Abarim Publications' online Biblical Hebrew Dictionary
נוף I
The verb נוף (nup) means to wave or sway to and fro, and describes the motion of the fans that were common at courts in warm climates. These fans were large flat and ceiling-mounted canvasses, which were pulled from side to side to make the air move, which in turn provided cooling for people in the room below (and note the intended association with the firmament of the second creation day).
In Hebrew, physical hotness and angry excitement go together, and are known by the same word, namely חם (ham), hence the name Ham (emotions), of the lesser brother of Shem (rationality) and Japheth (sense of virtues like beauty), the sons of Noah (human consciousness, which is rooted in language, into which large people groups collectively "settle" or mentally "condensate"). Likewise, Hebrew uses the same word for wind and spirit, namely רוח (ruah), which indicates that fans not only changed how people felt physically but rather also mentally and collectively. This in turn led to the institution of the תנופה (tenupa), or wave-offering (see below), that was waved with the obvious objective of having a spiritual effect (Exodus 29:24-28).
Our verb נוף (nup) could be used to describe the zig-zag wielding of any tool, and as such it is used in the "eleventh commandment", which comes right after the Big Ten: "You shall make an altar of earth for Me ... [but] if you wield your tool on it, you will profane it" (Exodus 20:25). This "eleventh" commandment obviously talks about cultivating the entire earth into a technological paradise (see Exodus 31:1-11), or in the words of Peter, "a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2:5), of which the altar is a subset and represents information technology (language, writing, law, culture, science).
But the "eleventh" commandment emphatically prohibits chipping and molding anybody into the forms we think they should be, and instructs us to leave everybody essentially the way God made them, and only feed and nourish them into the kind of maturity that God designed for them. If the Virgin is to bear a Child, she cannot be governed by a king, as only a perfect Republic of perfectly sovereign citizens (Galatians 5:1) can yield a government that is the Prince of Peace (see our article on Athens).
We earthlings are supposed to turn the whole earth into a gigantic altar — which comes with four horns (Exodus 27:2, Ezekiel 43:15, hence Acts 10:11, Revelation 7:1, 20:8) and (when properly aspirated) not any smoke but rather a pleasing fragrance (2 Corinthians 2:14-16, Revelation 5:8), and a lot of people who are patiently waiting (Revelation 6:9) whilst getting purified, matured and incorporated (Psalm 12:6, Revelation 16:7).
The idea here appears to be that anything specifically marvelous (like a gem or a holy people) never emerges in a vacuum but always in a much greater arena, like a solidly dry island in a much larger sea of liquidity, and this corresponds to the principle of the third creation day, which, as we explain in our article on Adam, is about the making of mind rather than space. As we explain in our article on the Household Set, this third-day archetype of the solid island that rises from a liquid sea, is the most fundamental unit of both physical and mental reality and describes the working of atoms, living cells, human consciousness and societies, as well as the relationship between these fundamental building blocks and the great realms they forge. This archetype is subsequently deployed all over the Bible, from baby Moses among the reeds of the Nile, to Noah's ark atop the deluge, to the armies of Gog and Magog that come across the broad plain of the earth to bear down on the nucleic Holy City (Revelation 20:9).
The conscious mind sits like an island of dry land within an ocean of subconsciousness, like a cultivated, regulated garden within a wider unruly world. And when rules are not decreed by some self-serving ruler but rather emerge from the free interaction of players, these rules don't bind but liberate, which is how James could speak of the perfect law, the law of liberty (James 1:25). That sort of freedom is a skill that is learned when rules are obeyed (see our article on ελευθερια, eleutheria, or freedom-by-law). Hence, human speech emerged as a specialization of animal expression, writing emerged from general artistic representation, mythology emerged from general narrative, and so on (and see our article on εφφαθα, ephphatha). Great inventions always emerge from an ocean of dreams and attempts, which are never mere failures but always the choir that sings the praise of the final success (Revelation 5:9). The production of a single bread (or pencil in the famous version of Milton Friedman) requires an entire global economy (see our article on the noun αρτος, artos, bread).
And although not everything that exists within the larger liquid ocean always immediately partakes in the bringing forth of the little solid island, everything that sits within the larger ocean does partake in the whole system of which the island is a product (often even a side effect, sometimes even a rebellion). And even though the waxing little island may be our target, we can only get there when we endeavor to preserve the grand dynamics of the entire ocean it emerges from: seeking out what we prefer (Philippians 4:8) and ignoring what we don't (Romans 16:19) but certainly not by persecuting or destroying what we reject. This is precisely the reason why fascism and eugenics are such philosophical blunders: our verb may also describe the act of sieving, which is the sole prerogative of God (Isaiah 30:28), not ours, and certainly not satan's (Luke 22:31).
All this brings to mind the Greek verb λαλεω (laleo), to talk or blabber (within which λεγω, lego, rational speech, is the island), whose Sanskrit cognate, lolati, means to move to and fro. Our verb also brings to mind the Hebrew verb ערב ('arab), to criss-cross, hence the noun ערב ('oreb), raven, as well as the name Arabia, where Midian was, where Moses fled to, and Paul evidently as well (Galatians 1:17), and which may have been as proverbial as the Land of Nod, where Cain fled to, to be a perpetual vagrant and wanderer on the earth (Genesis 4:12-16).
Finally, our verb reminds of the verb זבב (zabab), to zig-zag aimlessly, and the difference with the previous is that the previous expresses the making and utilizing of networks, whereas the latter expresses an aimless wandering in search of satisfying one's own predatory selfishness.
Our verb could express the movement of a sickle into standing grain, in order to harvest it (Deuteronomy 23:25), or of a hand over someone sick, to heal them (2 Kings 5:11), or to threaten (Job 31:21) or greet them (Isaiah 13:2). From our verb derive:
- The feminine noun נפה (napa), a sieve. This noun occurs in Isaiah 30:28 only, which speaks of God's spirit (רוח, ruah) sieving the nations (גוים, goyim) in a sieve. This statement is part of the Bible's pervasive meditation on the nations: who plot in vain against YHWH and his anointed (Psalm 2:1-2), who will be shaken, but whose desire will come (Haggai 2:7), whose discipleship of the Logos is the primary concern of God's people (Matthew 28:19), and whose ultimate healing is brought about by the leaves (rather than the fruits) of the Tree of Life (Revelation 22:2) — and note that the Hebrew word for healing, namely תעלה (te'ala), relates closely to the word for leaf, namely עלה ('aleh), and also to the word for whole burnt offering, namely עלה ('ola), which all derive from the verb עלה ('ala), to ascend. From this same verb comes the theonym Elyon, meaning Highest.
- The feminine noun תנופה (tenupa), literally meaning a swaying or waving, used of the hand of YHWH Sabaoth (Isaiah 19:6), or his weaponized harps and tambourines (Isaiah 30:32), but overwhelmingly in descriptions of several kinds of wave-offerings (Leviticus 7:34, 10:14-15, Numbers 6:20, 18:11-20), or offerings of gold and brass for the tabernacle (Exodus 35:22, 38:24-29).
Note that in the Aramaic period, the Aramaic equivalent of this verb נוף (nup) produced the noun מפה (mappa), meaning flag, the equivalent of the Hebrew noun דגל (degel). From this word מפה (mappa) comes our English word map, as well as the invented term Muppet — the once popular Muppet Show tied into the idea that all the world's a stage and each must play a part (see our article on Frogs, Jews and Republics, Love and the Butterfly Ball). This word Muppet appears to primarily reflect the construct state (a kind of genitive) of מפה (mappa), so that Muppet Show means Show Of Flags. But note that from the verb יפה (yape), to be well-joined or beautiful, derives the noun מופת (mopet), meaning confirmation (of something miraculous), a well-fitting together. Here at Abarim Publications we suspect that the name Memphis may have originated as a term that meant Well-Joined Place Of Flags.
נוף II
An assumed second root נוף (nup) is not used as verb in the Bible, but judging from its derivations, it has to do with being high. Here at Abarim Publications we surmise that this second root is not a second one at all but still the first one, used in a specialized way. In our discussion of the noun נפה (napa), sieve (see above) we have already demonstrated an association with the verb עלה ('ala), to ascend. Moreover, the תנופה (tenupa), or wave-offering is frequently mentioned along the תרומה (teruma), heave-offering (Exodus 25:2-3, Leviticus 7:32-34, Leviticus 10:14), from the verb רום (rum), to be or get high.
In Arabic exists a noun derived from this verb, which describes a camel's hump. The Hebrew word for that is דבשת (dabeshet), from the noun דבש (dabesh), honey, which is produced by דברה (deborah), the bee, whose name is the feminine version of the masculine noun for word or message, namely דבר (dabar), or Logos in Greek, which brings us back to λαλεω (laleo), to talk.
From our assumed second verb נוף (nup) derive:
- The masculine noun נוף (nop), elevation, which occurs in Psalm 48:2 only, in a description of the beautiful (יפה, yape) elevation of Moun Zion, the joy of the whole earth.
- The feminine noun נפה (napa), which is identical to the word meaning sieve (see above), and means elevation but only in (variations of) the construct נפת דור (nepot dor) or Heights of Dor, which thus would also translate as the Sieve of the Generations (Joshua 11:2, 12:23, 1 Kings 4:11).
- The feminine noun נפת (nepet), meaning honey comb (Psalm 19:10, Proverbs 5:3, 24:13, 27:7 and Song of Solomon 4:11). For a discussion of the difference between sweet and energy rich honey and the tasteless and non-nutritional waxen honeycomb (Luke 24:42), see our article on the noun κηριον (kerion).