The Jewish sages teach that the Scriptures can be interpreted at up to four different levels. The four different methods of Bible study are known collectively as ‘PaRDeS’. The Hebrew word ‘pardes’ literally means ‘orchard’. (Apparently the English word ‘paradise’ is derived from the same Persian root as the Hebrew word, ‘pairidaeza’, which means an enclosed garden.) Clearly the Scriptures are indeed like an orchard, from which we can feed on many different kinds of nutritious fruit. However, the word ‘PaRDeS’ is also a Hebrew acronym, which spells out the initial letters of the four different ways of interpreting the written Word of God. Thus ‘PaRDeS’ means ‘Peshat’, ‘Remez’, ‘Derash’ and ‘Sohd’.

Let us examine each of these four levels of understanding Scripture in turn.

Peshat 

‘Peshat’ derives from a Hebrew root meaning ‘simple’. This initial level of understanding is the plain, simple, obvious, literal, intended, explicit meaning of the text. All Scripture should be read at the peshat level first. Furthermore, any other interpretations of the text should never contradict the peshat.

As an example of the peshat, consider Genesis 1:7, which states: “Thus God made the firmament [or expanse], and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.” At the peshat level of understanding, we would assume that the word ‘waters’ literally refers to H₂O in the physical realm, (whereas at another level we might explore the idea that ‘waters’ can also be a metaphor for ‘people’, as explained in Revelation 17:15, with a possible interpretation in the spiritual realm in accordance with Luke 16:26).

Remez 

‘Remez’ in modern Hebrew means a ‘hint’ or ‘indication’. Sometimes the Biblical text can hint at a truth which is not obvious in the peshat. An Old Testament account might hint at a New Testament fulfilment. Some OT characters, like Moses (for example), are also ‘types’ who ‘hint at’ (or point towards) the Messiah Jesus. Dr David Stern writes: “The implied presupposition is that God can hint at things of which the Bible writers themselves were unaware.” ¹

Genesis 14:18 provides an interesting example: “Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High.” Surely this verse hints at the Last Supper that was presided over by the Lord Jesus, who is our “High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 5:10).

Remez, as a verb, also means ‘to imply’. When seeking to understand Scripture at the remez level, the reader is looking for whatever else might be implied by the text. There could be an alluded meaning (reading between the lines), and/or something that embraces the rich breadth of meaning covered by any of the Hebrew words used in the text. The English language consists of many more words than the Hebrew language. On average, for every Hebrew word in the Bible, there are more than 15 possible English words. This means that Hebrew words often have quite a wide range of meanings in English. In particular, a Hebrew word might have both a physical or ‘concrete’ meaning and also a spiritual or abstract meaning.

In particular, a Hebrew word might have both a physical or ‘concrete’ meaning and also a spiritual or abstract meaning.

The latter half of Exodus 17 describes how the Amalekites attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. Moses stood on a hill, holding up his staff like a standard or a banner, whilst Joshua led the Israelite fighters in their battle with the Amalekites. As long as Moses held up his staff, as long as his hands were steady, the Israelites prevailed against the Amalekites. Eventually Aaron and Hur had to help Moses. They sat Moses upon a stone, and they supported his hands, one on each side. The Israelites won their first military engagement, and Moses built an altar, naming it ‘The Lord is my Banner’. That is a brief summary of the peshat. However, let us focus on two Hebrew words. Moses needed to keep his hands steady, and the Hebrew word for ‘steady’ in Exodus 17:12 is ‘emunah’. In a spiritual sense, emunah means ‘faith’. Thus a Hebrew-speaker would understand that Moses himself was fighting a battle of faith. The Hebrew word for staff, rod or banner, in both Exodus 17:9 and Exodus 17:15, is ‘nes’. In a spiritual sense, nes means ‘miracle’. Thus we could also say that Moses named his altar ‘The Lord is my Miracle’. God worked a miracle at Rephidim, enabling an untrained army of former slaves to defeat experienced Amalekite fighters, due to the faith (emunah) of Moses. This understanding is implied by the Hebrew text.

Derash

‘Derash’ literally means ‘search’. What we are searching for, when we look for something at the ‘derash’ level of understanding, is something deeper, generally an allegorical or a homiletic application of the text. The apostle Paul was accomplished at interpreting Scripture at the derash level. A good example is Paul’s treatment of the story of Sarah (who remains unnamed as such) and Hagar in Galatians 4. Paul compares these two women to two covenants. Hagar represents the law of Moses, received at Mount Sinai, which bears children for “slavery” (Gal 4:24) to the “weak and worthless spiritual principles” (Gal 4:9) of legalism, as practised by the Pharisees in “the present Jerusalem” (Gal 4:25). Sarah represents the New Covenant of “the Jerusalem above” (Gal 4:26), and she is the mother of all those who have faith in Jesus (both Messianic Jews and Gentile believers) – the “children of promise” (Gal 4:28) who are free.

Sohd

‘Sohd’ means ‘secret’. Sometimes there are secret things, hidden manna, concealed in the Word of God.

The practitioners of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) love to search for these secret things, but some of their practices have roots in the spiritual darkness of the Babylonian exile, and I would warn Christians to be very careful. The word ‘occult’ literally means ‘hidden’, and the occult manifests in Kabbalah.

On a purely scientific level, Israeli mathematicians have searched for hidden words in the Torah by using computer programs which look for Hebrew words that are formed using an equidistant letter ‘code’. Where they have discovered secret words close to each other, including some words that ‘intersect’ due to the equidistant letter system, they have revealed some intriguing associations of words. Michael Drosnin explains some of these discoveries in his book, ‘The Bible Code’, and I will quote one example. Published in 1997, Michael Drosnin wrote that “HarMegiddo” (Mount Megiddo, synonymous with Armageddon) and “Asad Shoah” (Assad holocaust) appear in a single equidistant letter sequence. Intersecting this is the phrase “Shooting from the military post”. Elsewhere, the name of “Syria” is encoded with “World War”.2 In the light of relatively recent events in Syria, one might wonder if these ‘discoveries’ are more than pure coincidence. However, I would urge caution, since not everything in Michael Drosnin’s book has come to pass in the manner suggested.

As Christians, surely, we should be guided by the Holy Spirit, who will sometimes reveal a piece of hidden manna.

Consider the example of Esther 9:7-10, which names Haman’s ten sons who were killed. Esther 9:13-14 then adds that Haman’s ten sons were hanged on gallows.

An article by Helen Belton (for Prophecy Today) on Purim mentioned the hanging of ten Nazi war criminals in October 1946. Helen noted that in the 11th century, a great rabbi had said Esther’s request for the sons of Haman to be hanged “tomorrow” (Esther 9:13) referred to a time in the future when ten enemies of the Jewish people would be hanged. Helen also pointed out that Julius Streicher, one of the ten Nazis, realised that the Nuremberg hangings could be seen as a repeat of the story in the Book of Esther, when the Jews were able to kill their enemies – including the ten sons of Haman who were hanged. The significance of the number ten was not lost on Streicher, who cried out: “Purim Fest 1946!”

An article by Elhanan ben-Avraham (on the Kehila website) on ‘The Festival of Purim and the Nazis’,³ noted the Hebrew year in which the ten Nazi war criminals were hanged – it was the year 5707.

When writing the year in Hebrew script, only the last three digits (707) are quoted, and they are represented by Hebrew letters – although punctuation marks (a double geresh) would be added to show that the letters are intended to represent numbers. The Hebrew system is an additive one, and the number 707 is made up by adding 400, 300 and 7. The number 400 is represented by the letter tav, 300 is denoted by shin, and 7 is denoted by zayin.

Now, here is an interesting oddity. Elhanan ben-Avraham points out in his article that in the ancient Scroll of Esther, in the section where the ten executed sons of Haman are named, exactly three of the letters in the Hebrew script are written smaller than the rest. All the scribes down to the present day (including the modern printers) have faithfully copied these three letters so that they appear a little smaller than the rest of the text. The three letters are a tav (400), a shin (300) and a zayin (7). Together they can be taken to indicate the Jewish year 5707. Is this just a coincidence, or does it constitute a hidden prophecy?

Conclusion

To conclude, the ‘sohd’, secret level of meaning is one that should be treated with extreme caution, though it can be interesting to carefully consider, as it does appear that there may be little ‘nuggets’ of hidden meaning. The first three, however, are frequently ways in which God speaks to us through Scripture, in plain clear writing, implications, and pictures and allegories. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you as you study God’s word, which is God-breathed, and useful in training for righteousness (2 Tim 3:16).

Endnotes

¹‘Jewish New Testament Commentary’, by David H. Stern, page 12.
²‘The Bible Code’ by Michael Drosnin, pages 134-135.
³https://news.kehila.org/the-festival-of-purim-and-the-nazis/