ELTB 3rd ed transcluded
It is often difficult to teach adults, because we sometimes have to unlearn so much.
After 25 years, and more than 20,000 hours of original research in Hebrew pun, riddle, and Notarikon, friends have asked me to put it in writing so that these observations do not get lost.
Pr 25:2 [It is] the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings [is] to search out a matter.
Dedicated to Kris who made this possible in so many ways.
INTRODUCTION
God wants everyone to know him. So he made the world. [1] Everything he made teaches about him. [2] It is difficult for us to learn about God from stars and stones. It is easier to learn through words and actions.
He chose some people to teach about him, but they didn’t know what to say. They did not know him very well themselves. So God used them like actors in a play.
Their lives became a parable to teach us of God. [3] In the play, we learn from stones and stars through what God said about stones and stars.
God hid lessons for us in the history of Israel. In this book we will look at the things that the Hebrews could eat or not, and see what they teach about God.
star kowkab כוכב - Son of God כ explaining ו the revelation ר by becoming man כ and teaching man ב
stone aben אבן - father אב son בן
The first section of the Bible contains many laws that God gave the Hebrews telling them how to live. Some of these laws told them what to eat and what not to eat, called “Dietary laws”.
When the Hebrews followed these laws, they showed us the character of God in a riddle. So the Dietary Law is not about eating. It is more like a play. The laws were the script for the play, and everyone had a role. God chose priests to be the directors of the play, telling everyone how to do their parts.
The lives of the Hebrews were the play. [1] The audience, everyone else, would learn from it. [2]
Symbols and riddle make up the play. [3] [4] For the audience, the Dietary Law says nothing about what we can eat. Instead, eating is a symbol for learning what God says. It tells us who we should learn from, and who we should not learn from .
Each animal is a symbol for a different type of teacher. The clean animals (the ones the Hebrews could eat) symbolize the people we should learn from. The unclean animals symbolize people who teach things that God doesn’t want us to learn. These were the animals the Hebrews could not eat.
This isn’t the first time that eating symbolized ‘learning’ in the Bible. Do you remember Adam and Eve, and the tree they were not supposed to eat from? [5] You could say that the tree was unclean.
Let’s talk about the different animals that are part of the play, and what they teach about God.
eat akal אכל - smite אכ the teaching ל [chew]
Meditate on the word of God [∞]
Clean animals are the ones the Hebrews could eat. [1] They symbolize the people we should learn from.
The clean animals of the Bible are cows, sheep, goats, and deer. These animals ‘chew the cud’. They eat something and then burp it up to chew it again. [2] If you are a clean animal, you learn from God’s word, then you ‘chew the cud’ by thinking about it over and over again.
We remember to learn from people who meditate on God’s word by the symbols of the cow, sheep, goat, and deer.
Clean animals also walk on split hooves. These symbolize a ‘separated walk’ or life. The way you walk is a symbol for the way you live. [3] [4]
If you have a separated life, you are living a life for God, separated from the things that distract us from God. You learn to walk with God by meditating on his word. A good teacher is like this.
cud gerah גרה - pursue ג the revelation ר which was not understood ה
Unclean animals - Don't be like them [∞]
The ‘unclean’ animal doesn’t chew its cud or it doesn’t have a split hoof. [1] Some animals are unclean even if they chew the cud because they do not have a split hoof. These are like the scribes in the day of Jesus. They knew the scriptures but it did not change the way they lived.
Others thought they had a split hoof, like the Pharisees, who were the most religious people of the day. But their righteousness, or goodness, was not based in the scriptures that God gave them. They would make up their own rules instead. They were self-righteous.
The Hebrews weren't allowed to eat unclean animals. This was to remind us to avoid these types of teachers. When we eat a clean or unclean animal, we remember the Hebrews taught us that the word of God should change our lives. [2]
The camel is an unclean animal. The Hebrews did not eat it because, though it walks on two toes, it doesn’t have a split hoof. The camel is the symbol of a judge.
The camel is unclean, but this doesn’t mean that judges are bad. They teach us something about what God doesn’t want us to learn. He doesn’t want us to learn to judge other people. Judging is God’s job, not ours. Jesus said that God would judge us, if we judge others. [1]
The Bible describes God as a judge. Some people think that he is a great and terrible judge. But he is a loving judge. He judged us all already, and forgave us through Jesus on the cross. [2] This is his love.
God’s teachers teach his love; the Gospel, by showing his forgiveness through the cross. But he doesn’t want us to become judges. He wants us to forgive others as he forgave us. [3]
When thinking about a camel, we remember that we should not learn to be a judge.
camel gimel גמל - recompense, to give what is due
The coney is another unclean animal that the Hebrews did not eat. When Adam named the coney, he must have seen the coney take a treasure into his den. Then he watched it return to the opening to defend it with bared teeth. His name means ‘hide the treasure’ but it also means ‘mystery of the biting teeth’. The coney is a symbol of a teacher who hides the Gospel.
In the Bible, God tells us that he is both holy and love. Law and judgement describe holiness. Judgement expresses that his ways are not our ways. The law shows that his thoughts are not like our thoughts. [1] *
A teacher bites us like a coney with teeth, if we only hear the law. [2] The treasure in God’s word is his love. The teacher who hides the love acts like a coney.
The coney is like the teacher who always tells you what you did wrong, and never tells you how much Christ loves you. You can’t find the treasure.
The Gospel is this: God shows himself through the cross of Christ. He teaches that he is holy because he punishes sin. He teaches that he is love, because Jesus volunteered to take our punishment. This would be like your mother punishing herself when she caught you doing something bad.
The coney-like teacher uses the Bible as a weapon. They never tell you how to receive the love of God.
You receive his love by ‘eating his body’; a symbol for learning from the cross where he died because he loves you. [3]
coney shaphan שפן - hide, treasure
coney shaphan שפן - mystery פ of the biting teeth ש()ן
Rabbits symbolize some teachers. Adam saw the rabbits jumping everywhere but could not tell if they were happy, scared, or jumping for fun. A warren of rabbits sometimes looks like popcorn popping. It appears like they are celebrating everything. The name given to them was ‘divided jubilation’.
Rabbits symbolize teachers who mix many religions together. They hop about from one religion to another. They celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa one day, and Hindi dust the next. To them all religions are good. They have no discernment about what to celebrate or believe.
The Bible says that rabbits are unclean because they do not have a split hoof, though they chew the ‘gerah’. They chew their food twice, not by burping, but by eating their night droppings. That’s kind of gross.
Unlike the clean animals that meditate on God’s word, the rabbit-like teacher is not a good teacher. He doesn’t understand God’s word because the second time he eats it, he is meditating on his opinion. He came to a conclusion the first time, and thinks about his opinion over and over. The clean animal doesn’t come to a conclusion until he has thought about it many times. [1]
A new life is not produced from thinking about his own opinions. For him, the knowledge of God did not produce a changed life.
hare, rabbit 'arnebeth' ארנבת - house בת of divided א jubilation רנ
Swine (pigs): The accidental liar [∞]
Pigs are also unclean. Swine eat, or learn, anything, and teach it as truth. For example, some people say their favorite verse of the Bible is “God helps those who help themselves”. That isn’t in the Bible, but they think it is and tell others about it. [1] [2]
The swine is a symbol of the self-righteous; those who think they are good only because they think they are good. They believe that everything they agree with, must be true.
Swine pass off new teachings from others as if they are from the Bible. They hear others say there are errors in the Bible, so they pass it on as if true to make themselves look clever. Swine-like teachers may also learn things from science and pass them on as absolute truth. Only one thing is certain in science: what it says is true today, will not be true tomorrow.
The ‘pig’ may read the Bible and misunderstand it. They will teach their mistake as truth. Sometimes there are things in the Bible that appear to say opposite things. The ‘pig’ will choose one and ignore the other, rather than work to understand how they both are true.
The one who cannot understand the word of God is not a good teacher.
swine chaziyr חזיר - perceive חז a new י revelation ר
Swine, Part two: Foolish behavior [∞]
The attitude of the swine-like teacher is dangerous because it is contagious. God’s law to the Hebrews about the swine was that they should not even touch their dead bodies. [1] This is a riddle in the play. It’s not actually talking about dead bodies of teachers. In Hebrew, this riddle means that we should not be joined to their foolishness nor plagued by it. [2]
Apart from teaching untrue things, what does their foolishness look like? A pig-like teacher may brag about giving an apple to a homeless guy. The swine next to him brags that he gave two apples. The first responds that he gave his only apple, so his sacrifice was greater. The foolishness of the swine will try to make you feel bad for the good work you did. The swine wants to seem better than you.
This bragging about works is contagious. Do not join to it. Don’t touch it or listen to it.
The swine’s self-righteousness is contagious because we want to feel important too. We want attention and appreciation. We want to look good to others. Do not get contaminated by it. Instead, seek teachers who build you up rather than make themselves look good.
Have nothing to do with swine or you may get caught up in their folly. As Paul taught: Don’t join with unbelievers: How can you learn to do right from those who do wrong? Can you mix doing right with doing wrong?
Template:ELTB 3rd ed - Summary
References
Review
Points of interest
Games
Glossary
- 1.Vote by hand : if individual or group effort.
- 2. Compare, contrast, identify patterns and incongruities, categorize, evaluate, etc.
- 3. Display - {{{2}}}:
- 4. Add items to your diaries as desired.
Display of learning. Minimal requirement listed.
Discuss [∞]- 1. Discuss the proposition for the suggested time.
- 2. Heroes may keep notes in their I-want-to-research-sometime diary ".
Knowledge, ability, and skills may be displayed many ways. This list is suggestive, not exhaustive:
- Presentation, with or without visual aids
- Process artifact - remnant of your process
- Report - summary of activity and result
- Smoke and mirrors - "I don't know why I did it or what I learned, but this is what I got."
Gamified activity. Follow link to game instructions.
I-want-to-memorize diary [∞]This is an optional personal artifact of learning. It is a place to capture things you would like to memorize later. The hero may wish to prioritize them and submit them to the guides for development of memory techniques to facilitate memorization.
I-want-to-research-sometime diary [∞]This is an optional personal diary of things that captured the hero's interest. Later these can be used to inspire discovery in new areas. They may be given to the guides as ideas for new challenges.
Point of interest [∞]The points of interests are called to the hero's attention as things mentioned in the activity which may be of interest for further discovery.
When the hero is enticed by the topic listed, it is suggested that a note be made in the hero's I-want-to-research-sometime diary .
Choice research [∞]Tease ideas from the text without fully reading it. [1]
- 1. Read Key Sentences
- 2. Scan for name and numbers
- 3. Scan for trigger words
- 4. Skim small parts of text for key ideas
There are various degrees of verification.
- 1. Observe - a cursory review that artifacts exist
- 2. Analyze - review the thought process
- 3. Interview - Discuss with the hero the process or reults
- 1. State the proposition
- 2. Discuss and clarify questions no more than the time suggested.
- 3. Secret vote, if possible, so as to not influence others. This needs a quick way, probably not by ballot. Otherwise by hand.
- 4. Tally and announce.
