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Introduction

As we noted last week in studying gold’s negative application in scripture, there are several words that are translated into the English word gold. I had briefly looked ahead and had noted two more Hebrew words. I want to thank Stephen Morris for his assistance in this week’s study. Stephen sent me an e-mail noting that there are actually seven words translated as gold. I will quote Stephen’s letter.

“I looked at gold this morning and actually found more than two other Hebrew words used as gold. Maybe this will be of some help to you in your study.

The first and most prevalent: zahab – the one for gold you have already discussed

Second: dehab – found in Ezra and Daniel only – ex. Dan 3.1

(this one is actually Aramaic and probably related to the one above – zahab)

Third: harus – found mostly in Proverbs – ex. Prov. 16.16

Fourth: ketem – gold tried in the fire? (Ophir) – ex.   Job 28.16

Fifth: paz- probably means pure but translated as fine (pure) gold – ex. Psa 21.3

Sixth: beser – only found in Job 22.24 and 22.25 same word translated defense

Seventh: segowr – only once Job 28.15 – probably impure gold  see contrast in 28.16

Thanks for all the work you have put into looking up these words and giving me all these examples,

Stephen.”

The positive application of the color yellow, gold, and the “hidden wisdom” of God’s Word.

1Co 2:7  But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

The very fact that it takes 6000 pounds of gold ore to get one ounce of pure gold should tell us just how precious God’s elect are to Him:

Deu 32:9  For the LORD’S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
Deu 32:10  He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

When we were covering the spiritual significance of colors in scripture, I told you that we would cover the positive application of the color yellow when we got into the metals, simply because the Hebrew word for yellow, in its positive application, is also a word translated gold. It is the Hebrew word ‘yeraqraq‘. Here is where that word is translated as the color ‘yellow’, and this is where ‘yellow’, a word which is generally used as a type of sin in the flesh, is also given a positive application in scripture.

Psa 68:13  Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.

Now, for the sake of understanding the mind of God, let’s briefly review yellow’s negative application. The word yellow is in the scripture very few times. It isn’t that long a study to determine what this color generally connotes in God’s Word. For example:

Lev 13:30  Then the priest shall see the plague: and, behold, if it be in sight deeper than the skin; and there be in it a yellow thin hair; then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a dry scall, even a leprosy upon the head or beard.

The word translated ‘yellow’ in this verse is the Hebrew word, tsa ho b, Strong’s number H6669, pronounced tsaw- obe’. According to James Strong, this word comes from H6668 tsa hab pronounced tsaw- hab’; meaning golden in color: – yellow.

Leprosy was not that uncommon in the Middle East and in ancient Israel. The yellow hair was there in the leprosy for any and all to see. It was not a green hair; it was a yellow hair.

We now have another Hebrew word used by the holy spirit to describe the color of gold:

Psa 68:13  Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.

The word ‘yellow’ here is H3422, yeraqraq. This word appears a total of 3 times in all of the Old Tesatament. It is translated as greenish twice – Lev 13:49, Lev 14:37 and yellow once – Psa 68:13, quoted above.

It should be obvious that both tsahob and yeraqraq mean yellow as in a “yellow thin hair” in a leprous skin and as the color of “yellow gold” respectively. While it is possible with today’s alloys to debase gold and make a green gold, that certainly is not the meaning of Psalm 68:13. Nevertheless, the translators of the King James Bible have seen fit to translate this same word, yeraqraq, as ‘greenish’ in these two verses:

Lev 13:49  And if the plague be greenish or reddish in the garment, or in the skin, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin; it is a plague of leprosy, and shall be shewed unto the priest:

We were just told in the thirtieth verse of this same chapter that if the hair of the skin were yellow; “if it be in sight deeper than the skin; and there be in it a yellow thin hair; then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a dry scall, even a leprosy upon the head or beard.”

Here is the only other entry for this word in scripture:

Lev 14:37  And he shall look on the plague, and, behold, if the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow strakes, greenish or reddish, which in sight are lower than the wall;

I have made it very clear that I am not a Hebrew scholar. Neither am I unable to reason however. It is clear that the hair in the leprosy is yellow. It isn’t a green hair. You don’t have to be a scholar to see that. It is also very clear that gold is yellow. Gold is not green. So why would these Hebrew scholars choose to translate ‘yeraqraq‘ speaking of “anything of the skin” as “greenish”? If any Hebrew scholar out there can answer that very logical question, I would love to hear from you. I notice that Rotherham apparently had the same observation that I have had. Here is the REV tranlation of that verse. He simply adds the word ‘yellow’ to the King James ‘greenish:’

Lev 14:37 then shall he view the mark and lo! if the mark is in the walls of the house, with sunken places greenish yellow or reddish, – and they appear to be lower than the surface of the wall,

I mention all of this just to demonstrate that faith in God’s cryptic Word does not require that we check our brains and our logic at the door when we come to God’s word with an open and teachable mind. Faith is confidence in things that are not seen, but is not confidence in things that cannot be demonstrated by His Word.

Rom 3:3  For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
Rom 3:4  God forbid: yea, let God [God’s Word] be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

Heb 11:1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Heb 11:1  Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen. (ASV)

That “assurance” is the Word of God.

Throughout our studies we have seen time and time again how every word of God’s Word has both a positive and a negative application. It is this simple Truth that has so effectively blinded and deceived the whole world.

So once again, here with the positive and negative applications of the color yellow, and with the positive and the negative applications of the metal gold, we have two more examples of how God’s cryptography is applied in scripture so that only His elect can see and accept the Truths that are before them.

The military of every major country on earth has cryptographers who can crack any code contrived by man. Yet these highly trained and highly intelligent men have never been able to decipher the parables of scripture and tell you why Christ spoke in parables or why the single pillar at the Red Sea was complete darkness on one side and a bright fire, like the sun in the middle of the day, on the other side. Here is the only way God’s cryptography can be ‘cracked’ and understood:

Mat 16:13  When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?
Mat 16:14  And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
Mat 16:15  He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
Mat 16:16  And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Mat 16:17  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

It seems impossible to the natural man, but only moments later Christ is calling this same “Blessed… Simon Barjona,” Satan. Look at the next few verses:

Mat 16:18  And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Mat 16:19  And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Mat 16:20  Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.
Mat 16:21  From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
Mat 16:22  Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.
Mat 16:23  But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

This is a perfect example of what God does with His malleable, ductile gold. Peter was capable of being beaten into a seraphim, a serpent, right after being told that he was being given the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Peter is a type of all God’s elect. We are all the “seed of the serpent… of our father the devil,” before we become “disciples indeed.”

Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:37  I know that ye [Jews which believe on me] are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.
Joh 8:43  Why do ye [“Jews (Christians) which believe on me”] not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

We have seen how the positive application of the spiritual significance of the color yellow is used in scripture, and that it is expressed with a word that is also translated as gold. We have also seen that God’s word is encrypted in parables which the world’s best cryptologists will never be able to decode, and yet it has been given to the poor of this world, the uneducated in this world and the weak of this world to decode and understand the parables of God’s Word.

We have also been reminded that gold is precious to God for the same reason it is precious to us. Gold is rare, it is malleable and ductile, uncorruptible, untarnished and beautiful.

Next week we will take a  brief look at each of the seven Hebrew words for gold, and we will see what the spirit has to show us.