Page 55 - Coincidences in the Bible and in Biblical Hebrew

COINCIDENCES IN THE BIBLE AND IN BIBLICAL HEBREW
34 34 COINCIDENCES IN THE BIBLE AND IN BIBLICAL HEBREW

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averah ; pesha ; chatah ; chatat ; avon ; aven ; chamas ; avel ;
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maal ; oshek ; avla ; nevalah ; raah ; rishah ; gezel ;
naming just a few …
For each of these morally unacceptable roads to travel, the Hebrew language
assigns very specific meaning. These words are not exactly synonyms. In fact, some

Jewish sages claim there are no synonyms in the Hebrew language. Yet, the richness
of this vocabulary is testimony to the focus of the Hebrew language on the very

finely tuned “variations of errors of judgment” that a person can make in choosing

the road to travel. Furthermore, even when no harm is inflicted on anybody, not
all roads are acceptable or permissible. In other words, laissez faire, or “everything
goes”—so long as no apparent harm has been done—is not a Jewish prescription
for how one should conduct his or her life. This is well documented in the book
of Numbers: “And remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them;
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and you should not seek [lo taturu ] after your own heart and your own eyes, after
which you go astray” (Num. 15:39). The interesting thing in this is the use of the
word tour, which has the same meaning in English. In other words, if you think
that you are going into uncharted, morally wrong territories, just out of interest,
just for a limited period of time, just for a brief glance, like a tourist exploring new
land, with no intention of staying there forever … then think again!
While this is one respect of how the Bible relates to moral transgressions, harm-
ful or otherwise, there is also an optimistic undertone, expressed in the Hebrew
word for “sin.” This word points to an obvious design in the Hebrew language,
because its root is far removed from any insinuation of moral transgression or its
results (namely, punishment).
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The word chet in Hebrew derives from the root Ch.T.A. However, the main
usage of this root is in altogether different contexts. The main meaning is “to miss”
(as in “missing a target”). Once it is remembered that the Bible refers to sin as an
aberration, an error, lack of essential knowledge (“But of the tree of knowledge,
of good and evil, you shall not eat,” Gen. 2:17), it is understandable why these
seemingly unrelated words share a common root. This speaks volumes about how
optimistic the Hebrew language is with regard to the sources of evil in the world.
The philosophy here is not, as related by God after Noah emerges from the ark,

following the deluge: “I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake;
for the impulse of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Gen. 8:21). To the contrary,
the philosophy here is hopeful, optimistic: all evil originates from “missing the
target”; for whatever reasons one seems to miss the target, there is always hope;
evil is not innate in one’s heart; the problem with the sinner is only that his or her
“sight” is somewhat impaired.
Figure 2.2 displays “sin” according to the Hebrew language.