WORDS OF DEUT.16:1-8
DEUTERONOMY 16 AND HEBREW WORDS
by Keith Hunt [March 2014]
MANY HAVE REAL PROBLEMS UNDERSTANDING DEUT.16:1-8. THEY MAKE THE MISTAKE OF NOT FULLY UNDERSTANDING 3 HEBREW WORDS.
THE WORDS IN THE KJV ARE: Flock; Herd; and
Roast.
WE SHALL GIVE THEM A THOROUGH STUDY.
The word "FLOCK"
We shall go first to Strong's Concordance of the Bible. The number is 6029
"anad" - to bind around, bind upon, bind.
From the "Theological Workbook of the Old Testament" [which all serious teachers of theology should absolutely have] - "anad" - bind, around, upon, (Job 31:36; Prov. 6:21)
From "The Englishman's Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance of the Old Testament" [which any serious theology teachers should have, gives you every verse where the word is used in the OT] -
"gahnad" - Imperative - Prov. 6:21; (and) tie them about thy neck.
Job 31: 36; - Future - (and) bind it (as) a crown to me.
The popular and most often used word for "flock" in the Hebrew OT is #6629; 5739; 4735; 6251; and once 4830.
#6629 is the most used for "flock" and "flocks" - these words [numbers just given].
We do have a CONTRADICTION in scholars!!
J.P.Green in his Hebrew/English Interlinear gives the word as #6029 in Deut.16:2; but Strong's gives it as #6629 [tzohn - so n]
For 6629 Strong has: "flock, sheep, goats [in contrast to larger mammals: cattle, donkeys, camels, etc......]"
So if Strong is correct then "flock" would be the correct translation. So indeed could then be "flock" of sheep.
If J.P.Green is correct, then the Israelites would be binding, choosing, tying, as picking their lamb on the 10th day of the month, to tie or keep until the 14th for the Passover sacrifice. As given in Exodus 12.
The word "HERD"
#1241 in Strong's Concordance.
Strong says: "baqar" - animal, cow, bull, cattle, oxen, herd......"
BUT the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament gives more:
"baqar" - Cattle, herd, ox. baqar (180 times) .... though baqar refers to draught animals, including bulls, cows, heifers, and calves., baqar is distinguished from "flock" (so n) which denotes small cattle such as sheep and goats., so n and baqar OFTEN denote ALL domesticated animals., behema also refers to livestock generally including sheep and goats......"
Now we turn to the very important Englishman's Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance of the Old Testament; this gives us every place in the Old Testament where this word is used, and is very revealing. It is used for bulls, cows, heifers, calves, as we have seen. But I want to focus on verses where it is rendered "herd."
Gen.13:5 "had flocks, and herds" - this is Lot. Flocks yes could refer to sheep, but he also had "herds" - do not presume this means "cattle" [as I will show you later]; it could mean herds of goats, herds of geese, herds of other types, a generic use, meaning herds of this or that.
Gen.24:35 "and he has given him flocks and herds" - speaking about Abraham. Again both "flocks" and "herds" are used here as generic.... flocks of this or that, herds of this or that. A flock of chickens, a flock of geese, a flock of sheep; a herd of cows, a herd of goats, a herd of camels, a herd of donkeys.
Gen.26:14 "he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds" - speaking of Isaac. Again flock and herds used generically..... flocks of this and herds of that.
See Gen. 32:7,8; 33:13; 45:10; 46:32;
Gen.47:17...NOW more SPECIFIC..."for the cattle of the herds" - Here it is not generic but SPECIFIC.... cattle.
Ex.10:9 "with our flocks and with our herds we will go" - Moses saying how Israel will go forth. All kinds of "flocks" and "herds" - portrayed very well in the famous 1950s "The Ten Commandments" epic movie. Flocks of geese, chickens, ducks. Herds of sheep, goats, cattle, cows, ox. An overall generic use.
See also Ex. 10:24,; 12:32.38; 34:3; Lev. 1:2; Num.11:22; 15:3; Deut. 8:13; 12:6,17; 14:23; 15:19; 16:2; 1 Sam.30:20; 2 Sam. 12:2; 2 Chron. 32:29; Isa. 65:10; Jer. 3:24; 5:17; 31:12; Hos. 5:6; Jon.3:7;
A SPECIFIC is given in Joel 1:18 - "the herds of cattle are perplexed."
SO THE WORD "HERD" can in some contexts just be generic.
When Israel left Egypt with their flocks and herds, the use was "generic" - flocks can apply to a number of different fowl or animals; a flock of geese, a flock of chickens, a flock of sheep. So likewise, herd can apply to different animals - a herd of camels, a herd of oxen, a herd of cows, a herd of goats, a herd of horses, a herd of donkeys.
Israel left Egypt with many different kinds of flocks and herds.
So in Deut.16. Flock could apply to sheep, a Herd could apply to goats.
We know from Ex.12 the Passover sacrifice was to be a sheep or goat. So Moses in Deut.16 is using the overall generics of "flocks" [if J.P.Green is incorrect on the Hebrew word; if correct it puts another picture on it all] and "herds" - a herd of sheep, a flock of goats; a flock of sheep, a herd of goats. However your society wants to term them. There is no worldwide written law that you must use. Hence some might say, "a flock of sheep" and "herd of goats" OR "a herd of sheep" and "a flock of goats."
Flock - Herd - generic use. The Israelites after 40 years of observing the Passover knew the Passover sacrifice was from either the sheep or the goats.
As I've said, if J.P.GREEN is correct for the Hebrew of "flock" then the Israelites were again being told to mark, bind, tie, your Passover sacrifice as on the 10th day ready for the 14th day as given in Exodus 12. And if was to be from your "herd" - generic - they knew either the herd of sheep or the herd of goats, as instructed in Exodus 12, and which they had done for the last 40 years wandering in the wilderness.
NOW THE WORD "ROAST" in verse 7 as given as "roast" by the KJV.
The word is #1310 in Strong's Concordance.
Strong say: "basal" - to ripen, boil, to cook, roast, bake; to be cooked, to be boiled; ripen; seethe, boil, sodden, boiled, baked, bake, brought forth ripe, ripe, roasted, roast, seething, sodden at all, sod."
Notice it can mean "roast"
Now to the very fine "Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament"
"bashal" - seethe, bake, boil, roast, and grow ripe. .......
In the more than a dozen places where bashal is used to describe the preparation of cakes or animals in the sacrificial system, it can describe any kind of cooking procedure: "baking" (Num.11:8), "roasting" (Deut. 16:7; 2 Chron. 35:13) or "boiling" (Lev. 8:31; Ezekiel 46:20, 24).
This does not mean that the word is used indiscriminately. The passover must be roasted (bashal) with fire (2 Chron. 35:13), but the holy offerings should be boiled (bashal) in pots. Even clearer distinction is made in Exodus 12:9 where boiling in water (bashal) is contrasted with roasting with fire (sala), which is required for the passover...... Where bashal relates to a ripe stage (Gen.40:10; Joel 3:13), the reference seems to be to the harvest or grapes being ready for use, just as cooking makes the meat ready to be eaten. bashel. Boiled. This adjectival form, occurs only twice in the sense of boiled (Ex. 12:9; Num. 6:19).
THERE IT IS FROM THE IN-DEPTH STUDY VOLUMES OF THE THEOLOGICAL WORDBOOK OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
THE SCHOLARS OF THE KJV BIBLE WERE QUITE CORRECT IN RENDERING THIS WORD "ROAST" IN DEUT. 16:7.
VERY FEW TIMES IN THE ENTIRE KJV BIBLE WERE THE MANY SCHOLARS WHO WORKED ON THE PROJECT WRONG IN THEIR TRANSLATION INTO ENGLISH OF THE HEBREW AND GREEK.
You can also check this fully out in the Englishman's Hebrew Chaldee Concordance of the Old Testament, PAGE 280, in the copyright edition of 1980 that I have.
VERSE 7 is also a key verse. It is the individual Passover of the 14th that is being talked about in all this section. When you understand the truth about "the night to be much observed" which is the night of the 14th and NOT the night of the 15th as erroneously taught by the WCG under Herbert Armstrong, and most of the many off-shoots from them today.
The Passover night was a long night..... it took hours to get the meal cooked, not started till after sundown. Well up to near midnight and after, before the passover meal was finished. As we see from the Gospels they lay around, no hurry. Jesus continued into the night praying. It was a time of really observing that night.
Then they went to their tents in the morning to actually get some sleep, as Deut. 16:7 tells you.
The Samaritans sect of today [yes there are still some Samaritans living] STILL observe the Passover this way. They cook the lamb or goat, don't finish the meal till very late, stay up for most of the night, and sleep in the morning and day part of the 14th.
When you understand all of this, and that Moses did not think of or write as the "Passover" being 8 days as Ezra and Josephus and as Jews of Jesus' day sometimes thought of it; then you can understand Deut. 16 :1-8 pretty simply, as I've explained in my old study of this under the "feasts" of God on my website.
The idea put forth by some [like Fred Coulter] that Ezra "edited" Deut.16, is pure speculation. There is no Biblical proof of such an idea. Moses is still writing Deut.16 like he was for chapter 15 and was for chapter 17. Now notice chap.32:45.....Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel.
What about after verse 45? Well notice verse 48...God still spoke to him the same day.
After that...well Moses could well have written chapter 33, in the third person tense. OR it could have been Joshua, or someone else that added to what Moses said in his blessing to the tribes of Israel before his death. If it was someone else, it is just speculation that it was Ezra; much more likely someone of Moses' time, who well remembered the words of Moses.
Chapter 34. Same thing - could have been Joshua or someone of that time who added these words, knowing the facts, and so completing the book of Deuteronomy; to say it was Ezra, way down the road, is purely speculation, and has no backing in the Bible. What the Jews may have to say, does not make it correct either; the Jews are very wrong on many things, not the least Jesus Christ, who lived and taught and died among them.
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