Revelation

In this blog I explore the difficulty we have had with the Book of Revelation. A major problem lies in how a certain important vocabulary word is translated into English. Quite a story. Read on for more.

Passover Reads

This year, across unleavened bread week, Ryan and I read through the TT. We normally do this at Tabernacles but wanted to see how the text stood given a river of changes that have come since the Eden map was worked out.

This read was profound. We were gridding stories in many more places. We are starting to understand most stories. This was better than we'd ever been able to do before.

Ryan took a very long list of screen captures and notes that he is still working through. Those updates will continue to roll out in our scripture apps over the next few weeks. This is taking time because he is needing to audit many English vocabulary words against underlying terms. This includes the OT divine name which I will explain in a future blog.

We especially saw grids dealing with holidays. The sparse holiday definitions that simply give dates are robustly matched with other stories. I will be covering those in future blogs too.

I have adjusted the Calendar App as a result of this holiday week. I have adjusted the Sabbath Reads calculations to fix some bugs, and to make it fit around an 8 day Passover Read and then Tabernacles Reads only in the 7th years.

It takes 8 days to read the text straight through, and if you combine Passover and Unleavened bread you find that pair of holidays is 8 days long. Tabernacles, but only in year 7, also has 8 days. So these are the only holiday times when this would make sense. The calendar app now marks these week long reads. PR: x for Passover Reads, TR: x for Tabernacles Reads. Each followed by a day number in the read.

I have dropped an extra day marker after the end of Tabernacles week. If someone wanted to read every year at Tabernacles, they should start 1 day early, and not linger long. This because of the way the months are folding days and because of the way a Passover read starts 1 day ahead of the week long holiday at the start of the year.

Unleavened Bread is practiced at home. Getting rid of yeast is but a simple part. Joshua explains in Matt. 16:6 that the yeast is the writings of scribes and pharisees. In the worst case he means don't have anything to do with writing in that week that is not inspired. Passover and the week following is the week to focus on nothing but inspired text.

Flipping Holiday Purposes

We have hunched for some time that one of the holiday weeks probably dealt with the systems of inspiration while the other holiday dealt with the text itself.

Until this past holiday week we ascribed systems of inspiration to the first month holiday and the text to the 7th month holiday. This is not correct.

Tabernacles is named after the Tabernacle, or Tent of Time. That tent has a large set of museum pieces that tell the story of how the text is designed. So the Tabernacles holiday is for taking a journey to study those systems at a Tabernacles.

Go see the models, go see the systems that prove inspiration. Go see the text carved in stone. Understand those systems so someone cannot come along and fool you with a changed text later. Go teach the next generation how this all works.

So Unleavened bread is the normal week to read the text at home.

Then, in the 7th year, Tabernacles is 8 days long because there are 8 months to the following year's Passover. In this 8 days the text is to be read together in public at or near a place where it is carved in stone. All copies, all printed versions, need to be checked against that stone carved master copy.

One of the parallel stories for that holiday indicates this is to be done in small groups, without a central point of control so without a single point of failure. So even if you had traveled to a large venue, you'd still read the text in small groups.

It also allows, or maybe even demands, multiple complete copies of all the artifacts to be spread around in the world. With inexpensive 3d printers it is now reasonable for people to even have copies of the museum pieces at home, which I think Joshua will ultimately find pleasing.

Tabernacles Artifacts

I have had some private conversations with blog subscribers about how many inspired tabernacles artifacts there might be. My working hunch is that there was one major item for each of the 12 tribes.

I also now hunch that since those items were to teach the systems of inspiration that they must be recovered BEFORE the text is recovered. This now makes lots of sense about the strange journey we have been on to get this done.

I don't know yet if I have them all, but the set looks to be complete when there are 12 major exhibits in the museum.

Our Unleavened Bread week was very busy because we kept getting insights that we never noticed before. Most important are at the level of the spelling of vocabulary words. Slight changes in the English translations given the underlying word unlocks much understanding. Here are some other examples before we get to Revelation's troubled word so you can understand this class of problem.

Ananias/Hananiah

We call the list of editors the Villain list. The last primary editor, for the NT, was Ananias. We think this was same man who gave a prophetic word to Paul in Damascus.

The conventional Greek name Ananias is spelled in Aramaic/Paleo as HaNeNeYoWa. The Ha at the front may have been dropped in the Greek version of this name because in Greek Ha is a prefix meaning 'the' and part of Greek Grammar. So finding a Ha in that name at the front would be confusing to Greek readers.

Given the Paleo spelling for Ananias, there should be an H at the front of this name in English. Hananiah would be technically correct. But this name, with this exact spelling is conventionally translated as Hananiah. The H at the end being added by convention related to the Hebrew divine name.

Divine name problems are a matter for another time.

So we are changing the BRB text so Ananias is now Hananiah. I will try and reprogram my brain for that change and use it in future lists of Villains.

This name, with this exact spelling is common in the OT, especially in Chronicles. 'Hananiah' is also in Ezra, Nehemiah and Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 28:10 Hananiah is a false prophet who broke the bands off Jeremiah.

The 3 letter root of this name, HaNeNe, is also a known OT name. The YoWa ending may be added. In English, names like Dave are sometimes turned into Davie, as might be going on here. So checking the root, Hanan, is important because in this case the name 'Hanan' is also not uncommon in the OT.

Hanan is first found in Genesis 36:38 in a genealogy. In 1 Kings 16:1, Jehu, able to receive prophetic words, is the son of someone named Hanan. In 2 Chronicles 16 there is a prophet named Hanan. So Hananiah giving a prophetic word to Paul is consistent with the heritage of this name.

In Nehemiah 1:2 there is a Hanan who comes to Nehemiah with a report on the state of Jerusalem. By Nehemiah 13:13 Hanan is in the company of the priests. Finally, in Jeremiah 35:4 there is a reference to sons of Hanan.

Same Souls?

When names are matched across history like this, we as readers are supposed to watch for the possibility the same soul is carrying the same or similar name in different lives.

For example, consider the apostle Paul. His given name was Saul. So he should be considered as a possible born again soul of King Saul. Paul's early life behaviors of chasing believers to their death is similar to King Saul.

This may not always be the same soul, but it is a test we are to make against the story when there are matched names.

Even if not the same soul, then they are matched in terms of nature because the given name reflects the nature of the soul in question at any given life.

So the editor Hananiah has textual history that we are not to overlook. That name has been involved in temple related activities for centuries. Most likely the same soul we think of as the NT editor Hananiah has been around before. Even the prophetic gifting as seen when Hananiah gave Paul a prophetic word in Damascus is foreshadowed in the OT.

We will eventually cover a grid against the Villain list that calls out the NT editor Hananiah as a false prophet. This will define the term, 'false prophet' into an unusual space. A false prophet is able to give true prophetic words, as Hananiah did for Paul, BUT, his testimony about Joshua is false. This is a trap, beware of it in church circles.

We have been watching for these sorts of vocabulary word problems in English words because the problems we are now dealing with involve looking at the text as though we are looking at it in its original language. Here are some more examples.

Animals and Creatures

Another example is the animals on Noah's ark. This is the same word as the creatures we read about in Ezekiel. Traditional translators do not consistently translate, so we cannot build a mental model for solving problems that is built upon the words used in the text.

The rift between Hebrew and Aramaic is partly responsible for this. Our BRB text has previously seen words changed to audit against Hebrew. Now we are auditing against Aramaic.

This is a frustrating problem across the entire text. This is a big and complex problem. We have done enough work that by now, we tend to look at spelling and word audits when we have trouble with a passage. Problems usually lurk there.

Our recent better understanding of the grids that run across inspired text has forced us to include stories that have been out for some time. If stories are gone by Acts 15 rules, but return because of the needs of a strong grid, then we must check key vocabulary words. Sometimes there are very important words that are not translated well. Picking a better English can change everything.

Understanding of problems in the Book of Revelation gets significantly easier when we consider a problem that involves just 1 vocabulary word.

This is such a strange fix that I need to walk you through the details and let you verify, if you wish, what I am about to show.

Revelation 5

An example of the trouble we have with Revelation can be seen in Revelation 5:6. I am deliberately not giving the BRB link here. Follow this point from memory, or find a clean Greek based NT translation. I will paraphrase the story as we go.

In this verse the writer looks and sees in the middle of a group of elders a lamb as though it had been slain. It continues with other details that are not yet important to this conversation.

Everyone considers that lamb to be Joshua. So this verse is a fanciful view of Joshua amongst the elders. This strange construction does not appear to be a problem with understanding the story, at least as traditionally taught.

By the rules of additions from Acts 15 we have a big problem with this story. We have trouble throughout Revelation every time the world 'lamb' is used.

Joshua was killed on a cross by crucifixion by a Roman official named Pilate. Pilate did this at the urging, and blackmail, of the Jewish leaders of Jerusalem at the time.

That group spawned the NT editor, whom we now, more correctly, call Hananiah.

Hananiah made that political murder into a human sacrifice that satisfied their god. Never mind that the real god was in front of them and they killed god.

So by the rules of Acts 15, this story in Revelation 5:6 is NOT INSPIRED.

If we continue on down through Revelation, those lamb references continue. It is the single word, 'lamb' that is causing us much trouble.

1 Samuel 3 (Spice)

The link here is to 1 Samuel 3 in the Spice app off our website. I don't believe I've ever linked into this tool from a blog. We rarely need to go there. We have a more complex version we use internally. But this time it is important to look at how this works.

This is a complete restatement of the Syriac Bible in Paleo alphabet. It has an English interlinear that is a shim. It is not audited. We haven't messed with that English yet. That English is just enough to get around in the text, when needed, to look at Paleo spellings of words.

To learn this tool, go to 1 Samuel 3 by following the link above and scroll down to verse 9. In this verse Eli says to Samuel what Samuel should do the next time Joshua calls him. Eli gives Samuel instructions on what to say. In those instructions Samuel is told to say to Joshua to speak.

I pick this example because it shows off various uses of one of the MOST common non-name words in the entire text. 'Wa-Mo-Re' is the paleo word in question. It usually translates into 'said' in English.

Understand for a moment that the text is mostly written in present tense. By convention most English translations turn that present tense into past tense in English.

We have not yet tried to fight the battle of tense in our work. We may do so eventually. The English version of the text after that change will become more like a script for a play. By traditionally making everything past tense in the English versions, translators make the text distant. It is not as applicable to modern day situations.

So watch for the word 'said' in English, and watch for Wa-Mo-Re above. Wa-Mo-Re sits above 'said' and it sits above 'say'.

2 more bits of grammar you need to know. A 'Ve' at the front usually translates to 'and' in English. The Ve is a tent peg or nail. It is nailing 2 words together. A 'Wa' at the end of a word means 'the.' A 'Wa' is a light, but also means 1. So a 'Wa' at the end means shining on one of this thing. So a Wa suffix usually translates into English as 'the' or perhaps 'a.'

By English grammar 'the' comes before the word. In Paleo grammar 'the' comes at the end of the word as an attached suffix. No problems getting the meaning.

The passage has word numbers so watch for F. Samuel 3:9.1 and 3:9.8. At these 2 places you will see VeWaMoRe and WaMoRe, 'and said' in English and 'say' in English.

If you look further, at 3:9.9, you will see the English 'speak' and here the Paleo is MoLuLu. So there is a different term to invite someone else to say something.

Revelation 5 (Spice)

So now you know the tool and can move around. The link here is to Revelation 5 in the Spice text. If you have the Spice app open, you can just navigate down to Revelation 5 if you like.

Scroll down to verse 6, and find word 7. So Revelation 5:6.7 is where you want to focus.

Here you find the Paleo word translated 'lamb.' WaMoReWa.

This is our troubled word. References to 'lamb' are spread throughout Revelation. This is what causes Revelation to have so much content that falls by Acts 15 rules.

Now, look again at WaMoReWa.

This is the same Paleo root as I explored above in F. Samuel 3. This is the root word 'say' with a suffix, Wa.

Remember, suffix Wa is the word 'the' in English. No problem. But 'the' is used when the word in question is a noun. 'The House' is an example. House is a noun. So here WaMoRe is a noun, not a verb, as in the earlier F. Samuel 3 example.

An original language reader of this passage must determine from context if this means something like the noun 'sayings' or the noun 'lamb.'

Get it wrong and you misunderstand the passage. If you are a villain you might force the Greek translation to the wrong answer, then use the Greek to defend this as a lamb.

I can use shell tools to scan the spice files. WaMoRe is root in 9469 places. (A few might be variant reads.) I can use BRB search and find 193 places across the entire text where 'lamb' or 'lambs' is in English. Some of those 193 are, of course, found in Revelation itself. So there is around 2 percent odds this is really a lamb in Revelation and not a reference to sayings.

Is This Lamb?

We have scanned the entire text and there are places were lamb as the meaning for WaMoRe appears to be the right word given context. A 'WaMoRe' is one of the possible meats at Passover, for example. So WaMoRe has a rare meaning in the concept space of lambs.

Lambs were probably named WaMoRe because when they get hungry they talk. Goats do something similar. If you have ever had to nurse these little creatures by hand you know what I mean. They do let you now when they are hungry.

It is also possible that WaMoRe has no meaning in the concept space of lambs. If so maybe we misunderstand Passover. That is a problem for another day.

Just by odds alone, the references to lamb in the Book of Revelation are more likely to be the noun form, or in English 'the sayings' than they are to be the noun 'the lamb'.

In situations like this in Revelation we must turn to context to see what is going on. This is what someone reading this in the original language would have had to do anyway. Knowing this is a problem word, we can study the context too, only we can go back and use English for this work.

Context

Revelation 5 itself starts with the context. Let me paraphrase. In the right hand of him who sits on the thrown is a writing. It is inscribed with markings. Nobody can unravel the markings. It continues in verse 5 with a statement than heir (or precisely root) of David will open the writing and its markings. (Think David's fallen tent of Acts 15, someone with access to the Tabernacles articles.)

So the context of verse 6 is writing, not a herd or a farm or lambs.

Let me continue to paraphrase from Revelation 5, while keeping WaMoRe in the space of sayings. Verse 6) I looked and saw in the middle of the elders the sayings that had been slain having 7 horns, 7 eyes and it was sent forth into all the land.

The giving of interpretations within its own book fails by other rules and marks an editor. So I have slightly shortened the verse here.

Elsewhere in Revelation this document is called the Great Bible. It indeed has gone throughout the whole earth.

This paraphrase is no longer falling by Acts 15 rules. Indeed, it now follows the context and is dealing with the edited text. This passage is telling us that the sayings were slain or killed because of the editors.

But you might object. Sayings don't have horns, nor eyes. Doesn't that push back to the space of lambs?

The term 'horn' is often translated 'flash' it carries oil. The oil in a horn is used to anoint kings, priests and prophets. Horns mark those who we know to have been writers of the text. Both inspired writers, the prophets, and the uninspired writers, who were kings and priests. So 7 different horns, are kingly/priestly and prophetic anointings or commissionings.

These are the 7 different groups of writers. All prophets together writing down Joshua's word. Then another 6 who are the villains, the editors.

Eyes, as a term, can mean eyes that look at something, or eyes can mean the subject of what eyes are looking at. In English this second meaning is usually reserved for objects of desire. Having eyes on a new sports car, would be an example. Here it means there are 7 different things to look at in these sayings that were slain.

When we mark up the BRB and mark the 6 editors we are also leaving unmarked the 7th inspired writer, Joshua. We look at text to figure out which. Said as in Revelation, we put eyes on the text, to carefully find these 7 different writers.

More

Let me continue in Revelation 5, at verse 7) He took the writing from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. This is keeping in the context of writing. No problem here. So before and after the lamb reference are on the subject of language and writing. So more evidence that WaMoRe should be taken as 'sayings.'

8) As he took the writing the 4 creatures and 24 elders fell before the sayings.

Let me stop here, and explain more. You can find the word for creatures in the Spice, it starts with a Ha, likely inspired as HaYoNe. A coral holding seed.

In the animal sense this limits the animals to farm animals, not all animals. So this would point at lamb as a farm animal. Right? Not so fast.

Zechariah and Ezekiel both have strange visions. They are describing what they saw as animals. But what words describe the big model cases that go in the Tabernacle/Tent of Time? They are corrals full of eyes.

In the alphabet/Tabernacle sense this is the set of corral like boxes that hold eyes, things that can be seen. These 4 creatures are model systems corralled in the Tabernacle/Tent of Time. They are Ha, Corral, Yo, handling, Ne, Seed.

Verse 8 also references a stringed instrument, a vessel of gold and spices. It then interprets these as prayers. The interpretation fails as an addition because it is in its own book. The editor probably did not want you to think hard about the earlier vision.

A stringed instrument can be a harp, or a loom. Joseph's robe is important and woven and implied here. Cloth patterned after that robe is later used in healing and at least one resurrection.

Skipping down to verse 12) They were saying, worthy are the sayings, slain, to receive power, wealth, wisdom, strength, honor glory and blessing.

At this point it is explaining what will happen at or around the time when this document is brought back to life.

Revelation As A Book

The context for Revelation is given in Revelation 1:9, which might be the inspired start. The writer is on an island on the first day of (a likely) Tabernacles week.

Remember what I said about how we are shifting the holidays. Tabernacles week as in view here is about the system of inspiration that prove text written by inspired writers as lead by Joshua.

The throne room, which appears to be the venue for most of the visions in Revelation, is likely a heavenly match to the inspired Tabernacle and its interior items.

OK, this is enough for this week. But this is a hint of what is to come deeper in Revelation.

More Later,

Phil