Defanging The Atheist Tiger - Volume Eighteen

Audio Lectures by Father Thomas Hopko - The Autonomous Orthodox Metropolia

Written Observation by Fr Symeon Elias  - The Autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the U.S.A.

 "Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite." President Dwight Eisenhower's Farewell Address to the Nation, Jan. 17, 1961.

The original Hebrew texts containing the creation stories in the ancient form were very different than the Hebrew texts that the Jews read and copy today. Over the course of time, the pictorial symbols morphed into several stages of intermediate form, that then morphed into the modern forms that sometimes barely resemble the original. Our own alphabet is ultimately traced to it. Our alphabet, as the modern Hebrew alphabet depends upon "sounds" of each letter forming syllables, which "sounds" create words. Remember in school how you were taught to "sound out words" based upon certain rules of pronunciation. 


However, original Hebrew was amazing, in that it was "pictorial" like Chinese is today and formed more complex thoughts, using a series of pictographs that later became "letters."  Chinese contains thousand of symbols (pictographs) each dedicated to a particular thought/word. We all know that ancient Egyptian is a pictograph language. In English as in modern Hebrew, we take the building blocks of symbols (letters) and build syllables, and then syllables create words. Words then to one degree or another cling to some definition. Satan in the last two hundred years has lead an all out assault on words, trying to destroy all meaning. In a certain way it has been a wonder to watch the amazing ways we have been and are being robbed of our own language and words.  Today, words do not matter, only emotions towards the words have reality, in the view of many who are totally blind. 

Modern scribes would see the pictorial aspect of the Original Hebrew as a handicap, a limitation on primitive expression and language. However, I've come to believe, and KNOW,  viewing the work of many scholars, tracing the letters of the Hebrew alphabet back to the original symbols that the original symbols and their original meaning are very, very important to understanding the creation stories contained in Genesis and also to understanding the prophetic messages, containing the Gospels in Old Testament symbol, "types and shadows" of God in Christ Jesus, by the Holy Spirit.  

When I was a fifteen years old I confronted Hebrew. My text book looked like this. (This is an actual copy of a page of my Hebrew test book.)

I had taken Greek the year before, and it looked remarkably similar.  

(this also is an actual copy of a page of my greek textbook) 

Because in the text book they looked so similar, after spending a year wrestling with Greek, I wasn't prepared to wrestle with Hebrew. But years later I became fascinated and decided to look deeper. 

Tucked away in our family library was a tiny volume about the size of a small prayer book that was the "history of the alphabet."  I learned that the A of English was the Alpha of Greek and was the Aleph of Hebrew and that that symbol was traced through time to the symbol of the "ox" or maybe the "bull."  If I had not spent time fascinated by that history of written symbols as a boy, I would never have been open to learn what I learned in later life. It was that the original symbols of the ancient and Original pictorial Hebrew were something special. Not only did those original symbols find expression in the Greek, Aramaic, Latin/western alphabet, which includes all the Germanic and Romantic languages, but that the meaning of each pictogram, shed light on what the writers of Genesis intended to convey. 

nr.	Reconstruction	IPA	value	Ugaritic	Phoenician	Hebrew	Arabic	Greek	Latin	Cyrillic	Runic
1	alpu "ox"	/ʔ/	1	𐎀 ʔalpa	ʔālep	א	ﺍ alif	Α	A	А	ᚨ[citation needed]
2	baytu "house"	/b/	2	𐎁 beta	bēt	ב	ﺏ bā	Β	B	В, Б	ᛒ
3	gamlu "throwstick"	/ɡ/	3	𐎂 gamla	gīmel	ג	ﺝ jīm	Γ	C, G	Г	ᚲ
4	daltu "door" / diggu "fish"	/d/	4	𐎄 delta	dālet	ד	ﺩ dāl	Δ	D	Д
5	haw "window" / hallu "jubilation"	/h/	5	𐎅 ho	hē	ה	ﻫ hā	Ε	E	Е, Є
6	wāwu "hook"	/β/	6	𐎆 wo	wāw	ו	و wāw	Ϝ, Υ	F, V, Y	У	ᚢ
7	zaynu "weapon" / ziqqu "manacle"	/z/	7	𐎇 zeta	zayin	ז	ز zayn or zāy	Ζ	Z	З
8	ḥaytu "thread" / "fence"?	/ħ/ / /x/	8	𐎈 ḥota	ḥēt	ח	ح ḥā	Η	H	И	ᚺ
9	ṭaytu "wheel"	/tˤ/	9	𐎉 ṭeta	ṭēt	ט	ط ṭā	Θ		Ѳ
10	yadu "arm"	/j/	10	𐎊 yoda	yōd	י	ي yā	Ι	I	І	ᛁ
11	kapu "hand"	/k/	20	𐎋 kapa	kap	כ ך	ك kāf	Κ	K	К
12	lamdu "goad"	/l/	30	𐎍 lamda	lāmed	ל	ل lām	Λ	L	Л	ᛚ
13	mayim "waters"	/m/	40	𐎎 mem	mēm	מ ם	م mīm	Μ	M	М
14	naḥšu "snake" / nunu "fish"	/n/	50	𐎐 nuna	nun	נ ן	ن nūn "fish"	Ν	N	Н
15	samku "support" / "fish" ?	/s/	60	𐎒 samka	sāmek	ס	–	Ξ, (Χ)	(X)	Ѯ, (Х)
16	ʕaynu "eye"	/ʕ/	70	𐎓 ʕena	ʻayin	ע	ع `ayn "eye"	Ο	O	О
17	pu "mouth" / piʔtu "corner"	/p/	80	𐎔 pu	pē	פ ף	ف fā	Π	P	П
18	ṣadu "plant"	/sˤ/	90	𐎕 ṣade	ṣādē	צ ץ	ص ṣād	Ϻ, (Ϡ)		Ц, Ч
19	qupu "cord"?	/kˤ/	100	𐎖 qopa	qōph	ק	ق qāf	Ϙ	Q	Ҁ
20	raʔsu "head"	/r/ / /ɾ/	200	𐎗 raʔša	rēš	ר	ر rā	Ρ	R	Р	ᚱ
21	šinnu "tooth" / šimš "sun"	/ʃ/	300	𐎌 šina	šin	ש	س sīn	Σ	S	С, Ш	ᛊ
22	tawu "mark"	/t/	400	𐎚 to	tāw	ת	ت tā	Τ	T	Т	ᛏ

This Chart shows modern Hebrew Symbols - not the Original Hebrew.  Genesis was written in what the scholars today call Paleo-Hebrew. Paleo-Hebrew goes back to the period that the Hebrew language contained both the "pictographic meaning" and the arrangement of symbols to create words. This is something quite unique in languages.  The amazing thing is that there is little "confusion" between the pictorial meaning of a word, and the word itself. However, the pictorial meaning of each letter in the word sometimes has HUGE meaning. Or the arrangement of the symbols has huge meaning. 

The pictograms were used as letters to create words.  This is quite amazing since it is almost like combining Chinese and English, where each letter in English has a Chinese symbol and meaning, and the symbols together make up the meaning of the word. This is literally the complexity of the Genesis language. Each individual letter (pictogram) had an individual meaning, which placed together in a word, created a thought. Without the grasp of the original meanings of each symbol, the collective meaning of the word cannot be fully grasped.  The Chart is a history of the symbols of the alphabet. Please notice that the oldest is the Phoenician and the Paleo-Hebrew. 

The first letter the Alef, was originally the symbol for the ox. It looked like this. 

By the period of the scribes recording Genesis the Paleo-Hebrew (the age of the first "combining" of the Elohim and Yahweh versions of the Genesis Creation Story) the Aleph was turned 90 degrees to the right, and in our modern time it is our letter A.  I give this as an example so you can follow the images below. 

Letter name (Unicode)	Variants
	Modern Hebrew				Ancestral
	Serif	Sans- serif	Mono- spaced	Cursive	Rashi	Phoenician	Paleo-Hebrew	Aramaic
Alef	א	א	א
Bet	ב	ב	ב
Gimel	ג	ג	ג
Dalet	ד	ד	ד
He	ה	ה	ה
Vav	ו	ו	ו
Zayin	ז	ז	ז
Het	ח	ח	ח
Tet	ט	ט	ט
Yod	י	י	י
Kaf	כ	כ	כ
Final Kaf	ך	ך	ך
Lamed	ל	ל	ל
Mem	מ	מ	מ
Final Mem	ם	ם	ם
Nun	נ	נ	נ
Final Nun	ן	ן	ן
Samekh	ס	ס	ס
Ayin	ע	ע	ע
Pe	פ	פ	פ
Final Pe	ף	ף	ף
Tsadi	צ	צ	צ					,
Final Tsadi	ץ	ץ	ץ
Qof	ק	ק	ק
Resh	ר	ר	ר
Shin	ש	ש	ש
Tav	ת	ת	ת

Yahweh, the name that is very popular now among evangelicals. In the original Hebrew text it looks like this:

The first is an approximation in my own poor hand of the original Hebrew of the name Yahweh.  The second line is a transliteration, remembering that Hebrew is written right to left. The Third line is the familiar YHVH  symbol for Yahweh reversed from left to right. (We see backwards - the Hebrew isn't backwards)    

Father Tom made a big deal of the fact that the Greek Text says in Genesis, verse 1. 11 - "Let the earth bring forth"  as if the earth were a separate power.  The same language is used in the 3rd verse where it is translated, "Let there be light."  

There are some real lessons to be learned in the ancient Hebrew text. "Let there be" in English denotes a sort of passivity that isn't present in the original text.  אלהים - el-o-heem Elohim did NOT say "Let there be light"  as we have or will learn. This is a faulty translation from the Hebrew into the Greek into Latin into English.  He said rather, "Light BE." In other words there was nothing passive about it. So that phrase, "Let the earth bring forth" the passivity of which Father Tom emphasized again and again, does not reflect the original Hebrew, which said, "Earth Bring Forth."   God's closeness to creation and BEING is even more than we could imagine. Let us look at a simple example that is confirmed over and over and over in the original Hebrew.

 "Light Be" in ancient Hebrew looks like this. 

HY  YHY

inverted right to left

YHY HY

Be Light

This a direct command and nothing passive about it, AND every letter is composed of God's Name. (Don't think it is a coincidence. You will be disabused of that idea in a few paragraphs.)

Let the earth bring forth - which Father Tom emphasized, as if the command was passive and the earth then acted upon its own autonomous power.  He was proposing this to give to the Darwinists the ground in their delusion they "think" they have acquired from their science.  But the text does not support it. The command was direct, "Earth, bring forth" etc. 

The wisdom contained in the original meaning of the original symbols is astounding. So you will understand that the Genesis narrative does not walk God away from it, but makes him an active participant in it, I want to share the following about time and space.

The past in ancient, primitive Hebrew looks like this. 

Look closely! Yahweh is. 

So the past is three quarters of HIS name. 

So the Future is three quarters of HIS name. 

The Present is also three quarters of HIS name. 

When I wrote in a previous volume about God coursing BEING into existence nano-second by nano-second, if you could square that to the infinite power, you would understand what I mean. The theologians coined the Greek words, Omnipresent - meaning present everywhere, in all that is seen and unseen. 

Omnipotent - meaning all powerful - that is  - the power of THE ALL.

Omniscient - meaning all knowing - aware of everything and the powers that exist outside of "conception," that is, outside of man comprehension. Doesn't the ancient text confirm this. Not even time exists except stamped with his name. 

With all due respect to Father Tom, the ancient text does not say, "Let the Earth bring forth" as if the intelligence of life were the property of mud, the property of the primordial ooze, which has been the underlying theme of these seventeen "musings" as Father Tom likes to call them.  

I can understand his wish to placate the Darwinists and Evolutionists and his wish to somehow reconcile Darwinism and his career as one of the Orthodox Church's most important teachers before his grandson.  However, he has not accomplished his goal. To his grand son, if his grand son were to ever read these words, I would suggest that you open your eyes to reality, and realize that "Natural Science" is a closed circle. Just as a single individual can search for God by false means and find only his own navel, so Natural Science has no more capability of finding "reality" except in very narrow circumstances as does the contemplative gazing at his own navel. 

Natural Science is not capable of reaching outside of its material inquiry. It has a purpose, which in some ways has greatly blessed mankind. But when it pretends to the knowledge of metaphysics, it becomes simply another cult, like Scientology and astrology, and Mormonism, and Islam. 

`

In my own ignorant and humble way I want to share a couple other words of ancient Hebrew.  I won't take the time to add the graphic, but in ancient Hebrew Hatred means - The Snake Who Destroys Life and Activity. Hatred and Satan in the ancient Hebrew are synonyms and homonyms. There is a huge portion of Darwinism that is "snake like," that is, destructive to the place of humanity in creation. 

As we battle the lies of Darwinism AND the lies an ignorance of Biblical Literalist and Christian Fundamentalists, let us remember the goal of peace. 

Peace does not mean, absence of conflict and passivity, it means rather, fullness, completion and well being.  In fact in the word Shalom is the symbol of the Cross, the broken hand and the nail.  Like I say the original symbolic meaning of the Ancient Hebrew is amazing!