Hebrew Word Study – Fins – Senappir סְנַפִּיר – Samek Nun Pei Yod Resh (sen-ap-peer’)
Leviticus 11:9: “These shall ye eat of all that [are] in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat.”
I wonder, do any Christians actually read this passage? Do any Christians even read the book of Leviticus? Leviticus is famously known as the book that those determined Christians who seek to read through the Bible in one year drop out of their quest. Who cares whether you should eat only fish that have fins and scales? I happen to like catfish, ok? We are no longer under law but grace, so such a passage has no meaning for me, how can I be blessed if this happens to be my morning devotional passage?
In my study with rabbis, I learned something very important, that every word of the Bible comes from God and for a purpose. On my desk, I have a little model of a Tardis. If you are a sci-f]\ fan and devotee of Dr. Who you know that the Tardis is a 4’x4’x 7’ police call box that is really a time machine and starship operated by Dr. Who a time lord. On the outside it is just a small phone both size structure but inside it is a vast enormous starship with infinite rooms and corridors, so many rooms that even a thousand-year-old Dr. Who has not visited them all.
That is the Word of God. On the outside Leviticus 11:9 is just a small phone booth but if you dip inside you will find a vast world of knowledge of God with infinite rooms and corridors. Let me guide you to one of these rooms.
Would you like Chaim Bentorah as your personal Hebrew teacher?
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On the outside, it makes sense to eat only fish with fins and scales as seafood that does not have fins or scales like catfish or lobster are scavengers eating waste. Fish with skin and scales have a diet more healthier than humans. But that is the surface of the outside, let’s step inside our Tardis.
The word fins in Hebrew is senappir. I had to search this one out as your lexicons were of little help. No one knows for sure what the root word is or the derivation is but it seems to be related to sanar, a Phoenician word that was applied to the fins of fish. The Phoenicians were seafaring people. They observed that the fish use their fins for navigation, without them they were literally blind. The word sanar has the idea of blindness and sight as it relates to your sense of direction. It is idiomatic for study and knowledge. The word for scales is qaseqaseth which is also of Phoenician origin and used for the shingle-like covering of ships. It is also used for armor like mail, small metal shingles that allow for movement yet will still protect like a metal plate.
The Talmud in Niddah 51b tells us that all fish that have scales also have fins (and are thus kosher) But there are fish that have fins but no scales like catfish and are impure. If this is so why did not Scripture just simply say scales why include fins? The Talmud teaches that “Fins and scales are necessary to increase and make Torah complete.” This is so because fins are what allow a fish to move through water and navigate. This is like the intellectual study of the Word of God. As one advance in his wisdom and knowledge of the Word of God, he becomes great in the eyes of many people like good old Chaim Bentorah. However, it is the scales that protect the heart of the fish. One may think the scales form only a secondary function to the fins as it is the fins that move the fish forward but it is the scales that preserve what it is.
I saw this as a Bible College teacher, for many of my students learning was just an intellectual exercise. They would swim and frolic with their talent and genius but without the scales, the love of God, and the relationship with God which protects the purity of the knowledge that learning, intellect that knowledge can soon become corrupt and replaced with egotistic arrogance. Thus only fish with fins and scales are kosher or clean for only learning and intellect of the Word of God covered with one’s love and relationship with God to protect their heart can keep that learning pure. Without that protection of the scales, one heart can become arrogant and filled with pride. This is why Chaim Bentorah must spend more time working on his relationship with God than on his studies.
So you see the laws of God in Leviticus were not arbitrary or random. They are not just a test to see if you can keep them to impress God with your discipline. The purpose of keeping the laws was to study these laws as the sages did in the Talmud. In keeping the law they naturally asked why and when they asked why, they stepped into their Tardis and entered its many rooms and corridors of knowledge of God. Just because we live under grace does not mean we need to ignore the law. There are many powerful spiritual lessons to learn from God’s laws. Grace just means we can have our knowledge of God and eat our catfish too.
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Thanks & Blessings, it means a lot to me!
I love this lesson, it also ties in with the all of Psalm 131:1-3,
LORD, my heart is not haughty: David learned to reject pride. David came before the LORD in conscious humility. He understood the principle explained in Proverbs & quoted twice in the NT: GOD resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble! [Proverbs 3:34; James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5]
We are twinning spiritually on devotional, but you’re at a much higher level, I’m gleaning from everyone’s field of knowledge.
In the presence of the Covenant GOD, the psalmist has experienced how wonderful complete submission to GOD is.” [VanGemeren]
This was literally my question this afternoon around 2pm PST & right after I said it, bam GOD had this YT playing the next video which spoke the magic words: On how not to look down on others..
Nor my eyes lofty: David learned to reject arrogance. Under the influence of pride, we become arrogant & look down on other people. Though David had accomplished great things & had a great destiny in front of him, he didn’t go around thinking of himself as better than others.
He did not set his focus on promotion or position above what GOD had appointed in the present Season. JESUS taught us to accept a lower place [Luke 14:8-11] & wait patiently for GOD to lift us up in HIS wisdom & timing.
• Philippians 2:3 [Berean] ³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves.
• 2 Corinthians 12:20 [Berean] ²⁰ For I am afraid when I come, I may not find you as I wish, & you may not find me as you wish. I fear there may be quarreling, jealousy, rage, rivalry, slander, gossip, arrogance, & disorder.
One way to distinguish between them is to look for a focus on GOD [related to Spiritual aspirations] or a focus on self [selfish ambition]
“Frequently, too, we exercise ourselves in great matters by having a high ambition to do something very wonderful in the Church. This is why so very little is done. The great destroyer of good works is the ambition to do great works.” [Spurgeon]
WOW I’ve quit after spinning wheels in Leviticus, which I couldn’t do, I didn’t even try this year to read the Bible in a year. Not going to happen too much to learn & apply in the little I’m given. This is insanely cool the stuff you’ve been given insight on Chaim.
But isn’t the corruption/pride just a price you pay as you’re about to enter through yet another gate of wisdom in the GOD’s Presence? The pilgrimage, just this past Thursday read something from a website that mentioned nun & how even Abraham having entered thru 99 gates of wisdom for every year he was alive, had yet to humble before GOD.
There is no room or reason for pride in the midst of GOD..which is how Psalm 131 is presented, as a means to be compassionate & caring of many; we are to look to GOD so much as to become blind to the things that don’t matter in this life other than the commands of GOD, which is to love HIM & others.
Thank you so much for being faithful to your calling Chaim & Laura.
GOD Bless you both
1Cor 8:1: “…Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.”
I’m reborned since 2016 by YAH Grace , 2 years ago I changed to vegetarian menu , lost 20kg and not seen anymore, I do not see bad effects of this change … blessings
Great great example of the reality of truth all thru out the Word of God but you’ve got to mine it out
Thank you! What you wrote is very enlightening.
Many Jews still don’t know why pigs were not kosher. It’s because they contained parasites that can kill you if not cooked properly. I love crayfish they too can contain deadly parasites and must be boiled throughly. It always amazes me that God gave the Jews the rules
for the healthiest diet thousands of years ago. This shows how much God loves them.
Jesus said that what you eat won’t keep you from going to heaven. Remember that He as speaking to The Jews and He told them to eat what God had made clean. What Christians eat might not keep you from going to heaven; in fact it just might get you there sooner than you wanted to go.
I like the word study, I don’t know how I started getting devotional. I perfer yo learning the language. Could you start the word study again for me
Thank you
1 John 3:2-6 By this we can be sure that we have come to know Him: if we keep His commandments. 4If anyone says, “I know Him,” but does not keep His commandments, he is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5But if anyone keeps His word, the love of God has been truly perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him: 6Whoever claims to abide in Him must walk as Jesus walke“
I was always taught that in the Greek language, there are two words for “knowledge”, they are “gnosis”, which is intellectual knowledge, (the kind that enlightens our understanding, and keeps us on the course of wisdom), and “epignosis”, which is first hand, experiential knowledge, “relationship knowledge”, if you will… the kind of knowledge that guards our hearts, (from which “flow the springs of life”)…the kind of knowledge that keeps us in humble, loving relationship with God and each other.
Yes, we need our fins, and we need our scales.
Love this!! All of it. I had to laugh as I was one of those who got to Leviticus and threw in the towel… at least until last year when I began to read the Bible with a King and His Kingdom perspective! It was eye opening and I ACTUALLY enjoyed the book. Your God-given gift of sharing the deeper Truth of His Word makes learning, exploring, seeking, and discovering (Matt 6:33) exciting and fun! Thank you for sharing your gift with the world!