2 - Hebrew Secrets of the Bible (HEB900)
Instructor: Dr. Danny Ben-Gigi
(3 Credits)
Class Description
The intention of this class is to familiarize the student with key concepts with which they probably came across in the course of their previous bible studies - but this time, from the Hebraic point of view. The special attribute of the Hebraic point of view is enormous. It brings to the core origin of names, customs, presets and Bible verses whose meanings were ‘lost in translation.’
For generations, the common teachings of these disciplines and of canon landmarks were formulated to match traditional points of view, aka doctrines, that conformed to an outlook that, by-and-large, left the Hebrew origins ‘out of the picture.’
What kind of mysteries you can expect here?
If you were expecting to find in this course mystical, mythical, esoteric, and ‘the end of the world is just around the corner’ stories - you are in the wrong place. Yes, we are planning to expose you to great secrets, some of which may change your outlook of the Bible, of God, and even of yourself as a human being. But these secrets are all veiled from your sight because they don’t come through your English Bible texts. They do however, shine through Hebrew. We will expose them, one by one, as we introduce Hebrew words of key importance to you as a believer. You’ll recognize many of these biblical words - but only from their surface up. Our concern is to expose them from the surface down, all the way to their hidden roots, where the true fruits of these divine delights are stored. Fear not of any esoterica, religious bias, or trickery mind twisting here - we promise to walk with you on solid and safe ground. For this purpose we took every step to allow you to see as many examples as possible, allowing you to test every aspect with your own eyes. We carefully tried to avoid any ‘trust me’ fact-like assertions, thrown at you from high above, leaving you with no way to know whether you should trust what you hear or utterly reject it. You can maintain your safety by relying on your own faith as a lighthouse of discernment, but please, keep your mind open to new, unknown lands of knowledge. You’ll hear no long shot promises and no doom threats. No far-fetching, out of thin air theories. Needless to say, you won’t meet here any devils nor evil spirits. You’ll hear though, some warnings alongside heartwarming assurances. After all, how could it be different with a loving, merciful God?
The two kinds of God’s mysteries
‘Nis•ta•rot’ נִסְתָּרוֹת are the secret things that God wants to keep away from ordinary human beings. Ironically, we, the human race, have had a burning desire to know exactly these things since the dawn of history.
Disclaimer - there is a great gap between what God is calling ‘secrets’ and many meaningful Scriptures that are hidden from your eyes. The latter are major truths, which are hidden only from the eyes of English and other Romance, Neo-Latin languages readers. These powerful, and often amazing revelations, are not concealed if you look at them through Hebrew eyes. In English they may look like veiled subtleties, but Hebrew reveals each one of them as an essence. These decipherable secrets are essential for better understanding the Bible and this is exactly what we are sharing with you in this course. They are mankind’s business. The secrets that God desires to keep away from us are the ‘nis•ta•rot’ - God’s business.
‘Nis•ta•rot’ is the source and origin of all mysteries!
‘Nis•ta•rot’ comes from the Hebrew root S.T.R - ס.ת.ר which means in the ancient, biblical origin of the word: ‘mystery.’ The similarity between ‘mystery’ and the Hebrew word is in its source noun: ‘mis•tor’ מסתור’, a hiding place.’ Its root letters are the equivalent of S.T.R which means ‘secret,’ ‘hide,’ and ‘conceal.’ As such, the word ‘se•ter’ סֵתֶר) secretly), appears exactly 200 times in the Bible. ‘Nis•ta•rot,’ (God’s secrets) - only once: ‘The secret things belong to the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever.’ Deuteronomy 29:28.
The problem is that many of those ‘revealed things’ are coherent only through Hebrew. We’ll expand on this subject throughout this course, in the topic named: ‘Seter, Mistor.’
The major aspect of God’s ‘nis•ta•rot’ that people of all generations are so curious about, is future telling, or in biblical terms: knowing the times and the season’s secrets. ‘And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.’ Acts 1:7.
So why on earth (or much above it), are we still so eager to meddle in His business?
What are you expected to accomplish?
Your task is to be familiar with most of the 145 subjects covered in the enclosed class materiel, and in particular, with 13 topics that will be sent to you around your mid-term. You set your own pace of study, but as you will be expected to pronounce in Hebrew all the covered words (mostly they are concepts that appear as a title of each subject) we suggest that you do that moderately to allow enough time to absorb these key words.
Evaluation, grading and completing the requirements:
There will be no writing and you’ll not be required to turn in any papers during this course. As mentioned, you’ll receive 13 keys topics from the online course, on which you will be tested orally over a video conference with the teacher that you may conduct on any smart device. Besides the 13 subject that you’ll be expected to know thoroughly, you’ll also be ask to comment on 5 unseen topics taken from the course. The level of your fluency will determine your grade and satisfactory fluency will be expected for your graduation. We hope you’ll enjoy the subjects and incorporate them into your existing knowledge base to further your understanding of important, key issues in both the Old and New testaments.
Course Trainer Activation
You need to purchase the activation for this course. You’ll pick yourself a username and password which you’ll use for your training. This license will not expire at the end of your course and you’re welcome to visit it anytime.