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(Created page with "{{bl| ELTBefore Introduction }} I first wanted to learn enough Hebrew to use tools and verify if what people were telling me it meant, was true. The letters were so foreign that I could not recognize them or tell some of them apart. I used a children's primer and traced letters to gain that familiarity. I learned to use Strong's concordance of the Bible, and Harris' et. al. Theological Word Book of the Old Testament. My observation was that it was all bunk. The latter w...")
 
 
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=Learning Hebrew: My Journey=


I first wanted to learn enough Hebrew to use tools and verify if what people were telling me it meant, was true. The letters were so foreign that I could not recognize them or tell some of them apart. I used a children's primer and traced letters to gain that familiarity. I learned to use Strong's concordance of the Bible, and Harris' et. al. Theological Word Book of the Old Testament. My observation was that it was all bunk. The latter was based on the nikud, or modern vowel added in 600 AD. Jesus never saw them. The first three entries point to:
When I first started learning Hebrew, my main goal was to find out if the meanings people gave to Hebrew words were really true. The Hebrew alphabet was so new to me that I couldn't even recognize the letters at first. To get better, I used a children's workbook and traced the letters until I could tell them apart.
:4a - Assumed root...
:1a - Assumed root...
:27a - Assumed root...
They admitted that they didn't know what they were talking about and made up a lot of it. I didn't get the book to learn what they guessed at.


I decided to learn Hebrew from Rabbis. This is problematic because the rabbis actively reject Christ, and always lead you away from him. What they teach may be accidentally right, but most often not. They lied to Jerome and told him there were only 22 letters in the alphabet. But they say that letters get their meaning from the strokes within them, and there are 28 letters with 28 different meanings. The other six are called final forms. Five are found when one of five letters are at the end of a word, and one found on the garment of the priest, which is never used in any word. Isn't 28 a much nicer number than 22?
I also used tools like Strong’s Concordance and Harris’ Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament to learn what Hebrew words meant. But as I dug deeper, I noticed something troubling: much of the information wasn’t reliable. For example, the Wordbook was based on vowel marks (called nikud) that didn’t exist until 600 AD, long after Jesus’ time. Many entries had notes like:
 
:“4a – Assumed root...”
:“1a – Assumed root...”
:“27a – Assumed root...”


They told Jerome that Hebrew was like Greek, having 3-letter roots. However, the strokes give meaning to the letters and the meaning of the letters combine to give meaning to words. I wanted to learn how to read Hebrew from the meaning of the letters. Since they 'could not remember how to do it' I reverse engineered the language. I took about 8000 Hebrew lemma from Strongs and reversed them to the alphabet, while regenerating the letters from strokes. It's all like a giant multidimensional crossword puzzle. When the alphabet and Gen 1:1 came together, I figured I was close. My work could benefit with others reviewing it, but meanwhile it has been productive and fruitful.
These notes admitted that the roots and meanings were mostly guesses. I didn’t want to build my understanding of Hebrew on guesses, especially since I was studying the language of the Bible. (See [[ Appendix 1: Critique of Modern Hebrew Tools ]] )


Since God used words to speak creation into existence, and he needed letters to form words, the alphabet precedes creation. Each letter having a meaning, when the alphabet is read in order it appears to be a message from God from before creation.
Next, I looked into what the Rabbis taught about Hebrew. They had a deeper knowledge of the language in some ways, but their teachings often left out Jesus. This meant their interpretations were sometimes off track. Even when they had some correct insights, much of what they taught was still misleading.
 
For example, the Rabbis told Jerome (who translated the Bible into Latin) that Hebrew had only 22 letters, like Greek. But that wasn’t true. Hebrew has 28 letters, including six “final forms” used only at the end of words. One of these letters even appeared on the priest’s clothing but wasn’t found in any words. The number 28 made more sense considering the special meaning of numbers. [1]
 
The Rabbis also claimed that every Hebrew word came from three-letter roots, like in Greek. But this ignored an important part of Hebrew: the shapes and strokes of the letters themselves have meaning. These shapes are key to understanding Hebrew words, but the Rabbis didn’t share this information. Final forms are different letters from the standard forms because they have a different form. (See [[ Appendix 2: Critique of Rabbinic Interpretation ]] )
 
To deepen my understanding of Hebrew, I realized I needed to step away from traditional methods. Instead, I chose to study the letters and their shapes, aiming to uncover their meanings inductively. Given that Hebrew had been a dead language and the ancient approach to understanding it had long been forgotten, I began reverse-engineering the language.
 
I analyzed approximately 8,000 Hebrew words (lemmas) from Strong’s Concordance, breaking them down into their individual letters. I then examined the strokes and shapes of each letter, treating Hebrew as a vast, three-dimensional crossword puzzle. (See [[ Appendix 3: Hebrew as a Multidimensional Crossword Puzzle ]]) As I progressed, patterns and connections began to emerge. When I applied these insights to the first verse of Genesis, it felt like a major breakthrough. (See [[ Appendix 4: Restoration of Ancient Methods of Interpretation ]])
 
My work isn’t finished, and I’d love to hear thoughts and ideas from others. But so far, this journey has been exciting and rewarding. I believe I’m on the right path to uncovering the deeper meanings of Hebrew and, through it, the Bible itself.
 
[1] We do not do any kind of Gematria, but treat numbers as any other symbol which must follow the same rules. Twenty-eight (28) is much more interesting than twenty-two (22) because of the abundant usage of 4 and 7 as symbols compared to the dearth of 22. It suggests that the alphabet contains 'all' (7) that God has to say through the four (4) voices of prophet, judge, priest and king. Everything that can be said is formed by the combination of the meaning of the letters. This eliminates the idea that spirituality is an ethereal experience incapable of being put in words. Awe alone is not spirituality. True spirituality is knowing God as he has chosen to be known, through the means he has given to be known.
 
[[ AI disclosure: ELTBefore Introduction ]]

Latest revision as of 15:11, 27 February 2025

ELTBefore Introduction [∞]

Learning Hebrew: My Journey

When I first started learning Hebrew, my main goal was to find out if the meanings people gave to Hebrew words were really true. The Hebrew alphabet was so new to me that I couldn't even recognize the letters at first. To get better, I used a children's workbook and traced the letters until I could tell them apart.

I also used tools like Strong’s Concordance and Harris’ Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament to learn what Hebrew words meant. But as I dug deeper, I noticed something troubling: much of the information wasn’t reliable. For example, the Wordbook was based on vowel marks (called nikud) that didn’t exist until 600 AD, long after Jesus’ time. Many entries had notes like:

“4a – Assumed root...”
“1a – Assumed root...”
“27a – Assumed root...”

These notes admitted that the roots and meanings were mostly guesses. I didn’t want to build my understanding of Hebrew on guesses, especially since I was studying the language of the Bible. (See Appendix 1: Critique of Modern Hebrew Tools )

Next, I looked into what the Rabbis taught about Hebrew. They had a deeper knowledge of the language in some ways, but their teachings often left out Jesus. This meant their interpretations were sometimes off track. Even when they had some correct insights, much of what they taught was still misleading.

For example, the Rabbis told Jerome (who translated the Bible into Latin) that Hebrew had only 22 letters, like Greek. But that wasn’t true. Hebrew has 28 letters, including six “final forms” used only at the end of words. One of these letters even appeared on the priest’s clothing but wasn’t found in any words. The number 28 made more sense considering the special meaning of numbers. [1]

The Rabbis also claimed that every Hebrew word came from three-letter roots, like in Greek. But this ignored an important part of Hebrew: the shapes and strokes of the letters themselves have meaning. These shapes are key to understanding Hebrew words, but the Rabbis didn’t share this information. Final forms are different letters from the standard forms because they have a different form. (See Appendix 2: Critique of Rabbinic Interpretation )

To deepen my understanding of Hebrew, I realized I needed to step away from traditional methods. Instead, I chose to study the letters and their shapes, aiming to uncover their meanings inductively. Given that Hebrew had been a dead language and the ancient approach to understanding it had long been forgotten, I began reverse-engineering the language.

I analyzed approximately 8,000 Hebrew words (lemmas) from Strong’s Concordance, breaking them down into their individual letters. I then examined the strokes and shapes of each letter, treating Hebrew as a vast, three-dimensional crossword puzzle. (See Appendix 3: Hebrew as a Multidimensional Crossword Puzzle ) As I progressed, patterns and connections began to emerge. When I applied these insights to the first verse of Genesis, it felt like a major breakthrough. (See Appendix 4: Restoration of Ancient Methods of Interpretation )

My work isn’t finished, and I’d love to hear thoughts and ideas from others. But so far, this journey has been exciting and rewarding. I believe I’m on the right path to uncovering the deeper meanings of Hebrew and, through it, the Bible itself.

[1] We do not do any kind of Gematria, but treat numbers as any other symbol which must follow the same rules. Twenty-eight (28) is much more interesting than twenty-two (22) because of the abundant usage of 4 and 7 as symbols compared to the dearth of 22. It suggests that the alphabet contains 'all' (7) that God has to say through the four (4) voices of prophet, judge, priest and king. Everything that can be said is formed by the combination of the meaning of the letters. This eliminates the idea that spirituality is an ethereal experience incapable of being put in words. Awe alone is not spirituality. True spirituality is knowing God as he has chosen to be known, through the means he has given to be known.

AI disclosure: ELTBefore Introduction

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