Jesus was "wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed" (Isa 53:5).
In other places in the KJV the word "wounded" is translated as: profaned; polluted; defiled; broken; eaten; slain, etc. His brokenness lead to reconciliation with the Father. Just as Pinchas took a spear and drove it into the enemy, "one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his [Jesus'] side, and forthwith came there out blood and water" (John 19:34)—the blood that covers everything with the water of Torah (water is often a metaphor for the Torah according to the Sages).
In Jewish writings this blood and water combination is not a new concept, it was introduced in the desert when Moses struck the rock:
Jonathan ben Uzziel, in his Targum on #Nu 20:11 says that
"Moses smote the rock twice, at the first time "blood dropped out": and at the second time abundance of waters flowed out."
The same is affirmed by others* elsewhere in much the same words and order.
*Shemot Rabba, sect. 3. fol. 94. 1. Zohar in Num. fol. 102. 4
(The New John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible)
The broken vav speaks of Jesus who has come "to guide our feet into the way of peace" (Luke 1:79)—he is the perfect shalom and having been washed by his blood we are now accorded a peaceful reconciliation with the Father.
The broken vav is not the only time this letter is used in an unusual way in the Old Testament.
Five times Elijah's name is written without the vav at the end and five times Jacob's name is written with an extra vav.
It seems that Elijah had something that Jacob did not and it was transferred to him on five occasions. Five, according to "Number in Scripture" is the number of grace and the letter heh is also the fifth in the Hebrew aleph-bet. Here we see that Elijah understood Divine grace and this was transferred to Jacob who, the rabbis say, took the vav and is keeping it as a "pledge" until the time that Elijah returns to announce the coming of the Messiah. This falls into line with a concept that we see over and over in the Talmud: if there is something that is so mysterious that no one can give a definitive answer regarding it, they state that this is one of the things that Elijah will decide when he returns. It looks as if Elijah will be telling Jacob that he had the answer to all his questions in his own hands all the time.
It is interesting to note that the name Jacob is used above instead of Israel. Some of the Sages state that when Jacob is referred to as Jacob it is usually to refer to physical matters and when they are spiritual matters he is addressed as Israel. This stresses the physicality of the letter vav and also might point to Jacob not being ready to understand loftier spiritual things? Names in the Torah point to the soul of a person and a new name usually represents an enhancement of that soul.
Speaking of the number five and Elijah this makes me think of Passover. During different stages of the meal cups of wine are drunk. There are usually four cups for the four expressions of redemption as stated in Exodus 6:6-7. The rabbis, however, couldn't decide whether there should be five cups with the last cup relating to the end of the Exodus passage where God states he will bring his people to the promised land. Some argued that the last part shouldn't be celebrated because it hadn't happened yet, so as a compromise, they declared that the last cup was to be poured but not drunk.
This has trickled down into the prevailing explanation for this last cup which now is believed to be poured so that Elijah can drink from it. But when Elijah returns he will explain the real significance of this last cup of wine; he will declare that they should have been drinking this cup for the past 2,000 years except that they refused the way into the promised land by deciding that God's methods were not to their liking. When Jesus was sent to lead them home, they rejected him. Ever since his death they have been looking at his blood in that last cup and wondering and longing for something they ultimately vehemently reject.
When Elijah returns he will tell them to pour that cup and drink it for there was another way that God redeemed his people and that was by sending his son Jesus Christ, the Messiah, as the perfect sin offering on their behalf and that this Jesus has/will restore and fulfill every promise ever made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Let us now look at the fourth letter, heh, which is a repeat of the second. We will concentrate on its use in the creation of the spiritual life of man. The work of the Ru'ah ha-Kodesh is perfectly illustrated by the following story concerning Nicodemus and his need to be born again:
John 3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? 13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Not everyone is born again and taught of the Ru'ah ha-Kodesh, only the righteous (tzaddikim) are given that privilege.
"All that the righteous do, they do with the power of Ru'ah ha-Kodesh" (Tanh. Va-Yehi 13).
This spiritual rebirth is aptly demonstrated in the renaming of Abram. He was given an extra heh in his name—he received elevated status by the insertion of heh and came into closer contact with God. When God made the covenant with Abram to be his God and to give him the promised land he changed his name to Abraham to commemorate that auspicious moment and to seal their new relationship, you could say he was born-again.
This is also a concept that shouldn't be foreign to Judaism for most Siddurs (prayer books) contain a prayer for the sick where someone who is either sick or living in perilous circumstances changes their name to somehow thwart the evil decree against them—they are given a new name so that everything attached to the old one cannot follow them and they essentially start over again. One of the four things that "cancel the doom of man" is changing the name (Rosh Hashanah 16b) and according to the Encyclopaedia Judaica:
In the Ashkenazi rite the change of name is effected by pronouncing a special Mi she-Berakh prayer which contains the following passage: "Just as his [her] name has been changed, so may the evil decree passed on him [her] be changed from justice to mercy, from death to life, from illness to a complete cure." (The Sephardi rite has a different formula.)
The new name given to a person is henceforth used in addition to his former name...for all religious purposes (e.g., to be called up to the Torah, in a bill of divorce, on the tombstone, etc.).
When you are spiritually born again you go from death to life, from separation from God to perfect reconciliation through his son Jesus Christ and you receive a new name to reinforce this new life. This is the name your Father has chosen for you before the foundation of the world and everyone that is His will be accounted for in the world to come seeing their doom in the lake of fire has been cancelled through faith in the Messiah. Lift your eyes and behold. Alleluia!
This concept of a new name is addressed again in the book of Revelation. The Pergamos overcomers will be privy to heavenly secrets and like the Olympic games of ancient times, will have a white stone given to them with their name engraved upon it:
Revelation 2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
Hidden manna is another area that should be familiar for the Sages teach that the righteous will partake of it again when Messiah comes. The book of Revelation states that even the Messiah, too, will go through a sort of evolution that calls for a name change:
Revelation 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
In other places in the KJV the word "wounded" is translated as: profaned; polluted; defiled; broken; eaten; slain, etc. His brokenness lead to reconciliation with the Father. Just as Pinchas took a spear and drove it into the enemy, "one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his [Jesus'] side, and forthwith came there out blood and water" (John 19:34)—the blood that covers everything with the water of Torah (water is often a metaphor for the Torah according to the Sages).
In Jewish writings this blood and water combination is not a new concept, it was introduced in the desert when Moses struck the rock:
Jonathan ben Uzziel, in his Targum on #Nu 20:11 says that
"Moses smote the rock twice, at the first time "blood dropped out": and at the second time abundance of waters flowed out."
The same is affirmed by others* elsewhere in much the same words and order.
*Shemot Rabba, sect. 3. fol. 94. 1. Zohar in Num. fol. 102. 4
(The New John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible)
The broken vav speaks of Jesus who has come "to guide our feet into the way of peace" (Luke 1:79)—he is the perfect shalom and having been washed by his blood we are now accorded a peaceful reconciliation with the Father.
The broken vav is not the only time this letter is used in an unusual way in the Old Testament.
Five times Elijah's name is written without the vav at the end and five times Jacob's name is written with an extra vav.
It seems that Elijah had something that Jacob did not and it was transferred to him on five occasions. Five, according to "Number in Scripture" is the number of grace and the letter heh is also the fifth in the Hebrew aleph-bet. Here we see that Elijah understood Divine grace and this was transferred to Jacob who, the rabbis say, took the vav and is keeping it as a "pledge" until the time that Elijah returns to announce the coming of the Messiah. This falls into line with a concept that we see over and over in the Talmud: if there is something that is so mysterious that no one can give a definitive answer regarding it, they state that this is one of the things that Elijah will decide when he returns. It looks as if Elijah will be telling Jacob that he had the answer to all his questions in his own hands all the time.
It is interesting to note that the name Jacob is used above instead of Israel. Some of the Sages state that when Jacob is referred to as Jacob it is usually to refer to physical matters and when they are spiritual matters he is addressed as Israel. This stresses the physicality of the letter vav and also might point to Jacob not being ready to understand loftier spiritual things? Names in the Torah point to the soul of a person and a new name usually represents an enhancement of that soul.
Speaking of the number five and Elijah this makes me think of Passover. During different stages of the meal cups of wine are drunk. There are usually four cups for the four expressions of redemption as stated in Exodus 6:6-7. The rabbis, however, couldn't decide whether there should be five cups with the last cup relating to the end of the Exodus passage where God states he will bring his people to the promised land. Some argued that the last part shouldn't be celebrated because it hadn't happened yet, so as a compromise, they declared that the last cup was to be poured but not drunk.
This has trickled down into the prevailing explanation for this last cup which now is believed to be poured so that Elijah can drink from it. But when Elijah returns he will explain the real significance of this last cup of wine; he will declare that they should have been drinking this cup for the past 2,000 years except that they refused the way into the promised land by deciding that God's methods were not to their liking. When Jesus was sent to lead them home, they rejected him. Ever since his death they have been looking at his blood in that last cup and wondering and longing for something they ultimately vehemently reject.
When Elijah returns he will tell them to pour that cup and drink it for there was another way that God redeemed his people and that was by sending his son Jesus Christ, the Messiah, as the perfect sin offering on their behalf and that this Jesus has/will restore and fulfill every promise ever made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Let us now look at the fourth letter, heh, which is a repeat of the second. We will concentrate on its use in the creation of the spiritual life of man. The work of the Ru'ah ha-Kodesh is perfectly illustrated by the following story concerning Nicodemus and his need to be born again:
John 3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? 13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Not everyone is born again and taught of the Ru'ah ha-Kodesh, only the righteous (tzaddikim) are given that privilege.
"All that the righteous do, they do with the power of Ru'ah ha-Kodesh" (Tanh. Va-Yehi 13).
This spiritual rebirth is aptly demonstrated in the renaming of Abram. He was given an extra heh in his name—he received elevated status by the insertion of heh and came into closer contact with God. When God made the covenant with Abram to be his God and to give him the promised land he changed his name to Abraham to commemorate that auspicious moment and to seal their new relationship, you could say he was born-again.
This is also a concept that shouldn't be foreign to Judaism for most Siddurs (prayer books) contain a prayer for the sick where someone who is either sick or living in perilous circumstances changes their name to somehow thwart the evil decree against them—they are given a new name so that everything attached to the old one cannot follow them and they essentially start over again. One of the four things that "cancel the doom of man" is changing the name (Rosh Hashanah 16b) and according to the Encyclopaedia Judaica:
In the Ashkenazi rite the change of name is effected by pronouncing a special Mi she-Berakh prayer which contains the following passage: "Just as his [her] name has been changed, so may the evil decree passed on him [her] be changed from justice to mercy, from death to life, from illness to a complete cure." (The Sephardi rite has a different formula.)
The new name given to a person is henceforth used in addition to his former name...for all religious purposes (e.g., to be called up to the Torah, in a bill of divorce, on the tombstone, etc.).
When you are spiritually born again you go from death to life, from separation from God to perfect reconciliation through his son Jesus Christ and you receive a new name to reinforce this new life. This is the name your Father has chosen for you before the foundation of the world and everyone that is His will be accounted for in the world to come seeing their doom in the lake of fire has been cancelled through faith in the Messiah. Lift your eyes and behold. Alleluia!
This concept of a new name is addressed again in the book of Revelation. The Pergamos overcomers will be privy to heavenly secrets and like the Olympic games of ancient times, will have a white stone given to them with their name engraved upon it:
Revelation 2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
Hidden manna is another area that should be familiar for the Sages teach that the righteous will partake of it again when Messiah comes. The book of Revelation states that even the Messiah, too, will go through a sort of evolution that calls for a name change:
Revelation 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
