This section will be devoted to Scriptural words and their meaning. We will not only establish the etymological roots of these words, but we will reveal how many English words are actually Hebrew words. Everything and anything you might want to know about the Hebrew language will be discussed and presented in this section.E-mail us if you want to know what a particular word is and we will be happy to post it here for all to read. If you are interested in it, maybe many others are, too.
WILDIn two places in the 11th chapter of Romans, Sha'ul calls those who are not part of the natural tree a 'wild olive tree'. The English word 'wild' is taken from the Greek word agrios. Obviously this is part of where we get the word agriculture. Those of this 'wild' tree are spoken of quite frequently in the Tenakh. There are basically two Hebrew words that are translated into our word 'wild' as it appears in our text. The first word sadeh is used quite frequently and is the common Hebrew word for a 'field'. It's first use is in B'reshiyth 2:5. "And every plant of the FIELD before it was in the earth, and every herb of the FIELD before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground." It is a word used to speak of vegetation that is not in a garden and out growing wild in the field. The syntax of this word in Romans 11:24 tells us that those in the wild olive tree are those that are 'of the field'. They are those who are existing by their bootstraps and consuming whatever comes their way, as opposed to vegetation in a master's garden being taken care of by the gardener. By analogy, they are those that are out struggling in the world as opposed to dwelling in their father's house (parable of the prodigal son). Here are a few examples of how this word is used in the Tenakh.
D'varim 7:22
Hoshea 2:12,18
Hosea 4:3 The other word used in the Hebrew text from which we get the word 'wild' from is pere'. This word means to be unconstrained or free from control. It is translated as wild, divided, separated, and scattered. This word more closely resembles the way our dominant religion looks at their new found freedom in the Messiah. But this is a description of what we were BEFORE we came into the kingdom of our God. Here are two examples of this word in the dictionary of the Brit Chadashah.
'B'reshiyth 16:12
Hoshea 8:9 You mean Ephraim, another name for the scattered house of Israel, is directly associated with the wild olive tree in Romans 11?
Shalom Alecheim!
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