Hebraic Studies – A Gem found in Amnos - with Dr. Rabbi Reuven ben-Avaraham.

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A Gem Found In Amnos - Amos 4:3.

The truth is that our wonderful Tanakh contains many more treasures and precious Gems than many of us actually realise, for it is within the very Words that Our Heavenly Father uses and more so what is actually meant by them? Many might say;

“But rabbi, I have read and studied the Torah and so much of the Tanakh very carefully for so long, thus how come that I or our rabbis would have missed what you are sharing in this study?”

Indeed that is an excellent question, but the main reason is this, there are always blessed treasures that can be lost, for the truth is this, so often these passages are read and sadly so much of its depth is missed, for everything may well contain so much of the smallest details, and often the full beauty and understanding somehow does get lost. However, treasures are to be found that will bless us all!

Believe me The Tanakh is filled with so many precious gems, which were revealed right from the heart of  - Y-H-V-H Elohim’s beautiful teachings, and that is what I am delighted to share with you, in order that you will  be blessed with the wondrous gems Elohim, blessed be He, has given us in His Word through His prophets!

Let us read from Amnos - Amos chapter 4, verse 13;

“For, lo, He that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thoughts, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth; , the Elohim of hosts, is His Name”

Here is an alternative somewhat more modern translation from the Ivrit (Hebrew) and it is as follows;

“For behold, He who forms mountains and creates winds; and reveals to man His deeds; He turns the dawn into darkness and tramples upon the heights of the earth; , Elohim of Hosts, is His Name” (Rav.RbA).

For most reading this, it may seem quite unremarkable, however, believe me it is a remarkable verse, for within it we are able to discover an understanding with a much deeper meaning, for when we look at the depth and its hidden nuances of what is actually written within this verse.

Let us begin with the very first part of verse 13 of Amnos - Amos chapter 4, and let us dig a littler deeper into what was actually written.

He that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind(JPS).

Below is the Ivrit, followed by a transliteration of the verse seen in bold above; 

 

“Ki Hine Yo’tzer Harim u’vore Ruach

When you study His word you have to ask yourself why were these words joined in this particular pattern, considering after the first part of the verse, Elohim, blessed be He, links them to the following;

and declareth unto man what is his thoughts”.

Elohim does not communicate His words randomly; everything has a meaning on many different layers and I do mean levels of understanding.

Now let us look closer at some of the words used, Amnos said “He who forms the mountains”. The Hebrew root word for “forms” is - - “Yot’zer” being the same word/root we find where Elohim formed man from the dust from the dust of the earth;

“Then  Elohim formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a soul. And  Elohim planted a garden eastward, in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had Yo’tzerformed” Bereshit - Genesis 2:7-8 (JPS).

Thus, as we can see “Yo’tzer” - - “forms” or “formed” has a special significance in divine and human attributes, depending on what the mind and thoughts of man are based on. When it is used in a secular way, man is seen as the clay, and the potter is Elohim, blessed be He. The ultimate goal is to transform the clay to form a beautiful vessel to be filled with the Glory of all of Elohim’s wonderful attributes that a man can possibly hold and contain. However if the clay does not conform to hold all of His Glory and chooses another form using its free will to rebel against Elohim, the “form” is attached to “Harim” -  - or “Har” - - “the mountains”.

The “Harim” - “mountains” refers to man’s pride rising above the earth in domination of everything, except he is not able to dominate his rebellious self-will. Instead of man being capable of humbling himself and is able to bend to the will of a loving his Elohim, blessed be He, he tends to choose a high “Mountain” which is the exact opposite of a valley. You could say that symbolically a Mountain is much like an inverted vessel that is unable to hold anything, such as water, however when it is reversed just like a valley, or dams that are built into a depression, becomes a huge vessel that can hold much water. In this came the latter being an analogy of the Glory of  Elohim, blessed be His Sanctified Name!

Thus what is the lesson here, are we able to bend to His will; and are we able to be humble and be like a valley and not be like a stubborn mountain before our Heavenly Father. When one conforms to His will, believe me, you will become a vessel that is capable to communicate with  Elohim, blessed be His Sanctified Name, and do the work that we are all intended for, and that is to share His love to mankind, through the way we live our lives!

“He who forms the mountains and creates the winds”.

The Hebrew root word for “create” and “creates” is “Bara” - - is the same word we find Elohim creating the universe in Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning Elohim “Bara” - - “created” the heavens and the earth.” We can only make from the given matter that Elohim has created in the beginning. The root “Bara” has the basic meaning "to create." It differs from “Yo’tzer” to “fashion” for that the latter primarily emphasizes the shaping of an object, whilst “Bara” means “to create”, emphasizes the initiation of an object.

So the beginning of mankind brings the emphasis that without He who created us, we no longer need to be sustained by His creation. Therefore our initiation becomes the opposite, instead of life; we choose an ending, deconstructing, and death. The word here is “wind” being the Ivrit - Hebrew root word “Ruach” that refers to the “life”  Elohim, blessed be His Sanctified Name, has given to us, by having breathed into us. As we do not take notice about our breath as we breathe which is every second of our life, thus we give absolutely no thought at all who has given it to us, or who sustains all life to every single thing on the entire Earth. Nevertheless, if we should skip just one single breath, we are jolted, as all of our senses are switched on and panic seizes us to find our breath again. The wind “Ruach” is invisible yet it can be felt. Elohim is also (invisible), but you can feel His presence encompassing all of life that surrounds us.

All this comes to a head when we read the next section of the verse;

and reveals to man His deeds (thoughts)”

The word “reveals” Hebrew root word “magid” -  - which means to declare, to tell, or make known. Thus by revealing something that was previously unknown or unknowable to the person, Elohim, blessed be He, offers the solution to be right with Him.

The next word in this verse is “thoughts” and its Hebrew root word is “Se’ach” -  - the basic meaning of this verb seems to be “in one’s mind.” So Elohim brings to attention for man to “go over the matter in one’s mind.” This meditation or contemplation may be done either inwardly or outwardly and if done correctly we can all repent and change our attitude towards Elohim which must always be our goal and live in His will. To change one’s self is the most difficult thing to do because we hold on to our thoughts and our ways of doing things, instead of taking on and living according to His ways.

What Elohim is also saying here in the next part of verse 13, through His prophet Amnos - Amos?

He turns the dawn into darkness” - It is the light that brings the dawn, even before the sun rises that mankind will reject the light before the brightness, His Glory has appeared.

Why is Elohim using this analogy here? It is when His light comes upon a person, before it has time to shine, Sadly all too often man rejects the coming light being Elohim rising upon Him, thus Elohim, blessed be He, brings the darkness upon man, because of the rejection by man of His light!

The very last part of this verse tells us of the outcome of rejection of Elohim’s ways when it states;

and tramples upon the heights of the earth;  Elohim of Hosts, is His Name

“Tramples” or “treads” comes from the Hebrew root word “Do’rek” - - which means to tread, bend, lead, way, road. Here we see Elohim showing the road to life and for man also, to walk upon His road. Rejection of His road leads man or woman to walk on another road which will leads to destruction of oneself. The word “high places” comes from the Hebrew root word “Ba’ma” -  that has a basic meaning of “height” or an “elevation” and it also refers to a place of worship. Also referring to the idiom of “treading on the heights” conveys the notion of possessing key terrain and thus signifies “being in firm control.” To tread is a promise given to Israel over its enemies. The reverse of this is to be trampled, destroyed by Elohim over His enemies.

Therefore we are to choose the way of our beloved Torah, and follow His road, and never alter His Word in any shape or form just as it is stated in the Torah and throughout the Tanakh and Keep His Torah just as it is written.

As I have said so many time before sadly ancient priestly and rabbinic traditions of days long gone have tragically rewritten our laws and some may possibly have done so, thinking they had done this in all righteousness, but sadly the truth is they were disobeying the will of our Elohim! As well as the One and only Torah we were ever given and yet they continue to pretend that there was another text from Elohim, which is a lie. Find a single scriptural qualification for that, and there is none!

Our all-knowing Elohim gave us a very powerful instruction for He knew men’s controlling ways and He was not wrong for our own history proves it, just read Yirmyahu – Jeremiah as well as other prophets and what we read there is simply shocking, what our evil leaders, and I do mean priests, etc, did. And as it were both priest and rabbis who did the very opposite to what Elohim Commanded in the Torah!

But we can change our ways and as faithful Hebrews we MUST uphold His true Torah as was written and we have it in the Five Books of Moshe! This is what Elohim so clearly said to us in Devarim - Deuteronomy chapters 4 and 5.

Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish from it, that ye may keep the commandments of  your Elohim which I command you” Devarim - Deuteronomy 4:2 (JPS).

Ye shall observe to do therefore as  your Elohim hath commanded you; ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. Ye shall walk in all the way which  your Elohim hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess” Devarim - Deuteronomy 5:28-29 (JPS).

We obviously lost our land because our leaders led us astray, for they tragically changed our laws to man-made ones and the precious Mitzvot of Elohim somehow took a kind of a back seat. But worse still, since when were we permitted to pray to the dead, which is common these days, and ask the dead to seek Elohim’s help for relatives, etc, which is done daily. Yes this all came from the Chassidic’s, and especially the ‘Chabad-Lubavitch’ movement who even dared to claim that their very dead rabbi Menachem Schneerson, as is clearly stated on one of their recent promo card’s containing his full colour photo and it clearly states under his picture - “This is the God Mashiach”. Figure that out if you can, and tragically those badly taught rabbi’s are somehow now running many of our Synagogues? I have heard some of their teachings and it is just horrid, and completely full of error. The rabbi in my city stated that the Egyptian princess must have believed in the Elohim of Israel, and that Jochebed waited to place Moshe’s basket in the Nile, for she wanted the princess to purify it first by entering it. Once she saw she stood in the water she placed the basket in the water and let it go. Now find a scrap of facts to that, considering she was a pagan Egyptian princess. But the head rabbi of the biggest Synagogue where I live teaches this and he is of course from the Chabad-Lubavitcher movement.

It is time for us to get back to reality and the faith of our beloved Torah and all that is written in the Tanakh, for sadly man is being too clever and Elohim knew what they were capable of. Just read between the lines of this study, and you can see the righteous in the valley, and those who are empty living in their own ways, well they are all up on the top of the mountain, and are full of pride, what I call the ‘I, Me and My-Self’. The sad truth is, where will they end up?

I am aware that this study contains a great deal, but remember that if we do use the Sanctified Name of our Elohim, as you have seen it stated on this study, remember that Our Heavenly Father did clearly say that His name is a “Memorial to all Generations” and that it should be mentioned. But obviously, it is not for regular speech, as it can only be used under the right circumstances, such as during our sacred prayers, when reading the Torah/Tanakh and in our private quiet prayers. Thus we must never use it in vain or in conversations, etc! In the correct circumstances using the blessed Name is 100% in compliance with the Torah!

For those who have a yearning to learn more about the Torah and grow in being a good and faithful Jew, there are many valuable studies on Hebraic Studies, and you are welcome to email me .

May … “ bless thee, and keep thee;

 make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee;

 lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace”

 

Be’midbar – Numbers 6: 24-26

(JPS version of the Torah).

 

 

Please also read the following powerful studies:

The first two studies cover the Mitzvot, and no, not all 613 laws are relevant to all of us today

It is all made very clear. And you will love the ‘Tehillim 105’ study

And the Important Study “The Name”

 

The Mitzvot Study

 

 

613 Mitzvoth

 

 

Tehillim-Psalms 105

 

Also read the study

HaShem-The Name

Dr. Rabbi Reuven Ben-Avraham.

Please remember our motto seen on the image above:

“The More Torah, the More Life”

For  Elohim, blessed be His Sanctified Name, is the one who gave us our Life!

 

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