HONOR (Part 2): Picture This! (Proverbs 3:9-10)

Proverbs 3:9-10 says to honor the Lord with your substance, and with the first fruits of all your increase: so shall your barns be filled with plenty, and your presses shall burst out with new wine.

HEAVY

To review, the origin, or most common translation of the Hebrew word (kabed), relates to what is "heavy", or "weighs down", often in a negative sense, of sin or actions, that are severe; weighty; or extreme, but also in a positive form. Other than one or two literal uses [Absalom's hair being heavy, or Eli's heavy weight], all other uses are figurative; whether Pharaoh's heart being "hard"; Abraham being "heavy" with cattle; silver; and gold, or God being "glorious" and "honored".

HONOR GOD

Figuratively, it would seem, that for God to be "honored" in our lives, would mean that He "carries a lot of weight" or, influence over us. How true that statement is, as far as God's influence in our lives, is borne out by our actions. A true understanding of just how significant God is to us, and what honor we show Him, is comprehended in the original pictographic meaning of the Hebrew word, transliterated as (kabed).

PICTOGRAPHS

To fully understand any Hebrew word, through it's pictographic origins, is to understand that you are often dealing with, not one, but multiple "word pictures" , that form a single English word, translated, for example, as "honor". The reason for this, is that Hebrew, believed by many, to be the source language, that all language was birthed from, was not 22 letters, but 22 pictures, with varied meanings.

3 WORD PICTURES

The transliteration (kabed), is actually 3 word pictures, [written from right to left]:

THE CUPPED HAND

1) The first picture is that of a cupped hand, with the 4 fingers being the only visual representation that is seen. To be drawn, it is like a half-circle, with two lines placed vertically, in the center of the half-circle, equal distances apart, the outer lines and the vertical lines, each representing one finger. It is the Hebrew, pictographic letter, (kaph), [pronounced hard, like the German "Bach"]. If you turned the half-circle to the right, so that it stood on it's end, you would see the origin of the English letter "k".

Since the fingers are bent to form a "cupped" shape, the dominant meaning of the word picture, is what is "bent" to another's will; submission; or yielded. Undoubtedly, the often translated concept of "heavy" or "weighty", came from this idea of something being heavy enough to "bend" something or someone, thereby influencing them. However, this is only the first word picture of the translation, "honor".

TENT FLOOR PLAN

2) The second picture [from right to left], looks like a capital or upper case letter "G", turned to the left, laying down on its back. However, the lines are drawn straight, with no curves or rounding, so that, a line, from the left, goes straight down; straight across, from left to right; straight up, an equal distance that it went down; straight across the top, about 2/3; and then straight down, about half way, not touching the bottom line. This is the Hebrew letter (bet). If stood upright, and the left line, when laying down, straightened, it is where we get, not the English letter "G", but the English letter "b", as in lower case.

When written, the pictographic, Hebrew letter (bet), is the floor plan of the Nomadic tent, with the upper left being the opening, and the bottom opening, where the straight line down doesn't touch, being the opening from the men's side to the women's side. The meaning of the pictograph is "tent"; "house"; "family"; as well as, "in"; "with"; "inside"; or, "within", since the family resides "within" the tent. Since the "t" often sounds like the "d", the two letter sounds, over time, were often substituted, and we derive our English word "bed", from this Hebrew pictographic letter. The tent was were the Nomadic family laid their "bed".

TENT ENTRANCE

3) The third and final pictograph, looks like a "top hat", turned upside down, with the top of the hat [being upside down], in the center, and the line, representing the rim, being straight and extended equal distances, across the bottom of the inverted hat, left and right, to form one long line. This is the Hebrew pictographic letter (dal). If turned upright, to the right, and the right side of the line erased, this is where the English letter "d" [lower case], is derived from.

The pictograph actually represents a tent pole, [the extended straight line], with a hanging flap, from the pole, being the door, to gain entrance, and go in and out of the family tent. Another common shift, over time, was the "l" sound to the "r". Though perhaps not as readily seen as in (bet), with the shift from the "t" sound to the "d" sound, the shift, nonetheless happened, to give the pronunciation of (dar), meaning the entrance of the tent, and the origin of our English word "door".

The meaning of the pictograph is "a back and forth movement", as the "flap", [door], of the tent, goes back and forth as people enter and exit. It also means, in respect to the people, "coming and going". The visual meaning is also "dangle", as the door flap dangles or hangs down, and from this, the derived meaning of "weak" or "poor", since the physical posture, in such circumstances can be the "dangling" down of the head.

SUMMARY:

In putting the 3 pictographic sounds together, you get the more accurate transliteration, (kaph - bet - dal). Quite literally, in stunning pictographic language, we "honor" the Lord, when we have:

 (1) "bent", [kaph], our will to Him, not just in outward observance or ritual, but

 (2) internally, "within", [bet], where we live, the real person on the inside, has submitted ["bent"], humbled themselves in worship, with their whole life, from the inside out, so that

 (3) in our life, in all our "coming and going", our "back and forth movement" of daily life, [dal], the inward reality of service and subservience, to our Lord, is reflected.

To emphasize the force of the word, another way, in the meaning of figurative language: to "honor" Him means, everything is "bent" to His will, that we allow "inside", where we live, because, everything allowed in our "internal" life, will be reflected in our "coming and going".

Our Father only wants the best for His children, and what is best for us, is found in honoring Him.

You are God's Best and God's Best is Yours.