Three Essential Hebrew Words Bible Readers Must Know Part 2

 

The Story of TZEDAQAH

 

TZEDAQAH is a difficult word for English speakers to understand. At first glance it appears to mean something that simply makes no sense -- a combination of charity and justice. In English, charity is voluntary while justice is mandatory. This problem was created when translators incorrectly linked the Hebrew word charity to TZEDAQAH. They should have linked it to loyalty.

 

TZEDAQAH is a combination of loyalty and justice.

 

1. Loyalty to the community in conduct and honesty.

 

2. Justice by eliminating things that decrease SHALOM or create disorder in the community.

 

There is a far cry between TZEDAQAH, with its implications of social justice, and the word “charity.” In the case of “charity”, the recipient sees himself beholden to the donor, whose action is voluntary. TZEDAQAH, on the other hand, has to be performed as a matter of obligation and the recipient is in no way indebted to the donor. The needy have a right to TZEDAQAH, while those possessing means have a duty to give it. Even a person who receives TZEDAQAH must in turn give TZEDAQAH.

 

In the Jewish culture, people do not ultimately own everything. What people have is ultimately God's and He merely lends it to people. He gives it to people in trust and one of the conditions of that trust is that “people must share what they own with people who have less than they have.”

 

TZEDAQAH is the foundation of social justice because acts of TZEDAQAH fulfill legal and moral obligations of community members to do what is right in all relationships. Acts of TZEDAQAH are concrete acts, not abstract notions.

Members of the community must be taught about TZEDAQAH because it is not an inherent human characteristic. It is a learned trait resulting from the sustained performance of obligations through the constant pursuit of justice by performing acts of TZEDAQAH.

 

TZEDAQAH & SHALOM

 

Isaiah’s prophesy (32:11-18) helps us see the big picture better.

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“Tremble, you complacent ones! Quake, O confident ones. Strip yourself naked and put cloth around your loins. Beat your breasts, lamenting for pleasant fields and fruitful vines.

 

Thorns and briers shall spring up on the land of My people, even over the houses of joy in the jubilant cities, because the palace has been forsaken, the multitude of the city has been abandoned, rampart and tower are instead caves until forever, a joy for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks – until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high.

 

Then the desert becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is counted as a forest. MISHPAT (justice) shall dwell in the desert, and TZEDAQAH shall reside in the fruitful field. The work of TZEDAQAH will be SHALOM, and the service of TZEDAQAH will be tranquility and safety until eternity. And My people will dwell in homes of SHALOM – safe homes in secure resting places.”

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Now let’s review what we learned in the discussions about TOV, TZEDAQAH and SHALOM -- and put the pieces together.

 

● Acts of TZEDAQAH measure TOV and increase SHALOM.

 

● Acts of TZEDAQAH demonstrate one’s loyalty and faithfulness to the community.

 

● Acts of TZEDAQAH are acts of justice because they eliminate things that decrease SHALOM or disrupt order in the community.

 

● Failure to do acts of TZEDAQAH measure evil and decrease SHALOM and/or disrupts order in the community.

 

● Failure to do acts of TZEDAQAH is being disloyal and unfaithful to the community.

 

● Failure to do acts of TZEDAQAH makes a person guilty of a crime because SHALOM is decrease.

 

A person who does acts of TZEDAQAH is called a TZADIQ –

a good and/or innocent person.

 

A person who fails to do acts of TZEDAQAH is called –

an evil and/or guilty person.

 

Understanding this is an absolutely essential requirement for understanding the Jewish Scriptures and the teachings of the Jewish Jesus.

 

The status of each person – innocent or guilty –

at the moment of death or on the Great Day of Judgment,

determines his or her ultimate destiny.

 

I will continue this discussion in my next email.

 

May your Shalom increase,

Jim Myers

 

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Three Required Hebrew Words for Every Bible Reader’s Vocabulary

 

The three Hebrew words above have no English equivalents. The English words used to translate them are not accurate meanings. At a minimum, it would take a sentence or more to convey the Hebrew meanings to English readers. In order to understand TOV, SHALOM, and TZEDAQAH in the context in which they appear, you need to do two things.

 

1. Add their transliterations and meanings to your vocabulary and use the transliterations when you read and discuss verses in which they appear.

 

2. Use an interlinear Bible (it has Hebrew and English words) to locate the Hebrew words or use BHC translations of Bible portions in your Bible studies. (See Website Page)

 

The Story of TOV

 

The Hebrew word TOV appears seven times in the first story in Genesis. The first appearance is in Genesis 1:4.

 

And God saw the light, that it was TOV.

 

Most translators translate “TOV” as “good.” Translators generally use lexicons (dictionaries) that list several English words as options for translating. In addition, we must look for “contextual meanings that emerge from the context in which they appear.” As I said above, TOV appears seven times in Genesis 1 and from that context this contextual meaning emerged:

 

“TOV is the standard the Creator used to

measure the results of His actions.

 

Acts that measure TOV protect lives, preserve lives,

make lives more functional, and/or increase the quality of life.”

 

As you can see, the English word “good” doesn’t reflect the meaning of the Hebrew word TOV.

 

The Story of Shalom

 

Dr. William Chomsky, Noam Chomsky’s father, provides the following meaning for “SHALOM.”

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“The word shalom, usually rendered by ‘peace,’ has in effect little in common with its English equivalent. Shalom does not have the passive, even negative, connotation of the word ‘peace.’ It does not mean merely the absence of strife. It is pregnant with positive, active and energetic meaning and association. It connotes totality, health, wholesomeness, harmony, success -- the completeness and richness of living in an integrated social milieu.”

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A description of “the completeness and richness of living in an integrated social milieu” was given in my previous email. It is the Creator’s vision of “what human life in His kingdom would be like.”

 

● People will reflect the image of God through their TOV acts. The will be actively engaged in protecting each other’s’ lives, preserving each other’s lives, making each other’s lives more functional, increasing the quality of life for each other.

 

● People will also be actively engaged as the Creator’s Co-Shepherds over all life on earth.

 

Acts that measure TOV increase SHALOM.

 

I will discuss TZEDAQAH in my next email. It is one of the most important words in the Hebrew Scriptures and the teachings of Jesus. But in closing I want to give you a chance to put what you learned above to work. Below is the BHC translation of Psalm 34:14. Using the above information, write your commentary about what the verse meant to the author and readers of the ancient Hebrew text.

 

Depart from evil and do TOV;

seek SHALOM and pursue it.

 

May you SHALOM increase,

Jim Myers

 

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