Wood

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Wood

Leviticus is about the sacrifices on Altars and their function and purpose within a free society.

It is believed by many that the sacrifices were to be burned up with actual fire on altars of clay and stone. Is this true or are the original word a story that carries a deeper meaning for those who hear the voice of God in their hearts and minds?

Through Sophistry could the original meaning and intent of the authors have been distorted?

But if that is true then we may ask what do these phrases shall put fire upon the altar lay the wood in order upon the fire actually mean?

The wood of Leviticus

Leviticus 1 verse 4 is first about the priest or minister to the people receiving the sacrifices of the people to be used up by the ministers chosen by the people for the benefit of the whole nation.[1]

The priests, altars, and sacrifice are instituted to promote the general welfare of one nation under God.

Altars always had a practical purpose just like the idols of Nimrod and Terah and Laban. Just like the altar of Jehovahnissi[2] built by Moses after the battle with the Amalek to care for the injured and widows so the people would remember. These altars taught the people to love nd care about all the people of the nation and not just those who loved them.

What was given was freely given to the living stones of these altars provided for the needy so that the men and their widows and orphans were not forgotten. That which was given, like the tithe, from those assembled in tens of, for, and by tabernacles of the congregation was the practice of Pure Religion.

The Wood in order

Leviticus 1:7 And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire(אֵ֖שׁ)[3] upon the altar, and lay the wood(עֵצִ֖ים ‘êṣîm)[4] in order upon the fire:(הָאֵֽשׁ׃)[3]

The phrase "and lay in order" is from the Hebrew word arak עָרַךְ {AyinReishKaf) but appears in the text as wə‘ārəḵū וְעָרְכ֥וּ and only appears in verses 7 and 8 with the word for wood in this form.

It does appear in Jeremiah 50:9 but translated and they shall set themselves in array "against Babylon"[5]

The Hebrew
"al hammizbêaḥ wə‘ārəḵū ‘ê·ṣîm al es"
( על־המזבח וערכו עצים על־האש׃ )

Who writes about the word עצים translated wood being a metaphor related to the tree of life

Some have written that עצים, often translated wood, can be symbolic of the Tree of Life as we see in Genesis 2:9 עֵץ חַיִּים. There are two sources for guidance for man, one is the tree of life and the other is the tree of knowledge which we are not to eat of for our guidance.

Other related roots of עצים or just עצ include words like עֵצָה for "counsel/advice" or the word for "backbone" come from the idea of firmness/strength like a tree. But there is also 06095 עָצֶה‎ AyinTzadikHey to shut or wink.

There is also יָעַץ‎ YodAyinTzadik which can mean to advise, consult.

We see this word in יוֹעֵץ֙ in Isaiah 9:6 in reference to a Counsellor but before that in verse 2 we see "The people that walked in darkness".[6] And by verse 4 "For thou hast broken הַחִתֹּ֖תָ the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor..."

The pieces in order

Leviticus 1:8 And the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood(הָעֵצִים֙)[4] that [is] on the fire which [is] upon the altar:

Now the priest has to "lay the parts, the head, and the fat" upon the wood.

The word for to "lay parts" appears as han·nə·ṯā·ḥîm הַנְּתָחִ֔ים with the root word נָתַח occurring nine times in the Hebrew Scriptures and always describes the deliberate cutting of a body into portions. Whether enacted upon an animal for worship or upon a human or ox for judicial or martial summons, the action is purposeful, solemn, and weighty.

So what are the portions for?

What do we do with the head?

The word translated head is hā·rōš הָרֹ֖אשׁ with the root word being רֹאשׁ. It can mean "beginning, captain, chapiter, chief".

If there is not a bunch of entrails and meat sitting on the wood of the altar with a head sitting there to why are we concerned with the fat?

The same letters for the word fat(חֶלֶב‎)[7] also mean milk(חֶלֶב‎)[8] and is a metaphor for abundance.

Leviticus 1:12 And he shall cut it into his pieces, with his head and his fat: and (אֹתָ֔ם from AlefTav not translated) the priest shall lay them in order on the wood[4] that is on the fire which is upon the altar:

Why pieces

The Hebrew text of verse Leviticus 1 verse 6[9] ונתח אתה לנתחיה׃ can be translated and cut it into its pieces

Why is it important that he is cutting or flaying these burnt offerings "into his pieces"(לִנְתָחֶֽיהָ׃ linṯāḥehā) if he is going to just burn it all up?

The word root word פָשַׁט‎ pashat can been everything from strip, flay, spoil or invade. In the text we see the word wəhip̄šîṭ (וְהִפְשִׁ֖יט) translated "And he shall" containing the letters for פָשַׁט‎ pashat. The Vav can add the meaning of "and" and the Hey

6 "And he shall "flay" is וְהִפְשִׁ֖יט אֶת־ הָעֹלָ֑ה with wəhip̄šîṭ(וְהִפְשִׁ֖יט) from 06584. The proper name [[06583|Pashchuwr פַשְׁחוּר‎ it means "freedom"."

וְנִתַּ֥ח wənittaḥ[10]
Why does he cut it up in pieces?
The root is נָתַח said to mean cut or flay is similar to words like nethinim נָתִין meaning temple servant and nathan נָתַן[11] which is said to mean give or assign.
Because he who has been given the office of priest is to rightly divide it among the people of the congregation as the "social safety net" of a voluntary society.[12]



V7 We see ets[4]  AyinTzadik that can mean wood or sticks or trees but it appears as esimtim (עֵצִ֖ים) which is AyinTzadikYodmem:

If the were about to burn up this offering so that smoke was going to go up in the air then they wood need a lot of wood.

If the purpose of the sacrifice was just to destroy the resources of the nation in a mindless macabre ritual then I can understand why many people reject the ancient religions. But it only makes sense if we looked at the offerings of Sumer who used to feed the poor or the altar of Jehovahnissi built by Moses to help veterans and their families after the war.


It is through sophistry the true meaning of the Bible been twisted until people are under a strong delusion.

So, wood is not just wood but counsel to be heard from living stones of the Altars, the gathering of honorable friends, who are the unhewn stones who serve the people through the choice of charity.

This will allow the ministers, as lively stones, to wisely and efficiently provide a daily ministration that rightly divides the sharing of free bread from house to house.[13]

  1. ↑ What is the Bible about?
  2. ↑ Exodus 17:15 And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi:
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 0784 אֵשׂ‎ AlefShin ‘esh [aysh] a primitive word; n f; [BDB-77a] [{See TWOT on 172 }] AV-fire 373, burning 1, fiery 1, untranslated variant 1, fire + 0800 1, flaming 1, hot 1; 379
    1) fire
    1a) fire, flames
    1b) supernatural fire (accompanying theophany)
    1c) fire (for cooking, roasting, parching)
    1d) altar-fire
    1e) God’s anger (fig.)
    • א Alef Father-Son- begin- The Paradox: God and Man - (ox bull) [strength, leader, first] (Numeric value: 1)
    • ש Shin Eternal Flame of Spiritual Revelation, bound to the coal of righteousness, the Divine Essence. [sun... teeth... consume destroy] (Numeric value: 300)
    • 0785 אֵשׁ‎ ‘esh (A) fire; 0786 אִשׁ‎ ‘ish (adv) there is, there are; 0787 אשׁ‎ ‘osh (Aramaic) foundation.
    • see 0800 fire from 0784 אֵשׂ‎ ‘esh fire -0787 foundation; 0801 burnt offering,; 0802 woman, wife, female
    • See fire Hebrew letters( אוּר‎ AlefVavReish) 0217 meaning flame, light of fire.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 06086 עֵץ‎ AyinTzadik ‘ets [ates] from 06095 (עָצָה - winks)]
    06095 עָצֶה‎ AyinTzadikHey to shut or
    06096 עָצֶה‎ AyinTzadikHey backbone or
    06097 עָצֶה‎ AyinTzadikHey tree or
    06098 עָצֶה‎ AyinTzadikHey counsel from
    03289 YodAyinTzadik devise or conspire;
    n m; [BDB-781b] [{See TWOT on 1670 @@ "1670a" }] AV-tree 162, wood 107, timber 23, stick 14, gallows 8, staff 4, stock 4, carpenter + 02796 2, branches 1, helve 1, planks 1, stalks 1; 328
    1) tree, wood, timber, stock, plank, stalk, stick, gallows
    1a) tree, trees
    1b) wood, pieces of wood, gallows, firewood, cedar-wood, woody flax
    • 06086 עֵץ‎ trees; 06095 עָצֶה‎ to shut; 06096 עָצֶה‎ backbone; 06097 עָצֶה‎ tree; 06098 עָצֶה‎ counsel; 03289 advise or conspire
  5. ↑ Jeremiah 50:9
    HEB: מֵאֶ֣רֶץ צָפ֔וֹן וְעָ֣רְכוּ לָ֔הּ מִשָּׁ֖ם
    KJV: 9 For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain."
  6. ↑ Eyes darkened
    Genesis 3:8 "And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden."
    Psalms 69:22 "Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. 23 Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake."
    Psalms 107:10 "Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, [being] bound in affliction and iron;"
    Isaiah 9:2 "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined."
    Isaiah 42:7 "To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, [and] them that sit in darkness out of the prison house."
    Isaiah 42:16 "And I will bring the blind by a way [that] they knew not; I will lead them in paths [that] they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them."
    Isaiah 49:6 "And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth."
    Ecclesiastes 2:14 "The wise man’s eyes [are] in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all."
    Micah 7:8 "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD [shall be] a light unto me."
    Matthew 4:16 “‭The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.”
    Luke 1:79 "To give light to them that sit in darkness and [in] the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."
    John 1:9 [That] was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
    Romans 11:10 "Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway"
    2 Corinthians 6:14 "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?”
    Job 34:22 "There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves."
    Matthew 6:23 “‭But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!”
    Luke 11:34 "The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when [thine eye] is evil, thy body also [is] full of darkness."
    John 3:19 "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." See Born again.
    Acts 26:16...18 to Paul "to make thee a minister and a witness"... 18 "To open their eyes, [and] to turn [them] from darkness to light, and [from] the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me."
    Romans 11: 9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them: 10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway."
    1 Peter 2:9 "But ye [are] a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:"
    1 John 2:10 "He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. 11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes."
  7. ↑ 02459 חֶלֶב‎ cheleb [kheh’-leb] or חלב‎ cheleb [khay’-leb]; from an unused root meaning to be fat; n m; [BDB-316b] [{See TWOT on 651 @@ "651a" }] AV-fat 79, fatness 4, best 5, finest 2, grease 1, marrow 1; 92
    1) fat
    1a) fat (of humans)
    1b) fat (of beasts)
    1c) choicest, best part, abundance (of products of the land)
    • see 02461 חָלָב‎ chalab "milk... abundance of the land (metaph.)";
  8. ↑ 02461 חָלָב‎ chalab [khaw-lawb’] from the same as 02459; n m; [BDB-316a] [{See TWOT on 650 @@ "650a" }] AV-milk 42, cheeses 1, sucking 1; 44
    1) milk, sour milk, cheese
    1a) milk
    1b) abundance of the land (metaph.)
    1c) white (as milk)
  9. ↑ And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut(וְנִתַּ֥ח) it(אֹתָ֖הּ) into his pieces(לִנְתָחֶֽיהָ׃ linṯāḥehā).
  10. ↑ 05408 נָתַח‎ nathach naw-thakh’ a primitive root; see 05409 נָתַח‎ v; [BDB-677b] {See TWOT on 1441 } AV-cut 5, cut into pieces 2, divided 1, hewed them in pieces 1; 9
    1) to cut, cut up, cut in pieces, divide
    1a) (Piel) to cut up, cut in pieces, divide by joints
  11. ↑ 05414 נָתַן‎ nathan [naw-than’] a primitive root NunTavNun; v; [BDB-678a] [{See TWOT on 1443 }] AV-give 1078, put 191, deliver 174, made 107, set 99, up 26, lay 22, grant 21, suffer 18, yield 15, bring 15, cause 13, utter 12, laid 11, send 11, recompense 11, appoint 10, shew 7, misc 167; 2008
    1) to give, put, set
    1a) (Qal)
    1a1) to give, bestow, grant, permit, ascribe, employ, devote, consecrate, dedicate, pay wages, sell, exchange, lend, commit, entrust, give over, deliver up, yield produce, occasion, produce, requite to, report, mention, utter, stretch out, extend
    1a2) to put, set, put on, put upon, set, appoint, assign, designate
    1a3) to make, constitute
    1b) (Niphal)
    1b1) to be given, be bestowed, be provided, be entrusted to, be granted to, be permitted, be issued, be published, be uttered, be assigned
    1b2) to be set, be put, be made, be inflicted
    1c) (Hophal)
    1c1) to be given, be bestowed, be given up, be delivered up
    1c2) to be put upon
    Over hundred variations of this root word.
    • נ ן Nun Heir to the Throne, Aramaic fish in the Mem (fish moving in flowing waters) or in the Hebrew the Nun may mean the kingdom with a double Nun suggesting spiritual insight in two realms. [fish moving... Activity life] (Numeric value: 50)
    • ת Tav is a Seal of a Higher kingdom or realm through faith. The paradigm keter–malchut “The Crown of Sovereignty” from the Tree of Life spiritually linking worlds or realms through an unseen doorway of faith. The Aleph & Tav are the first and last letters. [door sign cross seal] (Numeric value: 400)
    • נ ן Nun Heir to the Throne, Aramaic fish in the Mem (fish moving in flowing waters) or in the Hebrew the Nun may mean the kingdom with a double Nun suggesting spiritual insight in two realms. [fish moving... Activity life] (Numeric value: 50)
  12. ↑ Genesis 9:5-6 "And surely your blood of your lives(לְנַפְשֹֽׁתֵיכֶם֙) will I require(אֶדְרְשֶׁ֑נּוּ); at the hand of every beast (life) will I require it, and at the hand of man(adam); at the hand of every man'sman brother will I require the life<05315> of man(adam). Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man."
    In this verse we see יִשָּׁפֵ֑ךְ Yod which is also seen in Deuteronomy 12:27 concerning the burnt offerings and blood shall be poured out on the altar of Yahweh but the meat you can eat and in Deuteronomy 19:10 concerning the guilt of innocent blood.
  13. ↑ Distributing bread
    Acts 2:44-47 “‭44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common; ‭45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. ‭46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, ‭47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”
    “‭1 And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. ‭2 Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. ‭3 Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.” Acts 6:1-3
    “‭29 Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea: ‭30 Which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.” Acts 11:29-30
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