The Keys To UnderStanding & OverStanding: Language
LANGUAGE IS KEY
Etymology And Strong's Numbers
• Number System: Strong assigned a unique number to every root Hebrew word in the Old Testament (H1–H8674) and every root Greek word in the New Testament (G1–G5624).
• Etymological Notes: In the dictionary sections of the concordance, brief notes try to trace a word's background or point to a prior root number.
• Limitations: Scholars note that Strong's etymologies can be overly simplistic, outdated, or prone to the "etymological fallacy"—the mistaken idea that a word's original root meaning always dictates its actual meaning in a later, different context.
Strong's Concordance is a reference index of every word in the King James Version of the Bible, created by Dr. James Strong and published in 1890.
BES Parable of the Word, the Listener, and the Truth
There once lived a wise elder who carried two keys around his neck. One was made of gold, and the other was made of iron.
One day, a young student asked him, “Elder, why do you carry two keys when one should be enough?”
The elder smiled and replied, “One key opens the door to understanding. The other opens the door to questioning what you have been told.”
The student was puzzled. “But if a door is already open, why must I question what lies beyond it?”
The elder took the student to the village square, where two men stood before a crowd.
The first man declared, “The people must surrender their freedom for their own protection.”
The crowd grew fearful, and many bowed their heads in agreement.
The second man stood and declared, “The people must protect their freedom to protect themselves.”
The crowd cheered.
The elder turned to the student and asked, “Did you hear the difference?”
“Yes,” said the student. “One spoke of surrender, and the other spoke of protection.”
“But did you notice,” asked the elder, “that both men spoke of protection, yet each led the people toward a different conclusion?”
The student paused.
The elder continued, “The first man used the word protection to make surrender appear necessary. The second used the same word to make freedom appear necessary. The crowd reacted to the meaning each man placed upon the word, but few stopped to examine the meaning itself.”
He then picked up a stone and placed it in the student’s hand.
“Tell me, what is this?”
“A stone,” the student answered.
“Suppose I call it a weapon. Has the stone changed ?”
“No, Elder.”
“Suppose I call it a foundation. Has it changed now?”
“No.”
“Then understand this: the object remained the same, but the meaning assigned to it changed how you might perceive it, fear it, value it, or use it.”
The elder took back the stone.
“This is how language works. Words can illuminate truth, conceal truth, inspire courage, manufacture fear, and make injustice appear righteous. A person who controls the meaning of words can influence how others understand the world. But a person who understands language can examine that influence instead of blindly submitting to it.”
The student asked, “Then should I distrust every word I hear?”
“No,” replied the elder. “You must do something greater than distrust. You must learn to understand.”
He pointed toward the village school.
“When a law is written, every word matters. When a physician explains a condition, every word matters. When a promise is made, every word matters.
When scripture is interpreted, every word matters. And when someone speaks to your mind, the meaning behind those words matters just as much as the sound that reaches your ears.”
The elder then placed the two keys in the student’s palm.
“The golden key represents the power of language to open the mind. The iron key represents the discipline to test what enters it.
One without the other leaves you vulnerable: you may hear without understanding, or question without wisdom.”
The student looked down at the keys and finally understood.
The danger is not merely that someone may lie to you. The greater danger is that someone may teach you to understand the truth incorrectly, until you defend what harms you and reject what could liberate you.
From that day forward, the student did not merely ask,
“What did you say ?”
He learned to ask:
What do these words actually mean ?
Who defined that meaning ?
What evidence supports it ?
What conclusion am I being led to accept ?
And would I understand these words differently if I examined them from another perspective ?
Years later, the student became a teacher himself. Above the entrance to his school,
he carved these words:
NEVER FORGET TO REMEMBER.
Forgetting the meaning of words makes a person vulnerable to the meanings others assign to them. Remembering to examine those meanings restores the power to think, discern, and reason.
And beneath those words, he carved the lesson his elder had entrusted to him:
LANGUAGE IS KEY
For whoever defines the words can influence the conversation.
Whoever shapes the conversation can influence the understanding.
And whoever influences the understanding may influence the decisions, beliefs, and actions that follow.
But the one who studies the words, investigates their origins, examines their context, and tests their meaning is no longer merely a receiver of information.
That person becomes a seeker of understanding.
These truths I know to be BES KEPT SACRED.
Never forget to remember:
The ear may receive the word, but the mind must examine its meaning.
The tongue may speak a truth, but wisdom must discern whether it has been understood.
And the written word may carry authority, but authority alone does not make an interpretation correct.
LANGUAGE IS KEY because before a person can challenge an idea, they must first understand what the idea truly means.
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