This week I want to shift to Jesus as Understanding in Proverbs. And there are just two points that I want to make this time, that stood out for me as I studied the word used here- a word called בּינה bı̂ynâh (pronunced bee-naw'). The first involves what the word CAN mean.
In the KJV Concordance, the first meaning is what my Bible translates it as- understanding. But according to the KJVC, there are two other ways it is translated more than once- and not surprisingly, those translations are "Knowledge" and "Wisdom". You cannot separate the words, just as you cannot separate the Father, The Son, and the Spirit.
But there are other meanings which have only one occurrence, and they are important as well, to gain knowledge of Christ in Proverbs and elsewhere. One of them is from Daniel 8:15 on...
Dan 8:15 And it happened when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought for the meaning, then, behold, there stood before me the form of a man.
Dan 8:16 And I heard a man's voice between the banks of Ulai, which called and said, Gabriel, make this one understand the vision.
It is the word translated "meaning". When Daniel sought for meaning, the Pre-Incarnate Christ answered Him through Gabriel. What Daniel had sought for was the understanding of something shown him in a vision; and Jesus both IS the Word (remember in John?) and is the means of comprehending the Word.
The second comes in Jeremiah 23...
Jer 23:18 For who has stood in the counsel of Jehovah, and hears His Word? Who has listened to His Word and heard it?
Jer 23:19 Behold, the tempest of Jehovah has gone forth in fury, a whirling tempest. It shall whirl on the head of the wicked.
Jer 23:20 The anger of Jehovah shall not return, until He has done and until He has set up the purposes of His heart; in later days you shall understand it perfectly.
The word here is, oddly to our way of constructing things, "perfectly." How does this work? Let me have John Gill explain:
...in the latter part off time, when the Jews shall be converted, and seek the Lord their God, then "shall they understand it with an understanding", as it may be rendered; when they shall have the veil removed from them, and turn to the Lord; then they shall have a true and thorough understanding of these things; of the cause and reason of them; and of the mind of God in them, and the ends to be answered by them.
To put it in Chris speak, they will understand things from Jesus's eyes. We might think of these two as, "meaning given", and "sight given". And the third comes from Isaiah:
Isa 33:19 You will see no more the insolent people, the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend, stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand.
Isa 33:20 Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an untroubled habitation, an immovable tent, whose stakes will never be plucked up, nor will any of its cords be broken.
Isa 33:21 But there the LORD in majesty will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams, where no galley with oars can go, nor majestic ship can pass.
This passage links us to the concept that in Jesus we will be separated from those who cannot comprehend Him. The fool and the scoffer will have no place before Him. As 'separate' is the true meaning of "holy", we might call this "Holiness given."
Now, the other thing I learned this week stems from yet another word that occurs only twice in the whole Bible. First, where it is in Proverbs:
Pro 7:4 Say to wisdom, You are my sister; and call understanding your kinsman,
My paper Bible changes it to "kinswoman", in I suppose an attempt to match genders with Wisdom. But it is in most translations "kinsman" or "relative". But the word (which has many diverse meanings) as 'kinsman' itself appears at only one other spot:
Rth 2:1 And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech. And his name was Boaz.
Now, Boaz, as you remember from the story in Ruth (I hope), became the kinsman-REDEEMER, who redeemed at a price that a nearer relative (also translated in some places 'kinsman', but was a different word) was unwilling to pay- the price of marrying Ruth. Let me now apply this all to our understanding of Jesus:
- Through Christ we are redeemed, yes, but He becomes our brother through adoption by God. Thus the meaning for the Boaz 'kinsman' is more of knowing them personally, where the other 'kinsman' implies only the buying aspect. Jesus did more than redeem us- He KNOWS us. He understands us.
- Naomi's life had become bitter to her, until she saw that Boaz would redeem her life. Once all that was hers was redeemed by Boaz, she received blessings she thought she'd never have. Just the same, when we are redeemed by Jesus, the Bible becomes more than a book of faerie tales, and Jesus more than a figure on a crucifix. He becomes the promise of Heaven- blessing we could never imagine happening.
-Just like Naomi would not have found redemption without the Gentile Ruth- whom she had tried to drive away- the Jews of today have to be brought to Christ through the preaching of (for the most part) Gentiles, because on a spring day in around 30 AD, they had tried to 'send Christ away'.
Next time, we will hit (God willing) the notes that take us from Jesus to the Holy Spirit.
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