Pastor Bell's Words To Live By

There are two Hebrew words for a wheel around which the design of the Bible revolves; they are translated as orphan and galgal. The first one is the plural and the second is the singular.  The etymology of galgal is particularly relevant to the study of the Wheel of God. A closely related word is Gilgal, this differs by only in a single vowel which was not part of the original text as it appears in Joshua 5.9;

The shame of sin (bondage in Egypt) is gone!

‘Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So the place has been called Gilgal to this day.’

The root common to the two words rolled and Gilgal is galgal, which express the notion of something round, circular or rolling. It forms the root word for Galilee, the place where the lord Jesus carried out his ministry. It consisted of visiting a circuit (galeel) of cities. This was exactly what Samuel did when he judged Israel, he went from Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpah and resided at Ramah (1Sam: 7:16).  It also forms the root for Megillah which denotes the scroll or the roll of a book, as used by Zechariah about a flying roll and in Psalm 40.

All of these ideas come together in the meaning of the root Galah, which is translated as uncovered, discovered, opened, or revealed. It is used in Isaiah 53.1 “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?” This is the Hebrew root – the root of the word Revelation – that governs the overall structure of Scripture!

Yet there is more – not only does this root express both the nature of Scripture (it is a revelation from God) and its geometric form (a wheel) it also encodes the axial theme about which this wheel of revelation revolves!

The name of the place where the Lord was crucified is the Aramaic Gulgoltha, which became Golgotha in Greek. It came from galgal through the Hebrew word for a skull, gulgoluth, because of its round form.

The name of the place where the Lord was crucified, therefore, differs from the Hebrew word denoting a wheel, galgal, by the addition of two letters, the Aleph and the Tav. These are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet that govern the overall structure of God’s Wheel. They correspond to the Greek Alpha and Omega, by which the Lord God identified himself.  The Hebrew Tav denotes the axis or the cross around which the wheel revolves. The two letters Aleph and Tav combine to form the word Eth which when added to galgal is an anagram of the word Golgotha; this became the centre for God’s revelation to humanity.  There is still more……..

 As you digest this morning, think about God wonderful design which all started at Gilgal.

Read the references given: Joshua 5, 1Samuel 7, Psalm 40 and Isaiah 53.