WORD STUDY – SIMLILITUDE – מונ
Deuteronomy 4:12: “And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire, you heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude, only you heard a voice.”
My personal definition between a cult leader and a pastor is that a cult leader will tell you: “You cannot understand this passage of scripture without me. Let me show you what it means.” A pastor will say: “You cannot understand this passage without the Holy Spirit, let me pray with you so you will clearly hear His voice.” Of course by my definition practically every church in American would be a cult.
We clearly speak of depending upon the Holy Spirit to reveal all truth to us, yet rather than dig into the Word of God ourselves, spend time in meditation and prayer on the Word of God we go to a human teacher or pastor to tell us what the truth is rather than to seek confirmation from this teacher or pastor on what we have learned through our study.
Five hundred years ago a monk named Martin Luther started the Protestant movement. Martin Luther never wanted to leave the church but they left him no alternative. Martin Luther learned a truth that exist in the church today, including the Protestant churches, truth is often determined by the power structure in the church. If a pastor does not agree with the doctrinal position of his denomination, he is forced to leave. There are many pastors who disagree with their denomination but rather than be a Martin Luther, they just keep quiet for the sake of the three P’s – Power, Position and Pension. To most the pastorate is just a job no matter how much they talk about a calling.
There is so much to be mined in the Holy Scriptures, so much the Holy Spirit can reveal to us but if we are trapped in our denominational doctrine we may end up closing our minds to views outside our denominational teachings.
Hearing the voice of God has been a life long passion of mine. I am just never really sure if it is the voice of God I hear or my own imaginations. As I journey to the heart of God in my Hebraic studies I am learning just how regimented our English translations of the Bible really are and as a result how some important knowledge can be hidden from us simply because our English translations lack the flexibility that is inherit in the Hebrew Language. I find Deuteronomy 4:12 is one such example.
We have the passage: “And the Lord spoke unto you out of the midst of the fire.” The word in Hebrew for fire is ha’ash. This is the standard word for fire and a Bible translator will never give it a second thought. That is, unless, that translator is really searching for the heart of God and seeking to hear His voice. You see ha’ash can also be an interrogative or an adverb. Ok, I know the English syntax would not call for an interrogative or an adverb and my former Hebrew professors would throw salt in the air over such a suggestion, but I met some good orthodox rabbis who would wink and say: “Go for it.”
If I were to do such an Unchristian but Jewish thing I would have: “And the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of what is it?” Or I could say: “And the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of there is or there exist.” I know it sounds awkward in English, but it is really very poetic in Hebrew. Let’s put this in context with the rest of the verse.” “You heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude, only your heard a voice.” There are a couple interesting things here in the Hebrew. First the word similitude is mavan which means form or fashion. Actually specifically it is speaking of something substantial, natural, something that you can see, feel, hear, taste and touch.’ Take a close look at this phrase: the voice of the words or the qol of the devar. Qol can be voice or sound and devar is a reference to words from the heart of God and/or His power. Then the passage says a very strange thing: only you heard a voice. The word for hear is not shama which is your standard word for hearing a sound, but it is the word ra’ah which is the word for “seeing.” How can you see as sound? You can’t which is why translators render it as hearing rather than seeing. But soft, ra’ah can also mean a spiritual sight. This could be a dream or vision.
Here is the thing that gets me. The word spake at the beginning of this verse is devar. As I said the word has the idea of speaking from the heart and when God speaks from His heart, there is power flowing from Him. I can render this verse as: “The power from the heart of God flows from something not seen, felt, heard, tasted or touched and then you saw this power. Yet. The word devar as a verb is in an imperfect (incompleted action) form and should be rendered: “The power from the heart of God is continually flowing but you cannot see it, feel it, touch it, taste it or hear it, but you know it is the power of God.”
Forgive me for not walking in lock step with standard Christianity, but this verse means nothing to me from the way it is normally rendered as I have never heard a voice from the midst of fire nor have I met any other Christian who has. Yet, every Christian I met will say that they have experienced the voice of God. It had no similitude mavan in other words no substance that you could experience with your five senses, but yet, you knew it was the voice of God because he demonstrated it. That I can relate to. God speaks no different to us today than he did back in the days of Israel.
Yet, like the people of Israel, God was ready to speak to them personally, but they said: “Moses you go and tell us what God says.” God will speak to us personally, don’t say to your pastor, you go and tell us what God says, that what we pay you for.” We only need our pastors, teachers or Christians friends to confirm it for us.
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