HEBREW WORD STUDY – BRILLIANCE – ZOHAR ז הר  

Daniel 12:3:  “And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.”

I am not a student of prophecy so I really cannot comment on the context of this verse.  From what I read in commentaries this is an event that is yet to come.   There are many possible variations to how this verse may be translated, and I have discussed this on our All Access site last Tuesday evening during our live Bible study. 

For right now I would like to focus on the words used for shine and brightness.  There are three words in Hebrew that have been rendered as shine and brightness.  There is ‘or which is the light source and is often rendered as just light.  There is hallel which is a word for praise but it really means to shine.  However, that shining is meant as a reflection of the light of God. When we praise Him we are asking Him to shine on us so that we may reflect his light.  Come on, do you really think God is that insecure and needy that he needs us to constantly keep saying: “Praise you, Lord?”   Praise is for us, for we need to release our love and admiration for Him in some overt way.  Love will die if you do not exercise it.  Praise and worship is the most direct way we have to express our love to God.  When we do we cause Him to shine and that shine will reflect off of us in the joy and love that we share with others.   On our full Access Site, I offer a series on Yirdeu or communication with animals. Do you ever notice how, when you feel close to God, God’s creation seems to follow you?  Do you ever notice when someone walking their dog and the dog just ignores everyone around him except you and then begins to tug on his lease to approach you?  Yiredu,   I believe they have that gift of being able to see the light of God and they are attracted to it. 

Finally, you have the word Zohar for shine.  Zohar is not used that often in the Old Testament.  Your lexicons do not help much to define this word, it is simply defined as shine or brilliance.  But Jewish literature gives a much clearer definition.  Note it is the wise and those who turn many into righteousness that will shine or.  About the second and third century AD, a man named Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai wrote a book called Zohar which is a mystical commentary on the Torah. This is the basis for the Kabbalah and teaches 123 levels for the soul.  Reaching these levels involve an understanding or hamasekim from the root word sakal which means absorbing knowledge and comprehension. But this is in a hiphal particle form in an absolute state so it really has the idea of levels of comprehension.  In other words, those who grow in understanding and knowledge of God will shine or Zohar, as will those who bring others into righteousness.  Maybe we will not see their shine, but God sees it, the angels see it and I think Sparky my neighbor’s pit bull sees it as well.