HEBREW WORD STUDY – ENTIRELY ALONE – LABAD – לבד Lamed Beth Daleth

Daniel 10:7: “And I Daniel alone saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves.”

I am sure I am not the only one who scratches his head after reading this verse. This verse belongs to the portion in Daniel written in Hebrew. The first six chapters were written in Aramaic. What is strange about this verse, if you haven’t already noticed, is that only Daniel saw the vision, no one else did, but the others were overcome with fear and ran away. I hate to think what would have happened to them if they actually saw the vision. Clearly, Scripture says that “I Daniel alone saw the vision.” The word alone in Hebrew is bad with the preposition Lamed which means by himself, entirely alone, to the exclusion of anyone or anything else. So, grammatically the word labad is clearly saying that no one saw anything that Daniel saw. They, however, must have seen something Daniel did not see.

What was it that created the fear in them to cause them to run away? Daniel did not say a word about this vision, they saw nothing that Daniel saw but they were suddenly filled with fear, terror actually. Well, for one thing, Scripture only says they did not see the vision so most commentators come up with the profound answer: “Well, they saw something and it scared them.”

I will have to agree but what did they see and why did Scripture not reveal to us what they saw if they saw anything? I believe the Talmud gives a very good answer to that question and also makes a very profound statement about dreams and visions.

In the Talmud Megillah 3a, we find these words translated out of the Talmudic Aramaic. “But if they did not see the vision, why were they terrified? Because though they themselves did not see, their souls saw.” You say, “But isn’t that the very nature of a vision is that it is seen by the soul? Remember, they did not see the vision of Daniel, but they did see in their soul their own vision, a personal vision, a vision of how Daniel’s vision would affect them personally.

For those who attend a fellowship where people experience visions. You need to consider that if God gives a vision to one person then all will have or share in that vision, only the person who declares having the vision will share the vision which speaks of a body of people, those present, the congregation, the church as a whole, the nation or the world. Yet, those who experience what the Talmud teaches as the soul vision will see the vision as it applies to themselves. It is to be noted by Jewish teaching that this vision evokes a profound emotional response in us even if we are not consciously aware of the cause of our sudden inspiration or fear. The soul may see this vision but the mind may not. It is sort of like a dream that you have forgotten when you awake yet you feel a strong sense of emotion, joy, depression, courage, or fear. Yet, you cannot remember what it was that caused that emotion in you. Sometimes as a person relates the vision you sudden feel or sense yourself in that vision and may actually see that vision play out in your mind with you as the main character. Pay attention to that, it just might be a soul vision from God.

As I write this we are only a few days away from when the Jews all over the world will celebrate the ninth of Av or Tish’ah B’Av. They will fast and mourn the destruction of the temple the first in 349 BC and the second temple in 69 AD. However, the Sabbath that precedes the fast day is called the “Shabbat of Vision.” On this Sabbath, they read Isaiah 1:1-27. Which states out by saying: “The vision of Isaiah…” It is believed that on this Sabbath day each and everyone receives a soul vision of the third and final temple. As I said one is not always aware of the vision but they will feel it, the joy and pleasure of the third temple. In this vision, the world is at peace with itself and its Creator. This is why the Messiah will bring in the third temple for it will be a heavenly temple that will come to earth where the Messiah will rule and reign and bring peace and harmony to the entire earth. The resurrection will occur and all the righteous will live eternally on earth with the capital city of Jerusalem and the Messiah ruling.

Actually, just substitute the word heavenly city and you pretty much have a very similar end-time prophecy. You know, heaven coming down to earth, God remaking the earth, peace, and harmony, etc. Makes one wonder if it is not a heavenly city we will be waiting for but a temple. I mean all prophecies from Matthew to Revelation were given by Jews, Jesus included. Do you think they would have had a Jewish teaching or Christian teaching in mind? I will let you decide that. Fortunately, it all pans out to the same thing, heaven, temple what’s in a name, the truly important thing is that the Messia, who I believe is Jesus, will finally rule and we will rule with Him.

The point of my little discussion, however, is that if you hear someone relating a vision and you feel something emotional well up in you, pay attention to it for it may very well be a soul vision with a personal message to you from God.

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