Chai

The word “chai” in Hebrew means life, but when we look at the word in Ancient Hebrew, we see that it has a far deeper meaning…

In Ancient Hebrew we see that every letter consists of three values: It is a picture, it has a sound and it also has a numerical value.

In the Proto Caananite style, the word chai also had two letters, but they looked different from the way they look today. The one looked like a little ladder and the other looked like an arm with a hand in front.

The one that looks like a ladder is a little bit skew. In actuality it has an extension at the bottom of the one side and an extension at the top of other side.

In ancient days the people were nomadic, which means they lived in tents and moved around in search of water and food for themselves and their flocks. The tents needed to be sturdy, because they often stood in windy conditions. The people came up with a wonderful idea: They made frames out of wood and then they put two frames next to one another and then another next to it and another next to it.

The frame on the one side would go into a hole in the ground and then the bottom piece that looked like the first step of the ladder would be on the ground. For the next one they would also make a hole and put it next to the other and bind them together. In this way they created the sides of the tent. By doing this they were able to quickly build sides for their dwelling place and then they would put the covering over it and the coverings would have holes in it exactly where the top of each frame would go in. When they stretched the cloth, the tent would be sturdy.

The first letter of the word ‘chai’ is “chet”, which is the 8th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and means the sides of your habitation or your dwelling place or the borders of your dwelling place, or – an even better description – the borders of your habitation.

The second letter of the word ‘chai’ is the letter “yod” which looked like the arm and hand of a person. Yod is the tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet and is known as the male letter. Yod speaks about the male capacity of God.

Now, the most important concept in Hebrew understanding is the concept of “shema”. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 summarises everything in the Torah. It says: “Hear, (Shema) O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”

When Yeshua was asked what is the most important commandment or first or greatest commandment, as it is often translated, He didn’t say that it is to love the Lord your God. No, that is just half of it. What He really said, was that the most important commandment is this (Mark 12:28-31): “Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.” We read: “Shema Israel…… AND (the word “and” in Greek is “kai” and the word “kai” is definitely in the passage) you will love the Lord your God… What He is telling us, is the answer to the question: How do you love God? By listening and obeying; by applying SHEMA.

The word “chai” thus means that I can supersede the boundaries of my habitation by listening and doing what God tells me to do, by obeying Him! We can go beyond the confinements of this natural habitation that we are living in by listening and doing, and when we obey God, we will be able to go beyond the natural, and experience God’s life. We will not be bound to using our own resources and we will not be bound to the natural laws that guide life on earth and which have been placed on the earth by God. No! We will be able to tap into HIS limitless resources and we will see miracles and wonders that go beyond anything the earth has seen – WHEN WE LISTEN AND OBEY!