Lü

In Paleo Hebrew Lü was drawn as a Staff. Staff shows up throughout the books of (12) Ezekiel, (34) Malachi and (56) First Timothy. By studying Staff in these books all of Lü's meanings can be learned.

In Ezekiel Lü is _____

The stick and shepherd (12 Ezekiel 37:15-24)

The prophet is told to take a stick and write Judah on it. He's then told to take another stick and write Joseph on it. Then he's told to join them into 1 stick in his hand because Yahvah is going to bring all the Israelites from the nations to their own land and make them 1 in his hand. He's then going to give them 1 shepherd. The macro picture here is that God is going to use his shepherd's staff to draw or hook his people from where they are to where he wants them and he's going to be their shepherd. This is a Lü kind of task. The low level imagery of a stick also plays to Lü.

A measuring reed (12 Ezekiel 40:3)

The prophet is shown a man with a "measuring reed" in his hand. The man proceeds to give Ezekiel a tour of the temple and measures nearly everything along the way. So one aspect of Lü is measuring length, and Lü can be a measuring stick or ruler.

In Malachi Lü is _____

Levi turning many with truth (34 Malachi 2:4-7)

The priests of Israel were part of the tribe of Levi and at times spoke truth that turned people into the right way. The issue in Malachi is the priests have let go of the law and cannot direct people in the right way any longer. The idea here is directing people with truth, or more specifically, using truth to turn people from the wrong way. The curl on the Lü probably represents turning from the wrong way to go the right way, like a shepherd hooking a sheep that's off course.

In First Timothy Lü is _____

Examining Deacon and Elder candidates (56 First Timothy 3:10)

Paul tells Timothy to first "examine" those who desire to serve as a Deacon or Elder. Paul provides the list to measure against, so the list is working like a measuring stick or ruler. Of course, an Elder or Deacon is a role akin to shepherding, so the office itself plays to Lü as well.

Summary

Lü is:

• measure
• examine
• turn
• to

Grammar

When prefixed to a word Lü is the preposition "to." Since the shepherd's staff is intended to direct sheep in the right way it makes sense that Lü mean to in the grammar.

Jesus

Jesus is the Shepherd.

Jesus says he's the Shepherd. Perhaps there's a Scripture that says Jesus is the staff directly, otherwise this will suffice since shepherds are the ones who use the staff.

By Ryan Eaton
Posted Monday, Dan 30, 13000