These are the words 6:4

I was in discussion with my uncle last week about the Introduction to Old Testament classes which he had attended a couple of weeks ago. I took this module in year 2003 and now that my retired uncle has all the time in the world (other than his 'compulsory' golfing), I kept telling him he should go for the class. With some more push from the Dean of the Seminary, whom we both know, he attended classes and I think he really enjoyed it.

This reminded me of some interesting things I learnt 3 years ago.

For one, the names of the books in the Pentateuch in Hebrew takes on the very first word of the book; we find this quite odd.

Genesis, בראשית Bereshith, In the beginning
Exodus, ואלה שמות Ve-Elleh Shemoth, These are the names
Leviticus, ויקרא Vaiyikra, And he called
Numbers, וידבר Vaidabber, And he spoke (but in most Hebrew Bibles its running title is במדבר Bemidbar, in the wilderness, which is the fifth word in the first verse)
Deuteronomy, אלה הדברים Elleh Haddebarim, These are the words

Imagine refering to the first five books of the bible: In the beginning 3:3, These are the names 10:1, And he called 18:2, And he spoke 6:24-26 and These are the words 6:4.

Maeghan
Picture by Rado Nachev