LandonWillis

Category: Hebrew

  • Miktam

    In the heading to Psalm 16, we read:

    A miktam of David.

    So, what’s a Miktam?

    Well, no one’s really too sure how to answer that. You see, this Hebrew word only appears six times in the entirety of the Bible. Here and then also in the headings to Psalms 56-60.

    Since we don’t have much context for how this word was used, we can’t be entirely sure what it means.

    However, there are a few theories.

    First, we can compare ancient translations of the Old Testament to see what ancient authors thought it meant.

    For example, in Jerome’s Latin Vulgate translation of the Old Testament, he translates the term as Tituli inscriptio, which loosely means “an inscription of honor”. In this same vein, other scholars think Miktam meant something along the lines of “an engraving”.

    This idea is that the Psalms with Miktam in their headings were so important that they should be “engraved” or “inscribed” on stone tablets in addition to just being on a paper scroll.

    Another theory comes from later Jewish tradition. It states that Miktam means “golden” or “precious”, again emphasizing the importance of these six Psalms.

    There are also a few other theories that it could be some sort of musical term, but the above two theories are most popular. The one that makes most sense to me is that Miktam probably means “engraving” because that’s what some of the ancient translators thought it meant.

  • Higgaion

    In Psalm 9:16, we read:

    16 The Lord has made Himself known;
    He has executed judgment.
    A wicked one is ensnared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion Selah

    This is the only place in an English translation of the Bible that you will find the word Higgaion.

    However, it does appear three other times (twice in the Psalms and once in Lamentations). The key distinction is that translators had trouble deciding how to translate it in this verse, so they just didn’t translate it and instead kept the Hebrew word: Higgaion.

    Well, how is it translated in the other three areas?

    For the most part, it’s translated as some form of “meditation” or “murmuring”, making the above verse possibly just mean that the reader should reflect on what was just said.

    Many scholars seem to think the word comes from the Hebrew word hagah, which means “to utter” or “to murmur”. That would make Higgaion literally mean “a murmuring”.

    Another option is that the word comes from an Arabic root which has something to do with a deep, vibrating noise. This theory is that when we see Higgaion in the verse above, it was an instruction for the Israelites to let a harp play a solemn little tune while everyone else stays quiet for a moment.

    If that option is true, it would likely be a good comparison to the English word “affetuoso”, which is a musical term for playing soft, tender notes.

  • Gittith

    In the heading to Psalm 8, we read:

    For the music director; on the Gittith. A Psalm of David.

    That word, Gittith, appears also in the headings of Psalm 81 and Psalm 84.

    There are two main theories about what the word means.

    The first, and far more popular, theory is that it comes from the name for the Philistine city of Gath. So, a Gittith would maybe be a type of harp or lyre made in Gath. One Jewish tradition even says that it was a specific instrument that David got when he was in Gath in 1 Samuel 21.

    Another theory is that the word Gittith does come from the word Gath, but in a different way. You see, the city of Gath is named from the Hebrew word Gath, which just means “winepress”. So, this theory goes that Gittith is some sort of melody associated with the grape harvest. Or maybe it’s in reference to treading on the enemies of God like a winepress.

    This theory seems far less likely. However, it does have one thing going for it. In the Ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (the Septuagint), the word Gittith is translated as “winepress”. The Vulgate translates it the same way in the late fourth century.

    Overall, we don’t know exactly what the word Gittith means, but the best guess thrown out is it was probably some sort of stringed instrument from the city of Gath.

  • Shiggaion

    In the heading to Psalm 7, we read:

    A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush, a Benjaminite.

    And in Habbakuk 3:1, we read:

    A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.

    Do you notice the similarity between those two words: shiggaion and shigionoth? Well, that’s because shigionoth is just the plural form of shiggaion.

    Well, now you’re asking, what do either of those words mean?

    So far as I can tell, there are three main theories.

    Assyrian Shigu

    One theory suggests that the word shiggaion comes from the Assyrian word shigu, meaning “lament”.

    This could make sense because both Psalm 7 and Habakkuk 3 describe stories of lament and destruction.

    However, this does not sound like a very popular nor likely theory.

    It could fit in place with Psalm 7 as “a lament of David”, but it sounds weird in Habakkuk 3 that the song is sung “according to lament”. Typically, a word like that in Hebrew refers to some sort of musical term.

    Hebrew shagah

    Both of these other theories are based on the idea that shiggaion actually comes from the Hebrew word shagah, meaning “to make a mistake” or “to wander”.

    The second overall theory is that the word shiggaion essentially means “a mistake”. If this is correct, then the idea is that someone committed a mistake in both of the songs: Psalm 7 and Habakkuk 3.

    There are scholars who try to point out how each song shows someone making a mistake. One example is how some people argue that Psalm 7 indirectly talks about David making a mistake by being tempted to kill Saul or overthrow him by force.

    This theory doesn’t hold up too well overall, but especially not when it comes to Habakkuk 3. Saying that the song is “according to mistakes” just makes no sense, especially in the context of the chapter.

    The Likely Theory

    Now, there is one guess which seems to be the most popular and make the most sense.

    This theory goes that shiggaion does come from shagah. But it has an emphasis on the definition “to wander”.

    If shiggaion means something like “a wandering”, then it could just mean a song that is wild and goes all over the place in its tune.

    And, everyone who writes about this theory always compares the word to a very specific English word. So, I suppose that I’m obligated to do the same.

    Dithyramb.

    There.

    If you already know what the word dithyramb means, then good for you. I hope the comparison helps you understand shiggaion better.

    As for pretty much everyone else who, like me, has no clue what this word means, here’s the definition.

    A wild, impassioned song. Originally in reference to a song for the Greek god of wine and drunkenness, Dionysus.

    So, when translators and scholars say that the word shiggaion was likely a dithyramb, they mean that the song was all over the place. Fast here. Slow there. High pitched here. Low pitched there. Shouting here. Whispering there. Enthusiasm everywhere.

    In the end, this theory seems to make the most sense. The word shiggaion probably meant some sort of an impassioned, enthusiastic song. So, both Psalm 7 and Habakkuk 3 were probably sung in a specific, energized way.

  • Selah

    In Psalm 3:2, we read:

    2 Many are saying of my soul,
    “There is no salvation for him in God.” Selah

    We’re interested specifically in that last word, Selah.

    It appears 71 times in the Book of Psalms, and 3 times in the Book of Habbakuk in a song-like section. So, the only times it appears in the Bible are in connection with songs.

    Plus, of the 39 psalms in the Book of Psalms that are written “for the music director”, 31 of them contain the word Selah at least once. Many take this to mean that it was a word associated with musical instruction, rather than part of a sentence.

    Well, what does the word mean?

    That’s the fun part. We don’t really know. Selah has been a very complex and confusing word among scholars for thousands of years.

    We know it’s a Hebrew word, but that’s about where the agreement ends. The meaning of this word was lost so long ago that we have records of Christian and Jewish scholars in the first few centuries giving different definitions.

    But, there are a number of pretty good guesses as to what it probably means. So, let’s dive in.

    1. Calah, To Measure

    Plenty of scholars connect the word Selah with the Hebrew word Calah, which means “to hang” or “to measure”. (The meaning of “to hang” would be like how an ancient merchant would “hang” something on a scale to measure its weight).

    This theory goes that if the term Selah has a meaning related to “measure”, then it is used as a way to tell the reader to carefully measure/weigh/consider what was just said.

    It would basically mean something along the lines of “Hey, pay attention to what you just read; it’s really important”.

    The Amplified Bible translates it as “pause, and calmly think of that”.

    2. Salal, To Lift Up

    One of the most common theories I’ve read was that Selah is related to the Hebrew word Salal, which means “to lift up” or “to praise”.

    The main idea with this theory is that Selah is acting as an instruction either to the people to “lift up” their voices and sing loudly/shout or as an instruction to the musicians to play louder, maybe by smashing cymbals at that moment or blowing trumpets.

    If it were a direction to the musicians, it would be similar to our modern musical instruction “fortissimo”, which is Italian for “very loud”.

    Either way, according to this theory, the musicians or the singers (whichever it was) would take a pause from singing or playing while the other one “lifted up” their noise and praise.

    This leads into the next theory.

    3. Salah/Shelah, To Pause

    A few people also say that the word Selah just comes outright from the Hebrew word meaning “pause”. (I found conflicting sources about what exactly that word was, either Salah or Shelah).

    Because of the actual spelling in Hebrew though, most scholars say that this etymology is unlikely. Still, it is similar to the first two theories because all three have the idea of pausing in some way.

    This theory is also backed up by the Ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint. It translates Selah as Diapsalma (I’ve also seen the word called Daplasma in a couple articles). Diapsalma means, literally, “apart from the Psalm”. So, this at least lines up with the idea that Selah isn’t actually part of the writing itself. Some scholars use this to support the theory that it just means a pause.

    4. Section Break

    Another theory is just that Selah is a note letting you know that the topic is about to change. Most scholars don’t like this theory, especially because some Psalms end with the word Selah.

    Why would you say that the topic is about to change at the end of the song?

    Still, the theory tries to explain this away by saying that we only have fragments of some Psalms or that the Psalms were all meant to be read in order.

    5. Acronym

    This theory is that Selah is just an acronym of other Hebrew words.

    One Jewish tradition says that it stands for the phrase from Numbers 14:19 “Please forgive the sins of this people”.

    Most people don’t seem to like this theory too much either.

    6. Latin Semper, Always

    This theory is a touch complicated.

    When Jerome translated the Bible into Latin (called the Vulgate), he made one translation of each book, obviously…. except for the Book of Psalms.

    For Psalms, Jerome made three different translations, two from the Greek translation and one from the Ancient Hebrew.

    Plus, there are three different main versions of the Vulgate in existence today. And those versions are split between which of Jerome’s translations they use. Plus, the numbers of the Psalms don’t line up between English and Latin. For example, Psalm 3:2 is Psalm 3:3 in Latin, and Psalm 54:3 is Psalm 53:5 in Latin.

    So, all that to say, if you go looking for a Latin version of something in the Book of Psalms, be careful. It gets confusing and difficult really fast.

    Anyway, in Jerome’s translation from the Greek, he just uses the word Diapsalma, like in the Greek.

    But, in his translation from the Hebrew, he translates Selah as the Latin word Semper, which means “forever” or “always”.

    Aside from just Latin, several other ancient Jewish writings from the first few centuries after Christ say that the word Selah just means “forever”.

    Considering that all the other theories have to do with Selah being outside of the writing itself, this is a fun little theory. And since forever is such a versatile word, it could fit in place everywhere Selah appears.

    Conclusion

    In the end, Selah is a weird, confusing word. But, there are many scholars smarter than I who have studied this a whole bunch and have come up with the theories I listed above.

    I hope this helped you. Selah

  • What Is Purim?

    In Esther 9:20-22 and 9:26, we read about the end result of the whole book of Esther:

    20 Then Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, 21 obliging them to celebrate the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same month, annually, 22 because on those days the Jews rid themselves of their enemies, and it was a month which was turned for them from grief into joy, and from mourning into a holiday…

    26 Therefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur.

    So, first off, let’s quickly review what actually happened in the book of Esther.

    Esther, a Jew, was in a surprising situation where she was able to become queen of the Persian Empire (more accurately, the Achaemenid Empire). An important official in the king’s court then got angry with the Jews and convinced the king to issue a decree to massacre all the Jews in the Empire. But, Esther, with the help of her adopted father Mordecai, convinced the king to issue a new decree that allowed the Jews to fight back and preemptively kill all the people who planned to kill them. So, after the Jews had killed some 75,000 people, we read the above verses where they rejoice at having avoided their massacre.

    But, there’s a weird language detail in verse 26. What do Purim and Pur mean?

    Well, pur is just the Hebrew word for a “lot”, and purim is the plural, “lots”.

    This is because the high official who wanted to kill the Jews had cast lots to determine what day the deed would be carried out.

    Also, the Hebrew word pur might come from the Akkadian word puru, which means “a stone”. That would make sense because people would commonly use stones for the casting of lots (nowadays, we would typically use plastic, dice; or I guess flipping a coin works too).

    And modern Jews still celebrate this holiday of Purim every year, typically in our month of March.

    The book of Esther also explains how in the city of Susa (the capital of the Achaemenid Empire), the Jews killed their enemies for two days, while everywhere else the Jews only fought for one day. That’s why the Jews in the city of Susa would celebrate Purim on the 15th of Adar, but everywhere else Jews celebrate it on the 14th. Today, the city of Susa is no more, but the tradition of celebrating the “Shushan (of Susa) Purim” one day later still lives on in Jerusalem.

    As a final note, the “King Ahasuerus” mentioned throughout the book is probably King Xerxes I, but we don’t know for sure. It gets complicated because the book only ever calls him by the Hebrew name Ahasuerus.

  • The Millo

    In 2 Samuel 5:9 we read:

    9 So David lived in the stronghold, and called it the city of David. And David built all around from the Millo and inward.

    We see this term “the Millo” also mentioned in a handful of other places.

    So, what is the Millo?

    Well, that’s where this gets a wee bit complicated.

    We’ve got three verses and some archaeology that all help to give us some idea. First off, we have the verses 2 Kings 12:20 and 2 Chronicles 24:25 which both tell about the assassination of Joash, King of Judah:

    20 And his servants rose up and formed a conspiracy; and they struck and killed Joash at the house of Millo as he was going down to Silla.

    25 …his own servants conspired against him… and they murdered him on his bed.

    Because he was assassinated in his bed and in “the house of Millo” these verses seem to tell us that the king lived in the house of Millo.

    Remember that. We’ll come back to that idea in a moment.

    Next, let’s look at the final verse which helps us, 2 Chronicles 32:5:

    5 And he resolutely set to work and rebuilt all of the wall that had been broken down and erected towers on it, and built another outside wall and strengthened the Millo in the city of David, and made weapons and shields in great numbers.

    That verse is talking about King Hezekiah’s preparations to defend Jerusalem. Nestled in the middle of a description about how Hezekiah was fortifying the city, we can pretty safely say that the Millo was some sort of fortification.

    Now, let’s take a look at the archaeology that can help us out here.

    Not too long ago, an archaeologist in Jerusalem discovered what she thinks is the remnants of the Palace of David and the Millo. She discovered two different remains of connected buildings.

    The first, she called the Large Stone Structure. It’s shaped like a large palace, and thanks to some hints from the Old Testament, she thinks it might have been King David’s palace.

    The second, she called the Stepped Stone Structure. It’s connected to the Large Stone Structure and looks like a large wall bending inwards, like a rampart (you can look up pictures of the excavation; it looks neat). It seems to be some sort of retaining wall, something used to keep all the dirt and debris behind it from moving and shifting. She thinks that this retaining wall/fortification was likely the Millo.

    And remember how 2 Kings 12:20 mentions “the house of Millo”? Well, that archaeologist believes this is because the palace connected to the Millo could be called the house of Millo.

    There’s also another theory I read which makes the claim that the Millo might have been located a bit farther away, in an area known as the Gihon Spring.

    Also, many scholars think that “Millo” comes from the Hebrew word ml’, which means “to fill”. This might be in reference to filling with earth (like an earthen fortification), or some think it means the Millo had something to do with water (like, “to fill with water”).

    Overall, we don’t know exactly what the Millo was, but it seems very likely that it was some sort of fortification. Plus, it must have been in the city of David and was likely nearby, if not part of, the king’s palace.

  • Who Were The Sopherim?

    Over the course of thousands of years, Jewish scribes wrote copies of the Old Testament over and over again. Scholars have now split these thousands of years of scribal tradition into several different time periods.

    You’ve probably heard of at least one group that scholars have sectioned off: the Masoretes, authors of the Masoretic Text.

    The Sopherim (or Soferim), however, refers to the Jewish scribes who worked from around the 400s BC to around 200 BC.

    There is one good starting point that historians use though. Many simply say that Ezra the High Priest (of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah) was the first Sopher (singular of Sopherim).

    Then, scholars give the name of “Sopherim” to the next couple centuries of scribes also. This lasted until the Pharisees took over in the second century BC. Scholars give different names to the periods of scribes during the time of the Pharisees.

    So, what does Sopherim actually mean?

    Well, it’s the Hebrew word translated as “scribes” throughout the Old Testament.

    The word sofer also just means “to count”. Some people think this is because the Sopherim would count every letter in the Torah as part of their process to make sure they copied it precisely right.

  • Ophel

    In the book of 2 Chronicles, 27:3, we read:

    3 He [Jotham] built the upper gate of the house of the Lord, and he built the wall of Ophel extensively.

    So, what does Ophel mean?

    Well, it is obviously not a translation but rather just an English rendering of the Hebrew word עֹפֶל (pronounced something like “Opel”).

    The reason it’s not translated is because there’s a decent bit of debate as to what exactly the word means. There is, however, also a lot of agreement on what the term probably means.

    To give you a quick idea, one source I read described it this way:

    “an elevated, royal, administrative or religious acropolis of, specifically, a capital city“

    Let’s break this down.

    First, most scholars agree that it has something to do with the idea of being “elevated”. This is because when we see forms of the word “Ophel” being used in other parts of the Old Testament, it sometimes has a medical sense of “tumors” or “swelling” (see 1 Samuel 5:9 for one example).

    Most people take this to mean that when “Ophel” refers to a place, it’s talking about some sort of “swelling” area, such as a hill or a rounded fortification (or a lot of people say “a fortified hill”). This ties in with the definition above of “acropolis”. An acropolis is a high (elevated), fortified point in a city. You might have heard of the acropolis of Athens. If this theory is right, then an “Ophel” is basically just the Hebrew word for an acropolis.

    Next, the definition above says that it was probably a “royal, administrative, or religious acropolis”. This is because, first of all, an acropolis would generally serve one of those purposes. In other cities, an acropolis would usually be the seat of government (administrative/royal) and would sometimes have the most important temples (religious).

    But, there’s another reason for that part of the definition. According to descriptions of the location of Jerusalem’s Ophel given in the Bible, combined with modern archaeology, we can say quite confidently that the Ophel specifically referred to the ridge between the City of David (where David set up his citadel after conquering the fortress of Zion) and the Temple Mount. Some scholars though think that the term Ophel would have also included the City of David (administrative/royal). Others think it would have included the Temple Mount (religious).

    And some think that “Ophel” would refer to both mountains, plus the ridge between them. That would probably be the closest definition to being an acropolis. But, almost everyone agrees that the short ridge (a couple thousand feet long) between them is the Ophel of Jerusalem. Some archaeologists even found old fortifications there. That lends to the idea of it being a “fortified hill”.

    Now, in the earlier definition, there was one last sticking point. “of, specifically, a capital city”. 

    What does that mean? Weren’t we talking about some place in Jerusalem?

    Well, yes. But, we actually have two other examples of the word “Ophel” being used as a place name. Both times for a place in another capital city.

    The first is in 2 Kings 5:24:

    24 When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the things from the servants and put them away in the house. He sent the men away and they left.

    “Wait a minute”, you’re saying. “Ophel isn’t in that verse”.

    And you’re right. At least, in English. You see, the word translated “hill” in that verse is actually the same Hebrew word for Ophel. It’s just that translators decided to translate it here instead of just writing Ophel like they did in 2 Chronicles 27:3 at the start of this post.

    When you read 2 Kings 5:24, you might imagine that Gehazi meets Naaman’s servants on some random hill out in the country. But remember. We can probably translate that word accurately as “acropolis” or “fortress” or even “tower”. So, this “hill” is probably some sort of elevated place inside of the city of Samaria itself (you can get more context from the rest of 2 Kings 5 to see that they’re in Samaria).

    And, since Samaria was the capital of Israel, just like Jerusalem was the capital of Judah, the definition of “an acropolis of, specifically, a capital city” rings true.

    Plus, we also have a non Biblical, archaeological source that talks about an Ophel in the capital city of Moab, Dibon.

    In the end, Ophel is a somewhat mysterious word that is sometimes translated in your Bible and sometimes just left as “Ophel”. A good translation would probably be “acropolis”. But other good translations could be “hill”, “fort”, “elevated place”, and “fortified hill”.

    Nowadays, it’s a term used by archaeologists to talk about the ridge between the Temple Mount and the City of David.

    If you want a much more in depth and very interesting article about this subject, try https://armstronginstitute.org/907-what-is-the-ophel. I got a lot of my information from them and found it to be very well written.

  • Alamoth And Sheminith

    In 1 Chronicles 15:20-21 we read:

    …Maaseiah and Benaiah were to play the lyres according to alamoth, 21 and… Jeiel and Azaziah were to play the harps, directing according to sheminith.

    So, what on earth do Alamoth and Sheminith mean?

    Well, if you’ve got footnotes in your Bible, you might see a note on both these words which says something like “probably a musical term”.

    Or, in other words, we’ve got no clue what they mean. But they’ve got something to do with music.

    Plenty of scholars have taken some pretty solid guesses about what they mean though.

    Alamoth

    First, Alamoth.

    It likely comes from a word meaning something along the lines of “young, unmarried women”.

    So, a lot of people take this to mean that Alamoth refers to the pitch of the lyres. Specifically, soprano. Like the pitch of a young woman’s voice.

    I read another source describe Alamoth as probably sounding like a bunch of girls laughing.

    Alamoth also appears in the heading to Psalm 46.

    Sheminith

    Sheminith is even more difficult to nail down than Alamoth.

    It seems to come from the Hebrew word shaman, which could mean either “eight” or “dripping fat/oil” (don’t ask me why it means both those things).

    So, most scholars apparently think that Sheminith means “eighth”.

    If that’s correct, it might refer to an eight-stringed harp/lyre. However, others think it is a reference to a specific note, like how the word “octave” in English just comes from the Latin word octo, also meaning “an eighth”.

    I saw one source that suggested Sheminith was meant to stand in contrast to the soprano of Alamoth; so, it specifically means a note “one eighth (one octave) below the tenor”. In other words, bass.

    But, there are also potential connections between the definition of “dripping fat/oil” and Sheminith. Overall, nobody really knows for sure what these words mean.

    And Sheminith also appears in the headings of Psalm 6 and Psalm 12.