Zakar’ – a primitive root; properly, to mark (so as to be recognized), i.e. to remember; by implication, to mention; also (as denominative from ‘zakar’ (2145)) to be male:–X burn (incense), X earnestly, be male, (make) mention (of), be mindful, recount, record(-er), remember, make to be remembered, bring (call, come, keep, put) to (in) remembrance, X still, think on, X well.
Interesting thought on manhood I heard while going to a men’s service at Restoration Ministries last night. The sermon was on the ‘male man’ and the pastor spoke of Zakar being the Hebrew word for masculinity. He said that it had two meanings – the sharp male organ (sharp? Never thought about it as sharp….hehe, no pun intended) or to remember - call to rememberance.
(Incidentally, the Hebrew for man speaks of his penis – and the Hebrew for woman means to pierce or bore through… look at this quote I found while trying to research what I was told at the assembly: ‘Male” is the Hebrew zakar from the Arabic for penis, meaning to be sharp, and “female” is the Hebrew neqebah, which means perforata, from the Hebrew naqab, to bore through. ‘ 1 Interesting, huh?)
Calling to rememberance is linked to worship, as quoted in the Voice of the Sheep blog (originally in an essay written by Timothy J. Ralston , Th.M., Ph.D., The Spirit’s Role in Corporate Worship)
“To remember” invoked the existence of a binding covenant, calling all to recognize and fulfill their responsibilities, joining with all who ever participated in the same covenant as a single community under God’s rule.“
Ralston comments that “Every festival, sacrifice, and memorial designed to promote the worship of God was instituted as a “memorial.” He goes on to speak on Passover as Israel’s act of rememberance in the Old Testament, which affirmed God’s covenant with the people; the New Testament’s equivalent is the Lord’s Supper, commonly called communion.
The linking of the male to worship is interesting. The pastor made the point that men are inherently made to worship. Makes you wonder – traditonal ‘worship teams’ are at least 80-90% female…. men are not supposed to shy away from worship, as it is built into our DNA. Food for thought…
1. http://www.biblenews1.com/history6/20060101.htm
Filed under: Bible Study Tagged: | man, manhood, sex, worship, zakar
please email the hebrew term for zakar i don’t understand it what
does it means in the Bible
[...] then eventually went silent – and I just heard him say, “Zakar.” Now, as I commented in an earlier post, one meaning for this word is “remember.” Immediately after I heard that word, my [...]
[...] There were so many parallels to where I am right now… but what made me feel the wind of the Spirit around me was at the end when Simba had defeated his evil uncle Scar (who was a usurper to the throne) and started to climb Pride Rock to face his family as the rightful king. Halfway up the rock he looks up and hears his father’s voice intoning “Remember who you are…. Remember… Remember…” (This scene always reminds me of these two posts concerning remembering – read them here and here.) [...]
Almost… The verb root of zakar is “to remember.” The noun, in fact, does mean “sharp point” as in “erect penis.” Neqevah is “receiving hole” as in “receptacle.” God uses both in Genesis 1:27 “male and female He created them.” As is always with God, He uses names to describe in detail what He means. A man’s sexuality is bold and aggressive as he initiates sex with his wife. His wife is made to receive her husband’s sexuality. For men, God created us to be bold (an erect penis is rather bold), aggressive (a man’s sex drive is strong), and the initiators (a sharp point is made to penetrate for a purpose) in our lives. And its all from being zakar with and for neqevah. But, we cannot be zakar without the neqevah and visa versa (1 Corinthians 11:11-12). Zakar is helped defined in contrast with neqevah and neqevah is helped defined in contrast with zakar.
Thanks for that!
do not listen to that man. he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. please read my post to fill you in properly.
uh….no it doesn’t. hebrew verbs when they appear in the third person refer to some one in the third person doing something. in biblical hebrew zakar literally means ‘he remembered. this verb is in the perfect conjugation which means the act of remembering has already been completed. even in modern hebrew it still means he remembered such as in hu zakar. it never means sharpened or penis. sharp or sharpened is char. sharp point is niqorah char. neqevah does not mean recieving hole. naqav means to perforate. qavah mens to bind together. scholars aren’t sure which one neqavah actually comes from. most christians that naqav because it sounds perverted. most jews, like me (i’m sephardic) believe it comes from qavah means he bound together. hashem is doing the work here. he remembered adam and he bound them together as one flesh. in bereshit (genesis) 2:24 we are back to isha for woman, that is because the binding is already completed. shalom