James Trimm’s Nazarene Commentary on 1Corinthians Chapter 12
7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each man, as it is profitable for him.
8 There is a word of wisdom that is given for it by the Spirit: and for another, a word of knowledge by the same Spirit,
9 For another, has trust by the same Spirit; for another, gifts of healing by the same Spirit,
10 And for another, power, and for another, prophecy, and for another, discerning of the Spirit, and for another, kinds of tongues, and for another, the interpretation of tongues.
11 Now all these [things], the same Spirit works and distributes to every man as He wills.
(1Cor. 12:7-11 HRV)
These nine manifestations fit neatly into three groups which correspond perfectly with the Chasidic teaching of the “Three Garments of the Soul”. The Baal Shem Tov taught that the Soul has three garments, these are three ways in which the nefesh elokit (divine soul) expresses itself in this world:
“And Hashem spoke to Moshe saying: Speak to the B’nai Yisrael and say to them, When you come over the Yarden into the land of Canaan, then shall appoint for yourselves cities that will be cities of refuge for you; that the slayer who kills an person unintentionally shall flee thereto. And they shall be to you cities for refuge from the avenger…” (Bamidbar 35:9-12.)
Reb Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev taught in the name of the Baal Shem Tov, that the three cities of refuge (there were three cities of refuge on each side of the Jordan) represent the three garments of the soul: thought, speech and action.
And as Rebbe Zalman writes in the Tanya:
In addition, every divine soul (nefesh elokit) possesses three garments, viz., thought, speech and action, [expressing themselves] in the 613 commandments of the Torah. For, when a person actively fulfils all the precepts which require physical action, and with his power of speech he occupies himself in expounding all the 613 commandments and their practical application, and with his power of thought he comprehends all that is comprehensible to him in the Pardes of the Torah— then the totality of the 613 “organs” of his soul are clothed in the 613 Commandments of the Torah.
(Tanya; Likutei Amarim; Chapter 4)
These three garments of the soul are derived from the Torah:
But the word is very near unto you:
in your mouth and in your heart,
that you may do it.
(Deut. 30:14 HRV)
Similarly, Philo of Alexandria, based on this same verse, taught that these same three elements are the three roots of virtue:
(68) And yet, what need is there, either of long journeys over the land, or of long voyages, for the sake of investigating the seeking out virtue, the roots of which the Creator has laid not at any great distance, but so near, as the wise lawgiver of the Jews says, (Deut. 30:14.) “They are in thy mouth, and in thy heart, and in thy hands:” intimating by these figurative expressions the words, and actions, and designs of men; all of which stand in need of careful cultivation.
(Every Good Man is Free 68)
(183) Moreover, Moses delivers to us very beautiful exhortations to repentance, by which he teaches us to alter our way of life, changing from an irregular and disorderly course into a better line of conduct; for he says that this task is not one of any excessive difficulty, nor one removed far out of our reach, being neither above us in the air nor on the extreme borders of the sea, so that we are unable to take hold of it; but it is near us, abiding, in fact, in three portions of us, namely, in our mouths, and our hearts, and our hands; (Deut. 30:11, 14.) by symbols, that is to say, in our words, and counsels, and actions; for the mouth is the symbol of speech, and the heart of counsels, and the hands of actions, and in these happiness consists. (184) For when such as the words are, such also is the mind; and when such as the counsels are, such likewise are the actions; then life is praiseworthy and perfect. But when these things are all at variance with one another life is imperfect and blameable, unless some one who is at the same time a lover of God and beloved by God takes it in hand and produces this harmony. For which reason this oracular declaration was given with great propriety, and in perfect accordance with what has been said above, (Lev. 26:12.) “Thou hast this day chosen the Lord to be thy God, and the Lord has this day chosen thee to be his people.”
(On the Virtues 183-184)
(236) It is worth while, therefore, to examine what is meant by this purification which may be accomplished in three ways. Now it may almost be said that both offences and good actions are perceived to exist in three things; in intention, or in words, or in actions. On which account Moses, teaching in his hortatory admonitions that the attainment of good is not impossible nor even very difficult, says, (237) “It is not necessary to soar up to heaven, nor to go to the borders of the earth and sea, for the attainment of it, but it is near, yea, and very Near.”(Deut. 30:10.) And then in a subsequent passage he shows it all but to the naked eye as one may say, where he says, “Every action is in thy mouth, or in thy heart, or in thy Hands:”(Deut. 30:14.) meaning under this symbolical expression, in thy words, or in they designs, or in thy actions. For he means that human happiness consists in wise design, and good language, and righteous actions, just as the unhappiness arises from the contrary course.
(On the Change of Names 236-237)
Likewise the three manifestations of the Spirit follow this same pattern of the three garments or three roots of the virtues.
The manifestations of the Word of Wisdom, Discerning of the Spirit and the Word of Knowledge are the Ruach manifesting itself through the garment of thought.
The manifestations of Power, Faith and Gifts of Hearing are the Ruach manifesting itself through the garment of action.
And the manifestations of Tongues, Prophecy and Interpretation of Tongues are the Ruach manifesting itself through the garment of speech.
The Ruach HaKodesh is manifested through the three garments by which our nefesh elokit (divine soul) is expressed in this world.
The Word of Wisdom
This term “Word of Wisdom” appears only here is the Scriptures and in no other passage. Neither does the term appear in the Talmud or Midrashim. The phrase “Word of Wisdom” does however appear in the Zohar on several occasions. Just as Paul tells us that the “Word of Wisdom” is a “manifestation of the Spirit”, the Zohar tells us that the “Word of Wisdom” is a “manifestation of the Shekinah”:
Said R. Jose to R. Hiya: ‘Did I not say, perhaps he is a great man?’ Then he applied to him the words, “Blessed be the man that finds wisdom and the man that gets understanding” (Prov. 3:13), saying: ‘Such are we who found you and acquired from you aWord of Wisdomand were inspired with understanding to wait for you! We are of those for whom the Holy One prepares a present when they are journeying, to wit, the manifestation of the Shekinah, as it says: “The path of the righteous is as the shining light, that shines more and more unto the perfect day” (Prov. 4:18).’
(Zohar 2:50a)
The Zohar also gives a good definition of the “Word of Wisdom”:
IN THE BEGINNING. R. Simeon opened his discourse with the text: And I put my words in your mouth (Isaiah 51:16). He said: ‘How greatly is it incumbent on a man to study the Torah day and night! For the Holy One, blessed be He, is attentive to the voice of those who occupy themselves with the Torah, and through each fresh discovery made by them in the Torah a new heaven is created. Our teachers have told us that at the moment when a man expounds something new in the Torah, his utterance ascends before the Holy One, blessed be He, and He takes it up and kisses it and crowns it with seventy crowns of graven and inscribed letters. When a new idea is formulated in the field of the esoteric wisdom, it ascends and rests on the head of the “Tzaddik, the life of the universe”, and then it flies off and traverses seventy thousand worlds until it ascends to the “Ancient of Days”. And inasmuch as all the words of the “Ancient of Days” areWords of Wisdomcomprising sublime and hidden mysteries, that hidden Word of Wisdom that was discovered here when it ascends is joined to the words of the “Ancient of Days”, and becomes an integral part of them, and enters into the eighteen mystical worlds, concerning which we read “No eye has seen beside You, O Elohim” (Isaiah 64:3). From there they issue and fly to and fro, until finally arriving, perfected and completed, before the “Ancient of Days”. At that moment the “Ancient of Days” savors that Word of Wisdom, and finds satisfaction therein above all else. He takes that word and crowns it with three hundred and seventy thousand crowns, and it flies up and down until it is made into a sky. And so each word of wisdom is made into a sky, which presents itself fully formed before the “Ancient of Days”, who calls them “new heavens”, that is, heavens created out of the mystic ideas of the sublime wisdom.
(Zohar 1:4b)
Notice the Zohar here quotes the Prophet Isaiah where he writes:
And whereof from of old men have not heard,
nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen
an Elohim beside You, who works for him that
waits for Him.
(Is. 64:3(4))
There is a Baraita on this verse that appears twice in the Talmud once in the Midrash Rabbah and four times in the Zohar.
The following is the Baraita as it appears in the Talmud:
What is the meaning of “Eye has not seen” (Is. 64:3)
Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said:
This is the wine that has been kept
in its grapes from the six days in the beginning.
(b.Berakot 34b; b.Sanhedrin 99a)
The phrase “wine that has been kept” in the Hebrew is Yayin HaMeshumar “wine of keeping”. The tradition of the Yayin HaMeshumar runs deep in traditional Judaism. It is the wine that will be served at the Messianic Feast when the Messiah re-establishes the Kingdom of Israel on earth.
In his first letter to the Corinthians Paul also quotes, or perhaps we should better say paraphrases Is. 64:3(4) as follows:
But as it is written:
The eye has not seen, and the ear has not heard,
and into the heart of a son of man has not entered
that which Eloah had prepared for those who love Him.
(1Cor. 2:9 HRV)
Note that Paul’s citation is influenced by the Baraita as the actual text of Isaiah says that “eye has not seen… an Elohim beside you” but Paul says “Eye has not seen… that which Eloah has prepared for those who love Him.” And the Baraita has “Eye has not seen… the wine which has been kept…”.
Now lets look at Paul’s quote in context:
But we speak the wisdom of Eloah
in a mystery that was hidden
And [that] Eloah had before separated
from before the ages for our glory.
That not one of the authorities of this world knew,
for if they had known it,
they would not have crucified the Adon of glory.
But as it is written:
The eye has not seen, and the ear has not heard,
and into the heart of a son of man has not entered
that which Eloah had prepared for those who love Him.
(1Cor. 2:7-9 HRV)
When we look at Paul’s context we see an even greater influence from the Baraita of the Yayin HaMeshumar “…a mystery that was hidden and that Eloah had before separated from before the ages… eye has not seen… that which Eloah has prepared for those who love Him.”
It is clear that Paul here must be referring to the Yayin HaMeshumar as his audience is, no doubt, familiar with this Baraita to Is. 64:3.
It is the Yayin HaMeshumar that Yeshua refers to when we read:
And afterwards he took the cup, and blessed,
and gave to them, saying,
“Drink you all of it,
for this is my blood of the New Covenant,
which is shed for many to atone for sinners,
And I tell you, hereafter I will not drink of the fruit of the vine,
until that day when I drink it new with you in the kingdom
of my Father which is in heaven.”
(Mt. 26:27-29)
The Yayin HaMeshumar is the blood of the New Covenant. At the Passover Sader the wine represents the blood of the lamb. Note that we read in Revelation that Messiah is the lamb slain “before the foundation of the world.” (Rev. 13:8) his blood is the wine kept in its grapes from the six days in the beginning.
In the Apocryphal Gospel of Thomas Yeshua is quoted as saying:
Yeshua said, “I shall give you what no eye has seen
and what no ear has heard and what no hand has touched
and what has never occurred to the mind of man.
(Gospel of Thomas 17)
Note that in 1Cor. 1:18-20 the same “wisdom” of which we are later told is “…in the mystery that was hidden … before separates from before the ages… which Eloah had prepared for those who love him.” (1Cor. 2:7-9) is also the “wisdom” which “takes away the wisdom of the wise” in 1Cor. 1:19 quoting Isaiah 29:14. In Isaiah 29:15 this wisdom is the contents of the sealed book (Is. 29:11-12, 14, 18). In Revelation this book is opened by the “lamb as if it was slain” (Rev. 5:6) a lamb slain “before the foundation of the world.” (Rev. 13:8).
This is the wine that will be served at the “marriage supper of the lamb” (Rev. 19:7) the great Messianic Banquet and Passover Sader.
In 1Corinthians, Paul has brought up the Yayin HaMeshumar at the beginning of his letter because he will be addressing this wine throughout his letter. In 1Cor. 5 he will discuss the recent Passover Sader at Corinth. In 1Cor. 11:23-34 he addresses the significance of the Passover and especially being worthy to drink the wine which is the Yayin Hameshumar.
In 1Cor. 15:54 he cites Isaiah 25:8 a passage of Isaiah which immediately follows the description of the Messianic Banquet in Isaiah 25:6-7:
6 And in this mountain shall YHWH of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.
7 And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.
8: He will swallow up death in victory; and the Adonai YHWH will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for YHWH has spoken it.
Notice that the Yayin HaMeshumar is something which “from of old men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen” (Is. 64:3) elsewhere Isaiah writes:
So shall he sprinkle many nations, kings shall shut their mouths
because of him, for that which had not been told them shall they see
and that which they have not heard shall they perceive.
(Is. 52:15)
Thus the “suffering servant” song of Isaiah 53 is the message that “eye has not seen”, it is the Yayin HaMeshumar.
The Midrash Rabbah to Num. 13:2 (500) says:
Because hr bared his soul unto death (Is. 53:12)
and bruised themselveswith the Torah which is sweeter than honey,
the Holy One, blessed be He, will hereafter give them to drink
of the wine kept in its grapes since the six days in the beginning….
(Midrash Rabbah to Numbers 13:2 (500))
Thus Paul writes:
But we speak the wisdom of Eloah
in a mystery that was hidden
And [that] Eloah had before separated
from before the ages for our glory.
That not one of the authorities of this world knew,
for if they had known it,
they would not have crucified the Adon of glory.
But as it is written:
The eye has not seen, and the ear has not heard,
and into the heart of a son of man has not entered
that which Eloah had prepared for those who love Him.
(1Cor. 2:7-9 HRV)
Not only is the Yayin HaMeshumar the blood of the Messiah, but it is more. It is the “mystery” of which the blood of Messiah is only part:
The Zohar says:
The Tzadik (The Righteous) is the Yesod (foundation) in Yah,
the mystery (SOD) which is the wine which has been kept
in its grapes from the six days in the beginning.
(Zohar; Roeh M’haimna on Pinchas)
There is a clear connection here because SOD (“mystery”) has a gematria (numerical value) of 70 which is also the gematria of YAYIN (“wine”). Just as the Zohar identifies the “mystery” with the Yayin HaMeshumar, so does Paul in 1Corinthians.
For Paul goes on to further identify the Yayin HaMeshumar as follows:
10 But Eloah has revealed [it] to us by his spirit, for the spirit searches into everything, even the deep things of Eloah.
11 For who is the son of man who knows what is in a son of man except the spirit of the son of man that [is] in him? So also, that which is in Eloah, no man knows except the Spirit of Eloah.
12 Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the spirit that is from Eloah, so that we might know the gifts that were given to us from Eloah;
13 Which also we speak, not in the teaching of words of the wisdom of sons of men, but in the teaching of the spirit, and to spiritual men we compare spiritual things.
14 For the son of man who is in the nefesh does not receive spiritual things, for they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to know that which is judged spiritually.
15 Now the spiritual man judges all things, and is not judged from man.
16 For who knows the mind of YHWH that he might instruct him? (Is. 40:13) But we have the mind of the Messiah.
(1Cor. 2:10-16)
Paul identifies the Yayin HaMeshumar with the “words of wisdom” (2:13) as well as the “mind of YHWH” or the “mind of Messiah” (1Cor. 2:16) and with the spiritual “gifts” (1Cor. 2:10-16) which he will elaborate upon later in the letter (1Cor. 12-14).
So both Paul and the Zohar identify the Word of Wisdom as a “manifestation” of the Ruach/Shekinah and as that which the “eye has not seen” referenced in Isaiah 54:3 which both the Zohar and Paul say “has been kept” since the time of Creation.
The Word of Knowledge
This manifestation corresponds to the sefirah of Knowledge (which is the flip side of the Sifira known as KETER or “crown”). The term “Word of Knowledge” is a Semitic idiom for a “matter of knowledge”. The Word of Knowledge occurs when the Word of Wisdom is subjected to the Discerning of the Spirit, thus harmonizing the two opposing pillars.
Knowledge naturally fills the structure created by the gifts of Wisdom and Understanding (Discernment) as the Psalmist writes:
Through wisdom is a house built; and by understanding it is established;
And by knowledge are the chambers filled with all precious and pleasant riches.
(Prov. 24:3-4 HRV)
A good example of this gift is found in the Tanak when Natan (Nathan) comes to Daniel with a parable expressing his knowledge of David’s sin (2Samual 12:1-12). Natan had received a Word of Knowledge concerning David’s actions that allowed him to approach David on the matter.
Trusting Faithfulness
This manifestation is known as Haimanuta, which in Hebrew is Emunah (faith, trust). This manifestation is associated with tiferet (beauty, harmony) and is at the center of the tree. The other manifestations must proceed from “trusting faithfulness”. According to the Tanak the Torah is the way of faith (Emunah) (Ps. 119:29-30)
Yeshua calls the Ruach HaKodesh the “Spirit of Truth” which will “guide us in all truth” (Jn. 16:13). The Psalmist tells us “the Torah is truth” (Ps. 119:142, 151). One of the promised manifestations of the Ruach HaKodesh was that the Ruach would guide us in observing Torah:
And I will put My Spirit within you,
and cause you to walk in My statutes,
and you shall keep My ordinances, and do them.
(Ezek. 36:27)
Since Torah is “the way of faith” the manifestation of “faith” is that of guidance to observe Torah as described in Ezekiel 36:27.
Both Ya’akov (Ya. 2:14-26) and Hebrews (Hebrews 11) lay out a tendency for faith to be accompanied by works.
This manifestation is at the center of the three triads, all other manifestations of the Ruach are tied to this one. This manifestation is the one which is the true evidence of the immersion of the Ruach. You can now say “I have the immersion of the Ruach with evidence of walking in statutes and keeping of ordinances”!
Gift of Healing
For obvious reasons this manifestation is closely associated with the Sefirah known as CHESED. It is associated with the right hand of Adam Kadmon (the right hand being on the right hand side of the chart, as if Adam Kadmon had his back toward the viewer.) For this reason Healing is often associated with laying on of hands as described in the Dead Sea Scrolls:
So I prayed for him… and laid my hands upon his head.
Thereupon the plague was removed from him, the evil [spirit] exorcised [from him,] and he was healed.
(1QapGen. Col 21; Lines 28-29)
A good example of this gift in the Tanak occurs in 2Kings 5:10-14 where Elisha the prophet heals Na’aman the captain of the host of the King of Syria.
The Prophet Isaiah speaks of Messiah saying, “…our diseases he did bear… with his stripes we are healed” (Is. 53:4-5). Both Matthew and Kefa apply this passage to healing through Yeshua (Mt. 8:17; 1Kefa 2:24).
Ya’akov tells us:
And if one is sick, let him call for the elders of the assembly and they will pray for him and will anoint him [with] oil in the name of our Adon.
And the prayer of trust will heal him who is sick and our Adon will raise him; and if [any] sins were committed by him, they will be forgiven.
(Ya’akov 5:14-15 HRV)
Notice that this gift is associated with anointing with oil. In the Scriptures olive oil is commonly symbolic of the Ruach HaKodesh. At the moment of his anointing the Ruach HaKodesh came upon Saul causing him to “be turned into another man” (1Sam. 10:1, 6, 9). David was anointed with oil by the prophet Samuel and “from that day forward… the Spirit of YHWH came upon David” (1Sam. 16:13-14; cf 1Sam. 18:12). Isaiah again speaks prophetically of Messiah saying “The Spirit of YHWH is upon me; because YHWH has anointed me…” (Is. 61:1 cf. Lk. 4:18, 21) Some other passages in which the Ruach HaKodesh is symbolized by olive oil are: Acts 10:38; 2Cor. 1:21-22; Zech. 4 & Rom. 11). There is therefore a Scriptural basis to anoint someone with oil when exercising this gift, symbolizing the anointing of the Ruach HaKodesh.
The connection this gift has with the Yayin HaMeshumar is clear, in my blog on the Yayin HaMeshumar we explained its connection with the Suffering Servant Song of Isaiah 53, a line of which reads “by his stripes we are healed” (Is. 53:5)
There is one major element of this gift which is often misunderstood. Just as the gift of tongues is not the gift to cause others to speak in tongues, and the gift of prophecy is not the gift to cause others to prophecy, the gift of healings is not the gift of healing others, it is the self realized gift of being healed oneself. A person manifests this gift, not by healing others, but by being healed.
Note also that Ya’akov 5:14-15 refers to “the prayer of faith” in connection with this gift. This gift flows from the gift of faith and as you will find in our discussion of the gift of faith, the gift of faith manifests itself in being guided to observe Torah. So if you seek a gift of healing, you should first make sure that you are following the path of Torah.
Power
The Aramaic word here is KHAILA, which means, “power, miracles, authority”. This is the very Aramaic word, which the Peshitta Tanak uses to translate Hebrew GEVURAH in 1Chron. 29:11 (the Tanak text from which the lower seven sefirot are derived) and is obviously associated with the sefirah called GEVURAH.
The gematria (numerical value) of (KHAILA) is 49 (7 x 7). This is the same as the gematria of the MAT ”the rod” of Aaron and Moses, which was so closely related to many of their “miracles”.
Khaila includes the power to perform “miracles”:
And Eloah was doing great miracles (KHAILA)
by the hand of Paul.
(Acts 19:11)
And the power to exercise authority over spirits and shedim (demons):
And Yeshua called his twelve and gave them power (KHAILA) and authority over all the spirits and shedim and to healsickness.
(Luke 9:1)
The word Khaila in Aramaic can also denote “courage” and may therefore also indicate the strength to endure trials, tribulation and torture. Thus Khaila can also refer to a supernatural ability to endure these tortures, like the martyrs of 2nd and 4th Maccabees.. As such Khaila is especially associated with the Armor of Elohom.
Khaila is often exercised (like healing) through the evocation of the “Names of Power” which are discussed below. Khaila is associated with the left hand of Adam Kadmon and thus it is often exercised in connection with a ritual of laying on of hands, especially when exercising authority over shedim (demons).
Acts 1:8 says:
But when the Ruach HaKodesh comes upon you, you will receive power (KHAILA) …
Paul tells us that the effecting of Khaila comes from “the hearing of faith” (Gal. 3:5) because this gift flows from the gift of faith, a gift which itself manifests itself in Torah observance.
There is a good example in the Torah of this gift being expressed in the effecting of miracles when YHWH, through Moshe parts the red sea (Ex. 14:16-22). It was also manifest when David, through his Psalms, drove a shed out of Saul (1Sam. 16:14-23) and when Toviyah exercised Khaila over the shed Asmodeus (Tobit 6). Finally Khaila was exercised by Eleazar and Hanna and her seven sons, when they endured the tortures inflicted upon them by Antiochus Epiphanies (2Macc. 6:18-31; 7:1-42; 4Macc.).
Prophecy
The Torah regulations concerning prophecy and prophets can be found in Deut. 13:1-6 and Deut. 18:15-22. From these texts we learn that a prophet is a false-prophet if he:
1. Prophecies of a thing that does not come to pass. (Deut. 18:20-22)
2. Prophecies in or through false gods (Deut 13:2-8)
3. Is not Torah observant (Deut. 13:5-6)
4. Detracts from or adds to the Torah (Deut. 13:1).
This means that even if prophet prophecies events that comes to pass 100% of the time but is not Torah Observant, he is a false prophet. His prophecy is mere divination.
Discerning of the Spirit
Many translated this “discerning of spirits” because “spirits” is plural in the Greek, but in the original; Aramaic itr is singular, which is the Aramaic grammar for “Spiritual Discernment”. This manifestation corresponds to the sefirah of Understanding. Understanding is analytical. It divides and classifies and discerns. The Aramaic term for “discerning here comes from the root P-R-SH meaning “to divide”. This manifestation is a manifestation of the Understanding and discernment of YHWH.
This gift of the Spirit is mentioned in the Tanak in the Book of Job:
But it is a spirit in man, and the breath of Shaddai, that gives them understanding.
It is not the great that are wise, nor the aged that discern judgment.
(Job 32:8-9 HRV)
There is an excellent example of this gift in the Tanak in 1Kings 3:5-15. Here Shlomo (Solomon) asks YHWH for “an understanding heart … that I may discern between good and evil…” (1Kn. 3:9) and YHWH gave him this gift as well as the additional gift of the Word of Wisdom (1Kn. 3:10-13).
Tongues and Interpretation of Tongues
The Ba`al Shem Tov said:
“When I weld my spirit to Elohim,
I let my mouth say what it will,
for then all my words are bound
to their root in Heaven”
Man was created in the image of Elohim. One of the ways that man was created in the image of Elohim was in being “male and female” (Gen. 1:26-27). But there is also another way in which man was created in the image of Elohim.
In Gen. 9:6 we are told that killing a man is a sin because man is “in the image of Elohim”. The preceding verses (9:2-5) tell us that man may kill and eat animals. Since many animals are “male and female” there must be more to man being “in the image of Elohim” than his being “male and female”. What is it that distinguishes man from animals?
The element about man that makes man “in the image of Elohim” while animals are not “in the image of Elohim” is the gift of speech.
The first two verses of Book of Jasher read:
1:1 And Elohim said, let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness,
and Elohim created man in his own image.
1:2 And YHWH Elohim formed man from the ground,
and he blew into his nostrils the breath of life,
and man became a living soul, endowed with speech.
(Jasher 1:1-2)
Note that Jasher 1:1 parallels Gen. 1:26-27 and Jasher 2:7 parallels Gen. 2:7 but adds the phrase “endowed with speech”.
Now Targum Jonathan to Genesis 1:26 has “And the Word of YHWH said, let us make man in Our image.” And Targum Onkelos to Gen. 2:7 adds a phrase at the end “and man became a spirit with speech”.
Thus it would appear that man’s gift of speech is the difference between man and animals so that man is “in the image of Elohim” while animals are not. It should also be noted that man was GIFTED with speech, Adam did not have to learn speech.
Isaiah prophesied about the manifestation of tongues:
Paul quoted directly from this scripture while teaching the assembly at Corinth about the gift of tongues. (1 Cor 14:21-22).
The gift of the manifestation of tongues is well known in the Rabbinic literature. The Talmud and midrashim both speak of this gift.
The “tongues of fire” event of Acts chapter two was a repetition of an event that took place at the first Shavuot (Shavuot is the aniversary of the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai). According to the Midrashim when the Torah was given at Mount Sinai the Torah message was divided up into the seventy languages of the Gentiles:
“Elohim’s voice, as it was uttered, split into seventy voices,
into seventy tongues [leshonot], so that all the nations should understand.”
(Midrash from Exodus Rabbah 5:9)
The Midrash also describes this event in even more detail:
In the occasion of Matan Torah [the giving of the Torah], the Bnai Yisrael (Children of Israel) not only heard Hashem’s Voice but actually saw the sound waves as they emerged from Hashem’s mouth. They visualized them as a fiery substance. Each commandment that left Hashem’s mouth traveled around the entire Camp and then to each Jew individually, asking him, “Do you accept upon yourself this Commandment with all the halochot [Jewish law] pertaining to it?”
Every Jew answered “Yes” after each commandment. Finally, the fiery substance which they saw engraved itself on the luchot [tablets].
(The Midrash Says; Rabbi Moshe Weissman. Benei Yakov Publications (1980) p. 182)
Thus the gift of the Ruach HaKodesh and the manifestation of tongues in Acts chapter 2 was a repetition of the gift of Torah and the manifestation of tongues that took place then.
Moreover the Talmud tells us that Yosef (Joseph) the patriarch was also given the gift of “kinds of tongues”:
Rabbi Hiyya ben Abba said in the name of Rabbi Johanan: “At the moment when Pharaoh said to Joseph, And without thee shall no man lift up his hand, Pharaoh’s astrologers exclaimed: ‘Wilt thou set in power over us a slave whom his master bought for twenty pieces of silver!’ He replied to them, ‘discern in him royal characteristics.’ They said to him, ‘in that case he must be acquainted with the seventy languages.’ Angel Gabriel came and taught [Joseph] the seventy languages, but he could not learn them. Thereupon [Gabriel] added to his name a letter from the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He, and he knew [the languages]…”
(b.Sotah 36b)
The same story appears in the Book of Jasher:
And the angel roused him from his sleep, and Joseph rose up and stood upon his legs, and behold the angel of the Lord was standing opposite to him; and the angel of the Lord spoke with Joseph, and he taught him all the languages of man in that night, and he called his name Jehoseph.
(Jasher 49:14)
The name Yosef is sometines spelled in the Tanak Yahusef. According to the Talmud the extra letter “H” (hey) from the name of YHWH was added to his name thus giving him the knowledge of the seventy languages which he had been unable to learn. It is significant that in Jewish tradition the first HEY in the name of YHWH represents the Ruach HaKodesh. Thus Yosef received the Ruach HaKodesh and the gift of tongues.
TZERUF: Permutations of Letters
Each of the twenty-two Hebrew letters represents one of twenty-two paths which connect the Sefirot of the Tree of Life. Each of these twenty-two letters represents a relationship between two of the Sefirot and a combination of two of the Sefirot. These twenty-two letters are part of the image of Elohim and they took part in the creation. Messiah said that he is the ALEF and the TAV. The ALEF and the TAV are the first and last letters of the Hebrew Alphabet and are intended as an abbreviation to indicate that Messiah the incarnate “Word” embodied the twenty-two letters. When Elohim created the heavens and the earth he did so through words. Elohim “said” things and they were so. Elohim created the universe
by his Word.
Each Hebrew word is more than a word, it is a matrix of dynamic relationships within the Godhead. Hebrew letters are also the building blocks of creation. In the upper worlds all things exist in their prime-material state as the strings of Hebrew letters and words which were the building blocks of creation. As we read in the Sefer Yetzirah:
Twenty-two Foundation letters: He engraved them,
He carved them, He permuted (TZIRUF) them,
He weighed them, He transformed them,
And with them, He depicted all that was formed
and all that would be formed.
(Sefer Yetzirah 2:2)
This brings us to what is called in Rabbinic Judaism “Khokhmat HaTziruf” (Wisdom of Permutation) or simply “Tziruf” (permutation). This practice utilizes the letters of the alphabet in various permutations. By immersing oneself in various permutations of letters and names one empties ones mind of the carnal thoughts that might interfere in focusing on the things of Elohim. Thus ones nefesh (soul), neshoma and ruach are freed from their natural constraints and opened to the influx of the Ruach HaKodesh. Through this process the believer is communing directly with the upper worlds and accessing the permutations of letters which are the creative substance of the universe, thus connecting with the worlds of formation and creation and the “Word”, the ALEF and TAV through which all was created.
This practice is described in the Talmud:
Rab Judah said in the name of Rab: Bezalel knew how
to combine (TZIRUF) the letters by which the heavens
and earth were created. It is written here, And He hath filled
him with the spirit of God, in wisdom and in understanding,
and in knowledge (Ex. 35:31), and it is written elsewhere,
The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding
He established the heavens (Prov. 3:19), and it is also written,
By His knowledge the depths were broken up (Prov. 3:20).
(b.Ber. 55a)
And in the Zohar:
R. Eleazar began here with the verse, “Ask thee
a sign [Hebrew: OT “sign” or “letter”] of the Lord thy God,
ask it either in the depth or in the height above” (Isa. 7:11).
He said: ‘We have compared the former with the latter
generations, and found that the former were conversant with
a higher wisdom by which they knew how to combine (TZIRUF)
the letters that were given to Moses on Mount Sinai,
and even the sinners of Israel knew a deep wisdom
contained in the letters and the difference
between higher and lower letters,
and how to do things with them in this world.
For every letter that was transmitted to Moses used to
ascend as a crown upon the heads of the holy celestial Hayyoth,
who with them flitted through the ether which is
under the refined and unknowable supernal ether. There
were large letters and small letters; the large letters came
from the most high and hidden Temple (hekhal) and the
smaller letters from another lower Temple; and both kinds
were transmitted to Moses on Sinai, along with their
hidden combinations.
(Zohar 3:2a)
Tzeruf is comparable to “machine language” in computer programming.
The Hebrew word for “tongue” (LASHON) and the Hebrew word TZIRUF (permutation) have the same gematria (numerical value) (386) which is also the gematria for the word YESHUA.
It is the practice of Tziruf which Paul speaks of when he writes:
For he who speaks in a tongue
does not speak to the sons of men but to Eloah,
for no man understands a thing that he speaks;
yet in the spirit he speaks a mystery.
(1Cor. 14:2)
If I were to pray in a tongue, my spirit prays,
but my understanding is without fruit.
(1Cor. 14:14)
When man was created he was given the gift of speech that he might manifest the image of Elohim. Through the manifestation of the gift of tongues man is able to manifest the image of Elohim on an even deeper level.
The Ba`al Shem Tov said:
“When I weld my spirit to Elohim,
I let my mouth say what it will,
for then all my words are bound
to their root in Heaven”