HEBREW WORD STUDY – MY LIGHT – ‘OR  אורי

Psalms 27:1: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall  I be afraid.”

What does the Psalmist mean when he says that the Lord is “my light.”  The word for light in Hebrew is ’or.  Which our lexicon tells us is light, illumination, to shine, and in some cases, it is used for prosperity and comfort.  We could say that the Lord is my prosperity and comfort if you like. I am ok with that. But I think there is something much deeper.   All our modern translations, however, simply render this as light. Commentaries also follow in lockstep saying this is light, shine, prosperity and comfort.”  

The word light is spelled Alpeh, Vav Resh.  The Akkadian word urru is the etymological and semantic equivalent to the Hebrew  Aleph, Vav and Resh which is a reference to daytime. The Akkadian word is often associated with the word musa for night time.  But the  Akkadian has another more common word used for light which is nuru from the root NR nur which corresponds to the Aramaic word for light norha from the same root NR nur.  In Semitic languages, there is a distinction made between light which illuminates a room and light in a supernatural sense.  I mean even in Genesis God called (not created) the light into being on the first day.  But He did not create the sun, moon and stars, luminaries until the s fourth day.  Even the Hebrew word ‘or expresses a distinction between two types of lights.  

The ancient mystical rabbis say that the Aleph brings into form that which is formless,  it makes solid that which cannot be grasped.”  The next letter, the Vav is the number six, the number of days in which the universe was created. The Vav is considered a very powerful letter because it represents a connection between God and man.  The last letter is Resh teaches us about healing and compassion.  It is also the letter for the Holy Spirit.  Thus light is our connection to the supernatural, the formless or that which is not material.  It is our connection to God to fill us with the healing and compassion of the Holy Spirit.  Rabbi Samson Hirsch explains that light is the source of our true being from which we receive all happiness and joy. In John 8:12, Jesus said: “I am the light of the world.”   He is that outlet that we plug into to reach the Heavenly Father who will send the Holy Spirit into us to perform healing, comfort, and joy.  

The numerical value of Light is 27.  The word for praise in Hebrew is yadah and the word for my praise is Yahvado. Note the word yah in my praise, it is the name of God.  The numerical value of  Yahvado is 27 the same as the numerical value of light. It is not simply praise but my praise which connects me to the Light of God.

Like all the ancient scholars not even Einstein could solve the mystery of light. What is light, can you explain it?  Are there two different lights as the Akkadians believed?  No one in ancient times and modern times really understand it, but Einstein knew that if as you approach the speed of light time slows down. Modern physicist following Einstein’s theory believes that light may be the key to open a doorway to another dimension. I believe that dimension is the world of the spirit and if they door open a door, it will not be to the realm of God for only Jesus holds the key to that realm because he said in John 1:1 that He is the Light and like David, He is my Light.