A Son over the House of God
Now these are the names of the children of Israel
(b'nei Yisrael), which came into (bo) Egypt; every man and his
household (bet) came (bo) with Jacob.
Exodus 1:1 (Spoke 2, Cycle 1)
God designed the initial verse of the Second Book as a primer on the symbolic meaning of the
Second Letter. It contains three primary KeyWords that exemplify different aspects of Bet.
This verse jointly presents the name of the Second Letter and the title of the Second Person of the
Trinity, Ben (Son), which also appears in a Bet verse of Lamentations (AV Lam 4:2):
- The precious sons of Zion (B'nei Tzion), comparable to fine gold,
how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!
B'nei is the plural construct form of ben which most literally denotes a male child but
in the plural can refer to both male and female children. It also is used idiomatically to identify
the essential quality of a person, such as a "son of wickedness" (Ps 89:22),
or a "son of peace" (Luke 10:6). The term "son of man" generally means mortal or human except when
applied as a prophetic title of Christ in which case it identifies him as the object of prophecy while
emphasizing His humanity. God displayed the etymological root of ben – the KeyWord banah (to build) – in
one Alphabetic Verse (AV Lam 3:5):
- He hath builded (banah) against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.
Genesis 4:17 exemplifies the connection between ben and banah:
And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded (banah) a city,
and called the name of the city, after the name of his son (ben) Enoch.
Genesis 4:17
The essential idea is that the son, as the progeny of the father, builds up the father's house.
Gesenius explained their connection in terms of Bet:
House is a common Eastern metaphor applied to family and children, and he who begets children
is said to build a house. Hence ben, a son, is so called from the idea of building, i.e. begetting.
This metaphor appears frequently in Scripture, as in the blessing spoken upon Boaz when he received Ruth as his wife:
The LORD make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah,
which two did build (banah) the house (bayit) of Israel: And let thy house
be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which
the LORD shall give thee of this young woman.
Ruth 4:11
All these ideas come together in the Hebrew Word Picture of the Son (Ben, BW book pg 117),
spelt with Bet and Nun. As discussed at length on Spoke 14, the essence of the
Fourteenth Letter is based on its name which means perpetuity or posterity as well as related KeyWords such
as neen (son, in the sense of progeny), nachal (to inherit) and ne’eman (faithful).
Thus it is on Spoke 14 alone that God speaks of the Eternal Inheritance for all who are faithful with
His Son Jesus (BW book pg 283), and it is there in the opening passage of Hebrews that Jesus is
declared to be the Son, the Heir of All Things and Maker of the Universe:
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
by whom also he made the worlds.
Hebrews 1:1ff
Just as the Aleph KeyWord Av (Father, BW book pg 116) is a picture of
the Leader (Aleph) of the House (Bet),
so also Ben is a picture of the Heir (Nun) of the House (Bet). The great and overwhelming miracle of God is
that the Books on the corresponding Spokes exemplify the meanings of the Letters and the words formed from
their combinations. The content of the Books of Exodus (Spoke 2, Bet) and Hebrews (Spoke 14, Nun) unite
to exemplify the meaning of Ben (Bet . Nun) by interweaving themes based on the
KeyWords Bet, Ben, Banah, Nun, Ne’eman and Nachal. This is made explicit in Hebrews on Spoke 14:
Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest
of our profession, Christ Jesus; Who was faithful [Nun KeyWord Ne'eman] to him that appointed him,
as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses,
inasmuch as he who hath builded the house [Bet KeyWords Bet and Banah]
hath more honour than the house. For every house is builded by some man;
but he that built all things is God. And Moses verily was faithful in all his house,
as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; But Christ as a son
over his own house [Bet Keywords Ben and Bet]; whose house are we,
if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
Hebrews 3:1-6
The Bible Knowledge Commentary explains this passage in terms of the Typology of the Tabernacle,
designed and built in Exodus and fulfilled in Jesus Christ and His Church:
But Jesus as a Builder excels Moses in honor since Moses was simply a servant carrying
out instructions. But what Jesus has built is, in fact, everything, for God is the
Builder of "everything." Implicit here is the Son's role in Creation (cf. Heb. 1:2, 10)
and indeed His identification as God (cf. Heb. 1:8). But beyond this is the thought that God's house
in which Moses was faithful was a kind of miniature representation of "everything," that is,
of the greater house over which the Son presides at God's right hand in heaven (cf. Heb. 1:3 with Heb. 4:14).
The "holy of holies" in His earthly house was but a shadow of heaven itself where Christ has now
gone "to appear for us in God’s presence" (Heb. 9:24). Moses’ fidelity consisted in erecting that
shadow house, the tabernacle, so that it could properly prefigure the future order of priestly
activity which now has the universe itself as its proper sphere. This is the sphere where the exalted
Christ sits faithful in all His current ministrations as well as past ones, functioning as a Son over God's house
(Heb. 3:6a).
This is the supernatural Wisdom of God revealed in the Bible Wheel. Just as the Letters
Bet and Nun combine to form a Word Picture of the Son (Ben), so the Books of Exodus (Spoke 2, Bet)
and Hebrews (Spoke 14, Nun) combine to form a detailed picture of Jesus, the Son (Ben) of God,
Builder (Banah) and Heir (Nun) of all Creation. This is the Divine Tapestry of the Bible; God interwove its
Books in accordance with the pattern of the Alphabet and the Hebrew language to form detailed pictures of its primary doctrines.
|