Barak - Lightning
"Stop and consider the wondrous works of God. Do you know how God lays His command upon them, and causes the lightning of His cloud to shine?" (Job 37:14–15)
Just over 250 years ago, scientists experimented with “static” electricity, but it was Benjamin Franklin who took it a step further with his kite experiment, proving that lightning (BARAK) was a form of electricity. Hebrew writers of the Bible described their 'electrical encounters' with God and how the Creator of the universe used His command of lightning.
Today in modern Hebrew and in the Bible, the word for lightning is בָּרָק – barak. Another Hebrew wordחַשְׁמַל – Chashmal referring to the gemstone amber, can be a fiery red color. The Word says that Chashmal envelops the Body of God. Baltic amber (chashmal) has a fiery red brilliance, which makes it a good metaphor for describing something on fire. More than its striking appearance, amber has a very unique property: it can produce static electricity.
The Prophet Ezekiel likely knew about this “electrical” phenomenon of amber, but had no scientific way to understand it. So, when he described God’s form as bright, glowing amber, he may have been thinking about the sparks that static electricity produces in addition to its fiery colors. In his vision of God’s throne, Ezekiel wrote: “On this throne high above was a figure whose appearance resembled a man. From what appeared to be his waist up, he looked like gleaming chashmal (amber), flickering like a fire. And from his waist down, he looked like a burning flame, shining with splendor.” (Ezekiel 1:26–27)
Before God re-established Israel in 1948, He also resurrected the Hebrew language. In the late 1800s, God used a religious Jewish man by the name of Eliezer ben Yehuda to re-establish the Hebrew language. He was born in Lithuania (under the Russian empire) and moved to Jerusalem in 1881. At that time, no one spoke Hebrew in daily life in Israel. Hebrew was viewed as the Holy language, only to be used for praying and synagogue worship. Instead, the people spoke the languages from their home countries, mainly Yiddish. But God put in Eliezer's heart to rebirth Hebrew as the spoken, read, and written language of Israel. He forced his family to speak only Hebrew in their home, and his son was the first child in approximately 2000 years who spoke solely Hebrew. Ben Yehuda created the first Israeli Hebrew newspaper and the first modern Hebrew dictionary.
His efforts were quite prophetic, as the Prophet Zephaniah wrote in chapter 3 verse 9: “For then I will restore to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one accord.” Eliezer, had to create many new words which were not found in the Bible, such as “electricity” which was discovered by Benjamin Franklin only about 100 years earlier. He chose the word chashmal. Why did Eliezer choose that word?
When the Hebrew Scriptures were first translated into Greek about 2,100 years ago, the Hebrew word chashmal became the Greek word elektron. Still, it only had the meaning of amber, and seems to be related to the Phoenician word elēkrŏn, meaning “shining light.” In the 17th century, two English scientists (William Gilbert and Sir Thomas Browne) were trying to better understand the static electricity that amber produces. Gilbert called it electrikus, meaning like amber. Browne later changed the word to electricity, and the rest is history.
One of the most notable poets of the 19th century Jewish Enlightenment, Judah Leib Gordon, helped popularize this new word when he wrote: “The light, the heat, the steam, and the electricity (hash-ma-LA), all nature's forces are the angels above.” He explained in his footnote: “by hash-ma-LA, I mean the natural force that is electritzitat, since the Greek translation of hash-MAL is ‘elektrika.’” (HaAretz)
Throughout the Bible it is understood that lightning and all natural phenomenon are at the command of the God of Israel. And at key moments in Israel’s history, God has appeared in the midst of lightning or hurled it to earth to prove that He is Master of the universe and there is no other.
When God manifested in the form of a man, Yeshua (Jesus), His glory also manifested in a way that would invoke fear and reverence, glory and honor. On the Mount of Transfiguration, “His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.” (Matthew 28:3) And “as He was praying, the appearance of His face changed, and His clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.” (Luke 9:29)
Very soon Yeshua, will appear to the entire world when He returns: “For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” (Matthew 24:27; Luke 17:24
SHALOM
