HEBREW WORD STUDY – SNOW
Job 38:22: “Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow hast thou seen the treasures of hail?”
Snow – Hebrew: shaleg: snow, to be white as snow.
True this is a metaphor, but Joshua 10:11 tell us that God did stop Israel’s enemies with snow and hail, that it made snow a literal treasure.
Still the beauty of the Old Testament and its poetry is that you can drill down further beyond its literal meaning and discover hidden treasures. For instance hail was often viewed as seeds falling from heaven and replanting the earth. Snow carries a very powerful symbolic meaning for the Jews. Jewish literature represents snow as the purist form of white and hence the purity of God and His wisdom. Trouble (Heb. tsar), particularly for old Job means the loss or potential loss of something of value. Battle and war often means the loss of something of value and yet God is asking, “have you seen the treasure house filled with hail or seeds to replant what you have lost and have you entered into the purity of the wisdom of God?” In the midst of trouble we can look at the purity of God and know that all we will loose in our trouble is that which keeps us from the purity of God which is a doorway to His heart. Snow shows God’s desire to give us a pure heart.
Bible dictionaries and lexicons do not help much with the word shaleg as it merely tells us it means snow. But let’s look this word from a different perspective. If we translate letter by letter we find the word snow is spelled Shin (God’s love and passion), Lamed (teaching from heaven) and Gimmel (God’s lovingkindness). Hence Snow is one method used by God to teach us something about His passion and lovingkindness. If we look at the Gematra we find Snow (shaleg) is spelled “shin = 300, lamed = 30, gimel = 3 for a total of 333. For one thing 3 represents God and 333 could show the God head. The whiteness of snow reminds us of the purity of the God head. The Hebrew word “shich’cha” has a numerical value of 333 and that means forgetfulness. Snow helps us forget, snow covers all the filth and dirt. This passage asked the question: “Have you entered the storehouse of forgetfulness?” I have walked or driven through some of the most run down areas in the City of Chicago after a snow storm and the new fallen snow makes it look beautiful, it makes you forget all the clutter and trash that was covering the area. In the midst of your trouble, have you entered God’s storehouse of snow that will help you forget all that those horrible things?
333 is also the numerical value for the word “hope.” In Hebrew I have found the word hope means a positive imagination. When we come to the treasury of God’s storehouse of snow we enter a wonderland of all the things that God has prepared for us, beyond what we can even imagine. No wonder God told Job sitting there in his misery, “Job, all you see is your trouble, enter my storehouse of snow, hope, positive imagination, rather than look at your trouble. The word “enter” (Heb. bo’) has the idea of coming into, being a part of , having intercourse with. In the midst of your trouble don’t dwell on your trouble but walk into and surround yourself with all the beautiful things God has prepared for you.
I turned on the radio yesterday and heard a Christmas song (we haven’t even had Thanksgiving yet) and the words spoke the heart of God: “Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.”
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