My post, Flint aka Rocky and the Rock: Peter and Yeshua, dealt with Yeshua’s interaction with Peter, only recorded in the Gospel according to Matthew^16:18 , in which Yeshua addressed Simon bar Jonah as Kayfa~כֵּיפָא (Aramaic<Hebrew) > Kifas~Κηφας (transliterated into New Testament Greek with the obligatory ‘s‘ suffix indicating the masculine gender, which the Apostle John conveniently translated into Greek meaning ‘petros’~πετρος, i.e., ‘rock.’)^{John 1:42} In the vernacular, this [nick]name, with which Yeshua tagged Simon, could justifiably equate to ‘Rocky’ and should not be construed to be the rock that would form the foundation of His ekklesia. The word that Yeshua used was almost assuredly ‘tzur’~צוּר in reference to Himself. [For full context, please cf. https://the-dragon-is-slain.com/2025/07/30/flint-aka-rocky-and-the-rock-peter-and-yeshua/ ].

The purpose of this post, then, is to do a deep-dive examination into the triliteral Yeshua used to distinguish Himself from the person Simon bar Jonah was – a man as hard as flint but one who would tread a rocky path. I propose that the importance of the words Yeshua intentionally chose to employ in the Matthew 16:18 passage cannot be overstated; by examining them in greater detail, further linguistic and lexical evidence should hopefully support the conclusions of the post referenced in the link above as well as work toward discovering the autograph (the original document) of Matthew’s gospel.

It is with a good deal of confidence that I believe Yeshua used derivatives of the triliteral ‘t(z/s)rr’~צרר, given its wide range of meanings, with which He was able to refer not only to Himself as The Rock, but to Peter as Flint/Rocky, and to His ekklesia as a vibrant, powerful organism, which, rather than being overpowered, would advance to the detriment and, eventually, demise of the gates of Hell, i.e., Satan’s realm. The three different meanings of the triliteral ‘t(z/s)rr’~צרר are based on context and on the hypothetical forms of the triliteral in the case of Yeshua and Peter, where a noun is required; and, the required verbal form in the case of the ekklesia.

It is my position that the autograph of Matthew’s gospel was more than likely written in the Hebrew of the 1^st century A.D., which reflected the influence of the region’s Semitic language of Aramaic that resulted in a Hebrew-Aramaic (H-A) hybrid. It is certainly within the parameters defining the inner circle of the Twelve that they were well-versed in the Hebrew scriptures, meaning that Matthew would have been able to convert biblical Hebrew words into the H-A of the day. It is obvious thus far from the discussion of the passage, based on his knowledge of the Hebrew, that this ability eventually clouded the wordplay that Yeshua had engaged in and 400 years later, led to its complete distortion.

So, in order to explain what am I talking about, let’s begin looking at the Hebrew triliteral derivative ‘tzur’~צוּר as it is used in the Old Testament TANAK (Torah/Law, Nevi’im/ Prophets, Ketuvim/Writings).

God as the Tzur | Rock as evoked by David:

I Samuel 2:2 אֵין־קָד֣וֹשׁ כַּיהו֖ה | כִּי אֵ֣ין בִּלְתֶּ֑ךָ | וְאֵ֥ין צ֖וּר כֵּאלֹהֵֽינוּ׃ There is none holy like Yahwah | For there is none besides You | And there is no Rock [Tzur] like our Elohim.

II Samuel 22:3 אֱלֹהֵ֣י צוּרִ֖י אֶחֱסֶה־בּ֑וֹ | מָגִנִִ֞י וְקֶרֶן יִשְׁעִ֗י | מִשְׂגַּבִּי וּמְנוּסִ֔י מֹשִׁעִ֕י מֵחָמָ֖ס תֹּשִׁעֵֽנִי׃ “My Elohim is my Rock [Tzur], I will seek refuge in Him | my Shield and the Horn of my salvation | my High Spot/Refuge and my Place of Refuge, my Deliverer, from violence You will deliver me.”

II Samuel 22:32 כִּ֥י מִי־אֵ֖ל מִבַּלְעֲדֵ֥י יהוה | וּמִ֥י צ֖וּּר מִֽבַּלְעֲדֵ֥י אֱלֹהֵֵֽינוּ׃ For Who is God besides Yahwah | And Who is a Rock besides our Elohim?

II Samuel 22:47 חַי־יהו֖ה וּבׇר֣וּךְ צוּרִ֑י | וְיָרֻ֕֕ם אֱלֹהֵ֖י צ֥וּר יִשְׁעִֽי׃ Yahwah is Life/Yahwah lives and blessed is my Rock | And lifted up is my Elohim, Rock of my salvation.

Psalm 18(17):3b | אֵלִ֣י צ֭וּרִי אֶֽחֱסֶה־בּ֑וֹ My God the Almighty One is my Rock – I will take refuge in Him

Psalm 78(77):35 וַֽיִּזְכְּרוּ כִּֽי־אֱלֹהִ֣ים צוּרָ֑ם | וְאֵ֥ל עֶלְיוֹן גֹּאֲלָם׃ And He remembered them because Elohim is their Rock | And the Most High God their Redeemer.

Psalm 92(91):13 צַ֭דִּיק כַּתָּמָר יִפְרָ֑ח | כְּאֶ֖רֶז בַּלְּבָנ֣וֹן יִשְׂגֶּֽה׃ The righteous will flourish/blossom/flower like the palm tree | Like the cedar in Lebanon he will become great. ¹⁴שְׁ֭תוּלִים בְּבֵ֣ית יהו֑ה בְּחַצְר֭וֹת אֱלֹהֵ֣ינוּ יַפְרִֽיחוּ׃ They will be planted in the house of Yahwah | In the court-[yards] of our Elohim they will flourish. ¹⁵ע֭וֹד יְנוּב֣וּּן בְּשֵׂיבָ֑ה | דְּשֵׁנִ֖ים וְרַֽעֲנַנִּ֣ים יִהְיֽוּ׃ They will still prosper in old age | They will be full of sap and green (i.e., flourishing).  ¹⁶לְ֭הַגִּיד כִּֽי־יׇשׇׁ֣ר יהו֑ה | צ֜וּרִ֗י וְֽלֹא־עַוְלׇ֣תׇה בּֽו To declare because Yahwah is upright/true | My Rock and [there is] no iniquity/unrighteousness in Him. [Comment: I understand the structure of this passage to lead with the things that are the result of Yahwah’s being upright…, i.e., “to declare [that] the righteous will blossom…, [that] they will be planted…, [that] they will prosper… because Yahwah is upright… .”]

Next, let’s see how this triliteral could have related to the nickname given by Yeshua to Simon bar Jonah. According to Koehler & Baumgartner Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, this same form of the noun can exist with the meaning of ‘pebble[s]’ of a stream as well as the ‘stone,’ i.e., the ‘flint’ used to make a knife ^{cf. Joshua 5:2-3 where Yahwah instructs Joshua to make ‘knives of flint’ (חַרְבוֹת צֻרִים) for use in circumcision.} K&B notes that in this case, the form ‘tzur’ is a “by-form” of ‘tz^or’/צֹר and which Martin Noth, in his work entitled Die israelitischen Personennamen im Rahmen der gemeinsemitischen Namengebung (The Israelites’ Personal Names within the Framework of Common Semitic Name Giving)^{as also noted under the same entry in K&B}, equates to ‘kayfa’~כֵּיפָא. Of course, it would be almost impossible to distinguish the vowel quality of the one from the other when spoken.

Thrown into the mix is the possibility that another derivative of the triliteral ‘tzur’ | ‘tz^or’/צֹר, ‘tz^eror’~צְרוֹר – a possible diminutive of the former and meaning either ‘stone’ or ‘pebble’ – may have been used by Yeshua to describe Simon bar Jonah.

With this in mind, it is quite possible that Yeshua was indeed making a comparison between the ‘rock’ of a man that Simon bar Jonah was – Flint aka Rocky in the eyes of his comrades, but a mere stone or pebble in light of ‘The Rock,’ meaning Himself, upon which His ekklesia would be built.

Speaking of which, how is Yeshua’s statement that “the gates of Hell will not overcome/ prevail against it [i.e., His ekklesia]” to be explicated, assuming that Yeshua was using a verbal form of the triliteral t(z/s)rr~צרר in conjunction with its derivatives noted above? Hopefully, it has been demonstrated both in the previous post (cf. the link above) and in this one that the key to unlocking the meaning behind this passage is to be found in the application of linguistic analysis based on an underlying, as yet hypothetical, yet plausible Hebrew-Aramaic autograph.

By declaring that “the gates of Hell will not overcome/ prevail against it [i.e., His ekklesia]” Yeshua has thrown down the gauntlet to the adversary, Satan~הַשָּׂטָן, a synonym for which is t(z/s)^ora^er~צֹֹרֵר, which is easily identified to be yet another derivative of the triliteral t(z/s)rr~צרר. This challenge, however, is that of a double-edged sword; it appears that Satan is on the offensive in his quest to destroy the Ekklesia, since he failed to destroy Yeshua at the cross. (Please cf. my post https://the-dragon-is-slain.com/2024/12/03/the-roar-of-war-the-roar-of-death-and-the-roar-of-victory-the-eternal-sons-roar-was-heard-once-and-will-be-heard-once-more-are-you-ready/ ). At his best, however, all that Satan will be engaged in is a rearguard action (nipping at the heel, if you will) against the ever-advancing [Comment: also a meaning of the triliteral] Ekklesia, of which those called out to be its members were known from eternity past by Elohim haAv ~ God the Father in covenant with haBa^en ~ the Son.

At this point, we must take a step back and consider how the Ekklesia relates linguistically to its advance against, and eventual “militant” defeat of, Satan. [Comment: Please see my post, Theoretical Reconstruction of the Derivation of the Conceptual Word ‘Church,’ found at https://thedragonisslain.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=670&action=edit , which discusses the lexical relationship between the New Testament Greek word ‘ekkaleo‘ (to call out in order to assemble for a civic or military purpose), from which ‘ekklesia,’ the group so called, derives, and the corresponding Old Testament Hebrew word ‘qahal.’] It is with a good deal of confidence that it can be deduced that the derivative noun, ‘qahilah,’ an assembly or congregation, is the word that Yeshua used in Matthew 16:18, subsequently translated into Greek as ‘ekklesia.’ Thus it is that He speaks of the “militant” advance of the Qahal-Ekklesia, that assembly/congregation which He has called out to be His Body in this world until He returns to throw Satan into the lake of fire and brimstone, where he, his cohort of fallen angels, and the reprobate from all ages will be tortured away from the presence of the Triune God for all eternity.

An excellent illustration of Yahwah Elohim’s being the protagonist of צור and its related triliteral derivatives can be found in Exodus 23:22 > כִּ֣י אִם־שׇׁמֹ֤עַ תִּשְׁמַע֨ בְּקֹּל֔וֹ וְעָשִׂ֕יתָ כֹּ֖ל אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֲדַבֵּ֑ר וְאְָיַבְתִי אֶת־אֹיְבֶ֔יךָ וְצֵרְתִּ֖י אֶת־צֹרְרְֶיךָ׃ So that if you will surely listen to His voice and do all that I will say, I will hate/be an enemy to your enemies and will assail your adversaries.

As a summary, then, צור the verb can mean to encircle, lay siege to; attack, fight and therefore it makes perfect sense that Yeshua would refer to Himself as the noun derived from this verb, given what He says after affirming that “on this Rock [He] would build [His] ecclesia and the gates of Hell will not prevail against/overpower it.” As is the case many times in the Scriptures, I would suggest there is an intentional play on words, i.e., the gates of Hell will not be able to withstand the advance (attack/ צור) of His ecclesia, having been built upon ‘this Rock/ צור’. As for Peter, the same word, although spelled somewhat differently (צְרוֹר), could phonetically be homonymous when pronounced, meaning ‘flint,’ ‘pebble,’ ‘stone.’