Showing posts with label tanakh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tanakh. Show all posts

Monday 6 June 2016

Ketuvim, Writings, Hagiographa, Five Megillot and Messianic Scriptures

The Aleppo Codex is a medieval manuscript of t...
The Aleppo Codex is a medieval manuscript of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), associated with Rabbi Aaron Ben Asher. The Masoretic scholars wrote it in the early 10th century, probably in Tiberias, Israel. It is in book form and contains the vowel points and grammar points (nikkudot) that specify the pronunciation of the ancient Hebrew letters to preserve the chanting tradition. It is perhaps the most historically important Hebrew manuscript in existence. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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In the Tanakh we do find the first session or Torah containing five books: Genesis (Bereshith), Exodus (Shemoth), Leviticus (Wayyiqra), Numbers (Bemidvar), and Deuteronomy (Devarim).
As second session we get the Neviʾim (or Prophets) comprising eight books subdivided into the Former Prophets, containing the four historical works, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, and the Latter Prophets, the oracular discourses of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve (Minor—i.e., smaller) Prophets — Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. the Twelve (minor prophets) were all formerly written on a single scroll and thus reckoned as one book.

Though the acronym Tanakh is derived from the names of the three divisions of the Hebrew Bible: Torah (Instruction, or Law, also called the Pentateuch), Neviʾim (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings), the third part of the Tanakh, or the Ketuvim, was long not considered part of the Holy or Set-apart Scriptures. Those books were referred to “the other books of our fathers,” “the rest of the books” by Ben Sira. Philo speaks simply of “other writings” and Josephus of “the remaining books.”

A widespread practice of entitling the entire Scriptures “the Torah and the Prophets” indicates a considerable hiatus between the canonization of the Prophets and the Ketuvim.  they were composed over a long period of time - from before the Babylonian Exile in the early 6th century b.c.e. to the middle of the 2nd century c.e.. Unlike the Torah and the Neviʾim (Prophets), which were canonized as groups, depending on their popularity the books of the Ketuvim became canonised seperately at different times until seen as one big unit in the 2nd century c.e..
Some scholars argue that the Ketuvim was fixed by the Hasmonean dynasty, while others argue it was not fixed until the second century CE or even later. { Philip R. Davies in The Canon Debate, page 50: "With many other scholars, I conclude that the fixing of a canonical list was almost certainly the achievement of the Hasmonean dynasty." + McDonald & Sanders, The Canon Debate, 2002, page 5, cited are Neusner's Judaism and Christianity in the Age of Constantine, pages 128–145, and Midrash in Context: Exegesis in Formative Judaism, pages 1–22.}


The First Ketuvim, or Ketuvim (Ketuvim Aleph) (Hebrew), Writings (English), Hagiographa (Greek), the third division of the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament is divided into four sections.

The Ketuvim includes:

poetical books Sifrei Emet (an acronym of the titles in Hebrew, איוב, משלי, תהלים yields Emet אמ"ת, which is also the Hebrew for "truth") with Psalms (Tehillim), Proverbs (Mishlei), and Job (Iyyôbh);

the Five Megillot, or Scrolls which have been grouped together according to the annual cycle of their public reading in the synagogue; with Song of Solomon, Shīr Hashīrīm  also known as Song of Songs (Passover), Ruth  (Shābhû‘ôth), Lamentations of Jeremiah or Eikhah (Ninth of Av) [Also called Kinnot in Hebrew], Ecclesiastes Qōheleth (Sukkôth), and Esther (Pûrîm);

and the books of prophecy (Daniel), (like Ezra, significant portions in Aramaic);

and history ( Ezra, Nehemiah, and I and II Chronicles or Divrei ha-Yamim, frequently referring to the “Torah of Moses” and exhibiting a familiarity with all the five books of the Pentateuch.).

The Babylonian Talmud (Bava Batra 14b–15a) gives their order as Ruth, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Lamentations of Jeremiah, Daniel, Scroll of Esther, Ezra, Chronicles.

In Tiberian Masoretic codices, including the Aleppo Codex and the Leningrad Codex, and often in old Spanish manuscripts as well, the order is Chronicles, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations of Jeremiah, Esther, Daniel, Ezra.

In later years "hidden writings" or "hidden books" were by some also taken as sacred biblical literature under the name Apocrypha or Deuterocanonical but found non-canonical in Judaism and Protestantism.

The1st Ketuvim or Kethuvim Aleph being a miscellaneous collection of liturgical poetry, secular love poetry, wisdom literature, history, apocalyptic literature, a short story, and a romantic tale, received in later years some additional literature of some good and bad revelations and some letters, which became called the 2nd Ketuvim (2nd Writings) or Messianic Scriptures, the New testament.

Some Jewish sects, inclusive Messianic Jews, found some letters by the disciples of the Jewish rabbi Jeshua (Jesus Christ) very interesting to be part of writings (Ketuvim) for exhortation.
 
Jesus came from an Essene background and his pupils or followers wrote those books and created also a tightly nit organisation with an historically based Messiah which became the base for the Christian groups of Christendom. the Essenes probably were killed or forced to flee from their wilderness community c. 68 c.e., yet some of their ideas can still be traced in the ministry of the Essene John the baptist and in the thought worldliterature of the New Testament which became considered the 2nd Ketuvim or Ketuvim Bet, having the "good story" (Good News) or "gospels" (an authoritative proclamation), letters of Paul (Pauline letters), the so-caled Catholic Letters (i.e. James, Peter, John and Jude) were also added seperately until the 4rd century.
 
The Revelation (i.e. Apocalypse) to John is an answer in apocalyptic terms to the needs of the church in time of persecution, as it awaits the end-time expected in the near future. As in the rest of the 2nd Writings or New Testament, the starting point of eschatological hope is the saving act of God in Jesus, a historical centre pointing towards historical developments that will bring about the establishment of Gods Kingdom and vindication of his people, ransomed by the blood of Christ, the Lamb who was slain.
 
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Dutch version / Nederlandse versie: Ketoeviem, Ketuvim, Geschriften, Hagiographa, Megillot en Messiaanse Geschriften

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Please do find following articles to read:

  1. How to look for and how to handle the Truth
  2. Are there certain books essential to come to faith
  3. The Bible: God’s Word or pious myth?
  4. Written down in God’s Name for righteousness 
  5. No prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation
  6. Words of God to stand and to be followed and to believe
  7. Why believing the Bible 
  8. Of the many books Only the Bible can transform
  9. Appointed to be read 
  10. Power in the life of certain
  11. Life and an assembly of books
  12. Backbone book
  13. Collection of books
  14. Hidden books
  15. A collection of holy writings to show God and His Works
  16. Reliability of message appears from honesty writers
  17. Reliability of message appears from honesty writers
  18. Life and an assembly of books
  19. One not without the other
  20. Recommended articles about the Book of books the Bible
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Monday 7 November 2011

Hashem השם, Hebrew for "the Name"

In Judaism, the name and titels of God are more than a distinguishing title; they represent the Jewish conception of the divine nature, and of the relationship of God to the Jewish people and to the world.

Those who copied the scrolls were avare of their difficult but important part to keep all Names and titles and each word correct. To demonstrate the sacredness of the name and titles of God, and as a means of showing respect and reverence for them, the scribes of sacred texts treated them with absolute sanctity when writing and speaking them. The various titles for God in Judaism represent God as He is known, as well as the divine aspects which are attributed to Him.

File:Tetragrammaton benediction.png

יברכך יהוה וישמרך
יאר יהוה פניו אליך ויחנך
ישא יהוה פניו אליך וישם לך שלום
"May YHWH bless you and keep you; may YHWH cause his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; may YHWH lift up his countenance upon you and grant you peace."

Many are confused and take titles for names but the Tetragammaton YHWH stands for the only One Name (Jehovah/Yahweh) which is the only proper "name of God" in the Tanakh, in the sense that Abraham or Sarah are proper names by which you call a person. Whereas words such as Elohim (god, or authority), El (mighty one), Shaddai (almighty), Adonai (master), Elyon (most high), Avinu (our father), etc. are not names but titles, highlighting different aspects of YHWH, and the various roles which God has. This is similar to how someone may be called 'father', 'husband', 'brother', 'son', etc, but their personal name is the only one that can be correctly identified as their actual designation. In the Tanakh, YHWH is the personal name of the God of Israel, whereas other 'names' are titles which are ascribed to God.

Through the years it became the custom to speak about God as over the master or the "gentleman", for which in the Roman catholic (katholische) Church in the 4° Century agreed with the local rulers to put on a resemblance with the then most important god "Lord" as Baal also was named.

In the Judaisme, one chose the word "Master" or the Hebrew word for "Gentleman" Hashem above the word for "Bale" "Baal", "Lord" in English "Heer" in Dutch. Therefore we still would prefer to better use the word "Master" "Hashem" instead of "Lord" what refers to the idol Baal. 

Halakha requires that secondary rules be placed around the primary law, to reduce the chance that the main law will be broken. As such, it is common Jewish practice to restrict the use of the word Adonai to prayer only. In conversation, many Jewish people, even when not speaking Hebrew, will call God "HaShem", השם, which is Hebrew for "the Name" (this appears in Leviticus 24:11).
"And the Yisra’ĕlite woman’s son blasphemed the Name (Hashem), and cursed. So they brought him to Mosheh. Now his mother’s name was Shelomith the daughter of Diḇri, of the tribe of Dan." (Leviticus 24:11 The Scriptures 1998+)

Many Jews extend this prohibition to some of the other titles for the Most High like:

Adonai (אֲדֹנָי) from adon "lord, owner",
Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh אהיה אשר אהיה (I am that I am),
El  אל (deity),
Elah  אֵלָה (awesome),

Eloah אלוהּ ("a god", as opposed to Allah meaning "The God" and in Aramaic (Elaha)),

Elohim  אלהים ("He is the Power (singular) over powers (plural)") For these reasons many Trinitarians cite the apparent plurality of elohim as evidence for the basic Trinitarian doctrine of the Trinity. This was a traditional position but there are some modern Christian theologians who consider this to be an exegetical fallacy.

`Elyon עליון ("supreme"),
Roi (El Roi) “seeing". To Hagar, God revealed Himself as “The God Who sees".

Shaddai [ El Shaddai was therefore the "god of Shaddai"] (Shaddai was a late Bronze Age Amorite city on the banks of the Euphrates river, in northern Syria.)

Shekhinah שכינה "Sakina سكينة" ( presence or manifestation of God which has descended to "dwell" among humanity)

Yah,

YHWH Tzevaot (tzevaot or sabaoth: "hosts" or "armies", Hebrew: צבאות)

HaMakom המקום ("The Omnipresent" (literally, The Place)


Jews will add additional sounds to alter the pronunciation of a name when using it outside of a liturgical context, such as replacing the "h" with a "k" in names of God such as "kel" and "elokim".
While other names, or better titles, of God in Judaism are generally restricted to use in a liturgical context, HaShem is used in more casual circumstances.
HaShem is used by Orthodox Jews so as to avoid saying Adonai outside of a ritual context. For example, when some Orthodox Jews make audio recordings of prayer services, they generally substitute HaShem for Adonai; a few others have used Amonai. [Read more about this in:
Stanley S. Seidner, "HaShem: Uses through the Ages". Unpublished paper, Rabbinical Society Seminar, Los Angeles, CA, 1987.] On some occasions, similar sounds are used for authenticity, as in the movie Ushpizin, where Abonai Elokenu [sic] is used throughout.

Dutch version / Nederlandse versie:

Monday 19 September 2011

Some Restored Name Versions

While the HalleluYah Scriptures is based on the 1993 version of Dr. Chris Kostner "The Scriptures", the IRS or Institute for Scripture Research in 2009 updated their 1998 version of the same basic work.They tried to have some Improvements to the text - seeking a yet closer equivalent to the literal meaning of the original language. Hebrew names of Book Titles they now placed on right hand pages with corresponding traditional English names on the left hand pages - making it easier for you to find the place, and easier to learn the Hebrew titles. (Hebrew names are also used where possible for annual festival days, as well as being used, minimally, for ambiguous words).
The books in the Tanakh are arranged according to the original order of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings.Words and names, as far as possible, have been corrected in order to eliminate any names of idolatrous origin.

The Hebraic Roots Version Scriptures HRV => The HRV Scriptures formerly known as the Hebraic Roots Version Complete Messianic Study Bible is published by the Institute for Scripture Research.

The new Messianic Bible

"The Ketuvim Netzarim" ("Writings of the Nazarenes") => a Messianic Sacred Name Edition  translated from the original Aramaic and Hebrew.

The Word of Yahweh <= The basic text of the Word of Yahweh is based upon standard English language versions of the scriptures, which in turn are built upon the oldest available Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek manuscripts. This version has retained much of the old English grammatical structure used by many English translations.
The personal name of the Heavenly Father, Yahweh, was inspired into the Hebrew and Aramaic texts of the Old Testament nearly 7000 times. This includes 134 instances where the Masoretic scribes admittedly changed Yahweh to the more common Hebrew adonai. In all instances where Lord, or God was substituted for the Sacred Name in the English text they have properly inserted Yahweh. In addition to the many times the Father’s name is rendered as Lord or God, there are many more instances where these terms were used as translations of the Hebrew words elohim and adonai. Because there is no accurate translation of elohim they have transliterated that title into the English. As for adonai, sovereign or master serves as an adequate translation in most cases.

The Scriptures is by some presented as an exciting new literal translation of the Bible in English. This translation differs significantly from most common English translations in that it has restored the original book order of the Tanakh (Old Testament) and arranged them according to the original order of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings.
The traditional rendering of the word "Law" has been restored with "Torah" throughout the translation, retaining the richness and full meaning of this word in the Hebrew language.
Words and names, as far as possible, have been corrected in order to eliminate any names of idolatrous origin.
The Names of all the books in the Tanakh and the Messianic Scriptures are now restored to the original Hebrew names, including the books of the Torah: Bereshith (Genesis), Shemoth (Exodus), Wayiqra (Leviticus); the books of the Nevi'im: Yeshayahu (Isaiah), Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah), Zakaryah (Zachariah); the books of the Kethuvim: Tehillim (Psalms), and Mishle (Proverbs); and last but not least the books of the Messianic Scriptures: Mattithyahu (Matthew), Yohannan (John), Kepha (Peter), and many more.
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In the article I go deeper in on the difficulties of using the Hebrew signs and wonder how far we do have to go in a Bible translation to stay true to the original.

Do you think we have to use all the Hebrew names everywhere for all the persons and book-names? Do we also have to go so far to take out all the heathen or describing words when there is the one Hebrew word? To use Ruah for Spirit looks all right but Shabbatoth for weeks?


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2016 linkupdate 

Wednesday 23 December 2009

Message from the family tree in the Tanakh

From Adam to Noah, ten generations. At the time of Noah there was made an end to a world. The ten generations of this world view, if we translate the names, show us the whole message of the gospel.

(Some words have more than one translation. Not all translations are listed here.)
1. Adam = Man
2. Seth = Is placed
3. Enosh = Mortal
4. Kenan = Sorrow
5. Mahalalel = Blessed God
6. Jared = Shall come down
7. Enoch = teaching / Anointed
8. Methuselah = His death brings
9. Lamech = Flavors / Taste
10. Noah = Rest / Comfort

Man is as a mortal placed (in) pain
but the blessed / praised God
shall His teachings / Anointed / Messiah do come down.
His death will bring peace and comfort and will let it taste.

Dutch original > Nederlands origineel > Boodschap van de geslachtslijn in de Tenach