Kavod
Strong’s number H3519
כָּבוֹד kaw-bode'; rarely כָּבֹד kâbôd; from H3513 ; properly, weight, but only figuratively in a good sense, splendor or copiousness:—glorious(-ly), glory, honour(-able).
Kavod is spelled Kaf, Beit, Vav, Dalet.
Kaf is the picture of the palm of the hand and means to cover, to open, or allow or two cover, close and disallow.
Beit is the picture of the tent and has the meaning of the house or the family.
Vav is pictured as an iron nail or a wooden peg and means to secure, to bind together, or to connect two things separated from one another.
Dalet is the picture of the door and indicates a doorway, an entrance to life or death, or a place where change takes place.
Kavod is what’s called a contranym.
con·tro·nym
/ˈkäntrəˌnim/
noun
noun: contranym
- a word with two opposite meanings, e.g. sanction (which can mean both ‘a penalty for disobeying a law’ and ‘official permission or approval for an action’).
Kavod is found over 300 times in the Tanakh, usually as negative expression. It describes things that are sluggardly, dull; it’s used to tell of disastrous or difficult experiences and happenings. But its opposite meaning is weighty in the sense of
being noteworthy or impressive, honorable, honored, glorious, glorified. With contranyms, one has to get context clues to know which meaning is meant.
Kavod in the positive is about what is heavy, what has weight, which gives importance and significance. Because our God is Spirit and therefore invisible, kavod is used as a description of His manifestation. He reveals Himself to us as kavod. Kavod describes the revelation of God in His acts in creation and salvation(s). It speaks of God’s honor, shown forth in His self-revelation to us.
We can learn a lot about the concrete meaning of kavod by seeing what other words it’s paralleled with, according to Jeff Benner. For example:
- In Psalm 3:3 the kavod of God is paired with his "shield"
- In Job 29:20, Job's kavod is paired with his "bow."
- In Psalm 24:8 we read "who is this king of the kavod, The LORD is strong and mighty, The LORD is mighty in battle." The original concrete meaning of kavod is battle armaments.
The presence of God in the tabernacle is symbolized by the kavod and the ‘cloud’. Notice when they are both present – it’s not possible for humans to approach. The Presence of God is overwhelming. Once the ‘cloud’ leaves it’s possible to draw near to His presence. The sages say that it is the kavod that makes proximity to God possible.
