Footnotes

This is a test addition to see if this works.

this is a test of the read more break option.

How often do you read those little footnotes at the bottom of your Bible? those little "a"s or "f"s next to certain words.  Depending on how small the print is in your bible, they could be a "w". Or maybe you read online, with the footnotes option selected, those little "*"s.

 Do you read these footnotes? Why are they even there? Don't these writers know that I've already read the main point, why do I need to read more footnotes?

The Hebrew Bible was written in Hebrew (duh!) and that means that wasn't written in English (well...yeah) but you are reading this Hebrew text in English (uh-huh) and might have lost something (wait?!) in the translation. These footnotes are included to help you understand what you might have missed. 

For example, lets take the first family in the Bible:

*Adam - Formed a man (Hebrew: Adam) from the dust of the ground (Hebrew: Adamah)

*Eve - resembles the Hebrew word for living. "because she was the mother of all living" Gen 3:20

*Cain - resembles the Hebrew word for produced "She conceived and bore Cain, saying I have produced a man with the help of the Lord." Gen 4:1

*Nod - wandering "The Cain went away from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land Of Nod" Gen 4:16

*Seth - resembles the Hebrew word for appointed. "...named him Seth, for she said, "God has appointed for me another child..." Gen 4:25

See, their names have some meaning. And they give foreshadowing, or help us understand the purpose of these characters. But they are names that we don't have the same associations with in English. In English, we don't always see Adam and Eve as the images of God, the formed life from the dust and the mother of all who are living. Now, isn't that a cool image of God's character? 

As you start this brief marathon through the Torah (first 5 books of the Hebrew Bible) what other names do you notice? Whose name helps you understand the stories more deeply? What names stick out to you? Especially in the often-told stories of these early chapters in Genesis, what does a look in the footnotes change? 

Glad to start this journey with you all! Please comment here on the blog or on Facebook (hotlink) to engage with all those reading along.  - Pastor Travis