BEYOND THE DALETH HOPE בטח

Transcription

1 BEYOND THE DALETH HOPE בטח Ecclesiastes 9:4: For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. how hard it must be to live only with what one knows and what one remembers, cut off from which one hopes for there can be no peace without hope. Albert Camus The Plague. A living dog is better than a dead lion. Now I suppose that is supposed to mean something? In the first century the school of Hillel and the House of Shammai both questioned whether the Book of Ecclesiastes should be include in the Canon as it was book filed with despair and hopelessness. It was like a primer for existentialism. It gave no meaning to life and in fact suggested that life was worthless. It does not matter whether you are rich or poor, in the end the rich die just like the

2 poor and the cycle of life continues. So why work and struggle all your life and then go to a grave. Such thoughts give rise to hedonism. Just live for the moment and find all the enjoyment you can. The Talmud, however, instructs us that Ecclesiastes is telling us that what is done under the sun is of no value as it will pass away. However, what is done above the sun will have eternal value. Our focus should be not on what will quickly pass away but on that which will continue to exist. Thus, our existence on this earth is only to prepare that which has eternal value. So long as we are alive we have hope,. A dog in this context is considered a vile animal, not the domesticated animals we are familiar with today. A lion was considered to be a noble animal. Yet it is better to be a vile beast and to be alive than to be a noble animal and be dead. We can envy the wealth, power and fame of JP Morgan but he is dead and wherever he is and whatever he accomplished for eternity is long past. But here we are alive and we still can accomplish something of eternal value. It is interesting that the word used for hope which is the central thought here is the Hebrew word batach. Batach is the word used for trust, security, to confide in, to cling to and to have confidence in. Using the English word hope is seems to be stretching it a bit. The basic thought is that the opportunity we have in being alive is to trust and to cling to something. The word batach is spelled Beth, Teth and Cheth. Can the meaning of life be spelled out in these three letters. Well, I tell you, right now the meaning for life for me is to just get some sleep, it has been a long day and I keep dozing off

3 so I think I will just shut down my computer, close my Hebrew Bible here and. Say what? Batach, is that you? It s time to go to bed, go on get some sleep. No you are not going to jump through my Looking Glass hanging from my Daleth, it is just too late at night to visit Hebrew Esoteric Land. Oh, so you want to show my me own personal journey with you Batach (hope). I know that journey and I want come back here you, you you Hebrew word you. He s gone, that crazy Batach has so many different English words that if you follow him you will never know what he means. Batch can be a very individual word. Well, I guess I will have to go after him. Come on you can follow me behind my Looking Glass, maybe you will find your own English word for Batch, but I need to caution you that this can be a very personal journey and Batach may look different to you that he does not me. So as I step behind my Looking Glass I find a bright, sunny day. Birds are singing, grass is growing, not a dark cloud in the sky. This ain t too bad, it is better weather than we have been seeing in Chicago of late. It is close to zero on the other side of my Looking Glass. Ah ha, there he is, that first letter to Batach, the Beth and he is waving to me. I think he wants me to visit him in his home. You see Beth represents a house and boy he does have a very comfortable home, with a nice white picket fence, well cared for lawn surrounded by flowers. My landlord is selling the building I live in and I am in the market for a new home, I could go with something like this. We go inside where Beth serves a cup of tea just the way I like it. We start to have a nice conversation about the weather, the Blackhawks Hockey team winning the World Series. Excuse me I mean the Super Bowl. What s that? Whose Stanley? What do I care about the cup he drinks his tea out of. What do you mean he doesn t want to drink tea out of that cup? Beth, you have been hanging around Batch too much, you are not making sense. I am finding this

4 conversation is getting pretty boring as I can t make any sense out of it at all. Beth admits he is a pretty boring fellow. I kind of yawn and wonder if this is all there is to my visit to Hebrew Esoteric Land, I mean I could be getting some good sleep right now and Huh? I am? I couldn t be dreaming all this Wow what was that? There is a sudden gush of wind outside. We look out the window and see a snow storm approaching. Oh my Gosh, I shout, it s the Boston Snow Blizzard and it followed us into Esoteric Land. Beth picks up the phone and calls his friend Teth over as it appears things are going to get pretty exciting and we will need some shelter. Teth, the second letter to Batch, appears having arrived by riding on a gust of a powerful wind and some nasty looking snow clouds. Beth and I run to meet him just as the storm dumps him on Beth s doorstep. Beth did not think his house could stand up against such a powerful storm and Teth is built like a readymade shelter, a half circle with two arrows like points at the top which are pointing inward. The arrows seem to indicate self-examination. Beth and I dive inside just as another gust of wind picks Teth up, with us inside and begins to bounce us around Esoteric Land. Feeling the end is near I being to do some pretty heavy self-examination. Beth explains to me that his friend Teth has a direct link to the creator as he is the first letter to the Hebrew word Tov which is goodness or harmony with God. It is this self inward examination, like I am doing now, that helps to bring us into harmony with God. Outside the storm rages. Teth is being bounced around like a rubber ball in a tennis match and inside it feels like we are on a roller coaster. Well, said Beth this is a little more exciting than inside my house and trying to explain Hockey to

5 you, wouldn t you say? You re right, I reply, I could care less about this fellow Stanley and his cup. But, oh, your poor house! We take a peek at the outside in time to see Beth s beautiful little house being blown away in the storm. Beth just shrugged and said: No big thing, it was not built to last and it was getting a little boring anyways, in a few months Stanley s Cup will not be an issue anyways. Suddenly Teth calls out: Hang on the storm is really about to hit and hit it did and we were tossed around bruised, battered and beaten, but Beth was smiling and said; Far out, what a ride. Finally we came to rest against a huge tree. I looked out and found it was not a tree but it was Chet, the last letter to the Hebrew word Batach (hope) who represents a unity or binding with God. Beth and I climbed out of the Teth. The storm is past and I trudge through two feet of snow back to my Looking Glass. As I walked away I saw Beth, Tet and Chet (Batch hope) waving at me. They formed the word Batach or hope. I could not help but think that this is the hope mentioned in Ecclesiastes 9:4. Perhaps the translators were correct to render Batch as hope in this case. There is a time for peace and comfort with Beth, but a time of raging storms where we are seeking shelter in the Teth but it is when Chet joins up with Beth and Tet to form Batch (hope) that the good times roll and the bad as well, that all contributes to a binding together with God. The good times and bad have no value unless it is joined by the Chet to give it eternal value. I mean a hundred years from now nobody will care whether Stanley finds his cup or not. I return from behind the Looking Glass understanding the message of Ecclesiastes. Whatever we experience in this world is short lived. What we do with those experiences can have eternal value if we use them to help bind us to God. So if

6 you happen to see a Hawk that is Black, tell him not to worry about Stanley s cup, it won t matter in the long run, he can drink his tea out of a glass, what s the diff? WORD STUDY EATING YOUR OWN אכל את בשׁרו FLESH Ecclesiastes 4:5: The fool folded his hands together and eats his own flesh. This could sound a bit creepy if you read it literally. Obviously this is a metaphor. Most of our commentaries tend to agree that the writer is basically saying that there are people who feel the world owes them a living. They sit back in their laziness and eat their own flesh, in other words they are self-tormentors, never really satisfied. I can see that in this verse, but I believe that there is much more. You may look at this verse and say, Well, that does not apply to me, I am a hard worker, and then just move on. Let s back up a minute before you miss something. The first word in this verse is fool. This is kasal in Hebrew and does mean to be foolish but this is a foolishness which is bred from a refusal to look beyond your own understanding. Now we are striking a

7 little bit more at home. The word is spelled Kap, Lamed and Samek. The Kap speaks of arrogance, willfulness, and becoming a tyrant. The Samek shows a blocking off or shutting down. The Lamed could represent narrow mindedness and bookishness. In other words, this fool is one who will not accept advice or counsel, he just shuts down and dwells on his own understanding of events. He folds his hands. Commentators say that this is an expression for laziness. Here we are now getting a picture of a person going through a difficult time and giving up. This is someone who is so discouraged he will no longer lift a hand to get himself out of a situation. He refuses to look at the positive side, he is totally pessimistic and convinced that disaster and tragedy lies ahead and will not raise a finger to do anything about it. This really finds application in many other areas of our lives. Someone may say: It is no use, I can t find a job (lose weight, give a speech, finish my education etc.), so I will just give up and not try. Such a person who gives up is also a kasal or a fool. Take a look at that last expression eats his own flesh. Commentators say this means self tormenting, Let s say you are in a hurry for lunch so you run to the local fast food provider expecting fast food. You order a burger and you see it come up sitting in the hopper, wrapped, bagged and ready to go but that little girl behind the counter is busy getting another customer a cup of coffee, then that customer is digging in her purse for that extra two pennies, then she wants some cream and then you are indignant that the little girl does not just hand you your bag with the burger and suddenly you start demanding your customer rights and you declare that the little girl at the counter is bad, the kitchen help is bad, the company is bad and the American Big

8 Mac uses fake meat. You walk out grumbling, you are angry, and your whole day is ruined because you were forced to wait an extra minute. You are no longer hungry because you have been eating your own flesh. You have become a self-tormentor. Yet, I wonder if self tormenting is all the writer had in mind. The word for flesh is besar which speaks of your inward parts. The word for eat is akal which means to consume, or devour. Now I am not opposed to commentaries and I use commentaries, but the danger is that we can limit ourselves to commentaries and not open ourselves up to further revelation by the Spirit of God. For one thing commentators are people just like you and me. Who is to say they have a final word on a passage of Scripture. Who is to say that God will not allow for various shades of interpretations to fit our needs? I feel God is speaking a message to me personally and just because it does not fit the commentator s interpretation does not mean I can ignore that still small voice within side of me. If I am brave enough to step outside the box, perhaps I can hear God s voice addressing a very root problem that I might have. As I look at that final phrase, eat their own flesh I find if I substitute the word consume or devour for eat and inward parts for flesh (all which are appropriate in the Hebrew), I begin to get a clear picture of myself. This giving up is not so much just not doing anything at all, but allowing yourself to consume your inward parts. Say I look at my personal situation and see only doom and gloom ahead. No, I have not given up, I am still in the ring punching it out, but my heart and soul are no longer in the

9 fight and that is pretty much the same as giving up only you just keep getting punched out. I ve already admitted defeat in my heart and I am just waiting for that knockout punch. In the mean time I just continue to let the enemy beat up on me while I sit with my hands folded taking the beating or eating my own flesh. I just sit back and worry and fret, letting my blood pressure rise and my stomach develop ulcers, in other words I am letting my inward parts consume themselves. There is a word in the Hebrew, savar which is sometimes rendered as hope. It means to wait or spend time to examine something. The word is spelled Shin Beth and Resh. These letters and its order suggest that you have a practice of being satisfied with the Holy spirit finding a home in your heart. How easily we forget that our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit and if our boat sinks, He will be right in there treading water with us. If we have the very living, loving life of Jesus Christ in us, the power of the Holy Spirit in us, what better definition can we give for hope. I researched the word imagination in the Old Testament and found that is it always used in a negative sense. I personally believe that savar can also be translated as imagination but as a positive imagination. Hope is the positive imagination. Thus, Ecclesiastes 4:5 tells me that if I just fold my hands and dwell on the doom and gloom, then that is what I will get on a natural level. But if I savar or imagine things positive, hope because of the God that lives inside of me, no matter what happens, I can rest assured that spiritually, only good things will take place.

10 HEBREW WORD STUDY SHOOTING THE ARROW Psalms 42:5, Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and [why] art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him [for] the help of his countenance. This meaning of this passage seems pretty clear, David is talking to his soul and demanding to know why it is feeling cast down. The word for cast down in Hebrew is shachach which means to be depressed. It is in a Hithpael form which makes it reflexive so it is like he has no control over his soul, it is getting itself depressed and David finds it frustrating that he cannot control this depression. He also asked why his soul is disquieted. That word in the Hebrew for disquiet is hamah which really means to coo as a mourning dove is cooing. The mourning dove is called mourning because of its distinctive cooing sound which sounds like it is mourning or in sadness.

11 David is asking his soul why it is feeling so depressed and sad. Do you ever have an experience like this when it seems like you are feeling sad and depressed for no reason at all? In fact things may be going quite well for you and you have every reason to be happy and joyful, yet you are feeling sad and depressed. This is the experience David was having so he grabs hold of his soul and he commands it to hope in God. That word hope in Hebrew is yakal which is in a Hithpael imperative form which makes it reflexive. As an imperative he is demanding his soul to do something to cause itself to yakal. Yakal has the idea of waiting with an expectation. What does he tell his soul to wait expectantly for? It is to praise him for the help of his countenance. The word countenance is pani which means the presence of God. This presence of God when it comes will be his yashoth (help). That is where we get the word yashuah which means salvation or deliverance. It might also be a little play on words for the coming of the Messiah Jesus or Yashuah. But that might be stretching it. Basically David is saying that the deliverance of his soul s sadness and depression will come when God brings his presence. So David is commanding his soul to praise God. But soft the word for praise here is yadah which means to give thanks. It is in an imperfect form. He is beginning to praise or thank him for an event that is yet to come. Have you ever been that confident in God that you begin to thank him

12 for answer to prayer even before you get that answer? There are many words in Hebrew for praise. This word is often rendered as a praise of thanksgiving which is true. Yet when I trace this word back to its Semitic roots I find it is a word that has its origins in the Akkadian language and this word was used for shooting an arrow. The Akkadians were a powerful warlike people. Their most skilled warriors were archers. The development of archery changed the whole picture of warfare during the bronze age. Prior to that the only way to kill your opponent was in hand to hand combat with a sword. An arrow could kill from a distance, like a flying sword. You did not have to engage your enemy person to person with a bow and arrow. I talked with a woman who had studied archery. She described how it takes strength to shoot an arrow. You have to draw back on your bow and hold it. When you first attempt to do this your arm will begin to shake trying to hold back the arrow and you often prematurely shoot the arrow. The arrow will not find its target when this happens. However, the more you practice and the more you doggedly stay with it, the more your arm will strengthen and your aim will be more steady to hit the target. To shoot an arrow requires your full attention mentally, emotionally and physically. It requires tremendous concentration. It is not as easy as it looks. I remember my uncle used to love to go hunting with a bow and arrow. In fact he would brag how he would one day shoot a bear with an arrow. Well, one morning my father and uncle were on a hunting trip and an old bear came wandering into their camp. My uncle picked up his bow and arrow and woke my father up telling him this was his chance to get a bear with his bow and arrow. My father grabbed his rifle to back my uncle up because you only get one shot with an arrow. It you

13 do not drop the old bear on your first shot, you will make him pretty angry and you had better start running for your life because he is going to come after you to wreak his vengeance. My father and uncle followed the bear to the road and when the bear stopped my uncle raised his bow, took his aim and then said to my father, You shoot him. At least with an automatic rifle my father could get off a number of shots where my uncle only had one shot. At the last minute my uncle realized he was not the crack archer he thought he was. I am not sure if he was uncertain of his aim, the power behind the arrow or just plain unsure about his strength. One thing is certain, he did not shoot that arrow because he did not have the confidence to do it. Above all else, an archer needs to have confidence in his strength and ability to properly shoot an arrow. I believe this is why David used this particular word yadah for praise. He was praising God for an event that had not happened yet, that is experiencing the presence of God to subdue his sadness and depression. David spent his life walking with God, sort of like shooting arrows or yadah of praise and thanksgiving all his life. He had the confidence, strength and assurance that when the chips were down and he need the presence of God to deliver him, that it would come. So he commanded his soul to stop feeling sorry for itself, get with the program and start praising God because in God s perfect timing He would fill him with His sweet presence and deliver him out of this pit of despair. When not in battle an Akkadian warrior would spend all his time training, exercising, building his strength and practicing with his bow and arrow so when the time comes, he is in battle and he has to make that first shot count, he is ready to yadah (shoot an arrow) and hit his target. Just as we

14 must use our good times, our times when we are joyful and happy to exercise our praise and thanksgiving, to practice praising and thanking God yadah so when the chips are down and we fall into depression we are ready for this spiritual warfare and will be able to praise and thank God with complete confidence that His deliverance will come. WORD STUDY THE TREE OF LIFE Proverbs 13:12: Hope deferred maketh the heart sick, but when the desire cometh it is the tree of life. The most common understanding of the verse is that unfulfilled desired brings pain to the mind, but the fulfillment of the desire brings gratification. I don t discount this, but I am curious as to the writer s choice of words.

15 The word for hope here is yachal. There are a couple other words in the Hebrew which is rendered from hope such as kavah which is a hope of anticipation. It is an expectation that is questionable as to its fulfillment, so you hope it is achieved. There is the word savar which is a hope that your investigation or inspection will achieve results. Then there is yachal. This is rendered as hope but not in the sense that you are not certain of the outcome, but it is more of a waiting for something to happen as you work toward its fulfillment. This is the word that I would render as imagination. If you are an architect you will imagine a building, but you must wait for it to be designed on paper and then wait longer for it to be built. The outcome of yachal is assured, but you must wait for it to find its fulfillment. The word deferred comes from the root word mashak which is from the same root where the name Moses comes from and means to draw out. It is the idea of a protracted start, long enduring. Let s go back to a building. Donald Trump imagined a building and owning the tallest building in Chicago. It took years to become a reality. There were times he almost gave up on his yachal hope. Over the years we would hear the project was on, then it was off, then it was on again. Today it stands as a reality, although not the tallest building in Chicago, it is still an architectural wonder. This is a hope deferred a yachal or something imagined that took a long time to develop, build and become a reality. Many times Donald Trump became heart sick over waiting for the building to become a reality but he clung to his dream or imagined it as it went through the process of getting approval, financing, permitting and building. The word sick is chalah which means to make weak, or weary.

16 Let s take this to a more personal level. Do you have a prayer or promise that came from God, something that you are imagining and you know God is in it. You keep praying, believing, imagining but like Trump s tower, you begin to grow weary and almost give up. It makes your heart weak and weary. These last words prove to be very interesting. There is a play on words here. The word for desire is t avah. This not only means to long for or desire, it is also used for the word lust and object of desire. It is also the same word used for wailing or and an expression of grief. But, hey, let s not quit there, the very same word is used for a sign or a miracle. This is a word used for the pain of giving birth. You long for the birth but in the meantime, giving birth is a painful experience. The word cometh means to fulfill, so when this object of desire, this sign or miracle is fulfilled it is - wait a minute, did I not say there is a play on words. Here it is, the word comes from a similar root for a gazelle. This is not so much the expression of the animal itself, that word is kitsevi in the Hebrew, but this word has the idea of the speed and swiftness of the gazelle. In other word the passage is saying that when your desire (miracle, sign) comes (and it will come swiftly), it is the tree of life. Let s take a look at the expression tree of life. Do not share this with your local rabbi, he will probably throw salt in the air, if not on you. But the word tree otz has in its origin the idea of fallen. As trees grow old or face storms and winds they fall. Carpenters chopped down trees and they fall, which is most likely how the word in a noun form came to pick up the idea of tree from original verb fall. It later took on the form of wood and in the Aramaic by the time of Jesus s day it

17 also meant in a noun form a carpenter. Now there is one slight difference between the tree of life in Genesis 2 and the tree of life in Proverbs. There is a definite article attached to the word life which is in a plural form in Genesis 2. Oddly, the word otz (tree) does not have an article nor is it in a plural form and if tree were an adjective it would have to also have a definite pronoun and be in a plural form or it should at the very least have a megeth attached. That is simply not there. You could and may translate it as The lives of a tree. Or how about the original use of the word otz and say The lives of the fallen one. Well that is another topic. Anyway, the one difference between the tree of life in Genesis and the tree of life in Proverbs 13:12 is that there is no definite article. In other words it is rendered A tree of a life or a fallen one for a life. Extra Biblical literature sometimes uses this word otz (tree) for a gallows or as a carpenter. Now tell me who was a carpenter who died on a tree to render lives. Jesus is our tree of life. When the object of our desires, miracle, or sign finally comes after we have become heartsick and almost given up hope or imagining; it turns out to be Jesus Christ Himself. Oh yes, also embodied in that word desire (a vah) is an idea of healing our hearts which were sick, weary or weak, are healed by This Tree of Life. I have to conclude as my Looking Glass is beckoning me to pay a visit Beyond the Daleth. If you enjoy the Hebrew Studies please like our Facebook page, join our mailing list and/or pass along the Word Studies to friends and family. Thank you and we truly appreciate all your support!

18 WORD STUDY HOPE OR CERTAINTY Psalms 71:5: For thou [art] my hope, O Lord GOD: [thou art] my trust from my youth. I don t know about you but somehow I cannot see David hoping God will come through. Our modern concept of the word hope implies a sense of uncertainty. In other words, I hope the Chicago Cubs win their opening game. I mean we can say with more certainty than uncertainty the Cubs will lose, all we have left is hope that they might pull it off. Yet, we define faith as a certainty, a surety that God is there and will act on our behalf. So why did the Apostle Paul say in Hebrews 11:1 that faith is the substance of things hoped for when faith is supposed to be a feeling of certainty by its very definition yet Paul is saying it is something that is uncertain. Paul was not saying something contradictory or implying some mystery, he was only speaking with a Hebrew mindset, one whose native language was Aramaic and not Greek although he was fluent in Greek and most likely wrote this epistle in Greek, he carried a Hebrew mindset. The word in Hebrew and Aramaic for hope is tikevati which comes from a Semitic root kavah a place of collecting, a reservoir. In the ancient Middle East, water was more precious

19 than gold and it would be collected in a reservoir so that one would readily have it available when you needed it and in a desert you needed it often, at least two or three quarts of it. Without it you would die so water became one of your primary concerns and when collected in a reservoir it was that reservoir that you put your confidence and expectation in. Another use of the word kavah (hope) in the Akkadian language is for a cord. It is a measuring cord. I noticed one of Chicago s finest the other day pull out a little cord and measured the curb to the tire of a car that was parked by the curb. In some of our Chicago streets every extra inch provides added hope that you will make it through that street without taking out a few side view mirrors. Our city guardian was making sure we got that extra inch and was ready to leave a little gift for the owner of the car if he did not provide that extra inch. That cord was a kavah it was adding certainty and assurance that there was enough room to drive a bus through. A measuring line gives a person a certainty and assurance that you have the exact proportion measured out and that the end result of whatever you are building, designing or making will come out as expected. Embedded in this word kavah is the idea of a certainty in the outcome. It is the idea that the fix is in and you are a winner. Al Capone used to feed all the dogs in a dog race steak before they raced, except one dog. Thus, Al Capone had a kavah, a certainty which dog would win the race that the others betting on the race did not have. The others only had hope that their dog would win while Capone and his friends had a certainty their dog would win. However kavah (hope, certainty) is meaningless if you cannot imagine the outcome. In extra Biblical literature I have found that kavah is used to express the idea of imagination. There are really two words in Hebrew for imagination. One

20 word is zamam which has the idea of plotting evil, it is used to express a negative imagination as one imagines the evil he will do before doing it. The other word for imagination is kavah which is imagining a positive outcome, it is a positive imagination. Hence when the Apostle Paul said that faith is the substance of things hoped for, he was not saying faith is gritting your teeth, clutching your hands together like when you are at Wrigley Field hoping upon hope the Cubs hit a home run. Odds are they won t but you just hope it happens. But if you have kavah you are imagining that the Cubs have already hit that home run and you are collecting your bet from that White Sox fan back at the office. Faith is the substance of things that have not yet taken place but you are imagining and rejoicing in that future event that you know will take place. Faith is the substance of your positive imagination. God created the world using His imagination. He imagined it and it came to be. Just as a designer imagines a dress or a car before it is even made or built. That dress or car is literally created through the designer s imagination. Skilled workers just follow the imagination of the creator to make the dress or build the car. The Talmud teaches that God did not end creation on the sixth day, he merely passed the creation process unto man. We are distinct from all other animals in the animal kingdom as we have an imagination and we create from imagination. Animals operate by instinct, we operate by our imagination. Thus, in 21 st Century English, the word hope is no longer a proper word to use for kavah as that word has taken on the meaning of an uncertain outcome which is really the opposite of kavah. David saying that God is his measuring stick that makes sure everything is the way it should be. Just as my friendly neighborhood law enforcement officer makes sure I

21 have enough room to get my bus down that street, it is still up to me navigate that beast down that street. I have all the confidence in the world that the man in blue has made sure I have enough room to get that bus down the street, it is my ability to navigate it down that street without taking out a side view mirror that worries me. David goes on to say that God has been his trust since youth. The word trust in Hebrew is batch which means to adhere to or melt into. Today we would use the word weld. When you weld something you are literally melting two pieces of metal into each other. The substance of each piece of metal mixes with each other. A welder will tell you that those two pieces will break everywhere on that metal before it breaks at the weld. David had melted himself into God and God into him since his youth so that when his positive imagination is what God imagines and what God imagines, he creates. Faith is the result of your positive imagination when it is welded to the substance of the thing not seen God Himself. As Jesus told the woman healed of her issue of blood, Your faith, your positive imagination welded or mixed with the substance of God made you whole. (Matthew 9:20-22). The more I drive that bus down that narrow street the more I can do it without thinking or worrying about taking out a side view mirror, because I have confidence our guardians of the law made sure there was enough room to navigate that beast of burden down that street. So too has our Heavenly Guardian made sure the road we take is passable and the more we exercise our faith the more we are confident in our ability to use what God has given us.

22 WORD STUDY AN EVIL HEART Jeremiah 18:12: And they said, There is no hope, but we will walk after our own devices and we will everyone do the imaginations of his own evil heart. If I do it, I get a vippin, I do it. Red Skelton -Mean Little Kid That is quite a thing for the people of Israel to say in Jeremiah 18:12. Had the people fallen that far so as to admit to an evil heart and following those evil inclinations? The English word evil might be misleading in this verse. The word used in the Hebrew for evil in an evil heart is ra a which comes from a Semitic root word which means to be broken. The people said they will follow the imaginations of their broken heart. Do you ever feel like you have a broken heart because God seemingly did not come through for you. He did not provide for that financial need or that healing and like a

23 mean little kid you sniff and wipe your tears away and say: Ok for you God, I ll show you. I m gonna really go out and sin, then you will be sorry. Just what was it that brought Judah to this state of feeling that there was no hope, that it was useless? Now I am beginning to understand why God led me to this passage. We read something like this and sigh, Well, at least I have never reached the point of saying I am evil and I don t care. But you know what, most of us, if not all of us, has at one time or another reached the point of saying: There is no hope, and feeling broken that God did not deliver us as we expected Him. Is Judah s desire to follow their own devices and imaginations the result of hopelessness? What is this state of saying No hope? Now some translations will render this in such a way as to suggest the people are telling Jeremiah, Forget it, you have no hope of reaching us, we don t want to hear about God, we want to live in our sins and we are just going to go ahead and sin anyways. Grammatically, you might render it to suggest that the people are telling Jeremiah that his attempts to turn them to God is hopeless. But it is also grammatically correct to render it as the people saying that they are the ones who feel hopeless. The word used for hopeless is y ash which means to be despondent or in despair. When you first read this verse you may feel it has nothing to do with you. You would never just boldly reject God in this way. But stop and consider those moments when you feel in despair that God seemingly did not come through and you might just have to admit, at least to yourself, that you have this urge to just go out and seek you own devices and follow the

24 imaginations of your evil ra a broken heart? Have you been unemployed and it seems like God is not coming through with a job and you are tempted to fudge a little on your experience or skills in a resume or employment application? I remember I had a student who had spent three years in prison. He was desperately looking for a job as he had a wife and child to support as well as trying to pay a school bill. But every employment application had that question: Have you ever been arrested? He became so discouraged he even came to me and said: I am beginning to believe that I should lie on an application as it is hopeless for me to even get through the door if I mention my arrest record. There are many places we can safely stretch the truth, like our taxes, employment applications, insurance claims etc. All the time saying; Well, God sure has not provided the resources, what is wrong with a little white lie, everyone does it, if I am caught I will just shrug my shoulders, they won t arrest me for a little error, I will just a get a fine or pay a penalty if caught. That doesn t sound as brazen as Jeremiah 18:12, but it does amount to the same thing. That word for hopeless or despair y ash is spelled Yod, Aleph, Shin. This word has a built in commentary. Hopelessness comes when we allow the shadow of the Yod (ungrounded in the Word of God) to influence us. We then let the shadow of the Aleph consume us. That shadow of Aleph is ambivalence, letting feelings of uncertainty join us with the last letter for hopelessness which is the Shin which represents a consuming fire. Thus, the built in commentary for the word y ash hopelessness is telling us that the danger of hopelessness is that when we are ungrounded in the Word of God

25 and face a seeming hopeless situation, we are prone to allow that fear and uncertainty to consume us to the point where we will cling to our own devices and the imaginations of our hearts to deliver us rather than God. In a sense the people of Judah are not that much different than us today. We trusted God and He seemed to have let me down. The people of Israel basically said to Jeremiah: Listen, we tried to trust God, it didn t work, we have these problems and God didn t lift a finger to help, so why should we bother with Him, we will follow our own devices (chashav thinking s, ideas, understandings) and imaginations of our broken hearts. In other words, God you didn t come through, my heart is broken over you abandoning me, so I am going to do it may own way. I ll show you. Ok, maybe you never said anything like that, but I know I have. In in my moments of anger I declared, Well, you broke my heart, I will just break yours. And then I went about feeling justified to seek my own way. So we end up with two broken hearts and nothing else, one loving God with a broken heart and a mean little kid getting a vippin because he wanted things to go his own way and make his life comfortable. WORD STUDY EVIL HEART Jeremiah 18:12: And they said, There is no hope, but we will walk after our own devices and we will everyone do the imaginations of his own evil heart. If I dud it, I get a vippin, I dud it. Red Skelton -

26 Mean Little Kid That is quite a thing for the people of Israel to say to Jeremiah. Had the people fallen that far so as to admit to an evil heart and following those evil inclinations? It is interesting to note that the word evil for evil heart is ra a which means to be broken. The people said they will follow the imaginations of their broken heart. Do you ever feel you have a broken heart because God seemingly did not come through for you. He did not provide for that financial need or that healing and like a mean little kid you sniff and wipe your tears away and say: Ok for you God, I ll show you. What brought Judah to this state of feeling that there was no hope, that it was useless. Now I am beginning to understand why God led me to this passage. We read something like this and sigh, Well, at least I have never reached the point of saying I am evil and I don t care. But maybe some of us have reached the point of saying: There is no hope, and feeling broken that God did not deliver us as we expected. Is Judah s desire to follow their own devices and imaginations the result of hopelessness? What is this state of saying No hope? Now some translations will render this in such a way as to suggest the people are telling Jeremiah, Forget it, we don t want to hear about God, we are going to go ahead and sin anyways. Grammatically, you might render it to suggest that the people are telling Jeremiah to give it up, we will not listen. But it is also grammatically correct to render it as the people saying they are the ones feeling hopeless. The word used for hopeless is y ash which means to be despondent or in despair. When I first read this verse I felt this had nothing to do with me. I would never just boldly reject God in this way. But when I consider those moments I feel in despair, I feel God is not going to come through, I have to admit, at least to myself, that I will seek my own devices and follow the imaginations of my evil heart. What about an employment application where you are tempted to fudge a little on your experience or skills. If after several months of unemployment

27 and God did not come through with a job are you not tempted to stretch the truth a little, I remember I had a student who had spent three years in prison. He was desperately looking for a job as he also had a wife and child to support as well as trying to stay in school. But every employment application he filled out he ran intothat that question: Have you ever been arrested? He became so discouraged he even came to me and said: I am beginning to believe that I should lie on an application as it is hopeless for me to even get through the door if I mention my arrest record. There are many places we can safely stretch the truth and likely not get caught, like our taxes, employment applications, insurance claims etc. All the time we are saying; Well, God sure has not provided the resources, what is so wrong with a little white lie, everyone does it, if I am caught I will just shrug my shoulders and say my bad they won t arrest me for a little error, I will maybe I will just get a fine or pay a penalty if caught. That doesn t sound as brazen as Jeremiah 18:12, but it amounts to the same thing. That word for hopeless or despair is spelled Yod, Aleph, Shin. Hopelessness comes when we allow the shadow of the Yod (ungrounded in the Word of God) to influence us. We then let the shadow of the Aleph consume us. That shadow of Aleph is ambivalence, letting feelings of uncertainty join with the last letter for hopelessness the Shin which is a consuming fire. When we become ungrounded in the Word of God and face a seeming hopeless situation, we will allow that fear and uncertainty to consume us to the point where we will cling to our own devices and the imaginations of our hearts to deliver us rather than God. In a sense the people of Judah are not much different than us. After all we have trusted God and there are times it seems He has let us down. The people of Israel basically said to Jeremiah: Listen, we tried to trust God, it didn t work, we have these problems and God didn t lift a finger to help, so why should we bother with Him, we will follow our own devices (chashav thinking s, ideas, understandings) and the imaginations of our broken hearts. In other words, God you

28 didn t come through, my heart is broken over you abandoning me, so I am going to do it may own way. I ll show you. Ok, maybe you never said anything like that, but I know I have and like a child I say, You broke my heart, I will just break Yours, there, put that in your pipe and smoke it. So we have two broken hearts, one loving God with a broken heart and a mean little kid getting a vippin because he wanted things to go his own way and make his life comfortable. Chaim