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I would like to introduce you to Chaim Bentorah, Bible teacher extraordinaire. His name is a pseudonym, “Chaim” means “life” in Hebrew and “Bentorah” means “the son of the Torah.” I don’t know his real name. He writes in a section on his website (background) that when he was a graduate student he had occasion to visit a rabbi to discuss the NIV translation of the Bible which was taking place at that time (1973). The rabbi asks, “Do you mean to tell me that just a handful of Christians are going to tell millions of Christians what the Holy Scriptures say from the original Hebrew?” The rabbi then tells him that translation is much more than substituting an English word for a Hebrew word (this explanation is much better and much longer in the original). In fact every letter has a meaning. For instance, the rabbi said, “In the middle of [the letter “lamed”] is a bump which represents your heart, the top of the letter is like a hand reaching up to heaven. The Lamed shows knowledge from heaven entering your heart. If you put the letter Mem, the first letter for the Hebrew word for king, before the Lamed or the teaching God puts in your heart, you are out of order.”
I have been following Bentorah for about a year and I would love to share a few of his insights with you. These are all from his devotional, Treasures of the Deep.
“fulfilled” (Exodus 23:26). “…I will fulfill the number of your days.” The best rendering of this is “I will make every day of your life complete.” We are promised a rich and abundant life. Do I go to bed each night satisfied that the day has been well spent for God? God is going to say, “what did you do with the days I gave you?” Despite the pain, each day is full of opportunities. Search for the opportunity that God is offering you, and find it, so that at the end of the day, you am mala, fulfilled.
A Consuming Fire. (Jeremiah 20:9) “his word is in my heart as a consuming fire.” In Hebrew this is a metaphor for “passion.” Chaim describes his deal with God: If God would weep with him when his heart was broken, he would reciprocate. Several times he (Chaim) has been called to view unlovely people with the same love and pity that God has for them.
An Abusive Husband. In Hosea, God says that you will no longer call me Baali (master) but Ishi (my husband). Ishi has many meanings such as friend, helper, companion. God is asking Israel to stop thinking of him as master and start thinking of him as friend.
Beloved. (Matthew 6.9). For the ancient cultures God was neither male nor female. There is no sex in heaven. When Jesus said Abba, he didn’t necessarily mean father; it has as an underlying idea the attachment of branches to a tree, a very intimate connection. When first century Semites heard abba, they did not hear a reference to a male figure, but to a “beloved.” Thus it is appropriate to begin the Lord’s prayer with “My beloved, who is in heaven.” Stripped of its sexual connotations, beloved is not only more intimate than Father, but has a sense of mutuality, whereas Father cannot be stripped of its connotation of authority and power.
Cherish. (John 3:16.)The Aramaic word used here is chav. There is also the word racham which means tender love. Here we should use cherish, For God so cherished the world…This has a different feel to it, than “God so loved the world…”
Cry Mightily. (Jonah 3:8). Jonah called for the people to cry mightily to the Lord and a revival broke out. What will it take for revival in America? A Mighty Cry. In Hebrew “proclaim what is true.”
Diadem. (Proverbs 27:24; Revelations 2:17). In ancient times, the king’s diadem contained many stones, including a white stone with his name engraved on it. In the first century, the groom would give his betrothed a white stone with a pet name engraved in it. Only one person in the world would call that woman by that name, her husband. So Revelation 2:17 has new meaning. To him that overcomes I will give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone and in that stone a new name written, which no man knows except him receiving it. WOW! God has a pet name (say, sugar baby, e.g.) for each of us. As Chaim says, God is giving us the key to his heart.
Abracadabra. (Numbers 12:13). The word Abra-Kadabra is a Hebrew word and contains bara which means to create. The numerical value of the remaining letters add up to 26 which is the numerical value for YHVH – The name of God. The ancient Jews believed that healing came when you invoked the name of God. In fact, healers were known as Baal Shems (Masters of the Name). But since the name was so sacred and no one knew it’s correct pronunciation, they could not invoke it but they devised a phrase which in its Gematria (an alphanumeric code of assigning a numerical value to a name, word or phrase based on its letters) invokes the name of God.
Enchanted (Zephaniah 3:17). The best expression of God’s love in the OT. For the Lord your God has arrived to live among you. He is a mighty Savior. He will give you victory. He will rejoice over you with great gladness; he will love you and not accuse you.” Is that a joyous choir I hear? No, it is the Lord himself exulting over you in happy song. “I have gathered your wounded and taken away your reproach. (TLB). Chaim writes of a poem of a love-sick 13 year old student in his class:
When he looked at me
I was happy, so happy
I was happy in my happiness.
I sang to him in my heart
I sang a song of love
A love song from my heart.
And then he touched me
His touch enchanted me
And I fell into nothingness.
God loves to be in love!
I invite you to examine this teacher, his books, his daily newsletter, his YouTube videos. For a very small investment, you will reap great rewards.