Category Archives: Isaiah

NASA vs MASSA

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I found these transliterations, nasa and massa, while reading/studying Isaiah (NIV, 1998 edition). The greatness of these words became such a burden to me, I had to be an oracle and sing their meanings. All of you Hebrew scholars, please lighten up as I have fun exploring these terms.

Massa, Strong’s H4853, has several ideas connected to it, but “a burden” is the major one. The KJV and other translations render the word “a burden”. The 1998 NIV says “oracle” and the 2011 NIV uses the word prophecy. That is why I found these two great words; Bible Gateway did not have enough oracles listed. They changed the translation, NIV does this frequently, and it really messes with search tools.

When it is used as “burden”, it means you are personally carrying the load. It also is used as a “weighty message” or a hard or dark saying. Isaiah 13:1 has massa and Isaiah “saw” it as actions against Babylon.

Okay, I thought it looked like masa, which is a corn mush used in cooking.

Nasa, Strong’s H5375, is the “parent word” for massa and it means burden. Strong’s says it is used in many different ways and it is. The definition that is given is very specific in that it is a burden carried for someone else; like the Messiah, Jesus, carrying our sin to the cross.

That is the term for the United States Space Agency, period. I truly believe God has a sense of humor.

Show some love to a translator. The job they do to bring an ancient language to modern man is astounding. There really is no dictionary the ancients left for your use. These men and women find the words in every passage and have to piece together meaning from the context the word is found in. Then they use modern words so it makes sense to us. That is why the Dead Sea Scrolls improved scholars’ understanding of the biblical text, they have more to work with and compare.

So, place yourself into the world of Isaiah. He saw a vision that was “dark” toward Babylon and it weighed him down, so he spoke it out as a prophecy.      

Now that the corny burden is lifted to the moon and beyond, I can continue studying Isaiah, and not be weighed down by massa and nasa.

Putting On or Spandex Tight

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Have you ever thought about putting on clothing as “sinking into a garment” or that you wrap or encircle yourself in your clothes?  Those are the visuals Paul is telling us to do when we put on the “armor of God” and important other things in the rome_soldierEpistles.

If you have ever sunk into something, other than water, that picture presented by the Greek word enduo (#1746, Strong’s) becomes very vivid.  As a boy I played in an abandoned sand quarry where the pits filled with silt/mud.  We tried to run across them and found ourselves waist deep in mud standing on a sandy bottom.  The mud wrapped around us as we sunk, and you could barely move.  It conformed to your body and held tight even when you did get free.  That is what I thought of as I read the definitions for enduo.  Now imagine all of those New Testament references in the graphic and that is how tight Jesus, or the armor of God, and all of those other things are to be attached to us.  Imagine having compassion and kindness Spandex tight so that they it could not be distinguished from you.

Saint Paul in Ephesians 6:10 – 17 uses two different words for what we are to do with the armor, in verse 13 the Greek word is analambano (#353, Strong’s) and enduo in verse 11.  So, Paul tells us to sink into the armor and then he tells us to “receive” the individual parts like the belt, shoes, and shield.  The Strong’s Concordance uses Mark 16:19 as an example for receiving; this is where Jesus was received into Heaven.  Even though it is not stated I have to think that Jesus was welcomed (received) with joy, excitement, and a celebration and that the Father purposely took Jesus to Himself.  So, when Paul teaches us about the armor in Ephesians, he wants to purposely receive it and sink into it so completely that it surrounds us.

Where did Paul get such an idea as to equate salvation as a helmet or righteousness as a chest protector?  As I have stated in another post called (God’s Will Has Made Your Will) Paul read them in Isaiah 59:17 where he is describing what the Lord put on when there was no justice and no one intervening.

Example of Things We Are to Put On

Examples of Putting On

The verses are from:

New International Version (NIV)

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Clipart from: http://rome.phillipmartin.info/rome_soldier.htm