In the shameless self-promotion category…
One of my very first posts ever (The Lord Is My Shepherd) got stumbled upon by (apparently) the right stumbler recently with pleasant results. Within a matter of a few hours, it received over 300 hits and, after a few days, it is about to cross the 1500 hit mark. I have had posts stumbled before with considerably less dramatic results, but I suppose the stars aligned for one of my favorite posts even if it was 15 months late.
I realize that to real bloggers, 1500 hits for a single post in a short period of time probably doesn’t register as anything abnormal, but from my little area of the blogosphere, it’s something to write home about (rather, to write you about).
I am particularly partial to that post because it was my first “discovery” (for lack of a better word) of the extra-textual content contained in the ancient Hebrew alphabetic pictographs. In it, I showed Elohim, Hebrew for “God,” as depicting Psalm 23.
To summarize, the word Elohim is comprised of the Hebrew letters ALEPH (similar to our letter “A,” and pictured in the ancient Hebrew as an ox head, signifying strength or God – as in the Lord is my strength); LAMED (“L,” pictured as a shepherd’s staff, meaning to shepherd or lead); HEY (“H,” pictured as a man with outstretched arms, meaning God’s grace or to behold); YOD (“Y,” pictured as the arm from the fist to the elbow, meaning my or my hand or works); and MEM (“M,” pictured as waves of water, meaning water or peoples/nations).
Thus, the LORD is my SHEPHERD by GRACE MY needs are provided for (I SHALL NOT WANT), he takes me by MY HAND and LEADS me by still WATERS. Here is the visual:
Elohim
#1 by Gary Zimmerli on February 5, 2009 - 5:15 pm
Hey Peter, in the three months I’ve been doing my new blog, I’m still 380 hits short of 1500. But I gotta admit, they’re some pretty good, quality hits!
#2 by Caribbean Shulamite on February 5, 2009 - 7:02 pm
Now, I’m happy for your shameless self promotion. To think, I would have missed this article if you didn’t bring it up again! I love these things about the Hebrew language. Thank you bro!
#3 by Bob MacDonald on February 5, 2009 - 7:23 pm
What do you do with Job and his excessive use of אלוה ?
#4 by petermlopez on February 6, 2009 - 9:41 am
Gary, I think I would be embarrassed to admit how many hits I had after 3 months, although I’m not even sure (BOB was still at blogspot back then). I remember checking my feedburner stats every day 5-10 times a day, and if I got 15 hits in one day I was ecstatic. Keep up the good work.
CS, thanks. If you’re interested, go back to my Nov. & Dec. of 2007 for my earlier stuff, it was almost exclusively on ancient Hebrew.
Bob, do you know the first mention of Eloh (I really need to learn how to include Hebrew characters in my comments) off the top of your head? Is it in Job? Give me a few days and I’ll get back to you. The pictographs are obviously the same, but could render different scripture references. See for example:
http://beautyofthebible.com/2007/11/16/oh-my-heavens-part-2/
http://beautyofthebible.com/2007/11/15/oh-my-heavens-part-1/
#5 by Bob MacDonald on February 6, 2009 - 10:44 am
Eloh first appears in Deuteronomy. See this page for a reasonably accurate count – notice the distribution by book on the right hand side.
I usually cut and paste my Biblical Hebrew – I don’t have a Hebrew keyboard and extended html is very tedious (א)
#6 by Bob MacDonald on February 6, 2009 - 10:45 am
I see that extended html works in a comment – the aleph there is א
#7 by Bob MacDonald on February 6, 2009 - 10:45 am
sorry – ampersand followed by number sign followed by 1488 then a semicolon
#8 by petermlopez on February 6, 2009 - 11:09 am
Thanks, Bob. I agree, extended html is very, very tedious, and I avoid it if I can. I hadn’t thought of cut and paste. I appreciate it. I will look in Eloh more as time permits.
#9 by Goannatree on February 8, 2009 - 11:19 am
Good for you! I have had posts stumbled with some increase in traffic but nothing like this! What an interesting insight on ps 23. I wonder about making the little buttons accessible at the bottom of each post – whether that helps with things like stumbling?
#10 by petermlopez on February 9, 2009 - 11:04 am
I don’t know whether that helps or not. On my older posts I used to put text links to StumbleUpon, Digg, Reddit, etc., but I don’t any more. I don’t know whether it was stumbled using one of those links or the stumbler’s own toolbar. Who knows?
#11 by hiscrivener on February 11, 2009 - 6:48 am
Lopez,
That is amazing. My first month – the entire month – I got a whopping 34 peruses on the Wall. What began as a labor of love was about to be laboriously flushed down the toilet.
I don’t care who you are, 1,500 hits on one link means God is doing something, and that’s worth a little praise.
Although I am now reaching 35 hits a month, I can still thank God for the “little things.” (You feel me?)
Congratulations brother. Maybe some of that “anointment” will trickle down the bricks I plaster paint upon? We can always pray.
Peace,
HiScrivener
#12 by petermlopez on February 11, 2009 - 10:50 am
Trickle, trickle, trickle. By the way, you don’t happen to be a youth pastor for a huge church in the Dallas metroplex, do you? I was visiting my sister this past Sunday, and the youth pastor was preaching whose last name was Scrivener. Just wondering because the message was great.