Building Blocks

Truth is not what we want it to say. Truth just IS. Forcing a square peg into a round hole will not make it fit together. This is why we must allow passages to just say what they are going to say. Individuals can repeat their interpretation of Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 9:16 many times over… “Jesus is God… Jesus is God… Jesus is God…” but it will not change the meaning of the original intended message delivered by the prophet Yeshayahu (Isaiah).

The Prophet Moshe was called a “god” by Yahuah Elohiym but Moshe was not Yahuah Elohiym in the flesh.

Is the Prophet Yeshayahu actually telling us that our Messiah will be Yahuah in the flesh or are we projecting our beliefs upon the text? The Brenton Septuagint does not use the same terminology as the Masoretic Text in Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 9:6-7. The Messiah is simply called a “Messenger of Great Counsel” in this passage.

These two passages are quite different from one another.

Which testimony is the truth?

Individuals can repeat their interpretation of Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 9:6 many times over… “Jesus is God… Jesus is God… Jesus is God…” but it will not change the meaning of the original intended message delivered by the prophet Yeshayahu (Isaiah).

In context, these passages are saying the Messiah will be a great and mighty King. He will establish a government in the earth based on righteousness and justice. This is a wonderful message! Why do we need to twist and turn it to say something else? Can we not just leave it as it is and accept what it says?

In context, this passage is saying the Messiah will be a great and mighty King. He will establish a government in the earth based on righteousness and justice. This is a wonderful message! Why do we need to twist and turn it to say something else? Can we not just leave it as it is and accept what it says?

Truth seems to be evasive in our society because we have developed unhealthy practices and habits that shroud the truth in multiple layers of deception. We have to peel back these layers to find the truth. It is there. We just need to change how we handle the Word of our Creator and establish healthy habits. Here are just a few that help us find the truth.

• We must interpret messages from authors by seeing things from their perspective and considering all the factors that influence their perspectives.
• Messages must be understood in-context. Messages from an author will not violate the perspective of the author.
• Interpretations must not violate the nature and character of our Creator.
• Interpretations must not violate the established patterns of our Creator.
• ALL apparent contradictions must be resolved.
• Messages from true prophets, teachers and leaders will encourage ALL people to hear and obey ALL of the commandments written in the Law of Moshe.

In this lesson, we are going to introduce the concept of using two to three reliable, credible witnesses. This practice ensures we are maintaining context. The question we must ask ourselves are these:

• Do we want to use the Word of Yahuah to validate and establish our manmade doctrines? With this mindset, people search the Word of our Creator to find passages that support their beliefs. With this mindset, people are more likely willing to twist and turn the passage to say what they want it to say. People want “Jesus to be God” so they twist the passage in Yeshayahu (Isaiah) to say what they want it to say. This is a Babylonian mindset we have adopted from our leaders.
• Do we want to know the truth no matter how much it hurts? With this mindset, people allow the passages to say what they say. They look at Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 9:6 and understand that our Messiah will be a mighty King in the earth and that he will establish a government based on righteousness and justice. This is the mindset of Yahuah and His followers.

We are at a crossroad again which requires an activation of freewill. We are a hiker on the trail. Which direction are we going to go? What mindset are we going to adopt? Yahuah says His Word is like a fire and a hammer that breaks rocks in pieces. The truth hurts!

“Mindset” is one of the factors that influences our beliefs which subsequently influences our thoughts, words and actions. If we are not hurting when we read His Word, then we are not approaching His Word with the right mindset. In our lives, the truth has performed major surgery in our hearts and minds because we wanted to know the truth no matter how much it hurt. It is the truth that sets us free. There is no salvation in deception. One mindset fosters the development of deception and one mindset finds the truth. This must be a conscious decision when approaching the Word of Yahuah. This is a habit we have implemented in all of our lessons.

In this lesson, we are establishing an important principle we need to apply in our all of our studies and interpretations if our desire is to know and understand the truth.

Deception steals the “truth” from the hearts and minds of people. Truth is the antidote to deception. People rely on their trusted leaders and scholars to teach them the right way to walk. However, most of them are deceived as well. They are using the logic and reasoning of men and women and not of Yahuah. We defeat deception with the truth by learning how to make distinctions between “truth” and “error”. The first step is to define “truth”.

“Truth” is the actual state of a matter, an adherence to reality, or an indisputable fact. It is something that cannot be changed or deleted. It simply exists. In the Scriptures, the Hebrew word translated as “truth” is “emet” and it is defined by The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible written by Jeff A. Benner as:

We are “investigators” in a case trying to determine what is real and true. For example, the etymology of the word ‘truth’ reveals that it is related to a tree which is strong and firmly rooted in the ground.

By looking at the etymology, we are beginning to make a transition from an abstract idea to a more concrete definition.

We can dig even deeper by examining the ancient Hebrew pictograph letters in the word “emet”. The “alef” in the Hebrew alefbet is a picture of an ox head which represents “strength” or “strong authority”.

A

The “mem” in the Hebrew alefbet is a picture of waves in a liquid which represents “water” but it can also represent “air”. Both substances take the shape of their container. Balloons filled with air look just like balloons filled with water.

M

These two letters together form the root of this Hebrew word family and mean “strong water” which is like glue. This root forms the Hebrew word for “mother” who is the glue that holds the family together. When things are glued together, they are strong, firm and secure. The letter “tav” is a picture of two crossed sticks and means “sign”. All three letters together mean: “the sign of strong water”.

T

We cannot determine the meaning of “truth” by examining the meaning of the individual English letters because our alphabet has morphed over time from other languages. The ancient Hebrew pictographic letters are the core of the word. There are no more layers to peel back. We do not need scholars to decipher the meaning of the ancient Hebrew word. We can see the pictures of the letters ourselves and understand the meaning of the underlying Hebrew word translated as “truth”. We peeled back all the layers to reveal the truth as observed from the perspective of our Creator.

“Emet” is in the same word family as “aman”. They share the same root word with the “alef” and the “mem”. The word “aman” has the addition of the “nun” which is a picture of sprouting seed. Together, they mean “the seed of strong water” which is further defined by The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible as:

It generates this idea of getting to the bottom of the matter… the root… the seed inside a fruit…the core. The word “amein” comes from this root as well and is the common word we say after a prayer. “Truth” is firm and not subject to change or revision. “Truth” is based on fact and reality. It is solidly fixed in place like a rock and immovable. Essentially, when we get to the “truth”, it cannot be broken down any further. There are no more layers to be removed. Here are pictures illustrating the ancient Hebrew letters:

We can see these pictures in the definition of the word “emet”. Things that are glued together are much harder to separate. They are stronger together.

Statements can pose as truth, but are they truth? In court cases, lawyers sift through evidence to determine truth. Evidence is anything that proves something is true or not true. Cases are stronger when evidence is abundant. Evidence essentially offers testimony, whether it is animate or inanimate.

For example, a knife covered with blood from the victim and fingerprints from the accused is inanimate but it offers valid testimony in the case. In the Word of Yahuah, these are called “witnesses” and we need two to three witnesses to establish the matter.

Larger numbers of witnesses strengthen an individual’s guilt or innocence. Yahuah Elohiym says two to three are sufficient. However, more than three increases the strength of our position. The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible written by Jeff A. Benner defines the Hebrew word translated as “witness” the following way:

The Hebrew word “eyd” looks very close to our English word “eyed”. The primary sensory organ we use to “witness” events is our eyes. After we have witnessed the events, we have “eyed” the situation and the circumstances. In Mr. Benner’s definition, “witnesses” can be animate or inanimate objects as illustrated in our example of the knife. The root of this Hebrew word is defined by The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible as:

Doors provide access in and out of the nomadic tent. Doors provide access to the truth. The witness sees the event… the door that accesses the truth. This illustrates the relationship between the mindset of the ancient Hebrews and the action of being a “witness”. Here are pictures of the pictographic Hebrew letters for “witness”. We can see this word in these pictures.

Here are some examples of witnesses in the Word of Yahuah:

1. Heaven and Earth: Heaven and earth serve as “witnesses” providing a testimony for or against mankind.

Mankind was given dominion over the earth in the very beginning. We are the caretakers of heaven and earth or the managers on behalf of Yahuah who is the Landowner. Pollution destroys the heavens and the earth and is a direct result of mankind’s decisions. The damage serves as a witness that testifies against mankind as a whole in the eyes of Yahuah Elohiym that we are leaders or managers who make poor decisions. Testimony says that Yahuah will destroy those who destroy the earth.

This is the Law of Sowing and Reaping. People reap what they sow. This is fair and just.

2. Heaps of Rocks: In the Word, heaps of rocks also serve as a witness.

When someone sees the heap, they remember the events that led to its formation. It is a memorial.

3. Animals: Animals can be witnesses.

When Abimelech sees the ewe lambs in his flock, he remembers the events that occurred in this moment with Abraham. The animals reproduce young so the reminder is perpetual.

4. The Law of Moshe: The Law of Moshe also serves as a witness.

The Law of Moshe lists blessings and curses in Debarim (Deuteronomy) 28:1-68. People who hear and obey the Voice of Yahuah which is His Word, experience the blessings listed. Those who don’t obey His Voice which is His Word, experience curses. The blessings and curses individuals experience serve as witness for or against them. It does not matter if one appears lily-white on the outside, if their heart is black, the curses will find them. The Law of Moshe does not lie.

For example, Christian leaders say, “I am no longer under the Law”. However, testimony from the Torah testifies against them when they experience sicknesses like cancer. The Torah reveals they are under the curse as illustrated by the following passage.

The presence of the disease in their lives proves their doctrine is false. It is not true. The remedy is to abandon the false doctrine and embrace the truth in the following passage:

Yahuah Elohiym heals people when they choose to hear and obey His commandments and statutes written in the Torah. The healing serves as a witness that His Word is true and their witness is true.

5. Fulfilled Prophetic Events: Two witnesses also provide verification of prophets:

Mankind has no control over the fulfillment of prophetic events; therefore, events that come to pass stand as a witness verifying that the prophets are truly from Yahuah. If events do not come to pass, then men or women claiming to be a prophet from Yahuah are false. Yahuah did not send them. There will never be a moment in which Yahuah will use them as a prophet ever. They have disqualified themselves from this role forever by erroneously claiming to be a prophet representing Yahuah Elohiym.

Most of the authors of the “New Testament” writings did not predict any events for us to verify so it is not possible for us to determine if the authors are prophets from Yahuah or not. However, they provide extremely valuable testimony of events they witnessed themselves which do illustrate fulfilment of prophecies spoken by the true prophets of Yahuah in the Hebrew writings. Their testimony verifies the words of the prophets even more. They are true witnesses which is why we refer to these writings as the “eyewitness accounts”.

Now, that we know how to determine truth, let us consider an example and apply what has been learned. The King James Bible translated Tehillim (Psalms) 8:4-5 the following way:

This passage says that Yahuah made mankind a little lower than the angels. The Hebrew word translated as “angels” is “malakh” and it is defined the following way by The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible written by Jeff A. Benner as:

“Malakh” is a messenger who speaks on behalf of Yahuah Elohiym. They walk on behalf of Yahuah. The Hebrew word translated as “angels” in Tehillim (Psalms) 8:5 of the Masoretic text is not “malakh”. The Hebrew word in this passage is “Elohiym” which is defined the following way by The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible as:

I made this discovery when I read the Scriptures Version of the Word. Here is the passage from this version:

I found this discrepancy by consulting TWO different translations. Which translation is speaking the truth? We have to consult the underlying Hebrew to make these determinations. Here is the passage with reference numbers from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible.

The word highlighted in orange is the underlying Hebrew word translated as “angels” in Tehillim (Psalms) 8:5 with a “mem” as a prefix. Here are the words “malakh” and “elohiym” in the ancient Hebrew for comparison.

KLAM

MHWLA

They have some similar letters but they are not in the same order and they are not even in the same Hebrew word family. The King James Bible translators may have been influenced by their own beliefs and mistranslated this word in Tehillim (Psalms) 8:5. If people believe that there is this group of fallen angels lead by an entity named “Lucifer,” they might make the assumption that man was made a little lower than the angels and not Yahuah Elohiym. The Scriptures Version translator remained true to the text in this passage and correctly translated this passage. The following statement is the truth:

Man was created a little lower than Yahuah Elohiym

The author of Hebrews quotes this passage and claims that “man was made a little lower than the angels”.

The underlying Greek word in this passage is “aggelos” which means “angel”. The Greek word translated as “God” is “kurios” which is not the word used in this passage in Hebrews. Thayer’s Lexicon defines “aggelos” the following way:

This statement in the letter to the Hebrews is not true. The quote from the authors matches the passage from the Greek Septuagint because the Septuagint translates the word “Elohiym” in Tehillim (Psalms) 8:5 as “aggelos”. The author likely obtained their quotes from the Septuagint which existed at the time they wrote their account or they were using a Hebrew source text in their day that reads differently than the Masoretic text we have today. Perhaps it was a similar source used to translate the Septuagint into Greek. These are things that we must keep in mind. Following is the passage from the Septuagint.

This sounds identical to the terminology used in the letter to the Hebrews. It appears we have two reliable witnesses that are saying the same thing.

• The Greek Septuagint translated Tehillim (Psalms) 8:5 as man was made a little lower than the “angel” or “messengers”.
• The author of the letter to the Hebrews quotes the passage in Tehillim (Psalms) 8:5 using the Septuagint or a copy of the Hebrew scriptures in their day that reads differently than the Masoretic text.
• The translators of the King James Bible translated Tehillim (Psalms) 8:5 as “angels” rather than “elohiym”.
• The translator of the Scriptures Version translated it as “elohiym” and not “angels”.

What is the truth? Can we peel back more layers to determine the truth? Translating these passages as “malak,” “messengers” or “angels” leads us to believe there is this whole group of entities that have dominion over mankind. We envision these angels as entities that have more power than us. But is this the truth? In the Creation account, there are no separate class of “angels” created that exercise dominion over man. Yahuah said that He made man in His image and likeness and gave them dominion over all living upon the earth.

When we consider the concept of “malak,” they are simply fulfilling a role and not identified as a different species created for that purpose. Messengers are simply individuals who carry and speak a message on behalf of Yahuah Elohiym. By definition, prophets are “messengers” or “melakim” who speak on behalf of Yahuah Elohiym and they are men or women. “Melakim” are not this distinct group of winged creatures who exercise power over mankind. Man is second in command as illustrated in the following passage:

Yahusha Ben David is sitting on the right hand of Yahuah Elohiym. He is second in command. He was made just a little lower than Yahuah Elohiym. In the Brenton Septuagint, Tehillim (Psalms) 110:1-4 says that the man who exists after the order of Melek-Tzedeq will sit on His right hand.

This passage does not say that the Melek-Tzedeq Priest sits on the right hand of an angel. He sits on the right hand of Yahuah Elohiym. Yahusha provides testimony that he will be the one who sits on the right hand of Yahuah Elohiym.

Which statement is true?

Man was made a little lower than the angels or messengers…

OR

Man was made a little lower than Yahuah Elohiym.

We peeled back all the layers of the onion so-to-speak and found the truth. This is just one example of how translators have influenced our perspective with their translations. How many more of these discrepancies exist? In this example, we used the following witnesses:

1. The King James Bible
2. The Scriptures Version
3. Copy of Masoretic Hebrew Scriptures
4. The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible
5. Thayer’s Lexicon
6. The Brenton Septuagint, an English translation of the Greek text
7. Testimony from King David
8. Testimony from the Prophet Moshe
9. Testimony from Stephen as recorded by the author of Acts
10. Testimony from Messiah Yahusha Ben David written by Mattithyahu (Matthew)

We used ten witnesses to determine the truth. We peeled back all of the layers. The following statement is the truth.

Man was made a little lower than Yahuah Elohiym.

This is the truth based on the testimony of ten witnesses. We could supply far more to support this understanding. This fact cannot be changed or deleted.

• Was this statement true in the Creation account in the beginning?
• Is this statement true now with Messiah Yahusha sitting at the right hand of Yahuah Elohiym?
• Who are the rulers of our world today?
• Do we see a spiritual entity on the television screen making decisions that exercises power and control over men and women?
• Do we see wicked men and women making decisions that hurt others, standing in opposition to our Creator?
• What do our five senses tell us? What do we see, hear, taste, smell and feel?

Man was made a little lower than Yahuah Elohiym in the beginning. Messiah Yahusha was resurrected and is now sitting on the right hand of Yahuah Elohiym. Wicked men and women are ruling the world. They may have partnered with evil spiritual beings but they are the ones executing power and control over others. There are no other entities other than men and women who are ruling our world today. We do not see any winged creatures that are a completely different species sitting in the White House in Washington DC. We have found the truth and our own senses validate it completely.

If the statement, “You have made man a little lower than the angels” is not true, then it is a lie. Lies can be intentional or unintentional. Most translators have not intentionally lied to us. They are human. They make mistakes. How comfortable can we be, relying upon these translators to remain true to the underlying text? The definition of “infallible” is something that does not make mistakes or cannot be wrong. We have just illustrated that the letter to the Hebrews in the English as well as the Greek are wrong. The letter to the Hebrews in the English and Greek are “fallible”. Can we build an entire doctrine on something that has been proven to be “fallible”? If we truly desire to have a faith completely built on truth, then it becomes necessary for us to use two to three witnesses to support our interpretations and understanding.

Throughout our lessons, we use many quotes from witnesses to provide evidence to support our interpretations and conclusions. We follow the principle of using two to three credible witnesses because it reveals the truth and diminishes misunderstandings and misinterpretations. We do not take our quest for truth lightly.

“Witnesses” are based on the authors and not the books or letters they wrote. For example, Moshe wrote Bereshith, Shemoth, Vayikra, Bemidbar and Debarim (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). He is one “witness”. Quotes from Genesis and Leviticus serve as one witness because they were written by the same author. Shaul (Paul) wrote Romans and Corinthians so they serve as one “witness” because they were also written by the same author. By focusing on the author rather than the literary work itself, will also diminish misunderstandings and misinterpretations.

Each translator is a witness because they are influenced by their own beliefs. It is impossible to prevent translator bias. Therefore, it is extremely important to use two to three translations in our studies.

The Word of Yahuah is spoken and subsequently written by His true prophets who have been verified through prophetic events that have come to pass. In essence, their testimony has been established by at least two witnesses: the words they spoke and fulfilled prophetic events. For example, Moshe predicted the following which has come to pass:

The House of Yashar’El was removed from the land in 722 BCE (one witness) and the House of Yahudah was removed in 586 BCE (second witness) because of their idolatry as described in the prophecy. These events verify the words of Moshe. Each event predicted that came to pass is counted as a single witness so most of the prophets of Yahuah are validated by multiple witnesses. For this reason, the words of verified prophets can stand alone and provide a stronger witness than testimony from a single witness such as Shaul (Paul) or King Shelomoh (Solomon).

Using these principles provides a stronger foundation to one’s belief system and ensures it is built on a firm foundation that cannot be moved… because “truth” cannot be undermined, changed or deleted. It simply exists like our Father in heaven who is the Author of all “truth”.