DoorKeeper Ministries
  • Home
  • About Us / Contact Us
    • Bio
    • What We Believe
    • Contact Us
  • Ministries
    • Audio Teachings
    • Video Teachings
    • Missions / Testimonials
    • Links
    • Kelly's Music & Lyrics >
      • Simple Songs of Scripture Lyrics
      • Covenant with Israel Lyrics
      • Comfort, Comfort My People Lyrics
  • Music, DVD's & Books
  • Donate
  • Blog

DoorKeeper Watch Blog

I have posted watchmen on your walls O Jerusalem
​Isaiah 62:6

My Grandmother Zeba

2/22/2025

1 Comment

 
I made several promises to myself about things I planned to pursue after my husband John passed away. One of them - at the top of the list - was to learn the Hebrew language. I studied enough to learn the Aleph Bet twenty years ago when I went to live in Jerusalem for several months; but I had long forgotten most of what I learned back then.

My brain is probably operating a bit slower than it was twenty years ago, but I am feeling very blessed and encouraged to be hearing and speaking this ancient language again. In this morning's class I got a very special blessing! We were practicing sounding out Hebrew words, using the first group of letters that we had learned. We went around the room, reciting one word after another and when it was my turn I heard myself sounding out the word "zeba."  It gave me the chills. That was my grandmother's name, my mother's mother. I had never met her - she died just after giving birth to my mother.  When my mother passed away in 2014 I found a letter in a shoebox that was written by her father. He was describing, no doubt with tears, the train trip he was taking with his infant daughter (my mom) in his arms. The year was 1923 and Grandpa was a farmer in southeast Missouri, unable to keep and raise this little girl just born to him. His beautiful wife Zeba had died of meningitis and complications of child birth. He took his newborn daughter to his sister's where she and her husband agreed to raise her.  I shared this story with the dear friend and fellow student seated next to me. She got very curious, pulled out her cell phone and looked for the meaning of the name Zeba, and read to me what she found: "deprived of protection." I also found that the literal meaning of the word is "victim or sacrifice." It brought tears to my eyes as I pondered this meaning and how profoundly appropriate it seemed. 

I also reflected this morning on the six-month prayer watch I kept in Jerusalem in 2005 and how I became curious about what my grandmother's Hebrew name meant. I walked into the Old City one day and questioned two different vendors in the  market who spoke English. They both told me the meaning of the word was "wolf."  I remember how the Spirit seemed to quicken to me that day that it might just be revelation to me of what Hebrew tribe I'm descended from, since the banner of the tribe of Benjamin is a picture of a wolf!  Then amazingly, this thought was confirmed for me one night at the House of Prayer when a woman from Canada, together with her son, knocked on our big, heavy wooden door and asked for shelter from the cold rain. I invited them in and served them bowls of piping hot soup, still left from our dinner.  In between spoonfuls, the woman suddenly looked at me, pointed her spoon right at me, and pronounced "YOU are of the tribe of Benjamin!" As you can imagine, I was most startled! I am still in touch with that uniquely prophetic and kind woman today.

The Hebrew word for wolf is actually spoken as ze'ev. But as I dig anew into the deep ancient meanings of this language, I recall why I fell so in love with it and especially enjoy singing and worshiping in it. Many of us believe it will surely be the language spoken of in Zephaniah 3:9, which says, "For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call  upon the name of the LORD and serve Him with one accord." It was, after all, God's original language throughout the Tanakh (Old Testament), so why would it not be the language He chooses to restore to us in His Everlasting Kingdom?  

It is a difficult language for many of us to learn since the letters are entirely different; so perhaps He will have mercy and give us an immediate "download" as soon as we are with Him!  But in the meantime, I pray that I can persevere and accomplish this goal I set for myself. This morning I not only found myself writing my grandmother's name in Hebrew, but also reading the words Israel, and Abba and Jerusalem (Yerushalayim) ​in Hebrew letters. Like the sound of the shofar, this is waking up my DNA and delighting my soul!


1 Comment
Nedra Russell link
3/11/2025 05:33:51 pm

Once again…your stories are poignant and filling—of substance! The story of your grandmother, her name and her death--

What can I say to this history of your people? It is fascinating, the way it all intertwines with the very breath and breadth of He who saves and watches over us all, Gentile and Jew!

You, coming from the tribe of Benjamin, how exciting! Oh, how I desire to know my family history. Yet, it is of some difficulty being black to discover these things as not a lot of records were kept.

Your website is more than I could ask for! Please keep allowing us in so that we may partake of all that is seen and unseen. Your zeal for our GOD is refreshing! Much love

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Kelly Ferrari Mills

    Picture



    Subscribe


    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014

Visit DoorKeeper Ministries on Facebook and YouTube 


  • Home
  • About Us / Contact Us
    • Bio
    • What We Believe
    • Contact Us
  • Ministries
    • Audio Teachings
    • Video Teachings
    • Missions / Testimonials
    • Links
    • Kelly's Music & Lyrics >
      • Simple Songs of Scripture Lyrics
      • Covenant with Israel Lyrics
      • Comfort, Comfort My People Lyrics
  • Music, DVD's & Books
  • Donate
  • Blog