect from our children to ourselves as well?
If so then as parents should we not educate ourselves and practice due diligence when looking for what is best and safest for our children?
It goes without saying that I believe we should, and especially when it comes to our children's education as this dictates their entire life's choice, this choice will in turn impact and affect our future generations and YHWH's Kingdom here on earth, which in and of itself is our Divinely mandated duty anyway.
So, if we can afford it, we send our children to the best, and most often private Christian schools which are usually referred to as GYMNASIUMS.
We have finally arrived at the word I want to now look at: Gymnasium.
Gymnasium is a word which today can refer to a place used for physical forms of exercise, or as in our case regarding this blog - a place of learning, or in Europe it is said to refer to a specific place which prepares a person for University entrance qualifications.
This word Gymnasium comes from Latin / Greek and originally referred to "the school for naked exercise", as was the culture of the more affluent Greeks regarding their sport at that time. But apart from being utilised obviously for the purpose of exercising in the nude, these Gymnasiums were also used as a place of intellectual discussions and debates, in other words these Gymnasiums were also used for philosophising, hopefully on these occasions this is not done in the nude.
We may ask what has that got to do with us today, we don't (hopefully) exercise nude in a gym or hold philosophical debates in Gyms today?
My answer may though may startle you.
If we fast forward that concept of a Greek and Roman Gymnasium to the present day educations systems we see the influence that the Greek mind-set is what our entire Western philosophy of life is built on, a mind-set or philosophy which we were all brought up in, and obviously this has impacted the western education systems. These systems of education naturally prepare us to think and reason so as to be accommodated and competitive in this world system we live in.
But here-in, in my opinion anyway, lies a very real problem for those truly seeking a return to Messiah Yeshua, a return to His Covenant and the Rule of His Kingdom through Torah (The Royal Law- James 2:8-20) as practiced by Yeshua and His Apostle; This Greek mind-set that we operate in in the Western Culture dominates every aspect of our education, politics, religion and society and is directly opposed to the Hebrew - Middle Eastern Biblical mind-set, the mind-set and culture of The Biblical age, it’s writers and obviously Yeshua Himself. To be honest I see a direct parallel between the original meaning of Gymnasium and what the word is used for today in the western educational system and ultimately the society of our humanistic democratic(?) Western world! See Rev. 3:14-18.
Turning to the Word of Truth, we are told in Gen 3:10 that when Adam and Chavah used their own “human-rights” to reasoning about the fruit of the tree of knowledge and evil they based their decisions on their knowledge, their understanding, their human thought process and reasoning without the help or input of YHWH - in other words they philosophised**, with the result that thereafter they immediately knew that “they were naked!”
How did they know that they were naked?
Because once they used their own logic, their own reasoning the Ruach, The Spirit of YHWH, departed them and they were no longer “clothed (protected) by Him” - ETERNAL DEATH HAD NOW SET IN!
It was not as if Adam never knew of this prohibition contained within The Covenant or the penal conditions if said Covenant was contravened because we read of this warning being given to Adam, and translated in Gen. 2:17 as “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest of it thou shalt surely die!” However the original Hebrew uses the word “die” twice in this verse giving the meaning that death was not instantaneous but rather progressive “dying thou shall surely die.” So we see very clearly that when man uses his own mind without the assistance or input of YHWH “dying he will then surely die!”
The Torah tells us that to touch death, or even come into its’ proximity is to make oneself unclean and unable to enter the Presence of YHWH (Num. 19:11-22); this Scripture also says that should one NOT PURIFY HIMSELF, THAT PERSON SHALL BE CUT OFF FROM ISRAEL - that can mean to be put to death! This is a very serious matter and that is why we cannot come before YHWH in the flesh because our flesh is dead and corrupted, Yeshua, our High Priest in the Order of Melchezedek, intercedes on our behalf.
In the Brit Chadasah, (N/T) we read in 2 Thes. 1:8-10; Matt. 7:21-23; Matt. 25:41 the consequences of those who are in SIN, those dead in their spirits and who are thus removed and separated from the presence of YHWH eternally.
So now that Adam and Chavah were “DEAD” in spirit and “DYING” in flesh YHWH’s Ruach departed and that is how Adam and Chavah knew that they were “NAKED” - their spirit was now “DEAD” and their untainted and eternal flesh was already in the process of putrefying, just as is the case with every person on the face of the earth today (Jer. 17:9) - AND THUS THEY WERE, AND AS WE ARE ALL, SURELY DYING!” The very Presence of YHWH, The Creator of Life Himself had now left them and in His absence was this indescribable and empty void - Eternal Death and an unrepairable relationship had now entered the world, the absolute and complete opposite of LIFE ETERNAL, and fellowship with LIFE was now impossible through any method fallen man could apply.
I believe the question asked of Adam by YHWH and contained in Genesis 3:8-12 was two fold, firstly to get their admission of their guilt for His Judicial and Righteous purposes (that is for another day) and secondly rhetorical for our benefit today.
Creator and Man we now “divorced” for eternity, only YHWH Himself could repair this breach. Man was now banished from the Garden for his own good and the good of YHWH’s creation; with this banishment man was now removed from the presence and use of The Tree of Life. To banish this now mortal man from The Tree of Life was, as I have stated and in my opinion, an act of mercy on behalf of YHWH because just try and imagine all of mankind living with dead spirits contained in eternally living but eternally rotting bodies, unable to die and all the while separated from YHWH and His Life and Glory for the rest of eternity!!
Thus as alluded to above all of mankind being the off-spring of the 1st Adam and Chavah in the flesh have, since the fall, all been born with a spirit that is dead in sin and trespass (Eph. 2:5), and being dead our spirits we are unable to even conceive that our spirits are in fact dead, and only when YHWH Elohim, once again through His Ruach of Life, Yeshua (Gal. 4:1-7), the same Ruach which raised Yeshua from the dead, stirs our dead spirit to Life, can we then choose to draw closer to Him or not. The choice is and always will be ours.
In Gen 3:10 which I wrote of above I hi-lighted the word “Clothed”, this is a word which can be used in the context of a Covenant relationship referring to a Husband or a King providing clothing or covering for His wife or subjects. We read in Gen. 3:21 that the beginning of the restoration of The Covenant between YHWH and His People, through His Grace, begins with Him providing Adam and Chavah with clothes made of skins from an innocent slain animal pointing towards the Sacrifice that Yeshua would pay for us in the fullness of time so as to clothe us and hide our nakedness and sin.
We read in Exodus 21 that if a man takes a Hebrew slave, either male or female, he, the “owner” of the slaves, is responsible for their clothes and welfare, this obviously first and foremost applies to YHWH our Elohim and Father. Matt. 6:25 onwards tells us that we who are of YHWH must not be concerned about what we eat, drink, wear because the pagans (those not of YHWH’s Covenant) worry about these things, but for those in YHWH’s Covenant He will provide, we must just seek His Kingdom and His Righteousness.
Going back to Gen. 3:10 we see that the word translated as naked - The lack of protection and covering, the lack of provisions from our Creator, King and Elohim, is derived from the Hebrew word (H5903 - eyrom), this word in turn is derived from the root word (H6191); in turn we see that this word H6191 is also the root for the word CRAFTY or SUBTLE translated from (H6175 - arum) and is used to describe the Serpent in the Garden (Gen. 3:1) who is described as more “CRAFTY” than all the other creatures, so CRAFTY, which is derived from the same root word as to be “NAKED”(Gen.3:10) - points to the absence of The Ruach in the works of the serpent, the absence of Life and absence of the presence of YHWH Immanuel, our redeemer Yeshua in The Spirit, and that absence of The Spirit of Life means to be naked and dead in our sin and trespass - Eph. 2:5, 11-13.
Looking at “NAKED” as translated from the Greek and seen in Rev. 3:17 when referring to the Assembly of Laodicea and other words we can deduce the following:
The word KAI (G2532) is used in some translations as “AND” (“..knowest though not that thou art wretched, and (Kai) miserable, and (Kai) poor, and (Kai) blind, and (Kai) NAKED.”
Now the word KAI, according to the Strongs, is used 9264 times and this word, Kai, is “Apparently a primary particle, having a copulative and sometimes also a cumulative force; and, also, even, so, then, too, etc.; often used in connection (or composition) with other particles or small words: - and, also, both, but, even, for, if, indeed, likewise, moreover, or, so, that, then, therefore, when, yea, yet.”; and can thus also be translated as either AND or similarly as THEREFORE or THUS or together (in connection or composition) as; and both; and then, and even, and also etc.
Now in most of the translations of Rev. 3:17 the word Kai is used with an emphasis on the copulative application, BUT if we use this word Kai in the cumulative form we have this version of verse 17 - (“..knowest though not that thou art wretched, therefore (Kai) miserable, and (Kai) poor, even (Kai) blind, and therefore (Kai) NAKED.”
I believe that this, or a similar rendering of the Rev. 3:17 translation could be considered not only in the light of Rev. 3:18 where Yeshua advises the Assembly to buy from Him Gold, meaning Divine Sanction/Authority of His Father, and then The Ruach will “CLOTHE” them (See John 14:15-18; 1 John 5:3), but also in the light of Scripture and the Biblical meanings of the condition the Laodiceans are in:
They are wretched (G5005 - Talaiporos- from the roots to mean the perfect balance of trial and testing): Jeshurun waxed fat- Deut. 32:15
They are miserable (G1652 - eleeinos - deserving of pity) - Pity often is derived because of the pitied person having done a regrettable or blameworthy act:
They are poor (G4434 - phtkhos - a cringing beggar) possibly because the Laodiceans’ are “slaves” to their perceived wealth and lifestyle given to them anyway by YHWH:
They are blind (G5185 - tuphlos - blind) Blind here is derived from to be blinded by pride whilst slowly burning out and not even realising it:
They are naked (G1131 - gumnos - nude (absolutely or relatively, literally or figuratively) Just as with Adam and Chavah, they are Spiritually naked and thus Yeshua advises them to sell all so as to buy His Gold, His Rule for their lives.
Thus the Laodiceans’ are spiritually wretched, miserable and poor yet they are blind to their condition, indeed they are naked, they do not even see that they do not have the “covering” of YHWH over them. If they do not repent they are in danger of dying spiritually, in danger of having the Tree of Life denied them just as with Adam and Chavah in the Garden.
True repentance, salvation is achieved in and through the works of Messiah, BUT, and I know many will see red flags now, True Repentance will always show FRUIT, Fruit is a sign of Growth, and growth can only be achieved through SANCTIFICATION!
SANCTIFICATION cannot be achieved by a robotic following of the Torah or of a man-made and developed Church System, SANCTIFICATION can only be achieved through the transforming of the mind by “RENEWING” of it!
RENEWING (G342 -anakainosis) as spoken of in Rom. 12:2 is related to the Greek word G2537 - KAINOS - which is the word used in the translation for “Brit Chadasah” (or Apostolic Writings - New Testament), so we are able to deduce that this “RENEWING” of the mind can only be done by the work of The Ruach HaKodesh - we can seek, and hopefully desire this renewing of the mind as our spirits are stirred through The Ruach of The Father and Yeshua BUT The Ruach, as requested from The Father by Yeshua alone, does this work of renewal in Truth and Righteousness - only He brings Life to our dead spirits by GRACE through FAITH - Eph. 2:4-10.
This brings us back to the word Gymnasium - the word which got me thinking and writing this blog. The word Gymnasium, which is freely used today with pride (in Namibia “Gymnasium” is usually applied to a private, bordering on elitist school which is out of the reach of most of the population).
Most private “Gymnasiums” in Namibia are based equally on a Christian education system aligned with the the National State policies which are all based on Western educational humanistic philosophies.
The Christian basis which these “Gymnasiums” espouse are all without exception theologically practising replacement principled ideologies and are producing a group of students much like the Laodicean communities, except that today they are not even applying The Torah as the Laodiceans’ would have done.
We are allowing our children to be stripped naked spiritually by the concept of “Gymnasiums”, a concept which prepares them for a Western World system which is in complete denial of The Torah, of The Biblically Hebraic Messiah Yeshua, a system built on a philosophy which relies on the thought, reasoning, judgement and application of the mind of man AND NOT OF YHWH ELOHIM.
Do you see the parallel.
Well done you few parents out there who are making massive sacrifices to bring your children up in the way they should go and know this that when they get older they will not venture far from the TREE, The Path they should walk in! Prov. 22:6.
Shabbat shalom.
Bo’az
** Philosophy:
· the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline.
· a theory or attitude that acts as a guiding principle for behaviour.
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