Amen!
Amen!
What Does It Really Mean?
PURPOSE
The purpose of this very brief document
is to ensure that every time our readers state Amen! they know what it means and
why they are making such statement.
INTRODUCTION
First of all let us clarify what we are
not referring to when we say Amen!.
It is not: A stream or a torrent [Numbers
21:14, Deut. 2:36, 3:8, 12, 16; Deut. 4:48; Joshua 13:9, 2Kings 10:33]
It is not: The son of Manasses [2Kings 21:18-19,24-25;
1Chron. 3:14; 2Chron. 33:20-21,25]
It is not: The governor of a city [2Chron. 18:25]
It is not: God [Revelations 3:14]
With that clarified, let us proceed.
DETAILS
In
the New Testament we see the statement Amen used in two different ways.
For example, Jesus often (over 70 times) uses it as follows: Amen, I say to you.... while in
other texts we see it used as it is used in Matthew 6:13 - And lead us not into temptation. But
deliver us from evil. Amen. - a form also used frequently in the
Letters, Epistles found in the New Testament as well as in the Book of
Revelations.
It is obviously clear that in the manner Jesus is using the word Amen is not in the manner we use it
at the end of a prayer.
In the manner Jesus used it, the meaning is: truly (what I am saying is
the truth) which is the modern, as well the archaic definition, of
verily, i.e. verily, thou art a man
of God
In the manner that it is used
at the end of a prayer, invocation
or pronouncement the meaning intended
is: So be it, if it is the Will of
God.
It has been said that Moses introduced the use of Amen in religious practices of the
Israelites after he led them out of Egypt because of the Egyptian god
Amen-Ra. That has been denounced and denied on the basis that Moses
would not be introducing a word/statement related to a pagan god in the
Israelite religious practices.
However, it may be that the reason attributed to Moses for introducing
the word Amen in the Israelite religious practices has nothing to do
with Amen-Ra and all to do
with the Egyptian Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty, Amenhotep IV.
This Pharaoh changed his name to Akhenaten and was labeled a heretic
because he established monotheism in Egypt (1), closing down all places
of worship of pagan gods and disbanding their priests.
This may not be such unsustainable possibility when we consider that
the Egyptian Pharaoh at the time when Jacob's son, Joseph, became the
Administrator of Egypt could have very well been Amenhotep IV, known as Akhenaten. (1)
CONCLUSION
We hope that we have shed some light on the real meaning such
frequently used word and its impact if said with the heart and not just
with the lips.
Amen!
NOTES
(1)
The first and only
monotheistic Egyptian Pharaoh
Published on April 21, 2015 -
Feast of Mary, the Mother of Light
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