HEBREW WORD STUDY – SWIMMING IN HIS PRESENCE
HEBREW WORD STUDY – A PORTAL – ETS עצה Ayin Sade Hei
(This Word Study is excerpted from Chaim Bentorah’s book: Swimming In His Presence: A Hebrew Teacher Reflects on Worship & Praise)
Deuteronomy 20:19: “When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field [is] man’s [life]) to employ [them] in the siege:”
You will notice in today’s study verse that the words “for the tree of the field are man’s life” is in brackets and the words “is” and “life” are in parentheses. You may ask why they are in there since Hebrew does not use brackets and parentheses. Well, that is the translator being honest with you and telling you he is just not sure how it should be translated. You see, if he translated it the way it is written in Hebrew and to be grammatically correct he would have to translate it like the Young’s Literal translates it: “for man is the tree of the field.” They would have to call a man a tree which is sort of degrading. Of the 27 modern translations, I examined only two did not change the entire meaning. One is the Young’s Literal and they are after all a literal translation so they could not have applied a free-wheeling spin. The second was the JPS which is the Jewish English translation and they are even more precise: “for is the tree of the field (is a) man.” You noticed I added parentheses because I read the Midrash and I know they are not saying that the tree is a field man. “Field” is clearly a noun (it has a definite article attached) and not an adjective in Hebrew. So, a tree is not a field man but a tree of the field is a man. Seriously, you would think Christian translators have no idea what a metaphor is. Twenty-five of the twenty-seven modern English translations I have read all walk in lock step of avoiding the shame of calling man a tree and say things like a tree is food for man. Well, a tree can be food, I guess. I was told they added sawdust to the meat served in the cafeteria in high school. During the Depression, sawdust was used as a filler for food. After all, a tree is plant-based. Then again maybe the verse is speaking of the fruit of the trees.
The sages, however, have no problem calling man a tree. What is so degrading to be compared to a mighty oak tree. After all, like my high school science teacher used to say oak trees were all originally just a bunch of nuts like our class. Yeah, it didn’t get a laugh in our class either. But let’s look at a tree.
The tree has roots, which anchor it to the ground and is the supplier of water and other nutrients. The trunk and leaves make up the body and then you have the fruit which contains the seeds you have the ability to reproduce. Now consider for a moment the most important component of the tree. It is the roots. The tree could not exist without the roots. The growth of the trunk, leaves, and fruit are all in proportion to the roots. If you have weak roots the rest will be weak. With strong roots, you have a strong and fruitful tree.
The sages liken the roots to our faith. Faith is not the most glamorous quality of our physical life. Faith is a commitment to just one Source, God. Faith just doesn’t have the sophistication, like our intellect or the vivid color of our emotions, or that sense of satisfaction that comes from the fruits of our labor. Faith is buried underground where its true extent is hidden from others.
Look around at the people in your congregation. There are the beautiful people, the gifted, talented who can sing, teach, and wins souls and they are likely the ones who produce the fruit. They are the leaves and the fruit is the result of their talents and gifts. They are honored and praised by all. Then there are the tree trunks, the pillars of the church, the ones who are intellectual and wise. They are also the biggest tithers. They are usually the elite found in the pastor’s circle.
Then there are the roots of the church. Without them, the church would not survive, yet they are the least among those that everyone sees, they are hidden away. They are the Miss Betty of the church. They are the ones that are not so beautiful or not so bright. You will usually find them sweeping or vacuuming the floor after a service, dusting the pews, or washing the dishes after a social event.
I once told you about Miss Betty, she is the one who is opposed to the government sending men to Mars. She thinks we are only going to Mars to kidnap the Martians and bring them back to earth to enslave them. She really believes this. I will tell you what else she believes, she believes that when you pray, God hears and answers those prayers. When one of those intellectuals or gifted musicians needs urgent prayer, you can find them in the janitor’s closet praying up a storm with Miss Betty, and believe me when Miss Betty prays, it gets pretty stormy.
Oh, there is one other thing I forgot to mention about trees, it is the word ets in Hebrew, which also means a concentration of energy. The roots are your real concentration of energy for a tree. Miss Betty was a real concentration of energy for the power of God. In fact, if you carry this out further into modern English a better word is a portal. A portal is a concentration of energy to another realm. Miss Betty was indeed a portal to another realm, a supernatural realm.
I find it not degrading at all to be called a tree, I bet Miss Betty would not either, and how about you?
(This Word Study is excerpted from Chaim Bentorah’s book: Swimming In His Presence: A Hebrew Teacher Reflects on Worship & Praise
Thanks & Blessings, it means a lot to me!
I don’t mind being compared to a tree.
Wow!
Your teaching is so wonderful just to know you are sharing your knowledge with the world so that we may know Him!
Thank you and I can’t wait to receive your books
2…. whose delight(H) is in the law of the Lord,(I)
and who meditates(J) on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree(K) planted by streams(L) of water,(M)
which yields its fruit(N) in season
and whose leaf(O) does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.(P)
Psalm 1
This is the tree I want to be!
I really liked this translation and especially ETz.
Not having any idea about this when I created my new email address some years ago, this really is a spiritual gift for me today. I have always thought about roots.
Root causes rather than the “bandaid solution” todays snowflakes so strongly support are what we should be looking at so the trees do produce leaves and fruit — even if it is an acorn. The smallest tree seeds often produce the mightiest of trees.
“Faith is the substances of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen” — Paul tells us in his letter to the Hebrews. I never thought of other Christian’s (as well as myself) as being the unseen roots that actually help others leaf (lead) and produce fruit. My ego had in younger years wanted recognition by the fruit aspect.
This really today has been an extremely important lesson for my life of 60+ years and the best is yet to come. Thank you Chaim from all of my heart.
“ “ I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” John 15:1-5 Once again, the image of a man rooted in G_D’s word is illustrated clearly in this scripture.
So interesting , thank you for deep insights
I don’t find being called a tree degrading at all. It’s amazing that ets can also be considered a portal. There are so many men and women of God, that over the course of my walk with Christ, have been portals to another realm. Maybe this is why I love trees so much and my dreams are sometimes filled with them.
wrote:
Psalm 1:3 “ And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”
The preceding verses paint a picture of the man who shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. Notice the phrase, “planted by the rivers of water.” The man who delights in the law of the Lord, who meditates on it day and night; he is fed by the rivers of water, the water of the Lord’s word. What a fantastic picture of a man grounded (rooted, if you will) in the truth of The Lord of Heaven’s Armies. He is content, prosperous, productive, generous (fruit in his season) in all that he does.
Jewish culture being so agrarian it’s more unlikely to not have agrarian examples to teach concepts than not, and there are many parallels in Jewish thinking, including a big one: the Etz Chaim (a central teaching of all teaching). Now there’s a use that goes full circle and is very deep, providing illumination for the tree word pictures in the Scriptures. Why isn’t the Midrash part of study materials in seminary? It’s far more deeply rooted knowledge…. to continue with the analogy. 😀