How Hebrew Text in Exodus Story Revealed How Christians Should View Spiritual Struggles (And How The Whole Thing Blew My Mind!)
I accidentally found a "nerdy roadsign" which got me meditating on how strongly Jesus Christ was hinted as Israel's (and ultimately humanity's) long prophecied hero and deliverer, a true, everlasting Messiah. All these from seeing the Hebrew word "shall fight" in the Old Testament which turn out shares the same "root" with "bread" both in the old and new testament, the "shadow" and the "fulfillment" of our salvation story. From what could (or not) be a divine design or semantic relevance, I was moved time and again to reflect on Christ, the broken bread from heaven, and to rethink my understanding of the word "warfare", "victory", "conquer", when it comes to the context and premises of redemptive works of Christ, St. Paul's mention of "ministry of reconciliation", and God's Kingdom.
Now, to begin the full elaboration, I'm the last person on Earth you'd go to for supporting "weird" theories. What I'll be sharing in the following are simply things encounter "as is", so should they sound like "number mysticism", secret codes, or anything, I have no intention nor pre-meditation of doing such. At some degree however, this incidental nature, in my opinion has just irresistibly added to the appeal of the facts, even to those not really believe in certain theological approach, or even those refusing the accountability and authority of The Bible.
And as a disclaimer, this is not an academically proven and solid linguistic analysis of Hebrew, I'm also a novice learner of the language, also a provisionally admitted new graduate student of theology by the time this is blogged. I was simply pricked out of sleepiness by this finding coupled with my limited perspective of Hebrew "root" which generally share close meaning/ideas across words formed from the same root (click here to find out more about "root" words, especially in the section "Hebrew Grammar").
Ok, here it goes. During an online prayer fellowship we were meditating and discussing "The Dividing of The Red Sea" in Exodus ch.14. As we're sharing observations and applications from the passage, I came across Exodus 14:14 (See? I know, I didn't even realize they're "twin numbers" until I had finished formulating & sharing my findings), and as I read the Hebrew version of the verse (I often have my Bible app with both KJV and Hebrew Wesminster-Leningrad Codex version open in parallel view), it appeared exactly as the following ..
Because I was told that scratching your heads is bad for your scalps, let me present my "five loaves and two fishes".
I'll only introduce few Hebrew words which are relevant to the discussion. Let's begin with what's in the text.
As you can find in the highlighted passages, the word "shall fight" used in the WLC version is יִלָחֵם "Yilachem". Enter this exact word in Hebrew language app/website and you'll find that it stemmed out of the same root as לֶחֶם "Lechem" (bread). Being a good Sunday schools attendee back then, my mind immediately rushed to Jesus Christ, the Messiah (prophesied deliverer from God), born in בתלחם Betlehem ("House of Bread"), proclaiming Himself as "the bread from heaven", The giver of eternal life, The One, whose coming would nullify the works of darkness and bringing God's Kingdom into restoration amongst humanity.
Many believers would rethink how they do, approach and think about spiritual warfare once they know that the Hebrew word for "bread" & "fight" share the same root (ל-ח-ם), thus tied to the same or proximate main idea. It's quite a surprise. Who would've though that "bread" which associate with eating, a very peaceful activity, would be tied to an intimidating idea of fighting?
The word ילחם "yelachem" was found in #exodus1414 in which מֹשֶׁה Moses was calming the Israelites when they're pitted between מצרים Egyptian troops and the #redsea just before #יהוה God divided it.
We believe that many parts of the #exodusstory was setting the stage & foreshadowing the culmination of #newtestament #salvation #story .. Israel to the redeemed, physical to spiritual, Moses to #ישוע Jesus, Red Sea to #baptism and spiritual #regeneration and #rebirth , and now, only through linguistic finding we can see that Jesus, born in #בתלחם Betlehem #thehouseofbread #לחם The #breadoflife #breadofheaven , broken for us, is truly showing & becoming the kind of #hero #deliverer #משיח the #messiah promised from #בארשית the very beginning.
He's coming and finally His death and #resurrection is the kind of ילחם "yelachem" (will/prophesied fight) heaven is putting toward all the dark enemies of truth & justice. He was the bread broken to free us, once hostages to sin, blinded by darkness, by סטן the accuser who from day one has enticed us to excel into exile, to exalt the understanding against the eternal Father of light.
This sacrificial love shown by our שר שלום Prince of Peace whose return we're anticipating is a no bargain and lesson for us redefine these word when we speak and live them: spiritual, warfare, victory, conquer, glory, all to bow before the cry of a meek baby in an unlikely throne, the manger. The Kingdom has come. Get used to different.
(Combined from post, not a final edit yet.. To be continued ...)
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