LORD

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).

Torah – Law, Instruction

Lois Tverberg

by Lois Tverberg

The teaching (torah) of the LORD is perfect, renewing life; the decrees of the LORD are enduring, making the simple wise; The precepts of the LORD are just, rejoicing the heart; the instruction of the LORD is lucid, making the eyes light up. (Psalms 19:8-9)

Protestant Christians tend to have a negative attitude about the word “law,” feeling that it refers to oppressive and arbitrary regulations. But the word that we translate as “law,” torah, has a very different emphasis and connotation in Hebrew.

Torah is derived from the root word yarah, which literally means “to flow as water.” Figuratively it means “to point to,” to “teach,” “inform,” “instruct,” or “guide.” Torah could best be defined in English as “instruction,” that is, God’s instruction to man. When it’s used to speak of God’s instruction, the implication is that what God teaches us, we are obligated to obey. So the word “law” is within the bounds of the definition of torah, but not its main emphasis. Christian translations tend to reinforce our thinking by translating torah as “law” most of the time. Jewish translations like the JPS Tanakh instead translate torah as “teaching” most of the time.

One place that you might be surprised to see the word torah is in Proverbs 31. Verse 26 says that the excellent wife “opens her mouth with wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.” (ESV) Literally, she has a torah of hesed to share with others! You can see that in this verse that the word torah means teaching, not law.

Another place we see evidence of torah as “teaching” rather than “law” is when we look closely at the first five books of the Bible that are called the Torah. They contain much more than laws! The Torah contains the story of the creation and fall, God’s covenants with the family of Abraham, how he  rescued them from slavery and led them in the desert. All of the Torah teaches us about God’s ways, but only part of it is actually law. The Penteuch is specifically called “the Torah” because it is understood to be the teaching given through Moses. In Jewish parlance, the word “Torah” is often used in a larger sense to refer to all of Scripture, though.

Grasping the idea of torah as “teaching” helps us see God in a more positive light. It reminds us that rather than being primarily a lawgiver or a policeman waiting to punish us, God is a loving Father instructing his children in how to live. Jesus, who instructed his disciples and the crowds, was simply imitating his Father in teaching us how to have life, and have it more abundantly.

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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 biblical words and cultural ideas in their original setting.

A Companion Bible Study for Listening is also available, for readers who want to explore the Scriptures from a Hebraic perspective. The set is available for a discount here.

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 only).

Shema – Hear and Obey

Lois Tverberg

by Lois Tverberg

Then [Moses] took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient (shema)! (Exodus 24:7)

The word that means “hear or listen,” shema (pronounced “shmah”) is an excellent example of the difference between Hebrew, which stresses physical action and Greek and Western culture that stresses mental activity.

Listening, in our culture, is a mental activity, and hearing just means that our ears pick up sounds. But in Hebrew, the word shema describes hearing and also its effects – taking heed, being obedient, doing what is asked. Any parent who yells at their children, “Were you listening?” when they ignore a command to pick up their rooms understands that listening should result in action. In fact, almost every place we see the word “obey” in the Bible, it is translated from the word shema.

The word shema is also the name of the “pledge of allegiance” that Jesus and other observant Jews up until this day have said every morning and evening. It is the first word of the first line,

“Hear (Shema), O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might… ” (Deut. 6:4-5)

By saying this, a Jew would remind himself of his commitment to love God, to dedicate himself to following God and doing his will. Some Jews teach their children the Shema as soon as they learn to talk! It is the central affirmation for a Jewish person of his or her commitment to the Lord. The word shema here again means, “take heed!” or “listen and obey!”

This gives us a clue of why Jesus says,

He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” He is calling us to put his words into action, not just listen. He wants us to be doers of the word, and not hearers only. (James 1:22)

We as Westerners put all our stress on what is in our minds, and tend to consider action as “dead works.” But Hebrews understood that we have not truly put what we have heard into our hearts until it transforms our lives as well.

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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).

Don’t be a stench!

Lois Tverberg

by Lois Tverberg

They said to them, “May the LORD look upon you and judge you, for you have made us odious in Pharaoh’s sight and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us. (Exodus 5:21)

The Hebrew language is very vivid and poetic because it uses physical imagery to describe the intangible, instead of abstract terms. Instead of being stingy, a person is “tight-fisted,” and instead of being stubborn, a person is “stiff-necked,” like an ox that refuses to let a yoke be put on by arching its neck.

One humorous example is that of the word ba’ash (ba-ash) which means “to be a stench; to emit a stinking odor.” The word was used to describe the Nile after the fish died when it turned to blood (Exodus 7:18). In the same story the Israelites use it in their anger at Moses after Pharaoh increased their labors. They said to Moses, literally,

May the LORD look upon you and judge you, for you have made our aroma to be a stench in the eyes of Pharaoh and his servants…

Often the word ba’ash is used when one person is despised by another because of something obnoxious they have done: a very graphic description! We have strong emotional responses to beautiful aromas and terrible smells, and the ancients used this idea to describe being praiseworthy and attractive as compared to being repulsive.

Interestingly, in the New Testament Paul uses this imagery as well:

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. (2 Corinthians 2:14-16)

When I was an immature believer, I remember that many Christian things “smelled bad” to me. I assumed that Christian authors would be judgmental and rude, and that religious people were hypocritical. I often sense that attitude in nonbelievers too — the more outwardly religious Christians are, the more they tend to convict and irritate those who are immature or unsaved. We smell like Christ: if a person rejects him, they will find us unattractive as well. This is something we need to take in stride when the world isn’t always kind.

On the other hand, just as we smell like Christ, Christ smells like us! Some Christians are rude and vindictive, or dishonest in business. To the world who doesn’t know Christ, this is a potent witness against him. We should always remember that our words and actions are an aroma that goes out into the world.

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Photo by Oziel Gómez 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).

Barak – Bless

Lois Tverberg

by Lois Tverberg

When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you. (Deuteronomy 8:10)

Paul tells us that we should “always be giving thanks for all things” (Ephesians 5:4). This sounds impossible to us, but prayers of thankfulness at all times of day were part of Paul’s Jewish context. Each one of them is called a blessing, berakah, and they are brief prayers that acknowledge God as the source of every good thing.

From before Jesus’ time until today, Jews have “blessed the Lord” for every good thing. In Psalm 103 it says, “Bless the LORD, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name.”

This seems strange to us, because it seems that God should do the blessing. However, the word bless, barak, in Hebrew, tells us something about the idea behind this custom. The word is related to the word “knee,” berek, and the verb can also mean to kneel, as even a camel does (Genesis 24:11)! The idea is that when we bless God, we mentally bow on our knees to worship him, and we are acknowledging him as the source of all blessing. As with many words, the meaning of it has expanded so that the same word, barak, bless, is used when we thank God in prayer and when he gives us good things.

Before the time of Christ, the Jews developed a number of short blessings to be said whenever the occasion arises, in addition to saying longer prayers in the morning and evening. In the Gospels it says Jesus “took the bread and blessed.” (The NIV says “gave thanks” but more literal translations use the word “blessed.”) We know what words he said: most likely, “Blessed is he who brings forth bread from the earth.”

We read that when Jesus did miracles, the people “glorified God”: probably exclaiming, “Blessed is he who has performed a miracle in this place!” It was customary to pray the blessing before leaving the site where a miracle occurred, or to return to the place to say it. So when Jesus heals ten lepers and only one, a Samaritan, comes back and loudly blesses God, Jesus wonders why the other nine haven’t returned to do the same thing (Luke 17:12 -19).

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Further reading:

If you would like to read more about prayers that Jesus prayed, and how other Jews pray even today, see The Richness of Jewish Prayer.

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).

Beit – House

Bruce Okkema

by Bruce Okkema

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. (Psalm 23)

Probably like many of you, I learned Psalm 23 at a young age. I remember thinking then, and have to admit that even until recently, it seemed very strange that anyone would want to “dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” While this is poetically beautiful, are we really supposed to spend our entire life in a church building?

To make this phrase a little more palatable, I had reduced the concept to something like, “we are to dwell in the house of the Lord forever in spirit.” The New International Version Study Bible notes read, ‘the Hebrew for this word suggests “throughout the years.”‘ and cross reference another note which mentions “the joy of total security” (Psalm 23:6 Notes).

While these ideas are certainly true, perhaps a better understanding can be gained by using another meaning for the Hebrew word beit. Not only can it be translated “house” as we think of a residence, or “the House” as in the temple; but it also means family, lineage, or household. This particular usage is evident in the story of Jesus’ birth where we read,

Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David. (Luke 2:4, NASV)

With this additional insight, the cloud over the understanding of this phrase has been cleared away. So with thanks to all the people who have taught me this, I can truly say that I definitely want to “dwell in the house of the Lord forever!””

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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).

Emunah – Faithfulness, Abraham Believed

Lois Tverberg 1 Comment

by Lois Tverberg

Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:6)

One of the most quoted verses about Abraham is Genesis 15:6: “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” This is a key verse in the discussion about being saved by faith apart from works, the central point of the Reformation. It was Abram’s “believing” that gave him righteousness in God’s sight. Protestants have emphasized the importance of believing God’s promises, instead of working to earn our salvation.

But it is important to understand that the key word, emunah, that we translate “believe” has a different emphasis in Hebrew than we tend to hear. In English and Greek (pistis), its primary meaning is to assent to a factual statement, to agree with the truth of certain ideas.

The word emunah does mean to have faith, but it has a broader meaning that has implications for what God calls us to as people of faith. It contains the idea of steadfastness or persistence. In Exodus 17 Moses raised his hands all day long until the Israelites won a key battle. It says that his hands remained steady, emunah, until sunset. In this sense it means steadfast. God is also described using the word emunah in Deuteronomy 7:9:

Abraham and 3 angels“Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful (emunah) God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. “

If we look back at the verse about Abraham’s emunah, it should tell us that Abraham believed God’s promises and had a persistent commitment to God which showed in his faithful life. He waited 25 years for a son, and offered him back to God when he was asked.

This has implications about what it means to be a Christian. I used to wonder why God saved certain people just because they decided to adopt one particular set of beliefs over another. But as James pointed out, Satan himself believes that Jesus died for the sins of the world and that he is God in the flesh, and just knowing that doesn’t redeem him!

But while Satan may have the right beliefs, he cannot say that he has emunah: a committed faithfulness to the Lord. What God asks for goes beyond an academic decision to believe that a certain set of facts are true. He wants faith in his promises that results in a steadfast faithfulness to him.

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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).

Yarah – Fear of the Lord

Lois Tverberg

by Lois Tverberg

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10)

One word that comes up often in the Bible is the word “fear,” yareh, and especially in reference to God. For some, it has made them feel that the God of the Old Testament just wants human beings to be afraid of him. But then we read verses like,

(Of the Messiah) … And he will delight in the fear of the LORD. (Isaiah 11:2-3)

and

The reward of humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, honor and life. (Proverbs. 22:4)

It is obvious from these verses that the “fear of the Lord” is a good, rather than a negative thing. The key to understanding these verses is to know that like many words, “fear” has a broader sense in Hebrew, encompassing very positive things like honor, respect, reverence, and worshipful awe. In fact, every time we read the words “revere” or “reverence” in our English translations, it is from the Hebrew verb yareh.

Rabbinically, the “fear of the LORD” was considered one of the greatest goals of a worshipper’s life. It means to always be reminded that God is watching, and to realize the importance of living according to his will, and to be reassured of his constant care. It does mean to realize that God will discipline those whom he loves (Revelation 3:19). But, the emphasis is on a positive, reverential relationship with God, not in terms of being terrified by him. If having a reverential awe of the Lord causes us to live with integrity and obedience to God, it will ultimately transform us.

In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence,
And his children will have refuge.
The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life,
That one may avoid the snares of death. (Proverbs 14:26-27)

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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).

Da’at Elohim – Knowledge of God

Lois Tverberg

by Lois Tverberg

“For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” (Hosea 6:6)

When English speakers use the verb “to know,” we think of knowing in terms of the mental grasp of facts. In Hebrew, the word for “to know,” yadah, is much broader and will enrich our understanding of the scriptures. Many languages have two different verbs to express the idea of knowing a fact (information) as opposed to knowing a person (relationship). Hebrew tends toward the second idea: having a relationship with a person, and even extending it to mean to care about someone, even to be intimate sexually. For instance, the very literal King James version reads,

And Adam knew (yadah) Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain.
(Genesis 4:1)

This idea is especially important when we learn about the biblical concept called the “knowledge of God,” da’at elohim. A Westerner opens the Bible and wants to prove God’s existence and develop a theology about God’s nature, and would call that “knowledge of God.” But the Hebraic view is that “knowledge of God” is having a life in relationship with him. This is true spiritual wisdom: to know the Lord’s will and live it out. We can see this thinking when we compare Christian Bibles to a Jewish translation. In the NIV we read,

The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him – the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. (Isaiah 11:2)

but in the Jewish Tanakh it reads,

The spirit of the LORD shall alight upon him: a spirit of wisdom and insight, a spirit of counsel and valor, a spirit of devotion and reverence for the LORD. (Isaiah 11:2)

In this verse, da’at is translated as devotion. They see knowledge of God as intimacy with God, knowing him as a son does his father, and a wife her husband. We should think of that when we evangelize – are we trying to fill peoples’ heads with facts, or bringing people to know him personally?

Our ministry has always struggled with how to explain that we are educational, but devotional in nature, that we want to bring people closer to the Lord by understanding the Bible in its context. A verse we felt the Lord had given us was, “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” (Isaiah 11:9, also Habakkuk 2:14). When we read it in the Jewish translation, we finally understood why. It says that the earth “shall be filled with devotion to the LORD as water covers the sea.”

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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).