Seven Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know- Tohu- Worthless Series

INTRODUCTION

• SLIDE #1

• I hope you have enjoyed our journey through the 7 Hebrew words every Christian should know.

• As we live life we have to make a major decision, that decision is HOW AM I GOING TO LIVE MY LIFE?

• Put another way, one of the gifts we all have is time; however, the gift of time is not something we can stockpile, nor is it something we can purchase more, rather time is a gift that is not guaranteed to us, we live life second by second, never knowing when the clock will run out on us.

• So, the question is, how will you spend the gift of your time?

• The word final word we will examine today gives us something to consider as we ponder how we will chose to live the life we now have.

• Today we conclude with a word that is used only 20 times in the Old Testament.

• The word for today is TOHU (TOE WHO). This word is translated a few different ways in the Old Testament Hebrew because the word is not a one shade of a color like blue, there is sky blue, navy blue, royal blue, teal, light blue, baby blue, ugly 1970’s car blue, etc.…

• This word contains six predominate shades of a color, hence, the reason for six or more various words in the English to try to catch the hue of the day within the context of the passage.

• We will look at all six shades of the color this morning and as we do, I hope we can see why this word is important for us to understand.

• We will survey a few passages this morning as we unfold TOHU, so you can check out the screen, or follow on You Version.

• Let’s begin with our first thought.

• SLIDE #2

SERMON

??????? I. Tohu defined.

• How do we define TOHU?

• There are six predominate shades that bring life to this word, they are all, if you will blue, but the word encompasses various shades of the color. So, what I want to do it to break down those six shades in order of use, from the most used to the least.

• The first way TOHU is translated is by the phrase WORTHLESS THING.

• It is used in this way 8 of the 2 times the word is used in the Old Testament.

• SLIDE #3

• 1 Samuel 12:21 (CSB) Don’t turn away to follow worthless things (TOHU) that can’t profit or rescue you; they are worthless.

• This comes from Samuel’s final speech to as encourages the people to follow God.

• A worthless thing is defined as something that is worthless or unsubstantial.

• This shade of TOHU deals with the pursuit of things that are worthless and unsubstantial.

• The second phrase that is used to translate TOHU is wasteland. TOHU is translated in this manner 4 times.

• SLIDE #4

• Psalm 107:40 (CSB) he pours contempt on nobles and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.

• A wasteland is land that is worthless for cultivation, it is uninhabitable.

• A third shade of the TOHU is translated by the word EMPTINESS. It shade of the word is used three times in the Old Testament.

• SLIDE #5

• Job 26:7 (CSB) He stretches the northern skies over empty space; he hangs the earth on nothing.

• Emptiness is a state of containing nothing.

• The fourth shade of TOHU is translated as FORMLESS, which is used two times.

• SLIDE #6

• Genesis 1:2 (CSB) Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

• Formless means having no form or shape.

• The fifth shade of TOHU is MEANINGLESS, which is used two times also.

• SLIDE #7

• Isaiah 40:17 (CSB) All the nations are as nothing before him; they are considered by him as empty nothingness.

• Meaningless denotes having no value or significance.

• SLIDE #8

• The sixth shade of TOHU is desolation. It is used once in this manner.

• Isaiah 34:11 (NIV) The desert owl and screech owl will possess it; the great owl and the raven will nest there. God will stretch out over Edom the measuring line of chaos and the plumb line of desolation.

• Desolation denotes something that is in a state of being decayed or destroyed.

• These seven shades give us the idea of what TOHU means, now let’s move to our next thought.

• Why should this word important to us?

• SLIDE #9

??????? II. What does a tohu life look like?