Niqud or Naqad?

Did you know that nikud (naqud: nun quph uau dalet) which is a vowel pointing in Hebrew comes from the word herdsmen H5348 naqad (nun quph dalet) which means to mark spots or speckles and H5349 means One who is a spotter ...a herdsman/sheep master?

This has deep spiritual significance because when we read Yahuah had many of his prophets like Yaaqob, Daud, Amos from the herds, even when Mashiyach was born the messenger was sent to the herdsmen watching the flock by night with the announcement of the birth of Mashiyach.

It’s interesting to see the herdsman is one who marks the spots or speckles and we look at Yaaqob the herdsman who served Laban 7 years each for his 2 daughters tending his flocks and 6 years for his herd. When the time came for him to leave Laban he made a plan to leave Laban with most of his flocks. When Yoseph was born to him he said to Laban to send him on his way to go to his own land and asks his wages from Laban, all the speckled and spotted sheep, and all the black ones among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the goats.

Gen 30:25  And it came to be, when Raḥĕl had borne Yosĕph, that Yaʽaqoḇ said to Laḇan, “Send me on my way, to go to my own place and to my land.

Gen 30:26  “Give my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go, for you yourself know my service which I have done for you.”

Gen 30:27  And Laḇan said to him, “If I have found favour in your eyes, please stay, for I have diligently watched that יהוה has blessed me for your sake.”

Gen 30:28  And he said, “Name me your wages, and I give it.”

Gen 30:29  So he said to him, “You know how I have served you and how your livestock has been with me.

Gen 30:30  “For the little you had before I came has increased greatly, and יהוה has blessed you since my coming. But now, when am I to provide for my own house too?”

Gen 30:31  And he said, “What do I give you?” And Yaʽaqoḇ said, “Give me naught! If you do this for me, I shall again feed and guard your flocks:

Gen 30:32  “Let me pass through all your flock today, removing from there all the speckled/naqad H5348 and spotted/tala H2921 sheep, and all the black ones among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled/naqad H5348 among the goats. And these shall be my wages.

Gen 30:33  “And my righteousness shall answer for me in time to come, when you come concerning my wages: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and black among the lambs, it is stolen if it is with me.”

Gen 30:34  And Laḇan said, “See, let it be according to your word!”

Gen 30:35  And on that day he set aside the male goats that were speckled and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had some white in it, and all the black ones among the lambs, and gave them into the hand of his sons.

Gen 30:36  And he put three days’ journey between himself and Yaʽaqoḇ, and Yaʽaqoḇ fed the rest of Laḇan’s flocks.

Gen 30:37  And Yaʽaqoḇ took for himself rods of green poplar and of the almond and chestnut trees, peeled white strips in them, and exposed the white which was in the rods.

Gen 30:38  And he set the rods which he had peeled before the flocks in the gutters, in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, and they conceived when they came to drink.

Gen 30:39  So the flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted.

Gen 30:40  And Yaʽaqoḇ separated the lambs, and made the flocks face toward the streaked and all the black in the flock of Laḇan, but he put his own flocks by themselves and did not put them with Laḇan’s flock.

Gen 30:41  And it came to be, whenever the strong ones of the flock conceived, that Yaʽaqoḇ placed the rods before the eyes of the flock in the gutters, so they would conceive among the rods.

Gen 30:42  But when the flocks were weak, he did not put them in, so the weak ones were Laḇan’s and the strong ones Yaʽaqoḇ’s.

Gen 30:43  Thus the man increased very much, and had many flocks, and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

Yoseph was born to Yaaqob through Rachel and now Yaaqob wanted to be a free man. The 7 x 2 years (for Laban’s 2 daughters plus 6 years for his cattle =20 years is a significant time for a completeness of a captivity. Moreover, Yaaqob tells Laban that 10 times his wages were changed.

The numbers 2 x 10 and 10 times are significant spiritually as the number 10 speaks of Completeness

Gen 31:38 This twenty years have I been with you; your ewes and your she goats have not cast their young, and the rams of your flock have I not eaten.

Gen 31:39 That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto you; I bore the loss of it; of my hand did you require it, whether stolen by day, or stolen by night.

Gen 31:40 Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from my eyes.

Gen 31:41 Thus have I been twenty years in your house; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your cattle: and you have changed את eth-my wages ten times/manah H4489.

The word ‘manah’ H4489 feminine has the root word ‘man’ which means ‘portion’ and hence means ‘portion of time’. Ten portions of time his wages/sakar was changed.

Twenty years where he was to serve Yahuah in the land of promise, he was serving Laban and that too for wages which was changed ten portions of time.

The Torah came written with the age of 20 years and above to give a ransom for his soul excluding the Levites as Levites were part of the sanctuary. This was the temple tax and hence a heave offering. When Yahusha was questioned whether he pays the temple tax he told Kepha to put in a fish hook and from its mouth remove the one sheqel and pay his and Yahusha’s tax (which amounts to half a sheqel for both of them). The instruction of heave offering therefore states Exo 30:15 “The rich does not give more, and the poor does not give less than half a sheqel, when you give a heave offering to יהוה, to make atonement for your souls.

 The reader shouldn’t misunderstand this to mean that this was a bloodless atonement. For details you may read my study here: 

https://www.facebook.com/notes/%D7%A9%D7%9E%D7%A2%D7%99%D7%94%D7%95-%D7%A9%D7%9E%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%94%D7%95/the-so-called-bloodless-atonement-exodus-3011-16/10214945949823553/

Exo 30:11  And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying,

Exo 30:12 “When you take the census of the children of Yisra’ĕl, to count them, then each one shall give an atonement for his life to יהוה, when you count them, so that there is no plague among them when you oversee them.

Exo 30:13 “Everyone among those that pass among them that are counted, is to give this: half a sheqel according to the sheqel of the set-apart place, twenty gĕrahs being a sheqel. The half-sheqel is the heave offering to יהוה.

Exo 30:14 “Everyone passing over to be counted from twenty years old and above, gives a heave offering to יהוה.

Exo 30:15 “The rich does not give more, and the poor does not give less than half a sheqel, when you give a heave offering to יהוה, to make atonement for your souls.

Exo 30:16 “And you shall take the silver/kasaph H3701 for the atonement from the children of Yisra’ĕl, and give it for the service of the Tent of Meeting. And it shall be to the children of Yisra’ĕl for a remembrance before יהוה, to make atonement for your souls”

The other word for herdsmen in Abary is ‘raah’ H7462 and means ‘shepherd’ which has the root word ‘ra’ H7453 which means ‘friend/neighbor/husband/companion’

Gen 49:22 Yoseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:

Gen 49:23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:

Gen 49:24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty ELOHIYM of Ya`aqov; (from thence is The Shepherd/raah H7462, The Stone of Yashar’el:)

Is it a coincidence that Yoseph was sold for twenty pieces of silver/kasaph H3701 to the Yishmaelites?

Gen 37:28  And men, Miḏyanite traders passed by, so they pulled Yosĕph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Yishmaʽĕlites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Yosĕph to Mitsrayim.

From Yoseph was to come the Shepherd …..the Mashiyach who would pay the price in himself. The 20 pieces of kasaph holds 40 shekels i.e. half shekel x 20 and number 40 in scripture shows affliction. Example Yisrael was 40 years in the wilderness, Yahuah caused 40 days and 40 nights bringing the flood, Masha was 40 days and 40 nights without bread and water when he went to take the tablets of stone, Yahusha was 40 days without food in the wilderness among wild beasts.

As the high priest and the Temple Yahusha bore the crookedness of the assembly upon himself as an overseer of the house of Yasharal who are numbered in him. Hence, this contribution of 'half a sheqel of silver' into the treasury of the Tent of the Meeting pointed to the atonement/kaphar of the soul/nephesh through Yahusha ha Mashiyach measuring to one full sheqel in him. Kaph is the root word in 'kaphar/atonement'. The nail print in his palm as the shape of a coin (a full sheqel paid from the fish's mouth). The elect gathered are likened to the fish, Yahusha told his disciples he would make them fishers of men.

 Matt 4:19 And He said to them, “Follow after Me, and I shall make you fishers of men.” 

The first fish that came up (Matt 17:27) is symbolic of firstfruits who is Mashiyach himself who pays the price in full for both the Temple and the people those who crossed over/abar (Exo 30:13) to be overseen/counted in Him (the assembly). HE IS THE TEMPLE.

 Exo 30:13 “Everyone among those who are registered is to give this: half a sheqel according to the sheqel of the set-apart place, twenty gĕrahs being a sheqel. The half-sheqel is the contribution to יהוה. 

Deliverance of Yaaqob:

Yaaqob went through Laban’s flocks and picked up the spotted/tala, speckled/naqad and the brown/chum from the herds. He later reveals to his wives what he did was on the instruction from the Messenger of Yahuah in a dream.

Gen 31:6 And ye know that with all my power I have served את eth-your father.

Gen 31:7 And your father has deceived me, and changed את eth-my wages ten times; but ELOHIYM suffered him not to hurt me.

Gen 31:8 If he said thus, The speckled shall be your wages; then all the cattle bore speckled: and if he said thus, The ringstraked shall be your hire; then bore all the cattle ringstraked.

Gen 31:9 Thus ELOHIYM has taken away את eth-the cattle of your father, and given them to me.

Gen 31:10 And it came to pass at the time that the cattle conceived, that I lifted up my eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the rams which leaped upon the cattle were ringstraked, speckled, and grizzled.

Gen 31:11 And the angel of ELOHIYM spoke unto me in a dream, saying, Ya`aqob: And I said, Here am I.

Gen 31:12 And he said, Lift up now your eyes, and see, all the rams which leap upon the cattle are ringstraked, speckled, and grizzled: for I have seen את eth all that Laban does unto you.

Gen 31:13 I am the ELOHIYM of Beyt-EL, where you anointed the pillar, and where you vowed a vow unto me: now arise, get you out from this land, and return unto the land of your kindred.

He sent away all the herds which were ringstraked, spotted, speckled, white and brown along with his sons ahead of him

Gen 30:35 And he removed that day את eth-the he goats that were ringstraked/aqad H6124 and spotted/tala H2921, and את eth-all the she goats that were speckled/naqad H5348 and spotted/tala H2921, and everyone that had some white/laban H3836 in it, and all the brown/chum H2345 among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons.

Gen 30:36 And he set three days' journey betwixt himself and Ya`aqob: and Ya`aqob fed את eth-the rest of Laban's flocks. 

The Abary language is beautiful and shows us in these words these herds were strong being exposed to affliction.

The word ‘aqad’ H6124 also means and spelled as ‘aqud’ H6124 means ‘appearing to be whipped with a cord’ and ‘aqad’ H6123 means ‘to tie with thongs’

The word ‘tala’ H2921 has the root word ‘tal’ H2919 which means ‘dew’. The herd was exposed to the dew of heaven in the open

The word ‘laban’ H3836 from ‘labanah’ also means bricks. Yisrael served Pharaoh in rigor in making bricks for him and in further affliction because of the signs he ceased from giving them straw for the bricks. The white spots on the flock show the exposure to affliction.

The word ‘chum’ H2345 translated as ‘brown’ also means ‘heat’ and is a picture of the flocks in the heat of the sun in the open.

The barakat/blessing is in affliction and that was Yaaqob’s portion given to him by Yahuah as shown to him in the dream.

Based on the dream he made Laban’s flocks expose to the white of the green poplar and the hazel and chestnut tree when the stronger male cattle mated with the strong female bringing forth the ringstraked/aqad, speckled/naqad and spotted/tala but when the weaker herd mated he did not expose them to the rods and hence the weaker herd became Laban’s and the stronger ones became his.

Gen 30:37 And Ya`aqob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.

Gen 30:38 And he set את eth-the rods/maqal H4731 which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink.

Gen 30:39 And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.

Gen 30:40 And Ya`aqob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstraked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban's cattle.

The rods and the white in it itself didn’t have the power to produce but the voice of Yahuah which came to Yaaqob caused this to happen.

Maqal is also translated as the staff, the staff by which Yaaqob crossed the Yarden

Gen 32:9 And Ya`aqob said, O ELOHAI of my father Abraham, and ELOHAI of my father Yitschaq, YAHUAH which said unto me, Return unto your country, and to your kindred, and I will deal well with you:

Gen 32:10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which you have showed את eth-unto your servant; for with my staff/maqal H4731 I passed over את eth-this Yardan; and now I am become two bands.

The stronger ringstraked/ aqad speckled/naqad, spotted/tala, brown/chum and the white/laban spotted/tala came forth from the exposure to the rod/staff (maqal)

Gen 31:54 Then Ya`aqob offered sacrifice upon the mount, and called his brethren to eat bread: and they did eat bread, and tarried all night in the mount.

Yaaqob testified to Laban that he never ate of his rams, and that which was torn by the beasts he bore the loss of it (Gen 31:38-39), now that all the speckled, spotted and ringstraked fell into his lot it is obvious he offered a sacrifice to Yahuah from among them.

Now wait a minute, doesn’t Turah state not to offer to Yahuah a blemished lamb/sheep/goat?

Nowhere does Turah state that the ringstraked, spotted, one with white spot cannot be offered. Turah states that the lamb/cattle that is offered should be without blemish/tamyam which means should be WHOLE, it shouldn’t be crippled, sick etc.

Ex12:5 The lamb shall be an WHOLE/tamyam H8549 male/zakar son/ban a year old to you; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

Yahuah was not angry with Yisrael for offering a speckled, ringstreaked, spotted sheep/goats but because they offered the lame, sick and that which was torn by the beasts to offer to him.

Mal 1:12 But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of YAHUAH is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible.

Mal 1:13 Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, says YAHUAH TSEBA’OTH; and ye brought that which was torn, and את eth-the lame, and את eth-the sick; thus ye brought את eth-an offering: should I accept this of your hand? says YAHUAH.

Mal 1:14 But cursed be the deceiver, which has in his flock a male, and vows, and sacrifices unto ADONAI a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, says YAHUAH TSEVA’OTH, and my name is dreadful among the heathen.

1Pe1:19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb WHOLE/tamyam and shayan bo/that cannot be condemned/mum, the blood of the Mashiyach.

Our English translations are poor and they translate ‘mum’ as ‘spot’ whereas ‘mum’ means rebuke/blame/condemn

Examples:

Phil 2:15 so that you may be blameless and innocent, the sons of Elohim without rebuke/mum, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world,

Col 1:22 yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy without blame/mum and unreprovable in His sight.

Tit 2:7 in all things show yourself an example of good deeds, in doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity.

Tit2:8 sound speech, that cannot be/shayan bo condemned/mum; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.

Nowhere does it say anywhere ‘spotted/speckled’ for the lamb. 

niqqud or nikkud is a system of diacritical signs used to represent vowels or distinguish between alternative pronunciations of letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Several such diacritical systems were developed in the Early Middle Ages. The most widespread system, and the only one still used to a significant degree today, was created by the Masoretes of Tiberias in the second half of the first millennium AD in the Land of Israel, the strokes, dots and serrifs on the Aramaic alaphbet would give different meanings and sounds to the words. The Paleo Hebrew was without the niqqud/naqud and was the pure lip which was sealed by Daniel in the Yahudite Babylonian captivity as told to him by Yahuah. Yahudah came out from the Babylonian captivity with the Chaldee Abary which lost the emanations and the breath of Yahuah in the letters, the Masoretes in the 9th or 10th century AD further added the vowels to those letters thus making it Modern Hebrew.


Only the herdsmen/naqad with the ruach of prophecy would be able to distinguish between the strong speckled/naqad exposed to the maqal/from the voice, from the niqud which has no voice of Yahuah in it

Joh 10:16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice/qol; and there shall be one fold, and one Shepherd.

Joh 10:27 My sheep hear my voice/qol, and I know them, and they follow me:

Joh 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

Joh 10:29 My Father, which gave them to me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

The cattle bowed their head whist drinking from the trough

Gen 30:38 And he set את eth-the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink.

We are the other sheep not from this fold (John 10:16) which Yahusha said he would bring and hear his voice/qol. The niqud in the written letter cannot obscure his voice coming to us. What Yaaqob did was prophetic and in the account is hidden our transition from the flocks of Laban to the flock of Yaaqob. He has also given the elders of Yisrael to feed his flock with the pure manna not for changed wages/sakar of times/manah but the WHOLENESS OF MASHIYACH

1Pe 5:1 THE elders/zaqan which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of MASHIACH, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:

1Pe 5:2 Feed the flock of YAHUAH which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;

1Pe 5:3 Neither as being lords over YAH’S heritage, but being examples to the flock.

There are two basarah’s running in the same trough, one will drink from the same water and bring forth the weak herd being exposed to the staff/maqal but not able to hear the voice/qol of Yahuah in it, they will remain in the herd of Laban in the niqud (the letter) whilst the other stronger would drink from the trough being exposed to the voice/qol of Yahuah and able to hear it  transitioning to the camp of Yaaqob as the naqad/herdsman taking care of the flock of Yahuah.