Every translation is an interpretation since the interpreter must carefully exegete the word he's translating in order to match it to the word in his translation. Unfortunately, at least for the translator, often times there's not really a fitting word in the language he's translating to that faithfully matches the word he's translating from. A case in point is the Hebrew word "tsemach" צמח translated "branch" in most English translations of the Hebrew word. Translating "tsemach"צמח as "branch" covers up more than it reveals such that where tsemach צמח is being used to name Messiah (Jeremiah 23:5; Zechariah 6:12; Isaiah 4:2, etc.), the translation "branch" is very much a broken bough covered with fig leaves behind which is hidden the person of Messiah.
In horticulture, there's two ways to produce branches: sexual and asexual. Sexually speaking, a tree produces a flower such that when the union of the male sperm nucleus (from the pollen grain) unites with female egg found in the ovary, a new tree, and thus new branches, are sexually reproduced. In asexual reproduction, such as coppicing, the stump of the original tree can be cut down such that an asexual "sprout" from the still living root is produced as a clone of the original tree.
The word "
tsemach" speaks of the second kind of "branch"; the shiny new sprout from the root of the original tree. "
Tsemach" is a branch produced asexually, that is, as a clone. Gesenius' lexicon of biblical Hebrew says
"tsemach" is related to a new sprout from the earth with emphasis on the original plants produced by the earth none of which were originally sexual (since they were already in the earth ready to sprout --ala
tsemach ---from the get-go). The "
tsemach" is part of a
genet, a clonal family with genetic uniformity, so that all branches are identical to one another (no sexual mixing of genetic material).
In biblical analogy, the concept that parallels the seminal nature of the "
tsemach" ---so far as spiritual symbolism and revelation of divine purpose are concerned ----is the concept of "unleavened bread." Throughout the bible, not only is bread-making and love-making paralleled, but sexual bread is "leavened bread," while asexual bread is "unleavened bread." When reproducing leavened bread, a small part of the previous batch (analogous to patrilineage, or semen) is placed in the
miseret משארת, which is the place where the small part from the previous batch is mixed with the new batch (analogous to the seed) in order to add leaven (שאר creating חמץ) to the new dough, thereby sharing/mixing the patrilineal characteristics of the previous batch. The concept of "unleavened" bread is a direct parallel to a "branch" produced asexually (i.e., the
tsemach) since in both cases sexual patrilineage (sharing and mixing characteristics) is cut off. The
tsemach is very literally, so far as biblical exegesis is concerned, an "unleavened branch" in the same sense that unleavened bread shares none of the leaven of the previous batch.
As the sages of a more mystical bent are wont to point out, when an important spiritual concept is hidden in the text, the Hebrew text often displays almost magical qualities seemingly rewarding the spirit-filled exegete for cutting deep enough into a vein of truth to arrive at these magical qualities of the Hebrew text. A case in point is the fact that the word "
tsemach" (which is an "unleavened branch," a basal-shoot from the original root) in Hebrew is צמח (
tsaddi-mem-chet), while the word used for something contaminated with "leaven," i.e., "
chametz," is חמץ (
chet-mem-tsaddi-sofit). Invert the word for an"unleavened branch" צמח and you get the word for a branch contaminated with "leaven" חמץ. [For those unfamiliar with Hebrew script, a
tsaddi found at the end of a word takes a differen form than anywhere else in a word. It' called a "
tsaddi-sofit." The letters are the same notwithstanding the slightly different look of the
tsaddi-sofit.]
The stiff-necked exegete who'd doubt the correlation between bread and branch might have it pointed out to him that the man ---Messiah ----the Hebrew of Zechariah 6:12 calls the "unleavened Branch צמח," is also prophesided to come out of the "city of bread" (the Jewish kind being unleavened) which in Hebrew is "
beit-lehem" בית–לחם, otherwise known as "Bethlehem." Messiah comes out of the city of unleavened bread (Beth-lehem) as the unleavened Branch (
Tsemach). There's no leavening in the bread, the branch, or his mother.
And behold that the purpose of the creation is man; and Adam, the first man, was the dough for the tithe (eesah challah) of the world. But when he became corrupted and sinned, the pollution of the snake went into him, the snake being the Satan and the evil impulse. And that is the leavening in the dough. And then the dough became leavened and became a turbid body of a skin tunic; so he caused his own death. And that is the secret of (Exodus 12:20), “You shall not eat any machmetzet (leavened thing).” Chametz is in the middle and the letters [that spell] dead (met) are at the beginning (mem) and end (tav).
Shney Luchot HaBerit, Aseret HaDibrot, Pesachim, Torah Ohr 25.
John
