I have heard many say beware of the Hebrew Roots movements because they are bringing you back to the Torah which they deem to be a “curse” which is not true because we know that James says that the Torah is freedom in James 1:25. They say that those who call our Father YAHWEH by the Name and calling the Name of His Son YESHUA are “sacred Namers!” As if we are a part of some secret mystery religion when in fact His Name was given to us all to use. So how can the Name of our ELOHIM that He gave us to use be a part of a sacred Name movement?
Exodus 3:15
“And ELOHIM said further to Moses, “Thus you are to say to the children of Yisra’el. YAHWEH ELOHIM of your ancestors, the ELOHIM of Abraham, the ELOHIM of Isaac, and the ELOHIM of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My NAME FOREVER, and this is My remembrance to ALL GENERATIONS.”
He has a personal name just as we do. The difference is that the Hebrew names have function and meaning whereas a name in our western society is just a means to identify someone. An example of this is the Name YESHUA which means “YAHWEH is Salvation” because YAHWEH sent His only begotten Son to save us from our sins.
Furthermore, if the Hebrew roots movement is evil then we have some serious problems because YAHWEH chose the Yisra’elites as His chosen people and gave them the Torah and due to their disobedience He allowed the gentiles to be grafted in with the native-born even during the Exodus out of Egypt (Exodus 12:37-38).
Deuteronomy 32:21
“They made Me jealous by what is not EL, they provoked Me with their worthlessness. But I make them (Israelites) jealous by those who are no people, I provoke them with a foolish nation (gentiles).”
Acts 13:46
“But speaking boldly, Paul and Barnabas said, “It was necessary that the Word of ELOHIM should be spoken to you first (Israelites), but since you thrust it away, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, see, we turn to the gentiles.”
How can you provoke them to jealousy when you aren’t doing as they do? They should look at you and say “They keep the commandments like us, so what are we missing? Ohhhh it is because they have YESHUA the Son of YAHWEH as well!” The point that I’m making is that without the Hebraic roots of the faith which were given to the Israelites there would be no such thing as Christianity. The problem is that Christianity has chosen to take pieces from the truth and formed their own man-made doctrines instead of completely immersing themselves in the truth of the Hebraic roots of our faith.
2 Esdras 1:24
“What shall I do unto you, O Jacob? You, Judah, would not obey Me. I shall turn Myself to other nations (gentiles) and to them I shall give My Name, that they MAY GUARD MY LAWS.” Verse 35 I shall give your houses to a people that shall come; who having not yet heard of Me, shall believe Me; to whom I have showed no signs, yet they shall do what I have COMMANDED THEM.”
So YAHWEH did not set up a “New religion” for the gentiles, He simply called them to be grafted in with the native-born and to obey His commandments! But instead of obeying, the world has created something new which has led to so much confusion. Many Christians say “No this is not true because YAHWEH rejected Yisra’el and has chosen the church!” This is called replacement theology and this is not true. YAHWEH addresses this false doctrine Himself:
Jeremiah 33:24-26
“Have you not observed what these people have spoken (Christianity), saying, ‘The two clans (House of Judah and House of Yisra’el) which YAHWEH has chosen have been rejected by Him? So they have despised My people, no more to be a nation before them. Thus said YAHWEH, ‘If My covenant is not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the laws of the heavens and earth, then I would also reject the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, so that I should not take of his descendants to be rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I shall turn back their captivity, and have compassion on them.”
YAHWEH is saying that if His covenant is not with day and night so that the sun doesn’t shine in the day and the moon at night, then so would He cast of the Yisra’elites as His chosen people. And we all know that day and night have continued in their same pattern giving light at their appointed times; therefore, He is saying that He will never reject Yisra’el as His people. So instead of despising the Hebrew Roots it’s time to embrace it and recognize that you should be a part of it. The problem is that Christians believe in YESHUA which is crucial; however, they just do not recognize their identity in Messiah that there is only ONE faith. Your identity is a citizen of Yisra’el through belief in YESHUA and keeping the commandments of the Hebraic roots of your faith.
Those who despise the Hebrew Roots say things like “Well I don’t speak Hebrew that was for the Jews!” But in actuality they speak Hebrew every day or every time they go to church. The word HalleluYAH is Hebrew for “Praise You YAH” and Ahmein is Hebrew for “So be it”, so many are speaking Hebrew without even knowing it. And the ones who say that Hebrew Roots are “sacred Namers” are actually already saying the short form of the Name of our Father YAHWEH when they say Hallelu-YAH!
You don’t have to be a fluent in speaking Hebrew because I would never claim to be, but it shouldn’t stop you from trying. Many will learn to speak many other languages and yet neglect the Hebrew. It’s important to understand that the further you move from the Hebrew you will miss the meaning of the original context of what our ELOHIM is saying. This is why it’s important for us to look at the etymology of the Hebrew Names and words. There are many resources that help you with this such as reading the HalleluYAH Scriptures which comes with a “names meaning” book, and The Blue Letter Bible online.
Without studying the original language makes it easy to misinterpret a passage because most apply the western mindset of thinking to the scriptures instead of the Eastern mindset the scriptures were written in. An example of this is one I’ve covered before about the word “Echad” in Hebrew which is a compound unity meaning more than one, which is how YESHUA can say in John 10:30 that He and His Father are One “Echad” meaning Two separate Persons yet ONE ELOHIM, YESHUA was quoting the Shema found in Deuteronomy 6:4
“Hear, O Yisra’el: YAHWEH our ELOHIM, YAHWEH is ONE (Echad)”
Reading this with a western mind set makes you think it’s a singular “one” therefore the context is completely missed and false doctrines about YESHUA being an idol start to appear.
The problem is that after the ascension of YESHUA the world started moving away from the Hebraic Roots of our faith and condemning any who did. So those who despise the Hebrew Roots are holding dear to the words spoken at the Council of Laodicea.
Council of Laodicea 364 A.D.
“Christians must not Judaize by resting on the Shabbat, but must work on that day, rather honoring the Lord’s Day (Sunday); and if they can, resting as Christians. But if any shall be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema (cursed) from Christ.”
Let no one be Judaizers? That is interesting because YESHUA was a Jew! This is what happens when you get further and further away from the truth and end up following man and his teaching and not YAHWEH! Passover becomes Easter, Sukkot becomes Thanksgiving, and the Shabbat becomes Sunday.
Evidence that Hebrew is important
The Book of Sirach is one of my favorite books that was included in the original 1611 KJV but removed in the 1800’s. Sirach, Enoch, Jubilees and Tobit were found in the Dead Sea Scrolls along with the Tanak (Old Testament) in the Qumran Caves discovery which means these writings are over 2,000 years old.
Sirach 1 (The Prologue)
“Whereas many and great matters have been delivered to us through the Torah and the prophets and by others that have followed their paths, for which Yisra’el ought to be commended for learning and wisdom; and of which not only the readers need to become competent themselves, but also those who desire to learn be able to benefit those who are outside, both by speaking and writing. My grandfather Yehoshua, when he had applied himself greatly to the reading of the Law, and the prophets, and other Books of our ancestors, and had acquired good judgment from them, was himself also led to write somewhat pertaining to learning and wisdom; to the intent that those who desire to learn, and are drawn to such, might profit much more in living according to the Law. Therefore let me plead that you read it with good intent and attention, and to pardon us for where we may seem to have come short in some words, which we have labored to INTERPRET. FOR THE SAME WORDS SPOKEN IN HEBREW, AND TRANSLATED INTO ANOTHER TONGUE (LANGUAGE), DO NOT HAVE THE SAME FORCE IN THEM; and not only this, but the Law itself, and the prophets, and the rest of the Books, have GREAT DIFFERENCE, WHEN THEY ARE SPOKEN IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE.”
So as we can see that when Hebrew is translated into other languages it begins to lose it’s meaning because there are no equivalents for the words in another language. So if you hate the Hebraic roots of your faith, yet you want to follow the Scriptures, how will you get the true meaning without studying the etymology of the original words? The Scriptures were written in Hebrew not English.
Genesis 11:1
“And it came to be, all the earth had one language and one speech.” Verse 7 YAHWEH says “Come, let US go there and confuse their language, so that they do not understand one another’s speech.” And YAHWEH scattered them from there, over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. That is why its name was called Babel, because there YAHWEH confused the language of all the earth, and from there YAHWEH scattered them over the face of all the earth.”
So the whole earth was speaking one language before YAHWEH confused all the languages of the earth. So what language were they all speaking? It was Hebrew and the Book of Jubilees clears this up for us.
Jubilees 12:22-27
“And he (Abraham) made an end of speaking and praying. And see, the word of YAHWEH was sent to him through me (angel), saying, “Get up from your land, and from your clan and from the house of your dad, to a land which I shall show you, and I shall make you a great and numerous nation. And I shall bless you and I shall make your name great, and you shall be blessed in the earth, and in you shall all generations of the earth be blessed, and I shall bless them that bless you, and curse them that curse you. And I shall be an ELOHIM to you and your son, and to your son’s son, and to all your seed. Do not fear; from this time and to all generations of the earth, I am your ELOHIM.” And YAHWEH ELOHIM said, “Open his mouth and his ears, that he may hear and speak with his mouth, with the language which has been revealed.” For it had ceased from the mouths of all the children of men from the day of the overthrow (Tower of Babel). And I opened his mouth, and his ears and his lips, and I began to speak with him in HEBREW IN THE TONGUE OF THE CREATION. And he took the Books of his ancestors and these were written in HEBREW-and he transcribed them, and he began from this time to study them. And I made known to him that which he could not understand, and he studied them during the six rainy months.”
Does our Father YAHWEH hear us when we speak in other languages? Yes! The point that I’m making is that Hebrew is the language He used to speak the world into existence and we see that Sirach says that words translated from Hebrew to another language does not have the same force in it. Therefore, it’s important we go back to the original language when we study scripture to get the full context of what is being said.
YESHUA spoke Aramaic/Hebrew
Many scholars believe that the earliest manuscripts of the Renewed Covenant which is known as the New Testament are said to have been written in Aramaic before it was penned in Greek, the version is called the Aramaic Peshitta. And we know that Aramaic and Hebrew are Semitic languages that are closely related to each other, and have many common words and phrases. We cannot not forget an important fact is that YESHUA was a Jew from the tribe of Judah, His parents were Hebrew, and therefore Aramaic/Hebrew is the language He would have spoken.
Mark 5:41
“And taking the child by the hand He said to her, “Talitha, kumi,” which is translated, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.”
Mark 7:33-35
“And taking him away from the crowd, He put His fingers in his ears, and having spit, He touched his tongue. And looking up to the heavens, He sighed, and said to him “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”
Mathew 27:47
“And about the ninth hour YESHUA cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lamah shebaqtani? That is, “My El, My El, why have You forsaken Me?”
Acts 26:11-14
“And punished them often in all congregations, I compelled them to blaspheme. And being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. While thus engaged, as I was journeying to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, at midday, O king, I saw a light from the heavens, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me, and saying in THE HEBREW LANGUAGE, ‘Paul, Paul, why do you persecute Me? It is hard for you to kick against the prods.”
Wikipedia adds:
YESHUA and his disciples primarily spoke Aramaic,[1][2] the common language of Judea in the first century AD, most likely a Galilean dialect distinguishable from that of Jerusalem.[3] This is generally agreed upon by historians. The villages of Nazareth and Capernaum in Galilee, where YESHUA spent most of his time, were Aramaic-speaking communities.[4] It is also likely that YESHUA knew enough Koine Greek to converse with those not native to Judea, and it is reasonable to assume that YESHUA was well versed in Hebrew for religious purposes.[5][6][7
As we see from the scriptures above is that YESHUA spoke both and why wouldn’t He able to speak all languages? He is the Son of YAHWEH and we see this in John.
John 7:15-16
“And the Jews were marveling, saying, “How does this Man know letters, not having learned? YESHUA answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.”
Paul and Peter spoke Aramaic/Hebrew
Mark 14:70
“And again he was denying it. And after a little while those who stood by again said to Peter, “Truly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean too, and your SPEECH (Aramaic) is alike.”
Mathew 26:73
“And after a while those who stood by came to him and said to Peter. “Truly you are one of them too, for even your SPEECH (Aramaic) gives you away.”
Acts 22:1-3
“Men, brothers, and fathers, hear my (Paul) defense before you now.” And when they heard that he spoke to them in the HEBREW LANGUAGE, they kept greater silence. And he said: I am indeed a Jew, having been born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamli’el, having been instructed according to the exactness of the Torah of our ancestors, being ardent (passionate) for ELOHIM, as you all are today…”
I pray this was an eye opener to show you that The Bible was written in Hebrew/Aramaic, YESHUA and the disciples spoke this language, the words you speak in prayer are Hebrew, and that words translated from Hebrew to another language does not have the same force in it because it begins to lose its original meaning; therefore, do not despise the Hebraic roots of your faith, but rather embrace it and walk in the footsteps of YESHUA as His disciples did. ELOHIM willing next week we can look into some etymology of some words in Hebrew.
As always may our Father YAHWEH bless you in YESHUA’s Name!