Word Study: Feet Swell Regal Basak

Transcription

1 Word Study: Feet Swell Regal Basak WORD STUDY FEET SWELL Feet Hebrew: Regal foot, to go about, to spy. Swell Hebrew: Basak to swell, soft, doughy Deuteronomy 8:4: Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee. Neither did thy feet swell these forty years. For forty years Israel wandered in the wilderness, not allowed to enter the Promised Land. God explained that this was done to chasten Israel as a father would chasten a child. Yet, as a father may chasten a child, he does not stop loving the child or caring for the child. He does not stop providing for the child or supporting the child. So too God may have chastened Israel but He never stopped loving them, caring for them, supporting them or providing for them. Yet, you don t think of those things while being chastened. God reminded them that their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet swell. Odd that God would miraculously provide in these areas. In their wanderings the children of Israel could have obtained the necessary material to make clothing. So their feet didn t swell, what s the big deal about that? Well the obvious thing is that God was watching out for even the most minor details of caring for his people. The word for garments is samal which is also a word for covering. The word for waxing old is balah which has the idea of losing vitality and usefulness. This idea of the clothes never wearing is a play on words also showing that God s covering of protection over his people never diminished after 40 years. The word for swell is basak which means soggy or doughy. When used to modify regal or feet, it is a picture of your pace being slowed due to fatigue. This is especially

2 important to the elderly who had to keep up with the younger people who could walk faster and further. It is sort of like someone saying My feet feel like lead. In a sense God was keeping the people youthful despite the fact that they had aged forty years. Again God is sort of making a play on words. He is saying that he has taken care of the little things that one may not even think about, like their clothes wearing out or even their feet swelling. But not only that, at the same time he shows that he has taken care of the larger things like His constant covering of protection, protecting them from the extreme dangers of the desert like storms, pestilence and depravation. Once more he kept their bodies youthful enough despite their age so they could keep up with each other while traveling. My journey to God s heart sometimes feels like I am wandering in a wilderness. Yet, I don t stop to consider the fact that my mind still works, I can still parse a verb, see and read my Hebrew Bible, and sit at a key board. I ve met many my age who can t do that. So with joy I can continue my long journey to God s heart knowing He continues to give me the wherewithal to do so. Word Study: Gird Azar WORD STUDY Gird Gird Hebrew: azar To bind, to gird, girdle, belt Psalm 18:32: It is God that girdeth me with strength, and makes my way perfect.

3 If you are following my cliff hanger adventure series: Through the Daleth on the Chaim Bentorah Facebook page, this word study may make more sense as the Resh in azar has now become my crutch on our journey to Patach where I hope to be delivered from the evil Saqi. I opened my Hebrew Bible and the first word, that first bit of literary nonsense behind that Looking Glass flew out at me Ha el. In 35 years of studying Hebrew I never ran across this before. This is the word for God but it has a definite article and no plural ending. Well, maybe I have seen it before but never behind the Looking Glass. I looked at the previous verse: Who is God, save Jehovah? The word for God there is plural and does not have a definite article. Why did David leave off the plural ending and why the definite article? Then I saw it, the next word azar for girdle. The girdle is an important part of the Eastern dress, it is sort of like a belt, and it is used to draw the garment tightly to the body, particularly while on a journey or doing battle. It suddenly dawned on me that I am doing spiritual battle at this time, the enemy is trying to draw me away from God. He is using recent tragedies in my life to do this, causing me to lean on the arm of the flesh while watching the arm of the flesh fail. But soft, there is more to this. The azar is in a piel form and as a piel it forms a double accusative. That is why the article is before the word for God, to show that God is a direct object as well as the word strength. It is just not God s strength that is tightly wrapped around me, it is God Himself. Wait a minute. David is using the word el and not Jehovah. The Jewish sages teach that the word elohim represents the masculine nature of God. This is God as the protector and provider. Despite the mourning s in my life, God is the source of my provision, not the arm of the flesh and He is not only wrapped around me, but this is in a piel form, He is hugging me with His strength. The word

4 azar is used tropically for strength, he has a very strong grip of protection and provision around me. Follow my adventure on the Chaim Bentorah Facebook page as I travel through the Daleth where my friends from the Hebrew Alphabet teach me the meaning of Psalms 30:11 and how to turn my mourning into dancing, put off my sackcloth and gird me with joy. Devotional Malachi 3:6 Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar; Malachi 3:6: For I am the Lord, I change not. Matthew 10:29: Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing and one of them shall not fall to the ground without your father. The word used for Lord is Yehavah where we get the name Jehovah or as some like to say YHWH. Actually it simply means I am. But there is a strange twist to this word in it s use of the yod. As a verb it is an incomplete action, although it is clearly a completed action and oddly enough is also used as a participle. In other words you would translate the name of God to mean, I am, I was, and I will be. That fits with the following phrase very nicely, I change not. The word change is shanithi which is in a simple Qal past tense I am unchanged. The root word is Shana which means to repeat, do over, again and again and again. In the words of Stuart Hamblin, What He s done for others, he will do for you. But embodied in this word, shana is the fact this is a complete unchanging, down to the slightest detail. To make

5 sure nothing changes, that God fits into shana He must be aware of every little detail in our lives so that nothing will pass His notice so we cannot say: Ah ha, caught cha, God, you missed that one didn t you. See there, you made a slight change. As my study partner said, His dependability, His faithfulness, His way of salvation, His love towards us, His Word, all his attributes will never change. Every detail is covered. Rabbi Toldos Aharon teaches during this season of Channukah that the main thing is not to give up hope no matter what happens, because it is written: For I am the Lord and I do not change. God watches over every single person who is walking with Him in every single act. No such person can hurt even a small finger in this world without His notice. Does this sound familiar to you? Matthew 10:29: Are not two sparrow sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. Note that the passage does not say without the Father s notice but simply without your Father. In the days of Jesus a sparrow carried significant importance for travelers. It was believed that a sparrow would always return home no matter how far he has flown. Thus a traveler would purchase a couple sparrows indigenous to his home before going on a journey. Then when he returns home he releases the sparrows and follows them home, and thus, would not get lost. However, exhausted from his journey a sparrow may fall, and if the traveler was too cheap to purchase more than one sparrow or the sparrows he took died, he would be lost. However, with the Father the sparrow will not fail to lead you home. It is the Father who leads you home, not an undependable sparrow, that is so fragile. The father noticing the fall of the sparrow is noticing and aware of the fact that you have lost your way.

6 The sparrows were also envied by the Jews in Jerusalem because they had the freedom to fly in and out of the temple. They could even fly into the Holy of Holies. So possibly the home that the sparrow is leading one to is the Holy of Holies or God s presence. Verse 31: Fear ye not therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows. So if a dozen sparrows can freely fly into the Holy of Holies or the presence of God, are we not of more value than a dozen sparrows sold for a few pennies that can freely enter the temple or the presence of God? If Jesus purchased us with His life, would we not have an even greater freedom to enter His presence?