According to Wikipedia, Orthodox Jews can study the text of the Torah
on any of four levels as described in the Zohar:
1.
Peshat,
the plain (simple) or literal reading;
2.
Remez,
the allegorical reading through text's hint or allusion;
3.
Derash,
the metaphorical reading through a (rabbinic sermon's) comparison/illustration
(midrash);
4.
Sod, the
hidden meaning reading through text's secret or mystery (Kabbalah).
Most Christians and Jews spend their time studying the Bible on the
first 3 levels and rarely dig deeper for the text’s secret meanings (Kabbalah). Kabbalah, like the number 13 has been taken
over by the occult and corrupted.
Because of that, not all Kabbalah is true biblical Kabbalah. In fact, most Kabbalah being taught today is
not biblical Kabbalah and can lead people astray. The original Kabbalah focused on the secrets
and mysteries hidden in the Hebrew text.
It involved studying the Hebrew text intently looking for hints while
being guided by God’s spirit to gain understanding. It is very similar to what most bible
students do today in studying scripture.
We read and study and pray and seek spiritual guidance from above for
understanding.
So let’s look at a simple example of hidden secrets within scripture
from the very first verse in the Bible, Genesis 1:1, where it says “In the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth.” (NASB) The Hebrew
text says: בְּרֵאשִׁית, בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים, אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ
which
literally translates “In the beginning
created God the heavens and the earth”.
Notice the placement of the אֵת. It occurs in the 4th and 6th words in
the 7 word sentence. The א is the aleph which is the first letter
of the Hebrew alphabet. The ת is the tav which is the last letter of
the Hebrew alphabet. Hebrew words are
read from right to left so the order is aleph tav. Both Jews and Christians teach that this
represents the messiah. The only
difference is that Christians use the Greek letters alpha and omega instead of
the Hebrew letters aleph and tav.
The placement of these two letters in the verse gives a hint at
the appearance of the messiah. They
occur in the 4th and 6th words of the 7 word verse. Rabbis have historically taught that the
messiah would appear after 4000 years and 6000 years since creation based on
the pattern in the creation narrative where God created everything in 6 days
and rested on the 7th. We are
currently in the Jewish calendar year 5773 near then completion of 6000 years
when the messiah is supposed to appear!
There is another interesting thing about the אֵת and its hint at the messiah.
In Hebrew sometimes the verb comes before its subject not after it
like in English. This is the case in the
literal translation for Genesis 1:1 as I previously quoted above. “In
the beginning created God the heavens and the earth”. You can
identify the direct object (person or thing acted upon) because the word “et”
precedes the direct object. It is the
Hebrew word “et” which directs the action of the verb according to Hebrew grammatical
rules. So God created the heavens and
earth and it is the אֵת or “et”
placement before each of these that directs the action of God creating
them. Since the “et” represents the
messiah, it hints the messiah’s involvement with God during the creation of the
heavens and the earth.
It seems that God wants His people to search and
study the scriptures to discover the hidden secrets. This is what the Jews call the Sod or hidden meaning
of scripture. You can read bibles
translated to English all day long and will not achieve the deeper Sod level of
interpretation. With Translations, you
will only uncover the first 3 levels of meaning. You can only get to the hidden meaning by
studying God’s word in the original language – Hebrew. There is an excellent website called
hebrew4christians that can help you get started in studying the original Hebrew
of the Bible for deeper insight into the scriptures. http://www.hebrew4christians.com/
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