Hebraic Thought

God’s Kind of Righteousness

Lois Tverberg

by Lois Tverberg

Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33)

Our understanding of the word “righteousness” (tzedakah – tzeh-dah-KAH) doesn’t come near to understanding the wide, rich meanings of the idea in Hebrew, and sometimes confuses us when we read the Scripture. Our traditional understanding of this idea is correct performance of regulations and legal perfection. When we hear about the “righteousness of God” we cringe, thinking that out of righteousness, God is angry with us when we cannot measure up.

It may surprise us, then, that the phrase, tzedkot Adonai (righteous acts of God) in Jewish versions of the Bible is translated as “kindnesses,” “abundant benevolences,” “gracious acts,” and “gracious deliverances.” This is because the word tzedakah means more than just legal correctness: it refers to covenantal faithfulness, often resulting in rescuing those in distress and showing mercy to sinners.

This is why King David says to God, “Judge me, O LORD my God, according to Your righteousness, and do not let them rejoice over me” (Psa. 35:24). He is actually appealing to God’s mercy to those under his covenant, rather than his legal judgments.

This idea of tzedakah as mercy is even found in Jesus time. A common idiom in use by Jews from that time (and still used today) was to use the word tzedakah to refer to charity and almsgiving. Jesus uses it this way when he says not to do your “acts of righteousness” in front of others, and then he goes on to speak about giving to the poor (Mt 6:1-4).

We see now that the word tzedakah goes beyond “legal perfection.” But we might wonder why many people are spoken of as righteous in the Old Testament, even though they are hardly perfect. How can we be called righteous too? One commentary says that a better way to define the righteous, biblically, would be:

“…those who, in humility and faithfulness, trust in the Lord, despite persecution and oppression; those who seek to live uprightly and without pride of heart, depending on the Lord for protection and vindication. `Righteousness’ here is not ethical perfection, but that obedience and uprightness of the faithful who plead with God for a favorable decision, not always in order to be `justified’ against an adversary, but often, in an absolute manner, to be accepted and saved.”

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Further reading:

See Listening to the Language of the Bible, by Lois Tverberg and Bruce Okkema, En-Gedi Resource Center, 2004. This is a collection of devotional essays that mediate on the meaning of biblical words and phrases in their original setting.

For a friendly, bite-sized Bible study of five flavorful Hebrew words, see 5 Hebrew Words that Every Christian Should Know, by Lois Tverberg, OurRabbiJesus.com, 2014 (ebook).

Joy of Repentance

Lois Tverberg

by Lois Tverberg

I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Luke 15:7

The Hebrew word that we commonly translate as repentance is teshuvah (teh-SHOO-vah). But knowing more about the word and the concept behind it can give us insight on the act of repentance. First, teshuvah literally means “to return,” as when a person does an about-face and walks in the opposite direction from where they were headed before, like when the prodigal son comes home. It also embodies the picture of a person rediscovering what had been left behind before—a new, whole relationship that replaces a broken one.

Interestingly, teshuvah doesn’t really refer to having inward remorse for sin, which is the initial response to a realization of wrongdoing. Rather, it points toward the later, outward result of repentance—that a person actually makes a decision to change and do things differently.

This is an important lesson for us to learn—that to regret something and still keep choosing to do it isn’t really repentance at all. God is ready to forgive us as soon as we call out to him, but if we want to experience healing, we need to make up our mind to live differently and then make a step in that direction—not just wallow in remorse. He has set us free, and we need to claim the freedom in his Spirit to change from our former selves and live as the new creation that we really are.

Another thing that is emphasized in the concept of teshuvah is the joy and love that is the final result. Once we realize our sin and ask for and claim forgiveness, we can know that we are completely acceptable in God’s sight and our time of mourning is over. The rabbis say that when we repent, God actually takes our rebellion and sin and turns it into a source of joy, because we love God more knowing that he has shown his love in spite of ourselves. As Jesus said, “Therefore I tell you, her sins, which were many, are forgiven, thus she loved much; but the one who is forgiven little loves little” Luke 7:47.

Photo by Joel Muniz and Jim Wilson on Unsplash

Faithful Wounds

Lois Tverberg

by Lois Tverberg

Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are excessive. (Proverbs 27:6, New English Translation)

Understanding a little more about Hebrew words can help us see why one verse can be translated in different ways. More interestingly, having two different translation of a verse often gives us a new “depth-perception,” just as the combination of images in both of eyes shows us the three dimensions of the world around us.

One interesting way to see this is that in most Christian translations, Proverbs 27:6a reads, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend,” or “The wounds of a friend can be trusted.” But the version of the Tanakh by the Jewish Publication Society translates that verse differently, as “Wounds by a loved one are long-lasting.” One casts hurtful statements in a positive light, the other points out how painful they are. Why is that?

Emunah

The answer is intriguing. The Hebrew word that has been translated “faithful” is ne’emanim (neh-eh-mah-NEEM), which is related to the word emunah, which means “faithful” or “reliable.” It is also related to the verb aman, meaning to believe or trust. But the same word can also mean “steadfast, long-lasting, enduring.” So the wounds of a friend can be trustworthy and reliable, or they can be long-lasting, in the sense of never going away.

Which is the correct translation? Ironically, I think it is both. When our loved ones tell us their greivances, often they are something we should seriously consider changing, because they know that telling us will hurt us. But on the other hand, the speaker should realize that no matter how carefully said, his or her words will tend to stay with the hearer forever, often causing a wound that will take a long time to heal.

Words are like knives that with the slightest mishandling can cause great pain. Any time we say something critical to a person, we should consider carefully that it will likely affect our relationship for a long time. Is it really that necessary to “get something off our chest”? Only when we choose our words with the realization that they will have a long-lasting impact on others will they be faithful in helping them as well.

Reckless words pierce like a sword,
but the tongue of the wise brings healing. (Proverbs 12:18)

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Further reading:

See Listening to the Language of the Bible, by Lois Tverberg and Bruce Okkema, En-Gedi Resource Center, 2004. This is a collection of devotional essays that mediate on the meaning of biblical words and phrases in their original setting.

For a friendly, bite-sized Bible study of five flavorful Hebrew words, see 5 Hebrew Words that Every Christian Should Know, by Lois Tverberg, OurRabbiJesus.com, 2014 (ebook).

Ahavah – Another Kind of Love

Lois Tverberg

by Lois Tverberg

But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. – Luke 6:27-28

Hebrew has very few words that are abstract and do not have a physical component. As a result, verbs that we consider mental activities usually also describe a physical outcome as well. The word for listen, shema, also means to obey — the result of listening. Likewise, the verb for see, ra’ah, can mean to respond to a need.

It is helpful to know that this is also true for the word for love, ahavah (a-hah-VAH). Besides our conventional meaning, ahavah also can mean “to act lovingly toward,” or “to be loyal to.” In ancient treaties, an enemy king who signed a covenant of peace with another king would pledge to “love” the king — meaning to act loyally, not necessarily to have warm thoughts about him. When the Israelites were commanded to love God with all of their hearts as part of their covenant, it isn’t so much a demand for passionate feelings as much as to utterly commit their lives to him as their only God.

Understanding this aspect of love can give us some wisdom about Jesus’ words. For instance, when he says, “Love your enemies,” he may have been thinking of our actions toward them more than having affection toward them within ourselves. His words to “love our enemies” seem to be synonymous with the next phrase, “do good towards those who hate you ” — treat them fairly, don’t act in revenge, be kind no matter how unkind they are to you. When someone acts cruelly towards us, we don’t need to lie to ourselves about what they are like. But if we do our best to show love, our feelings are bound to change over time.

This Hebraic definition of the word “love” also teaches us that loving a person must include action, not just mental feelings. We cannot fully obey God’s command to “love our neighbor” by just thinking nice things about them. To love them encompasses getting up off our chair and showing them God’s love by helping them in any way that we can.

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Further reading:

See Listening to the Language of the Bible, by Lois Tverberg and Bruce Okkema, En-Gedi Resource Center, 2004. This is a collection of devotional essays that mediate on the meaning of biblical words and phrases in their original setting.

For a friendly, bite-sized Bible study of five flavorful Hebrew words, see 5 Hebrew Words that Every Christian Should Know, by Lois Tverberg, OurRabbiJesus.com, 2014 (ebook).

Chayei Olam – Eternal Life

Lois Tverberg

by Lois Tverberg

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (John 17:2)

When we read the line above from Jesus, it makes us stop and pause. It seems odd that Jesus would define eternal life as knowing him and his Father. Isn’t eternal life living forever after we die?

An interesting insight comes from how the term “eternal life,” chayei olam (Hi-YAY Oh-LAHM) was understood by Jews in Jesus’ time.1 While the phrase often had our understanding of life after death, chayei olam often had a different emphasis, when it was contrasted with “chayei sha’ah” (fleeting life). Chayei sha’ah, fleeting life, is living a life that is only concerned about everyday things: working, making money, eating, and sleeping. Chayei olam, “lasting life” or “a life of eternity” refers to living a life focused on matters of eternal importance.

Traditionally, Jewish people have considered the study of the Bible truly living out one’s “eternal life.” A story is told about a rabbi who spent years in study of the Scriptures, and then walked past farmers tilling their land. He remarked, “they have abandoned lasting life (chayei olam) and involve themselves instead with fleeting life (chayei sha’ah).”2

Looking at Jesus’ words in this light, his idea of eternal life seems to fit into this second definition. He is saying that knowing God intimately and living with Jesus Christ as your Lord, here and now, is living as if you were already in eternity. This makes a lot of sense: what thing in our lives has more eternal significance that that?

It is fascinating that Jesus also seemed to be commenting on the Jewish idea that the way to live your “eternal life” right now is to study the Scriptures. He says, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you have eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life” (John 5:39-40). He is speaking to some of his fellow Jews who did not see that the Scriptures ultimately pointed toward him. Eternal life is not had even in studying the Scriptures, but in finding in them that Jesus is our Lord, and we can live for serving him.

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1These terms are found written down first in the Talmud, which dates from around 500 AD. Many oral traditions are recorded in it that come from Jesus’ time and before.

2Quote is from the Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 33b, as quoted at the following link: http://ww2.mcgill.ca/freedman/bf_risk.html.

Further reading:

See Listening to the Language of the Bible, by Lois Tverberg and Bruce Okkema, En-Gedi Resource Center, 2004. This is a collection of devotional essays that mediate on the meaning of biblical words and phrases in their original setting.

For a friendly, bite-sized Bible study of five flavorful Hebrew words, see 5 Hebrew Words that Every Christian Should Know, by Lois Tverberg, OurRabbiJesus.com, 2014 (ebook).

Amen and Amen!

Lois Tverberg

by Lois Tverberg

Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting even to everlasting. And let all the people say, “Amen.” Psalms 106:48

It is interesting to note that the most widely known word on all the earth, across the most languages, is the word Amen, a Hebrew word. Jews, Christians and Muslims all use this word in prayer, and it generally moves unchanged from language to language. Even in the Greek of the New Testament, the word was written literally as “amen” rather than a Greek translation being used.

The word amen is related to the Hebrew words emunah (faith, belief, trust) and emet (truth). It means something like, “This I affirm,” or “Let it be so.” It was used throughout the Old Testament as a response, as when blessings or curses were read as part of a covenant, and all the people said “Amen.” When psalms were sung, the people would respond, “Amen.” The leader didn’t say it — it was a way of the people to proclaim their agreement with the liturgy they heard (see the above verse). In Jewish prayer today, this is still done. After the leader recites the prayer, the audience follows with “Amen,” in effect saying, “I affirm this prayer also, let it be so for me too.”

Some scholars believe that there has been confusion in our understanding of Jesus’ use of amen. He often began speaking with an amen, which has been thought to be a way to emphasize his own words. In the King James, it is translated “verily” and modern translations remove it altogether, and substitute “I tell you the truth.”

Robert Lindsay, a scholar of the first century Jewish context of Jesus, believes that Jesus actually used amen as it was used by the rest of his society — as a response of affirmation of something else that precedes his words. For instance, when the centurion tells him that by just saying the word, Jesus can heal from afar, Jesus says, “Amen! I tell you, I have not seen such great faith in Israel.” (Matthew 8:10) The beginning amen is an exclamation of enthusiasm in reaction to hearing the man’s statement of faith. Jesus responded to the people and situations around him with a loud amen sometimes, and didn’t just underline his own teachings with that word.

“Amen” isn’t just the natural end of a prayer, it is a way of saying “I most certainly agree!” Whether we say it at the end of our own prayers, or use it to agree with the prayer of another, may all our prayers reflect this wholehearted agreement with the words we have prayed, and our response of faith to God’s answers.

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Further reading:

See Listening to the Language of the Bible, by Lois Tverberg and Bruce Okkema, En-Gedi Resource Center, 2004. This is a collection of devotional essays that mediate on the meaning of biblical words and phrases in their original setting.

For a friendly, bite-sized Bible study of five flavorful Hebrew words, see 5 Hebrew Words that Every Christian Should Know, by Lois Tverberg, OurRabbiJesus.com, 2014 (ebook).

Kavanah – Praying with Intention

Lois Tverberg

by Lois Tverberg

Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart. (Psalm 24:3)

The prayers that Jesus and Paul prayed were a combination of spontaneous petitions and traditional prayers that were prayed at certain times of day. One of them that is still prayed today is called the Amidah or “Eighteen Benedictions.”1 It is quite lengthy, and consists of prayers for all the various concerns of the Jewish people. For thousands years since Jesus lived, these petitions have stayed nearly the same.

In contemporary Protestant culture, we tend to disdain rote prayer, preferring the intimacy of spontaneous prayer and feeling that a repeated prayer is empty and hollow. We wonder how a person could avoid just “going through the motions.” The answer is a concept that the rabbis developed known as Kavanah. The word means “direction,” “intention,” or “devotion,” and the idea behind praying with kavanah is that you set the direction of your thinking toward God, and toward praying the memorized prayer “with all your heart.”

A person who has kavanah focuses his entire being on prayer, and is undistracted by the chaos around him. He may have said the same prayer a thousand times, but his mind is sunk so deeply into the words that he is experiencing new insights and feelings from them today that he has never experienced before.

In synagogues, above the ark that holds the Torah scrolls, there is often a plaque that says, “Know before whom you stand.” That is just what it means to have kavanah in prayer: to have a sense of standing in the presence of God, to know that you are addressing the sovereign Lord of the universe.

When I used to pray after crawling in bed, I would often fall asleep before finishing my prayer. After thinking about the lack of reverence this has for God, I now make myself kneel or stay awake in some way, or pray at a time of day when I’m more awake. He deserves our best, not our least efforts in prayer.

Kavanah can go beyond prayer as well – our lives should also show it too. We should live each hour and day with devotion and intention, being aware of God’s presence all around us. When we do this, our lives will truly be the reflection of Christ, whose every desire was to please and honor God in every way.

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Further reading:

See Listening to the Language of the Bible, by Lois Tverberg and Bruce Okkema, En-Gedi Resource Center, 2004. This is a collection of devotional essays that mediate on the meaning of biblical words and phrases in their original setting.

For a friendly, bite-sized Bible study of five flavorful Hebrew words, see 5 Hebrew Words that Every Christian Should Know, by Lois Tverberg, OurRabbiJesus.com, 2014 (ebook).

 

Noseh Avon – Carrying Guilt

Lois Tverberg

by Lois Tverberg

The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. – Exodus 34:6-7

The verse above is God’s own revelation about Himself, when he passed by Moses on Mt. Sinai and showed him his glory. It was God’s answer to Moses’ request: “And now, if I have found favor in your sight, show me your way, that I may know you, that I may continue to find favor in your sight!” (Exodus 32:13). This phrase is called by Jews the “Thirteen Attributes of God,” counting thirteen ways God’s mercy is described. This is a very important text about God, quoted eight other times in the Bible and often used as part of Jewish liturgy.

An interesting thing in Hebrew in this passage is that the words that describe God’s “forgiving wickedness” are literally “to lift or carry guilt,” and in fact, many other places is actually translated as “bear iniquity” or “to bear guilt.” The same phrase noseh avon is used in many passages, including the following:

[The sin offering] is most holy, and He gave it to you to bear the guilt of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the LORD. (Leviticus 10:17)

The goat shall bear their iniquities to a solitary land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness. (Leviticus 16:22)

Interestingly, the same phrase that is applied to God in terms of forgiving sins is also applied to the atonement sacrifices which bore the sins of the people. There is another word for forgiving sin, selach, that could have been used, but bearing guilt is what God speaks of here. It sounds as if God’s answer to Moses’ request that he “show him his way” is to say that he would bear his people’s guilt!

In the light of this, one more place where noseh avon is used is very significant in relation to the suffering of the Christ — Isaiah’s prophecy of God’s servant who would redeem Israel by paying for their sins:

Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53:10-11)

It appears that when Moses asked the Lord to reveal his glory and to show him his plan, that the Lord answered by hinting even then of his future plans. Already he had determined that he himself would bear our wickedness, transgression and sin.

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Further reading:

See Listening to the Language of the Bible, by Lois Tverberg and Bruce Okkema, En-Gedi Resource Center, 2004. This is a collection of devotional essays that mediate on the meaning of biblical words and phrases in their original setting.

For a friendly, bite-sized Bible study of five flavorful Hebrew words, see 5 Hebrew Words that Every Christian Should Know, by Lois Tverberg, OurRabbiJesus.com, 2014 (ebook).

Levav – Heart, Mind

Lois Tverberg

by Lois Tverberg

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:5)

In Hebrew, the heart (lev or levav) is the center of human thought and spiritual life. We tend to think that the heart refers mainly to our emotions, but in Hebrew it also refers to one’s mind and thoughts as well.

Many cultures assumed that the heart was the seat of intelligence, and without an advanced understanding of physiology, it makes sense. The heart is the only moving organ in the body, and strong emotions cause the heartbeat to race. When the heart stops beating, a person is dead. Because the Hebrews were a concrete people who used physical things to express abstract concepts, the heart was the metaphor of the mind and all mental and emotional activitiy.

Other interesting physical terms are also used – when we read “inmost being” the Hebrew often is literally “kidneys” (Prov. 23:16), and the life was understood to be in the blood (Genesis 9:4).

Understanding that the word “heart” often meant mind and thoughts often helps clarify the meaning of passages. For instance:

“These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.” (Deut. 6:6)
means
These commandments are to be in your minds, a part of all your thoughts.

“The heart of the wise instructs his mouth and adds persuasiveness to his lips.” (Prov. 16:23)
means
The wise person’s mind considers his words so that he can speak persuasively.

One more lesson we can learn from the meaning of heart is from the greatest commandment, to “love the Lord with all your heart.” It means we are to use all of our thoughts as well as our emotions to love the Lord. In the Gospels the phrase “and all your mind” is there to emphasize that fact, but from Moses’ time it would have been understood that way. As Paul says, we must “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

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Further reading:

See Listening to the Language of the Bible, by Lois Tverberg and Bruce Okkema, En-Gedi Resource Center, 2004. This is a collection of devotional essays that mediate on the meaning of biblical words and phrases in their original setting.

For a friendly, bite-sized Bible study of five flavorful Hebrew words, see 5 Hebrew Words that Every Christian Should Know, by Lois Tverberg, OurRabbiJesus.com, 2014 (ebook).

Ben – Son

Lois Tverberg

by Lois Tverberg

But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. – Matthew 5:44-45

The word for son in Hebrew, ben, is used for a wide variety of purposes in the Bible, and it carries some assumptions and cultural understandings. Along with its literal use to mean the son of a father or mother, it is commonly used for later descendants as well. Often this helps us understand that in genealogies, generations can be left out and only significant ancestors reported. This isn’t because of error, it is because it was acceptable to speak of a descendant as a “son.”

An assumption behind the word “son” is that descendants share the characteristics of their forefathers. Usually, the children took on their family’s profession and worshipped the family’s gods. They assumed that children would take on their father’s personality — if your father was wise, you would be wise, if he was warlike, you were warlike. For instance, Ishmael was a “wild donkey of a man” and it was assumed that his descendants, the Ishmaelites, will be like that too. Or, when Jesus is described as the “Son of David,” it tells that he is a descendant in the line of David, and like David he is a powerful king. So, to explain who was part of each family is very important to understanding the society. This is why there are so many stories in Genesis about the ancestors of tribes of Israel and other nations.

Another use of the word son is to describe a disciple. The rabbi-disciple relationship was understood to be like that between a father and a son, and indeed, the disciple was supposed to have as much love for his rabbi as for his own father. Just like son emulated his fathers ways, a disciple was to emulate his rabbi’s ways and become like him in character.

We can see now how Jesus uses the term “son” in today’s Bible passage. Just as a son wants to grow up to be like his father, we should aim to be like our Father in heaven. Because he is loving toward people who hate him, and merciful to those who don’t deserve it, we should be so too.

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Further reading:

See Listening to the Language of the Bible, by Lois Tverberg and Bruce Okkema, En-Gedi Resource Center, 2004. This is a collection of devotional essays that mediate on the meaning of biblical words and phrases in their original setting.

For a friendly, bite-sized Bible study of five flavorful Hebrew words, see 5 Hebrew Words that Every Christian Should Know, by Lois Tverberg, OurRabbiJesus.com, 2014 (ebook).