Set-Apart or Holy?

1.    Introduction 

2.    Origin 

3.    What now? 

4.    The Set-Apart Spirit

5.    Conclusion 

6.    Resources

1.    Introduction

When one  thinks about the term “holy”, the first thing that comes to mind is something or somebody very devout and dedicated to Elohim (or as God as most people will think) and therefore very pious and of irreproachable character. Children (and many others) very often refer to people as “holy” when they do not want to participate with any  mischief.

For most people “holy” means something from the “Church” or “God”. In some cases there are those knowing a little more and think that it means “Set-apart, separated, separated for God”. In reality it only means set-apart. This can be for good or bad purposes. Let us take a closer look at the word “holy”.

2.          Origin

The word “holy” is used in many different ways and guises and can be used as a noun, adjective or verb. The Hebrew word is kodesh/qodesh/kadosh/qadosh and the Greek is hagios. Both are translated with different variations of “holy”, “sacred” or “saint”.

The meaning of kodesh/qodesh/kadosh/qadosh and hagios is contradicted by the Word. In Yeshayahu (Isaiah) we read the following:

“those who set themselves apart and cleanse themselves at the gardens after ‘One’ in the midst, eating flesh of pigs and the abomination and the mouse, are snatched away, together,” declares הוהי [YHWH]. (Yesh 66:17) (The Scriptures –ISR)

They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one  in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD. (KJV)

"Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one in the midst, eating swine's flesh and the abomination and mice, shall come to an end together, says the LORD. (RSV)

In 1 Kefa (Peter) 3 we read the following:

“But set apart הוהי [YHWH] Elohim in your hearts, and always be ready to give an answer to everyone asking you a reason concerning the expectation that is in you, with meekness and fear,” (1 Kefa 3:15) (The Scriptures – ISR)

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: (KJV)

Here we find people “sanctifying” (“making themselves holy”) to worship idols and to eat abominations. It has absolutely nothing to do with YHWH. In Kefa though it is again directly for YHWH. To make matters even worse we find that the Hebrew word kedeshah/qedeshah actually means whore or prostitute! She/he is set aside or set apart for specific use. Both kodesh and kedeshah come from verb kadash. In  the Unger’s Bible Dictionary the meaning of both kodesh and hagios is given as separation and/or set-apart.

The real origin of the words holy, halo, heilig (German/Afrikaans) and still some others come directly from sun worship, where the word for most languages are derived from the honourable sun. Even one of the Indian idols has the name HOLI, and is at the same time a spring festival for the baby of Krishna.

According to the Strong Concordance (Greek no. 1506) the word heile means the “sun’s beams”. Then we still have the words: halo – the circle of the sun or “holy ring”, nimbus – the big sun behind the heads of the so-called “saints”, etc. Furthermore we find that the word holy is also derived from the Saxon word halig. All with very same origin: SUN WORSHIP!

It is therefore very clear from the above evidence that we can under no circumstances mean “set apart for ‘God’” when we use the word holy. The words kodesh and hagios can mean set apart for just about anything: YHWH, whoring, satan or anything else.

3.          What now?

With its origin and roots of these words known, the question is: How could translators make such a horrible and blatant mistake? The answer is that the father of lies, Satan self, ensured that he would worshiped and “honoured” indirectly. The word “holy” was used in such a manner that everyone was accustomed to it and thus the use thereof became almost compulsory.

 Can we now use a word with its origin and original meaning from sun worship, in our worship of the ONE Elohim, YHWH? The ONE that created everything, including the sun? In Yehezqel (Ezekiel) 8 we get a proper description of this directly from YHWH about this abomination before YHWH:

⁹And He said to me, “Go in, and see the evil abominations which they are doing there.” ¹⁰And I went in and looked and saw all kinds of creeping creatures, abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Yisra’ĕl, carved all around on the walls. ¹¹And facing them stood seventy men of the elders of the house of Yisra’ĕl, and in their midst stood Ya’azanyahu son of Shaphan. Each one had a censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up. ¹²And He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Yisra’ĕl are doing in the dark, each one in the room of his idols? For they say, ‘הוהי [YHWH] does not see us, הוהי [YHWH] has forsaken the land.’ ” ¹³And He said to me, “You are to see still greater abominations which they are doing.” ¹⁴And He brought me to the door of the north gate of the House of הוהי [YHWH], and I saw women sitting there, weeping for Tammuz. ¹⁵Then He said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? You are to see still greater abominations than these.” ¹⁶And He brought me into the inner court of the House of הוהי [YHWH]. And there, at the door of the Hekal [temple] of הוהי [YHWH], between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs toward the Hekal [temple]  of הוהי [YHWH] and their faces toward the east, and they were bowing themselves eastward to the sun. (bold print by author)

Please read entire chapter 8 of Yehezqel and the ending of the matter. We see however, that the sun worship is the worst of the abominations, by being mentioned at the end. Every time YHWH said, “You are to see still greater abominations,”. How then, can we proceed to profane His Name and His Spirit with this, while we know what is right? Can we identify the Spirit of YHWH with sun worship?

4.          The Set-Apart Spirit

The Set-Apart Spirit is the Spirit of YHWH, but he definitely has no halo or nimbus above Him to indicate His “holiness”. The term Ruach Hakodesh (Hebrew) that is translated normally with “Holy” Spirit/Ghost does not occur many times in the TANAK,[i] but only a few occurrences. Pneumati Hagioo (Greek) on the other hand occurs  very often in the Messianic Scriptures[ii].

The reason fir this is obvious. During the pre Messianic period the Spirit of YHWH was “poured out” only on specific people and sometimes for specific periods. At times the Spirit of YHWH was also withdrawn from people (i.e. King Sha’ul[Saul]) when the person was no longer worthy of being Spirit filled. During the Messianic period the change was that the Spirit of YHWH is being “poured out” on every believer. This is also known as “Immersed/Baptism in the Spirit”. The purpose of the Spirit is to set us apart for YHWH and we see it clearly in Galatians 5 where Sha’ul (Paul) explains the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.

There are of course also other references to the Spirit of YHWH in Scripture, i.e. Spirit of Elohim in (Ber/Gen 1:2), Spirit of YHWH (1 Shem/Sam 10:6), the Spirit of Truth (Yoh/Jn 16:13). Why then bring any connection between Him and sun worship? It is not only the Spirit but YHWH Himself.

In Wayikra (Leviticus) 11 and 1 Kefa (Peter) 1 we read the following:

⁴⁴”For I am הוהי [YHWH] your Elohim, and you shall set yourselves apart. And you shall be set-apart, for I am set-apart. And do not defile yourselves with any creeping creature that creeps on the earth. ⁴⁵For I am הוהי [YHWH] who is bringing you up out of the land of Mitsrayim, to be your Elohim. And you shall be set-apart, for I am set-apart.” (Wayikra)

¹⁵“instead, as the One who called you is set-apart, so you also should become set-apart in all behaviour,” (1 Kefa)

We have to set ourselves apart for HIM, our Saviour and Messiah, our King and Master and definitely not profane ourselves with other things such as sun worship.

5.          Conclusion

Is there any way we can find justification for the mistakes that we have learned from our fathers? It is like the Scriptures say:

¹⁹‘O הוהי [YHWH], my strength and my stronghold and my refuge, in the day of distress the gentiles shall come to You from the ends of the earth and say, “Our fathers have inherited only falsehood, futility, and there is no value in them.”’ (Yirm 16:19)

We have to remove every foreign teaching, doctrine, every foreign word, yes, every form of idol worship from our midst and dedicate ourselves in total to YHWH and set ourselves apart for Him!

May the Spirit of Truth guide you in this.

6.          Resources

1.             The Scriptures – Literal Translation with restored Names by ISR

2.             The King James Version (KJV)

3.             The Revised Standard Version (RSV)

4.             The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia

5.             Vine’s Expository Dictionary

6.             Come out of her, my people – Dr CJ Koster

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[i] Hebrew Scriptures also known as Old Testament.

[ii] Known as New Testament.