today on ancient insight we will be taking another look at the ancient Hebrew concept often translated into our English Bibles as bless as we mentioned in part 1 there are two Hebrew words which are translated as bless in the King James translation of the Bible Barak and Ishod this video will focus on the word Ishod the first distinction that I notice about a shot in contrast to Barak is that Barak is most often used to describe an action and less frequently used to describe a person in other words it is often used as a verb such as he blessed she blessed they were blessed by him a shot however is used exclusively as an adjective describing people you will always find a shot used in a phrase such as blessed is the man happy is the child blessed are all happy are they telling you who is being described as blessed or happy in that particular verse the first time we see this word in the scriptures is in the book of Job chapter 5 verse 17 although at this first occurrence the translators decided to translate Ishod as happy behold happy is the man whom God corrected therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty we see a shark translated as blessed for the first time in psalms 1 verse 1 blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful as we dig down through english translations to get to the core meanings of scripture we must not become distracted by the two different words used by the translators in hebrew Ishod is one concept with one true meaning regardless of whether it is translated as blessed or happy so what is that meaning looking up the word Ishod in Jeff Boehner's ancient Hebrew lexicon we find that it has a concrete definition of straight in English the word straight carries the ideas of unwavering direct efficient undeviating and lacking in unnecessary changes in direction we may say a phrase like come straight home after school do not go to the store or to the park there's a wealth of knowledge in the discovery of this concrete definition and we could go to a number of assad's verses and try substituting the word straight or unwavering for blessed or happy and we would be closer to a true sense of what is being communicated the concept of straightness as a necessary character trait for the followers of yahuwah is echoed all throughout scripture in both Testaments but this is just the beginning looking at the combination of ideas presented by the pictographs gives us even more insight into the creation and maintenance of this character trait Ishod is a child root formed by adding the prefix Aleph onto the parent root Shan and this word has a lot to teach us about straightness and how it is accomplished Schad is spelled with the pictographs Sheen and riche and is defined by the action to tie and the object cord or as we would more often refer to it rope the pictograph sheen is a picture of two front teeth and it is also associated with the concept of fire I must be honest this really bothered me at first as I assumed that it was simply a matter of different scholars with conflicting opinions after all what do teeth and fire have to do with each other but after some thought and prayer it occurred to me that teeth and fire both performed the exact same function they apply pressure to whole objects causing them to break down to their component parts which then can be absorbed we notice this today as cooked food most often becomes softer almost as if the fire has begun the process of chewing for us fire does to wood or any other fuel what teeth due to food sit by the fireplace sometime and you may even notice that it sounds like the fire is chewing the wood as it pops crackles and hisses so the sheen represents the action of breaking down disintegration breaking apart as well as the related action of pressing the sheen also represents the abstract concepts of pressure and division next we find the rash which is a picture of a head of a man and represents the action to be above or to rule over the concrete object of the head or top of something or the summit now when we look at these pictographs in combination they indicate press the head okay now what on earth does press the head have to do with rope cords or tying you bush crafters out there are going to love this one one of the oldest and most basic methods for producing rope is to take two long strands of fiber bend them in half forming a head of sorts pinching that head then we take two of the strands and begin twisting them in a clockwise direction and then twist them back in a counterclockwise direction around the other two strands by repeating this process over and over with the right hand while continuing to press the head or the point where the fibers come together with the left hand we end up with rope if you ever get a chance to try this process will become clear to you how critical it is that the head of that rope constantly be under pressure because if you let go of that the whole thing unravels before you can make a good solid strand so with this understanding it becomes clear why the ancient Hebrews would use the pictographs Sheen and raysh to indicate press the head in order to communicate the idea of rope so now we know that shot means rope let's take a look at the letter L which is going to help us make the word Asha well or Aleph as it is called in modern Hebrew it's a picture of an ox and represents the actions to lead to be first to teach and to dominate al also represents the abstract concepts of influence and hierarchy when I began exploring this language I searched around trying to find out what kind of animal and ox was I knew what cows were but what was an ox a different type of cow actually no an ox is simply a cow with a job that job usually involves utilizing its strength to accomplish heavy labor such as plowing a field turning mill stones or pulverizing grain with its hooves a very common practice with oxen in ancient times was to yoke two of them together to multiply their strength when this was done the older stronger and more experienced ox was yoked with a younger inexperienced ox as they walked and worked together under the yoke the elder ox would inadvertently teach the younger by example and this is the core notion behind the symbol of the owl influence so as we add the owl to the parent root shod we end up with the pictographic implication of led by the rope the first idea or picture that came into my mind when I heard this was a bit of a blow to a self-determined human ego the idea of being attached to a rope and led around is miserable and insulting and conjures up ideas of forced labour and coercion how could that be a picture of blessed or happy but here are some other images that give a different perspective on the idea of being led or influenced by rope you the difference between these perspectives lies in the attitude of the participants if we believe that we are independent self-sufficient and possess all the emotional and physical knowledge and tools necessary to thrive on our own we will resist the idea of the rope however when we are aware of our vulnerability we gladly accept a tool that straightens our path attaches us to help and leads us back to safety rope is a tool used to accomplish connection between separate objects whether dragging lifting bundling or even striking rope always creates unity a link or connection between the objects it engages so when we recognize rope as representing unity and connection we can begin to see how it shapes the hebrew concept of happy or blessed humans are social beings in Bereshit or Genesis one of the very first things we are told about the nature of humans is that it is not good for them to be alone in other words we do not function properly in isolation a quick internet search on the effects of isolation reveals study after study demonstrating the adverse effects of living in complete isolation either physically or emotionally another angle of this same understanding is often taught by wilderness survival experts who point out that after our initial needs for shelter water and food are met we must prioritize finding connection with others according to the Boulder outdoor survival school lack of social connection in the wilderness can lead to a breakdown of mental composure depression and forgetting to take care of our own basic needs as we dig down through the layers seeking a concrete understanding we find that blessed or happy means straight and straight means led by rope and to be led by rope means that one's life is driven by an understanding that we must be connected not only to each other but ultimately to our Creator notice how connection in the form of a yoke is offered to us as a solution by our Messiah come to me all you who labor and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light Matthew 11 verses 28 through 30 thank you for watching