Through Hebraic Eyes

Thom Berkowitz

There is a move that is growing in intensity today to look at the Scriptures through its Hebraic roots. I'm often asked why now? Why is the Hebraic roots method of reading the Scriptures gaining such momentum now? This is a good question. First of all the Bible was written by forty three Jews and a doctor. God put His Spirit in these men the same way He put His Spirit in Bezaleel (Exodus 31:2). By this I mean the Scriptures were breathed out by God but He did it through men who spoke and thought Hebrew with a Middle East mindset not a Western Greek mindset. Therefore to understand the subtleties of the Word, one should look at it through Hebrew eyes.

Second, Israel is the timepiece for God's plan for humankind. Through His prophets, He revealed things that must take place before the end of the ages when Jesus will come back to reign physically here on earth. One such word is "until". In Isaiah 6:11 Isaiah asks God how long will the condition of the Jewish people last that He revealed in verses 9 and 10. God said "Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant, Houses are without people and the land is utterly desolate". This was the condition of Israel from the time after the destruction of the Temple until the time Israel became a nation again on May 14, 1948. There was an absence of Jewish people in the land except for a small remnant. The land was a malaria infested swamp and wasteland. As Jewish people came back to Israel from all over the world (especially the survivors of the Holocaust) they pulled the plug on the swamp and turned the land into some of the lushest farmland in the world. The land once again became a land of milk and honey. Through the many wars with Israel's Arab neighbors Israel once again raised its flag over the city of Jerusalem for the first time in more than 2000 years.

So what does this all mean? The "until" God told Isaiah is now in the past and the blinders are coming off the eyes of Jewish people and their ears are becoming unplugged so more Jews are coming into a saving knowledge of Jesus as their Messiah than any time in the last 2000 years. How do they read the Scriptures? Through their Hebrew eyes and through their Hebraic roots. These are exciting times we are living in so let's get fully plugged in and look at the Scriptures through Hebraic eyes.

Thom Berkowitz