How about the relationship of concepts between the three letter word roots? For example...
Saved from the wrath of God we can now cease from our striving by works to obtain righteousness. Hebrews 4:9-11 says, “There remains, therefore, a rest (shabbat) for the people of God. For he that would enter His rest, ceases from his own works, as God did from His. Let us therefore labor to enter in to that rest (shabbat), lest any fall after the example of those who do not believe“! Y'shua told us, “All you who labor and are heavy laden, come unto me, and I will give you rest”. And what a glorious rest it is! But be warned, "Whosoever does not believe is condemned already ", for they have not believed in His shem (Mark 16:16). So again I say this is spoken for those people who were not a people but are now a people, the children of God, one in Messiah.
Interestingly the various Jewish Targums also allude to the early Rabbinical acceptance of the idea of “Shiloh” as being none other than the Messiah, in spite of what some moderns have said. The import of this fact holds significance for us today, in that we know the roots of the Targumim traditions originated from a time preceding the birth and ministry, and especially before death, burial, and resurrection, of the only Messiah figure who was “cut off” just before the fall of the Second Temple, when the sacrifices ceased, and who alone became “a light unto the gentiles”, Jesus Christ.
Targum Jonathan says, “Behold the day comes, says the Lord, that I will raise up...Messiah, and He shall reign as King...”! Targum Onkelos, although written around 70 A.D., also called the Babylonian Targum, alludes to this likewise, when he writes, “Until Messiah comes, whose is the Kingdom…" So by these two references alone we can see the Rabbinical Targumim of both Jerusalem and Babylon tied together Scriptures like Genesis 49:10-12 with others like Isaiah 9:6-7! Thus, this is not merely the interpolation of hopeful Christians, who at some later time were trying to deify the man Jesus. This is, and always was, the accepted description of the one called Shiloh, “the bringer of peace“, who would provide us with His glorious rest. In all of human history, only Jesus of Nazareth, though His finished work, fulfills these most ancient expectations, and the scriptures suggest that when He returns as one like a son of man there will be 1,000 years of shalom. This is certainly the most glorious “shabbat” that one could ever have expected. Amen? Amen!
The Talmud Berachot 7b teaches us that a given Hebrew name affects its recipient. So let us explore this concept regarding the roots of the name/title “Shiloh“, and see if some things do not become clear. As we have already have seen, Shiloh, the bringer of peace, is a word intimately related to the word shalom at its root. The two words share three Hebrew characters. The first prophecy regarding Shiloh tells us He would arise in the time when Judah had lost its scepter (staff of rulership)...
This association with Messiah as King, also refers to He who becomes the rightful heir to the throne of David, who in Isaiah 9:6 is called "the ruler of Shalom" or in English, the Prince of Peace. He is prophetically destined and appointed by the LORD to be the rightful holder of the true shebbet (related to shabbat), or scepter! The two concepts are intimately joined to one another. Then we are told that He will come with a glorious rest, and this is, a new type of shabbat, an eternal shabbat according to Hebrews. In Him, we will rest because of the peace (shalom) His coming brings, and we will have a peace from the rest (shabbat) that He provided because of the remission of our sins and the imputation of His Righteousness and life eternal. In Him, at His second coming in the clouds, we will also have peace on earth from the enemies of God.
Other words which are related to Shiloh in their roots invoke further images that indicate Messiah. For example, the word “Shala“ in Hebrew means security, or to be at ease. Who cannot see how this again intimately ties in with and is relevant to the person and work of Messiah. To me this speaks directly to the blessed assurance we have when we know we are placed into Messiah by the Holy Spirit, as the redeemed of God through faith. Messiah is also to be our “l’shalem“ (shalem being related to both Shiloh and shalom). The l’shalem is the one who completes a transactional requirement. When one comes to you and lays their offering or product at your feet. If you decide it acceptable as the price paid to purchase , once you accept the price of redemption you have completed the transaction. To redeem us, Messiah would pay in full all that which was owed as the wages for our sin (Romans 3:23; 6:23). In this case, He would have to do this by becoming our “shlamim“, that is our “peace offering” (Isaiah 53:5), by restoring our “shlomeno“, or wellbeing and approval in the sight of God! When His redemptive payment that buys us back (shalem), completes the transaction (shelem), it is finished, which in the Hebrew is “nishlam”. When His redemptive sacrifice will have made deal complete (shelem), only then can we then can have a real and lasting peace (shalom) with God, and therein we find our true rest (shabbat). This is the rest that God always intended for His children. It was also written, there is yet a rest for the children of God, and this is that rest (shabbat). The one whoholds the shebbet (staff of rulership) is then our Shabbat (Sabbath).
Because of all this, the ancient Jewish sages knew well this referred to Messiah. Midrash Rabbah tells us, “Until Shiloh comes; this alludes to Messiah. And to Him shall the obedience of the goy be: he will come and set on edge the teeth of the nations of the world“, and in the Babylonian Talmud, Sukkah 52a, we are told “...what is the cause of the mourning?...the slaying of Messiah ben-Joseph (see Genesis 49:24), as it is written, They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced (Zecharaiah 12:10)“.
So since Messiah is the ruler of Shalom, as well as the dispenser of God’s Shalom. He alone is the one who heals the chatisement of our peace by His l’shalem. Jesus Christ then is "the Lord our Peace" (YHVH-Shalom)! He is the King (ruler, possessor of the shebbet) who alone provides real security, and thus secures our rest (the shabbat). Since our true shalom is in Him, so also is our eternal shabbat. Y’shua Ha’Moschiach, (Jesus Christ) understanding these roles and functions, tells us He is Lord of the Shabbat, thus YHVH-shabbat (Mark 2:28), and thus is Himself our rest (Hebrews 4). Only “in Him” who has made provision of Atonement, and paid off the redemption obligation, is there the means to deliver, save, and sustain us. Only in Him can we cease from our striving and be truly blessed (Ephesians 1), and He has done it all, which we could never have done on our own, on our behalf, for His name’s sake (Titus 3:3-8)!
Hmmm? True but HMMM? Does knowing this really make any significant difference in our salvation or relationship with God?
In His love
brother Paul