kabod

KABOD — GLORY!

(October 28, 2024) Editorial note: Although it’s been many, many years since Dr Jim McClure explained about this Hebrew word we find that many readers keep discovering his article and appreciating it. So here is a reprint that we’re confident will bless many.

Dr Jim shares…

Christians often use the word ‘glory’ but usually do not have much idea of what it means! The Hebrew word for glory, kabod, is found 200 times in the Old Testament and its development is interesting.

Development
The root of kabod actually means ‘heavy’ and is associated with the liver (Exodus 29:13), which is the heaviest of the internal organs.  The use of the word as ‘heavy’ is seen in a number of Old Testament passages such as Psalm 38:4KJV, ‘For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.’

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KABOD – GLORY!

(July 30, 2023) Dr Jim McClure shares on this Hebrew word… 

‘Glory!’ Christians often use the word ‘glory’… but usually do not have much idea of what it means!

The Hebrew word for glory, kabod, is found 200 times in the Old Testament and its development is interesting.

Development
The root of kabod actually means ‘heavy’ and is associated with the liver (Exodus 29:13), which is the heaviest of the internal organs.  The use of the word as ‘heavy’ is seen in a number of Old Testament passages such as Psalm 38:4KJV, ‘For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.’

Glory developed into the concept of splendour.It referred to material wealth, that is, being ‘heavy with riches.’  Note Isaiah 10:3, ‘To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth?’  Here ‘wealth’ is ‘kabod.’ 

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GLORY!

(March 20, 2023) Dr Jim McClure explains about God’s glory… 

Christians often use the word ‘glory’ but usually do not have much idea of what it means! The Hebrew word for glory, kabod, is found 200 times in the Old Testament and its development is interesting.

Development
The root of kabod actually means ‘heavy’ and is associated with the liver (Exodus 29:13) which is the heaviest of the internal organs. The use of the word as ‘heavy’ is seen in a number of Old Testament passages such as Psalm 38:4, ‘For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me’(KJV).

Glory developed into the concept of splendour.It referred to material wealth, that is, being ‘heavy with riches.’  Note Isaiah 10:3, ‘To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth?’  Here ‘wealth’ is ‘kabod.’ 

The word continued to develop to mean honour. In Malachi 1:6 God asks, ‘A son honours (kabod) his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honour (kabod) due to me?’ 

Glory also came to be recognised as a characteristic of God’s splendour — ‘The heavens declare the glory of God’ (Psalm 19:1).

Regarding the word ‘Shekinah’, although some people use this when referring to God’s glory, it does not refer to a special dimension of divine glory.  In fact this Hebrew word is not found in the Bible. It literally means ‘presence’ but doesn’t add anything to the concept that God’s glory reveals His presence.

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THE ESSENCE OF EXISTENCE
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(May 16, 2021) Bonnie Spencer shares a meditation on our existence…

I rarely ponder philosophical questions.

They take me back to the merry-go-round of my childhood playground. We’d get the wheel spinning so fast that I’d hold on with a death grip to keep from flying off and bouncing across the hardpacked dirt!

Ride to nowhere
In college I took the required Philosophy 101. It was one of my top five least favourite classes. I couldn’t wrap my brain around questions such as…

  • What are thoughts?
  • Where do they come from?
  • Do numbers really exist?
  • Are they something man has created?
  • Why do women open their mouths when they put on mascara?

Occasionally, though, I do end up on that ride that goes nowhere. That was the case recently when my mind encountered the idea of existence. What if I had not been born? What would it be like if I had never lived?

The alternative, of course, would be that I never existed… ever. I wouldn’t know anything. But that would be okay, I thought, because… well, I wouldn’t even know I didn’t know anything. By now, the wheel was spinning furiously while my neurons were off swinging on the monkey bars instead of communicating with their neighbours!

Reality
The reality is that I do exist, and it can’t be undone. So here I am. I didn’t ask to be here, and no one asked me if I wanted to be here.

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WORDS OF LIFE (#4) REVEALING THE GLORY – KABOD

Jim McClure(November 18, 2016) Dr Jim McClure, respected theologian, continues his series on some scripture words…

In Exodus 33:18 Moses made this request of God: ‘Show me your glory.’ God’s reply was that no human being could see his face and live. He then instructed Moses to stand in the crevice of a rock from which Moses would see his back.

If the pure brilliancy of the glory of God were made visible, it would utterly destroy us. Matthew Henry makes this significant comment, ‘He will have us to know him by the glory of his mercy more than by the glory of his majesty.’

The word ‘glory’ is frequently used by Christians – but what does it really mean?  In the Lord’s Prayer is the phrase, ‘yours is the glory’ – but what does that mean?  At the birth of Jesus the angelic choir sang, ‘Glory to God in the highest …’ – but what does that mean?  While the glory of God will remain hidden from us on this side of eternity, we shall attempt to reveal the meaning of the word as it is used in the Bible.

dr-jim-1116a The Hebrew word (kabod – glory) has an interesting, if not unusual, development ranging from internal organs to a characteristic of God!  Let us examine how these apparently dissimilar things are related. (more…)