) or Hagah ( 
). In the classical translations, no other Hebrew word is translated as referring to meditation. It would then be logical to begin our “dig” with these words.We have seen how meditation played an important role in the careers of the prophets, and how they experienced extremely high states of consciousness. One would therefore expect to find at least some hint of this in their writings, and in the Bible in general. If they were involved in these practices and mental states, they must have had a vocabulary with which to speak of them. Even if they do not refer to these practices explicitly, it would be expected at least that some of these words should find their way into the Bible.
Attempting to discover this vocabulary is a very difficult task. For all practical purposes, prophecy ceased with the destruction of Solomon's Temple and the Babylonian Exile, some twenty-five centuries ago. There then followed a period of several centuries during which no commentaries on the Bible were written, and very little other literature was published. Whatever vocabulary that existed to describe the practices and experiences of the prophets was, for the most part, forgotten.
Another difficulty stems from the fact that the prophets were very reticent about discussing their practices and experiences, as were their mystical followers. There is virtually no explicit discussion in the Bible regarding how the prophets attained their enlightened state, and with very few exceptions, there is no description of their experiences. If a mystical terminology is used in the Bible at all, it is used mostly in a poetic sense, or merely in passing.
Looking for these expressions and terminology virtually becomes a practice in verbal archeology. One must dig into the Bible text, looking for promising terms, and then, both from context and linguistic analysis, attempt to discover the precise meaning of these words. In doing this, one finds the Talmudic and Midrashic interpretations, as well as the classical commentaries, to be an important aid.
The simplest way to find references to meditation in the Bible is to look at the various translations, especially the older ones, which may be based on ancient traditions. Even though we cannot rely on these translations to give us a precise rendition, they are helpful in offering clues which can be investigated more thoroughly. They might not tell us what is beneath the surface, but they can indicate where we should dig. Once we start probing, we can then fix a more precise meaning to the word.
In the classical English translations of the Bible, the word “meditate” or “meditation” occurs seventeen times.1 Looking back at the original Hebrew, we find that in every one of these cases, one of two words is used, either Siyach ( ) or Hagah ( ). In the classical translations, no other Hebrew word is translated as referring to meditation. It would then be logical to begin our “dig” with these words.