Bible Book OrderSheen
Sheen is the 21st letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Sheen maps to the books of (21) Jonah, (43) Luke and (65) Third John.
Definition
In the ancient Hebrew script the letter sheen looks like a pair of front teeth or fangs. The meanings derived from this imagery are 1) consume and 2) line-up. To the Western mindset these meanings seem distant from one another, but to the Hebrew they are close. After all, we line up food into a series of mouthfuls or bites for consumption.
In addition to studying how sheen was drawn in the past we can study words that have the letter sheen to confirm our definition. The Hebrew word "fire" plays to the consuming sense of sheen.
- Fire (אש) is a "strong consumer."
Remember Hebrew reads right to left. The first letter in fire, which is an aleph, looks like an ox head and symbolizes strength (as in strong as an ox). So the Hebrew sense of "fire" is that fire is a strong (aleph) consumer (sheen). The fact that we can heat and cook with fire and enjoy watching the flames of a controlled fire are by-products of fire. The essential quality of fire is it's ability to consume.
The Hebrew word for "wall" also has a sheen in it's spelling, but in this case sheen plays to the sense of "lined-up."
- Wall (שור) is "lined-up, connected, tall."
I envision this wall as a series of rocks that are lined up in a row (sheen) and nailed together (vav) with mortar and stacked row upon row to give the wall height (reysh). The basic elements even work with a modern wall built with studs and nails, but the imagery seems more compelling when we visualize a rock wall.
Book Map
Given the basic definition of sheen as consuming and lined-up we're ready to see how sheen relates to the high level concepts of Jonah, Luke and Third John.
Jonah
Everyone is familiar with the short story of Jonah. Scholars critical of the Bible have the most trouble accepting the book of Jonah because after being thrown overboard he's swallowed by a whale or large fish and after a three day ride in the belly of the fish Jonah is vomited onto dry land. There's record of this happening to others (besides Pinocchio) who lived to tell about it, so it need not be just a metaphor.
Regardless of what exactly happened the point is clear that the book of Jonah relates to sheen more obviously than any other book in the Bible. There's no other consumption by mouth as compelling in the Bible than Jonah being swallowed whole by a whale.
After being delivered from the whale Jonah's job was to warn the Ninevites of God's impending judgment for their sin. So the theme of consuming or devouring may well relate to what God intended to carry out on Nineveh. But, like Jonah, the Ninevites where delivered when they repented of their sins and sought God's mercy with prayer and fasting. Fasting is an opposite of sheen.
Luke
Luke is the last book in the Gospel series. As the last Gospel Luke begins with an explanation for why another account of Jesus is needed.
43 Luke 1:1-4
1Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,
2Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;
3It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,
4That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.
The author of Luke says in verse 3 that the reason for writing another Gospel is to provide an "orderly" one. This need for an orderly story about Jesus plays to the "lined-up" sense of the letter sheen.
That Luke is "orderly" is not necessarily a chronological statement. The "lined-up" sense of sheen is related to the idea of consuming a meal. The process of eating a meal is to queue up or line up bits of food that can be processed by the teeth until the whole meal has been internalized. Luke is a spiritual meal that has been methodically lined out with the intention of feeding the reader.
Third John
The short book of Third John contrasts two people who respond oppositely to Christians sent on the road by Jesus. Gauis, to whom the letter is written, receives the traveling brothers into his own house and supplies their needs and sees them down the road safely while Diotrephes speaks badly about the brothers behind their backs and does not receive the brothers. In fact, not only does Diotrephes not receive the brothers, he casts out of his church body the people who want to receive the brothers.
Here are the verses for Gauis.
65 Third John :5-8
5Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers;
6Which have borne witness of thy charity before the church: whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well:
7Because that for his name's sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles.
8We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellowhelpers to the truth.
Here are the verses for Diotrephes.
65 Third John :9-10
9¶I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.
10Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.
The English word "receive" is probably a weak word for communicating the sense of what's happening when Gauis takes in the brothers and Diotrephes rejects them.
To apply the consuming sense of sheen to this story, Gauis takes in or consumes the brothers sent from Jesus when he receives them into his home. When we accept someone they become part of us on the inside, like food being ingested. We tend also then to accept their ideas or behavior. This is why Paul warned not to share a meal (sheen) with people who call themselves a brother but live immorally. 1
In contrast to Gauis, Diotrephes does not accept the brothers as the meal that would nourish. Nor does he provide for their needs and even casts out of his church body those who wanted to receive the brothers. The words "cast out" harken back to Jonah who was "vomited" out of the whale. Ironically, in Jonah's story the Ninevites received him and his message while Jonah never really received the Ninevites in return. Jonah and Diotrephes have some commonality.
Third John also plays to sheen when it says Diotrephes spoke maliciously about the brothers. Instead of consuming the brothers by taking them in Diotrephes gnashed his teeth at them maliciously by his gossip. The lesson seems to be that gossiping about people like Diotrephes is some kind of opposit to receiving them into ourselves like Gauis.
Summary
By way of closing let me point out that there's an opposite going on between Jonah and Third John. Jonah reads from the perspective of the individual called by Jesus to go deliver a message. Third John reads from the perspective of the receiving end. Jonah and his message is accepted in Nineveh while Diotrephes rejects the brothers and by extension their message. Luke may play in this space also, but I need to review the book to be sure.
1First Corinthians 5:9-11
