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Tuesday, January 19 2010
A number of Hebrew words are translated into English as "oak." Interestingly, most of them have a form of the word for "mighty," (e.g. ayl-law means oak) pronounced ayl (but usually written in English as "el") within the word, that is also used in a Name of the LORD (see El).
Also, as might be expected, aw-lawh, an Arabic pronunciation of the Hebrew ayl-law, is the basis of "Allah" - keeping in mind that the Iraq-born "Arab" Abraham (see Israel's Iraqi Roots) was a key ancestor of both the Israelites (through Sarah - see Abram and Sarai) and many of the Arab people (through Hagar, Keturah and other concubines: "25:6 But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country" Genesis 25:6 KJV).
"Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh"
Upon his arrival from his birthplace in southern Iraq to what would become the land of Israel, Abraham built an altar to the LORD (i.e. to Christ - see 'Before Abraham Was, I AM') near Shechem, on the plain of Moreh. The original Hebrew word is variously translated as "plain," as in the King James Version, or "oak," as in the Revised Standard Version i.e.
"12:6 And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh." (Genesis 12:6 KJV)"12:6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh" (Genesis 12:6 RSV)
Which translation is correct? The original Hebrew word actually means oak, so the RSV is literally correct, but Moreh is on a plain, so the King James is also true - even though the King James translators apparently took it upon themselves to correctly describe the geography of a place while ignoring what was actually written in the Scriptures about a landmark on the plain - an oak.
Abraham's grandson Jacob (who Jesus Christ renamed as "Israel" - see 'The God Of The Old Testament') dedicated himself to the pure worship of the LORD by "the oak which was by Shechem."
"35:1 And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother [see Why Did Esau Lose The Blessing?, Cain and Esau and Peace With Esau].35:2 Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: 35:3 And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. 35:4 And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. 35:5 And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob." (Genesis 35:1-5 KJV)
The etymology of "oak" and the symbolism of the usage continued at Bethel (again, with the "el," Bethel means House of the LORD or House of The Almighty). There, Jacob buried Deborah "beneath Bethel under an oak."
"35:6 So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with him.35:7 And he built there an altar, and called the place Elbethel: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.35:8 But Deborah Rebekah's nurse died, and she was buried beneath Bethel under an oak: and the name of it was called Allonbachuth." (Genesis 35:6-8 KJV)
Fact Finder: How did the Israelites later misuse oaks and other trees for their idolatry?
See Groves
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This Day In History, January 19
1419: In the Hundred Years War between England and France, the French city of Rouen surrendered to Henry V, completing his conquest of Normandy.
1523: In Switzerland, Ulrich Zwingli published his 67 Articles, the first manifesto of the Zurich Reformation which attacked the authority of the Pope.
1563: The Heidelberg Catechism was first published in Germany. Written by Peter Ursinus and Caspar Olevianus, it comprised a balanced statement of Calvinist tradition, and was soon after accepted by nearly all of the Reformed churches in Europe.
1568: Miles Coverdale died at age 80. He published the first printed English Bible. He completed the translation of The Old Testament which William Tyndale had left unfinished at his death in 1536.
1783: William Pitt became the youngest-ever Prime Minister of England at age 24.
1889: The Salvation Army split, as one faction within the denomination renounced allegiance to founder William Booth. Booth's son Ballington and his wife Maud led the American splinter group, which in 1896 incorporated itself as a separate denomination known as the Volunteers of America.
1899: Britain and Egypt established joint control over Sudan.
1915: The first casualties to result from an air raid over Britain occurred when a Zeppelin dropped 6 bombs on Yarmouth. 2 people died and 3 were injured.
1919: A "tidal wave" of molasses 45 feet high and 75 feet wide killed dozens in Boston.
1921: Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador signed the Pact of Union.
1937: Howard Hughes set a transcontinental air record from Los Angeles to New York of 7 hours, 28 minutes.
1966: Indira Gandhi was elected prime minister of India in succession to Lal Shastri who had died on January 11. Shastri had succeeded Gandhi's father, Jawaharlal Nehru.
1971: The Beatles song "Helter Skelter" was played at the Charles Manson murder trial.
1975: 20 people were injured at the airport in Paris, France, after Arab terrorists attempted a grenade attack on an El Al jumbo jet and then seized three hostages.
1983: Klaus Barbie, notorious SS chief of Lyon in Nazi-occupied France, was arrested in Bolivia.
1991: During the Kuwait War, Iraq's Saddam Hussein began launching "Scud" missiles on Haifa and Tel Aviv the day after allied forces began bombing Iraq. Hussein's intention was to provoke an Israeli entry into the war and thereby cause the Arab allied forces to quit the war against Iraq. The Israelis did not take the bait, and suffered 13 dead, 200 wounded, 4,000 buildings damaged.
