The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old.

And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.

But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour.

And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.

And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehemjudah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there.

And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem:

Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.

I have been established from everlasting, From the beginning, before there was ever an earth.

And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

The Way of Wisdom

(Ezra 4:6-16; Esther 1:1-9; Proverbs 1:1-7)

1Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars:

2She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table.

3She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of the city,

4Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him,

5Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled.

6Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.

Jehosheba (alternately Jehoshabeath; Hebrew: יְהוֹשֶׁ֫בַע Yəhōšeḇa‘, “Yahweh is an oath”[1]), or Josaba, is a figure in the Hebrew Bible. She was the daughter of Jehoram, but not necessarily of Athaliah. After the death of Ahaziah, his mother, Athaliah, made herself Queen of Judah and ordered the execution of all members of the royal family that could claim the throne. However, according to 2 Kings 11:2, Jehosheba saved from the massacre her infant nephew Jehoash, Ahaziah’s son and Athaliah’s grandson:

The root שבע (sb’), which in modern medieval times became pointed as שׁבע (shaba’), has to do with the number seven and the act of binding with an oath (i.e. with a proverbial seven seals or seven bonds).

Nouns שבע (sheba’) and שבעה (shib’a) mean 7 and their plural שבעים (shib’im) means 70. The dual form שבעתים (shib’atayim), means sevenfold or seven times. Adjectives שביעית (shebi’it) and שביעי (shebi’i) mean seventh.

The noun שבע (sheba’), meaning seven, became the verb שבע (shaba’), meaning to bind with an oath. Subsequent nouns שבועה (shebu’a) and שבעה (shebu’a) mean oath.

The identical root שבע (sb’), which in modern medieval times became pointed as שׂבע (saba’), means to be sated or satisfied, either with food and such or with any act, deed, quality or phenomenon. Nouns שבע (soba’), שבע (saba’), and שבעה (sab’a or sib’a) mean satiety, fullness, contentment and so on.

Bathsheba means Daughter Of An Oath.

The alternative, Daughter Of Seven, seems perfectly bizarre in English, but in Hebrew it holds a marvelous and magnificent meaning.

This at once directs our attention towards the curious statement made by Jesus:” . . . for I say to you that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham” (MATTHEW 3:9), which is now far less curious and all the more profound.

Note that some scholars propose that the word for stone, אבן (‘eben) is also related to the verb בנה (bana), meaning to build, and thus to our noun בן (ben), meaning son.

Jesus also says, ” . . . and you will be sons of the Most High (LUKE 6:35),” and Peter writes, “You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house . . . ” (1 PETER 2:5).

The word “house” is often used to denote someone’s family. But it’s also used to denote any other clearly defined group, such as a guild, a caste or order, and the word בן (ben) denotes a member of that group. Hence the Bible speaks of sons of the prophets (1 Kings 20:35), sons of the troops (2 Chronicles 25:13), sons of the exile (Ezra 4:1), even sons of transience (Proverbs 31:8).

The word בן (ben) is not even solely reserved for males. In Genesis 3:16 God informs Eve that she will suffer labor pains due to giving birth to benim, which certainly denotes both boys and girls. The word בן (ben) is not even reserved for humans (calves are ‘sons’ of the flocks – 1 Samuel 14:32), or even living things (‘sons’ of the sparks – Job 5:7; kernels on the threshing floor are ‘sons’ of the floor – Isaiah 21:10). A yearling kid may be called a son-of-year (Exodus 12:5) and offshoots of plants may be called their daughters (Genesis 49:22).

So yes, the word בן (ben) means son, but it really means quantum or building block.

It gets even more interesting when we look at the plural of the word בן (ben); as in Genesis 5:4, “and he had other sons and daughters”. For ‘sons’ we see the common masculine plural: בנים (benim) and for daughters we see the common feminine plural of the same word: בנות (benut). In other words, the Hebrew word for daughters is the feminine form of the word for sons. Something similar happens in Dutch where the word for boy (jongen) literally means ‘young one’ and the plural (jongeren) indeed means ‘young ones’ and covers both young men and young women (the opposite of jongeren is ouderen, from ‘old’). In Hebrew, however, the plural for daughter (בנות) is identical to a common expression of the verb בנה (bana), meaning to build (Joshua 22:23, 1 Samuel 14:35, 1 Kings 3:1).

The singular form for daughter appears to be a contraction of the plural word benut, namely בת (bat). And that is not at all peculiar. In the Bible a group of people (which consists of many benim) is feminine, and not only in some vague grammatical sense. The word for people (nation/ tribe) is אמה (‘umma) and the word for mother-city (as used in 2 Samuel 8:1) is אמה (‘amma). Both are closely related to the word אם (’em), meaning mother. This word אם (’em), meaning mother, is even directly applied to cities and their townsfolk (Isaiah 50:1, Ezekiel 16:44, Hosea 2:2).

On the same note, Israel as a nation is frequently compared to a bride, and more specifically, to the bride of God (Ezekiel 16:8). Similarly, believers who are gathered into the Body of Christ are also depicted as bride (REVELATION 21:2, JOHN 3:29).

We should also note that the Hebrew word for house (temple, family, group), בית (bayit), which contracts to beth in compound names such as Bethlehem or Bethel, bears a striking resemblance to our word בת (bat), meaning daughter. The prophet Isaiah speaks of בית־ציון, which literally reads ‘House of Zion‘, but all popular modern translations interpret this as ‘daughter of Zion’ (Isaiah 10:31).

The masculine plural of the word בן (ben) is בנים (benim). But in compounds or constructs (like: sons-of-Israel), the final mem drops off: בני ישראל (benay-Israel).

There are about half a dozen of names in the Bible that consist of the letter ב (beth), followed by a regular word that is sometimes also a name. This prefixed ב may either be the particle ב (be) that means in or via (as is the case with the first letter of the Bible), or it is a contracted form of our word בן (ben). Something similar happens with patronyms in modern languages where names like William’s Son or Mac-Phail were compressed into Wilsen and Quayle. See the list of B-names below; names that don’t start with, or end on ben or bar are (perhaps) of this contracted patronym form.

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David Plans a Temple

1And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and the LORD had given him rest round about from all his enemies; 2That the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains. 3And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thine heart; for the LORD is with thee.

God’s Covenant with David

(1 Chronicles 17:1-15)

4And it came to pass that night, that the word of the LORD came unto Nathan, saying, 5Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith the LORD, Shalt thou build me an house for me to dwell in? 6Whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle. 7In all the places wherein I have walked with all the children of Israel spake I a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying, Why build ye not me an house of cedar?

8Now therefore so shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel: 9And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth. 10Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime, 11And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies. Also the LORD telleth thee that he will make thee an house. 12And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. 13He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. 14I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: 15But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. 16And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever. 17According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.

David’s Prayer of Thanksgiving

(1 Chronicles 17:16-27)

18Then went king David in, and sat before the LORD, and he said, Who am I, O Lord GOD? and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? 19And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord GOD; but thou hast spoken also of thy servant’s house for a great while to come. And is this the manner of man, O Lord GOD? 20And what can David say more unto thee? for thou, Lord GOD, knowest thy servant. 21For thy word’s sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all these great things, to make thy servant know them. 22Wherefore thou art great, O LORD God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears. 23And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for thy land, before thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods? 24For thou hast confirmed to thyself thy people Israel to be a people unto thee for ever: and thou, LORD, art become their God. 25And now, O LORD God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, establish it for ever, and do as thou hast said. 26And let thy name be magnified for ever, saying, The LORD of hosts is the God over Israel: and let the house of thy servant David be established before thee. 27For thou, O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house: therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. 28And now, O Lord GOD, thou art that God, and thy words be true, and thou hast promised this goodness unto thy servant: 29Therefore now let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue for ever before thee: for thou, O Lord GOD, hast spoken it: and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed for ever.