The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible
The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible
Hebrew Letters, Roots and Words Defined within their Ancient Cultural Context and Meaning
By: Jeff A. Benner
The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible
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About the Lexicon

Introduction

In order to demonstrate the need for an Ancient Hebrew lexicon let us examine the word , how it is written and what it means. According to Hebrew dictionaries and lexicons this is a Hebrew word pronounced "halel" and means "praise". You may recognize this word in the phrase halleluiah meaning "Praise Yah".

The written word

The word , as it appears here, in dictionaries and in Hebrew Bibles, is written with the Modern Hebrew script. But where did the Modern Hebrew script come from? Hebrew was originally with a pictographic script but when Israel was taken into captivity in Babylon they adopted the Aramaic script of the region and used it to write Hebrew, including the Biblical texts, in place of the pictographic Hebrew script.

The word meaning

The Ancient Hebrew language is a concrete oriented language meaning that the meaning of Hebrew words are rooted in something that can be sensed by the five senses such as a tree which can be seen, sweet which can be tasted and noise which can be heard. Abstract concepts such as "praise" have no foundation in the concrete and are a product of ancient Greek philosophy.

Where is the Hebrew?

If the word is written with Aramaic script and the definition "praise" is from the Greek, where is the Hebrew in this word? The purpose of the "Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible" is to restore the original Hebrew to the Hebrew language of the Bible.

The original Hebrew

The word would have been written as in the Early Hebrew script (over 3200 years ago) or as in the Middle Hebrew script (between 3200 and 2500 years ago). The original pictographic letters of the parent root is a man with his arms raised "looking" at something spectacular and a shepherd staff that is used to move the flock "toward" a place. When these are combined the idea of "looking toward" something is represented. The original meaning of is the North Star, a bright light in the night sky that is "looked toward" to guide one on the journey.

Conclusion

If we are going to read the Bible correctly it must be through the perspective of the Ancient Hebrews who wrote it, not from a Modern Aramaic or Greek perspective. The word in its original concrete meaning is a bright light that guides the journey and we "praise" Yah by looking at him to guide us on our journey through life.