Hebrew Words

Ahf – When Anger Burns

Lois Tverberg

by Lois Tverberg

So Moses took the rod from before the LORD, just as He had commanded him; and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, “Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?” Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank. But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” – Numbers 20:9-12 (NAS)

Hebrew has a very interesting word for anger, which is ahf. It is also the word for “nose” or “nostril,” and when someone is very angry, his anger is said to “burn,” harah (ha-RAH). It’s a picture of a person so furious that his face is flushed and his nostrils get hot.

In the Scriptures there is an interesting lesson we can learn about anger. Jewish commentaries discuss why God decided after Moses struck the rock not to allow Moses to enter the Promised Land. They suggest that perhaps the reason was not the simple fact that Moses disobeyed God by hitting the rock instead of speaking to it. Rather, could it be that instead of speaking calmly and honoring God by showing that he would provide water, Moses let his rage at the people so overwhelm him that he forgot to honor God and struck the rock out of fury? The commentators imaginatively suggest that after many long years with this obstinate people, Moses had finally reached his limit, and his anger simply overwhelmed him. At that point God decided that another leader must be raised up to complete the mission of entering the land.

Interestingly, this happened in the life of Elijah as well. He struggled for years against the apostasy of Israel in Baal worship. Even after he had won the great victory on Mt. Hermon, he fled for his life, exhausted, and ran all the way down to Mt. Horeb (Sinai). There he poured out his anger against the people, saying,

I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.

With him too, anger had taken its toll, leaving him profoundly discouraged. God told him to find Elisha and train him up to take his place. Even though Elijah had every reason for anger, when it was too much, God saw that someone else would need to take over for him.

These two stories show us how even the wisest can get worn down by frustrations over the years. One rabbinic comment is that, “When a wise man lets his anger overcome him, he loses all his wisdom.” We need to seek relief from our anger before it costs us our ability to lead. Certainly this is all the more true in marriage — uncontrolled anger and contempt is often what brings them to an end.

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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).

Inclined Toward God

Lois Tverberg

by Lois Tverberg

Count yourself dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life. (Romans 6:11-13)

Yetzer

In Jewish thought, there has been a tradition that humans are ruled by two inclinations — the yetzer hara (YET-ser ha-RAH – evil inclination) and the yetzer hatov (YET-ser ha-TOVE – good inclination). Another way this was said was that man either obeyed his yetzer (inclination – his own will) or his yotzer (Creator – God).

One rabbi said,

Man, while he lives, is the slave of two masters: the slave of his Creator and the slave of his inclination. When he does the will of his Creator, he angers his inclination, and when he does the will of his inclination, he angers his Creator. When he dies, he is freed, a slave free from his master.1

This last statement means that in death humans are freed from serving their sinful inclinations, so that in the next life, they will be servants only of God.

This is fascinating because it seems to be the background of Paul’s words to the Romans. He speaks about being slaves to sin in our former lives, but when we were baptized in Christ, we were united with him in his death. He understands that just as Jesus was resurrected and now was living his eternal life, so are we.

When we were baptized, God made us new creations and gave us eternal life, which began right then and will extend into the world to come. God has freed us from slavery to our yetzer hara so that we can serve only our yotzer, Creator, the Lord.

1Rabbi Shimeon ben Pazzai, from the 3rd century AD, as quoted by David Flusser in Judaism and the Origins of Christianity, Magnes Press 1988, pp. 169-170.

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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).

Tamim – Being Perfect

Lois Tverberg

by Lois Tverberg

You have heard that it was said, `Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. – Matthew 5:43-48

A lot of us struggle with the saying of Jesus’ that we should be perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect. Knowing its context and a little about language can help us have a clearer understanding.

The word that most likely came out of Jesus’ mouth was tamim, which in Hebrew means “pure,” blameless,” “perfect,” “wholehearted,” or “complete.” The sacrificial lamb of Passover needed to be tamim — without imperfections, completely whole. God told the Israelites to be perfect (tamim) before him in Deut. 18:13, then meaning wholeheartedly committed to him.

So Jesus is saying that we need to be wholehearted, but about what? Often people quote this line by itself and then become overwhelmed by its demands of moral perfection. Most likely, however, Jesus was not giving an undoable command to be entirely sinless. More likely, this is meant to be read as the culminating line of Jesus’ teaching about love that begins at verse 43. Jesus was pointing out that while humans hate their enemies, God shows love to everyone by giving good gifts even to those who hate him. He sends rain and sun alike on everyone, regardless of merit.

Other later rabbis noted a simiar thing. Rain is indeed precious in the arid Middle East, and God had threatened in the past to withhold it because of Israel’s sins. Surprisingly, though, God caused rain showers to fall and nourish the land and he didn’t discriminate between who received it. This was a sign of God’s mercy, they said. They even commented:

Greater is the day of rain than the resurrection of the dead because the resurrection of the dead benefits only the righteous, but rain benefits both the righteous and the unrighteous.

The “day of the resurrection” is the day when the dead will rise and be judged at the end of time. For the righteous it will be a day of great joy, of the coming of God’s glorious reign on earth. For the wicked, it will be a terrible day of judgment, however. Every day that God provides rain for all of us it shows the mercy of God towards sinners in this life. That’s the merciful, magnanimous love we are supposed to show to all if we want to be tamim, pure and complete.

Even the worst sinners are capable of love, even if just for their friends, but it is incomplete. In contrast, God loves all humanity — his love is complete in that sense. While our love can never be equal in quantity to God’s, it can be like his in its quality of being extended to even those who don’t deserve it. In that sense we are called to imitate God’s perfect love for the world.

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Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash

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).

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).