Hebrew Highlights 005 – Five Words

Shalom, this is Yuval Shomron, coming to you live from Jerusalem.

Many of you already know at least 5 Hebrew words. Hallelujah, Abba, Yeshua, Adonai, Amen.

Hallelujah of course means “Praise God”. One of these days I’ll do a whole program on “Hallelujah”.

Abba, means Father. GAL 4:6 reads “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" It is an intimate word in Hebrew, and really in English, it is more like Daddy!

Yeshua is of course the original name in Hebrew of Jesus. If you’ve listened to this program before, you may have noticed that I usually use the name Yeshua, even when speaking in English. Why?, you might ask. Let me tell you one reason. You may have heard of the famous under-sea explorer and photographer, “Jacques Cousteau”. I am sure that on his lecturing tours in the US or England, he was introduced to many people. Some of them may have said, “Nice to meet you, Jack”. Now, Monsieur Cousteau, being a nice guy, probably was not offended by this English pronunciation. However, He was likely very appreciative of those who attempted to say “Jacques” in its more beautiful original French form. By the same token, I don’t ever remember hearing of the world famous classical flautist Jeane Pierre Rampal, being introduced on stage as John Peter Rample.

I am sure Yeshua is blessed when anyone calls on His name in any language. But maybe, just maybe, He is even slightly more blessed when we learn to say it in its beautiful original Hebrew form, Yeshua. Try addressing Him in this way the next time you pray.

Now back to our original track; the fourth Hebrew word you may know is “Adonai” which means, “Lord”. It is often used in spoken Hebrew in place of the letters “yod heh vav heh” which are together the unpronounceable name of God, which in English we sometimes render as Yahweh or Jehova, neither of which are likely to be the actual correct pronunciation. This too, deserves delving into in a future program.

The fifth, and most common Hebrew word, is of course Amen. The usual dictionary definition of Amen is “so be it”. Actually, you could fairly give it several slang meanings, such as “You’d better believe it!” or “you got it Dude!” or “’nough said”, or “that’s all folks”. The point being, that whatever passage preceded the Amen, is to be believed, and needs nothing added.

Now, your five Hebrew words used together actually make a sentence: “Hallelujah!, Abba, Yeshua Adonai, Amen!”. Or in English, “Praise God!, Daddy, Jesus is Lord, So be it!”

Ok, so now that you know one Hebrew sentence, you are ready to visit Israel. Believe me, if you come and stand on any street corner, raise you hands up to the sky and say out loud, “Hallelujah!, Abba, Yeshua Adonai, Amen!”, you are sure to get a reaction.

Shalom, Shalom from Jerusalem!