I know what you are thinking.  You're wondering how in the world anyone could think that I am denying in the title of this post could be true.  I agree, the idea is truly bizarre.  That's why it is so disturbing when you encounter people who think they are "digging into the Word" by interpreting Scripture that way.

I'll start with a common example many readers will (sadly) have heard.  Ezekiel 38:2-3 refers to a figure known as "Gog, chief prince of Meshach and Tubal."  The Hebrew behind "chief prince" is pronounced nesi rosh.  Some well-meaning Bible teachers want to translate the phrase "prince of Rosh" as though rosh is a noun of geography (it isn't).  They observe that "Rosh" sounds a lot like "Russia" and "Meshech" and "Tubal" sound like "Moscow" and "Tobolsk," cities in Russia.  Surely, then, Gog must be an enemy (perhaps even the antichrist) from Russia.

Stop laughing.  I've seen that in print.  More than once.  It is absolute nonsense.

Simply put, languages don't work this way.  The fact that there is a Chinese word that sounds like chin doesn't mean that word describes a protrusion on the lower part of the face just under the lips.  It doesn't.  Not even close.  The Hebrew word dor is not something with hinges that opens and closes (the word means "generation").  Spanish plata does not mean "plate" (it means "silver, money").  The French verb blesser means "to wound, injure or offend,"  not "invoke divine care" or "confer prosperity."

I could go on and on. The human mouth, tongue, teeth, and nose - -the body parts responsible for making sounds as air moves through them from the lungs - are only capable of making a finite number of sounds. Every language on earth has arisen as people use those body parts to make sounds to communicate with each other.  No language assigns the same meanings to all, or even most, of the same sounds.  Few things in life could be more obvious.

Unfortunately, I've known authors, teachers, pastors, and Bible students who somehow miss something this palpably evident.  Don't be misled. Word meaning depends on context, not sounds.