Once you obtain a good foundation of the Bible and are spending time with the Lord, you will begin seeing patterns in the Bible and find yourself desiring deeper revelation. Loving God is like a Catch-22. The more you learn, the more you want to spend time with God, the more you love God. And the more you love God, the more you want to learn and spend time with Him!
One of the fascinating teachings of Bible interpretation that has been taught by Perry Stone, Dr. Chuck Missler, Dr. Brian Simmons, and others is the “Pardes” system of interpretation used by Hebrew Rabbis to dig out revelatory truth within the Bible. The following three paragraphs is a summary of the Pardes teaching found in Dr. Simmons’ TPT Bible School course entitled, Revelation: The Unveiling.
“’Pardes’ is a take-off of an old rabbinic mnemonic. A mnemonic is the use of a pattern of letters to help remembering something. Pardes, which means “paradise” or “garden” in Hebrew, is an acronym (an abbreviation from the initial letters of words pronounced as a word) for four Hebrew words: p’shat or peshat, remez, drash, and sod. These are the four levels of Bible interpretation which Rabbis believe can be applied to every Scripture. Each type of Pardes interpretation examines the extended meaning of a text. Generally, the extended meaning never contradicts the base meaning.
“The Peshat means the plain, direct, or contextual meaning of the text. Remez is the allegorical meaning that hints at a truth just beyond the literal sense. Few in the Western culture operate in the Derash level. This is the level Jewish Rabbis swim in. Derash seeks a comparative meaning, as given through similar occurrences, and includes the metaphorical meaning. Sod is the language of God and only God can impart this level. Sod represents the hidden or secret meaning, as given through inspiration or revelation.
“There is often considerable overlap within the four prophetic layers. For example, when legal understandings of a verse (peshat) are influenced by mystical interpretations (sod), or when a “hint” (remez) is determined by comparing a word with other instances of the same word (derash).”
Some teachers, including myself, don’t attempt to differentiate between the various Rabbinical PARDES levels of revelation, but rather refer to the various levels of interpretation generically as “prophetic layers” of Scripture, or “prophetic levels” of study.
It’s time to open your Bible and begin reading. What revelatory truth can you discover buried in patterns found in Scripture?
