Hebrew Word Study – The Glory Has Departed – Ichabod – אִֽי־ כָבוֹד֙ Aleph Yod Kap Beth Vav Daleth
Numbers 20:29: “And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.”
Numbers 21:1: “The king of Arad, the Canaanite, who dwelt in the South, heard that Israel was coming on the road to Atharim. Then he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoners.”
Over these past many years I have written and published 24 books. Well, actually 22, one book is now in production to be released next Spring and my publisher is waiting for me to send him my latest book on the Divine Kiss once I finish the last chapter. Therein lies my problem. I have been trying to finish that last chapter since last Christmas, over six months.
I used to be able to sit down and just write and the words would flow. But all of a sudden, I find it difficult to write. After a day of driving my disability bus I would rush home, pop in a frozen dinner in my microwave and reward myself by sitting down and writing for the rest of the evening. That was my reward, to just write. I would spend the day thinking about what I was going to write about when I got home and anxiously watch that clock tick until quitting time when I could go home to my beloved keyboard and computer to write out my next little study of God’s Word. I never tired of it. I always said that the Word of God is a well that never runs dry. I would think of a particular passage of Scripture and like Alice I would start to chase that white rabbit running after a particular Scripture verse or passage which would bring me to a the proverbial rabbit hole that I would fall into and like Alice I would never know if I was floating up or floating down, whether I was upright or upside down. Once I landed I found myself in a strange world of insights into the nature and character of God. I would find myself wandering in His heart seeing things I never heard in any sermons or read in any Christian books.
But something happened about six months ago and I could not figure out what it was. Some call it burn out, some call it a writers block. But I recently discovered it was neither. I have come to realize that, to paraphrase Shakespeare: “The fault dear Brutus lies not in burnout or writer’s block but in ourselves.” I would sit for hours just staring at my computer, crying out to God for some inspiration, some indication of what I could study or research. Often, I would not get my topic to teach for my weekly Torah Class until just an hour before class starts. That’s hard on your heart. I could not understand why God would make me wait until the eleventh hour to come up with a topic.
Would you like Chaim Bentorah as your personal Hebrew teacher?
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Of course, I continued to do a daily word study on my blog but I have an archive of word studies in my data base and on flash drives of word studies I have done over the past 15 years. So, I just pull up an old word study and rework it, update it and send it out on my blog. Some new information built upon a study I did years ago. But rarely in the last six months have I come up with something new and different.
I was that old Christian who was once on fire for God, shouting yahoo, yippee and all that when I would hear some fresh words from God. But lately my yahoo, yipees and all that were just obligatory. I would yippee because I was expected to yippee if I were a really on fire Christ. I didn’t want anyone to think I was no long pious. I was Moses who kept wearing that veil over his face long after the glory faded because he didn’t want people to lose confidence in him.
Then this week I was working on my Torah Class and as usual pleading with God for some topic to present when the word Icabod came to me. The word in Hebrew is from the root word chabod which is glory and the I is Aleph Yod which means no, that is no glory which literally means the glory has left.
This week our Torah study covered Numbers 19:1-22:1. In studying these passages I found something strange and suddenly I felt that old fire coming back, I getting excited again, I could felt I was onto something I never realized before.
What caught my attention was the account of the death of Aaron. Literally in our English text we read: “The whole congregation saw that Aaron died.” When I read this in the Hebrew I found something very curious. The congregation saw that Aaron died. But they did not see Aaron die, he died on top of a mountain in the presence of his son Eliazar and his brother Moses. Commentators dance around this problem by saying that the congregation saw that only Eliazar and Moses returned without Aaron and seeing that assumed he died and Moses confirmed it. No, no, no, the word used for seeing is ra’ah which is seeing, actually seeing either in the physical realm or the spiritual realm. The congregation saw something.
What did they see? We can only speculate but the Jewish sages in the Talmud and Midrash have logic behind their speculation. Rashi, the Medieval Jewish commentator and Hebrew master as well as other sages teach that they saw the Clouds of Glory depart. In fact, the very next verse which is verse one of the next chapter we learn that the Canaanite King of Arad heard that Israel had come by the route of the spies and waged war against them. Huh? Kings were terrified of Israel. What did he hear to gave him hope of victory over Israel. Again, the sages expand on this saying in the Talmud in Rosh Hashanah 3a that what the King of Arad heard was that Aaron had died and the Cloud of Glory had departed from Israel.
But say, the cloud that provided direction, guidance, the protection from the desert, the heat, the rays of the sun, the poisonous snakes and scorpions as well as healthy sanitation by keeping their clothes proper laundered and fresh and prevented them from wearing out, the cloud that provided strength so that even the elderly were able to keep up with the younger was still there.
The sages teach that there were two clouds. The one that provided protection, guidance and provision. If God led his people into the harsh elements of the desert He was obligated to provided protection, provision and guidance. The other cloud is called the Cloud of Glory, this served no other function than for God to honor His people, it was their badge that they were the people of YHWH. Their banner that terrified their enemies but when the Canaanite king heard that this cloud had departed, he felt he now had a chance to attack Israel.
Here is the crazy thing. The Talmud teaches that the three leaders of Israel, Moses, Aaron and Miriam and each merited the privilege of providing three gifts. Miriam was a prophetess who provided the location of wells so Israel was never without water. When she died the wells dried up and there was a real uproar such that Moses went to God and God provide Moses with the merit to bring water. Moses prayed daily for the manna from heaven which was Moses’s gift to the people. Aaron’s gift was the Cloud of Glory which departed when Aaron died. The people mourned the death of Aaron but there was no outcry when the Clouds of Glory departed. It did not give them manna, nor water, it was just a symbol of God’s love for them. Big whip, no great loss, they still had the Cloud of protection and providing all the goodies, that is all that counted. That is until a Canaanite king decided to attack. More on that in my In Depth Study on our All Access Site.
My point is that, I, like many other Christian have two clouds over me. One for God’s provision protection and guidance, but the other is the Cloud of Glory. Somewhere, six months ago Ichabod, the Glory departed. Why, how, what to do about it? The first step is to admit the Glory Cloud has departed and not pretend it is still there.
PLEASE JOIN OUR ALL ACCESS SUBSCRIPTION SITE AND LISTEN TO OUR IN DEPTH STUDY ENTITLED: ICHABOD, THE CLOUD OF GLORY DEPARTS FOR MY COMPLETE STUDY AND EXPERIENCE ON THIS TOPIC. https://www.hebrewwordstudy.com/
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Thanks & Blessings, it means a lot to me!
I feel the absence of Hashem sometimes when my own prayer is empty, or when i read the Bible, there is no new revelation, or when i worship and i get bored or tired. I just pray and ask Him to fill me with His Ruach when i feel like everything is mechanical. We must relate to Him always in spirit, because He is spirit. One time i had an impression that our human efforts to honor Him is not pleasing to Him. We must sing from our heart, compose a song for Him instead of sing-alongs, talk to Him from our heart etc. I have experienced He is distant when i have an unconfessed sin. Also, Whenever you research, and analyze, yout left brain tends to work to make a reasoning and apply logic. The right brain receives & understands revelations, etc. It is not that u lost the glory, when you cant write. It’s always there. You’ve been asking Him and so you found that verse. Toda raba, Shalom Teacher!
How I love the nuggets of understanding you lead us to with your Word Studies. Often they are a call to reevaluate the health of my own relationship with my Heavenly Father. Other times, they make me fall in love with my God all the more.
Thank you for not giving up your searching of His Word.
Much blessed gift of life to y’all! My pastor prophet, but each is different, will have revelation of what subject or revelation of the Word that we would need in that exact time and always know scripture for such. But as we would gather together, whoever was there with our individual needs would actually determine the direction of revelation teaching or in reality healing. Shabbat Shalom; nothing missing nothing, everything made whole. The need met in the moment; the glory cloud.
Yes!
Thank you for this lesson!
It’s a lot to take in. I am wondering is it possible to study too much and fall down too many rabbit holes as I sometimes do?
I recently read in a book by Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, that the best writers have many interests out side of their chosen fields. If we study too much are we just rehashing someone else’s Ideas. I try to learn from many different sources, but I need God to help me fully understand. He is my greatest help and now more than ever we need to learn more about Jesus!
Hi Chaim. How would the children of Israel still have the ‘Cloud of Protection’ and goodies and the King able to attack? Recently, I’ve been made aware that people will make an idol out of just about anything good all the while leaving God out. In our country, people idolize politicians which is rubbish to me. If we notice, there are no books in the Bible named after any king. No book of Moses, not Miriam, not Aaron. Though these people were clearly chosen of God, the events and writings of God are not about specific people, but rather about us believing in God. Here’s what I picked up on:
“And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.” [Numbers 20:12]
Time and time again, the greatest of people stopped believing because they focused on maybe how many people they are reaching, or the impact of their reach, instead of simply having faith that God is with us.
One of the hardest, most humiliating things to do is admit there is a problem, wondering what others will think. Pride will try it’s best to keep the little secret quiet. For mature believers, hearing someone we respect, admitting they are “human” only increases our respect for that person. Someone who truly has a passion for Christ will look at someone’s situation, reflecting on the times they themselves were there. Yes, there are failures and downfalls which should never be mentioned once under the blood. But other failures and downfalls, when confessed, only build character in the individual and respect from those who care about you. Chaim, thank you for sharing. You are a great blessing.
In my personal experience, I find that when the cloud of glory has lifted, I have not spent intimate time with God. Yes, I’ve done my prayers and devotions, but I find that when I do a drive-by with God because of time etc, I lose intimacy. It may not happen all at once, but all of a sudden, I know I am not in His presence. That’s when I backtrack and say, ok, Lord, where did I get off my path? I can study all day long, but if He isn’t in it, they are just words on a page that don’t touch my heart. Our goal is to shine like Jesus and bring His manna and living water to a thirsty and hungry world. I can’t do that if He isn’t with me. Yes, He lives in me, but when my eyes are on everything else, I forget that He wants to be Lord of my everything else.
So, I stop and sit with my Heavenly Father. I put my eyes back on Jesus and sit in His presence. I ask forgiveness for taking Him for granted and being the kid who says maybe tomorrow we will talk. He is so good that He never pulls away but comes closer, and then I am right back in my Father’s arms where I should have been all along.
I will never leave you or forsake you. Deuteronomy 31:6.
Hallelujah. Picking up what you’re putting down. This takes me to this promise and think they can compliment each other.
“Then He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.””
Matthew 13:52 NKJV
In my experience He withdraws when I have been stubbornly proud about something that He has asked me to obey Him in. Why -because He is offended by it. It’s not because He is a despot. But He is Holy and desires our supreme good. And that thing is contaminating and will give the enemy advantage over us and disqualify our place of intercession for ourselves and our families. For me it was a stubborn pride in legalism where I simply refused to receive His righteousness His way because I wanted to maintain relationship more with certain friends than suffering for truth with Yeshua. It’s the changing of the guard and He is forcing us to extricate ourselves from people who have a knowledge of salvation but no saving faith because they are stubbornly invested in all the perks that come with the network of religious mammon. They don’t realize their lamp stand is just about to be snuffed out. I’m not implying that about you. The gifts and callings are irrevocable but He also says “Depart from me-you who practice lawlessness.” We all want God to be not to be a respecter of persons when it comes to our enemies only.
Thank you for your honesty and heartfelt love God’s word. Reading your post and blogs has helped me in my struggles. Often I find myself a
human-doing, rather than a human-being, who was designed to live in the Presence of my God, Savior and King