Psalms 91:16: With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

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1 WORD STUDY LONG LIFE ארכ ימימ, Psalms 91:16: With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation. I have often had a problem with this verse. It appears from reading this verse in every modern translation and commentaries that if we trust God, keep our eyes on Him, love Him and bond with Him we will have a long life. Yet, I read about so many Christians in other nations who are more bonded with God than I am and they face persecution and death at a relatively young age. I mean what about these Christian children who were beheaded by ISIS for declaring their love for Jesus. Does this verse not apply to them. Do they not deserve a long life for their love for Jesus? Does it only apply to us who are lucky enough to be born in a land where we do not have to face death for our faith? Yet, even in this land Christians die early deaths. I have

2 personally known devoted Christians whose love for Jesus was very deep. I remember a young woman in my first pastorate who was married with a small child. She developed cancer and died at the age of 24. Why was she not granted a long life? I really don t think the rendering of this verse stands up to the simply facts of this life on earth. History is filled with many devoted believers who died at an early age. I think of Keith Green a gifted Christian musician during the Jesus movement in the seventies whose love for Jesus just poured out not only through his music but his life as well. He refused to make any money off his records and would often just give them away or tell someone just pay what you can and if you can t pay you can just have it. His love and life for Jesus has been a model for me and that is why I do not want to receive personally any money from my books. Here was a gifted, talented believer who loved Jesus with all his heart. If anyone should have been granted a long life to continue blessing the thousands, yea, millions with his talents it should have been him. Yet he died in a plane crash at the age of 28. Did not this promise in Psalms 91:16 apply to him? If is for this reason that I am not walking in lock step with all the translators and commentators on this verse. It just doesn t wash. There is another way to render this verse which makes more sense and is a wonderful promise. The phrase long life is oreke yamim which literally means length of days, not long life, that is inferred. This is followed by the word asabi ehu from the root word saba which is rendered as satisfied. Alright this word is in a Hiphal imperfect form and it would suggest that our modern translations are using the proper syntax. However, I read where one rabbi once said that there is really no definitive syntax in the Biblical Hebrew. I doubt I would go that far.

3 I tend to believe there are definite rules of syntax in Hebrew but there are many exceptions. As the traditional rendering for this verse just does not fit reality, I believe we are faced with an exception to the accepted rules of syntax here and rather than render this that he will give us a long life and He will fill us with satisfaction, I would render this as: We will be satisfied with our length of days. In other words, whatever time God gives us on this planet, He will fill those days with satisfaction. The word saba means to be satisfied, fulfilled. Sometime ago a pastor published a book about finding your purpose in life. That book became a New York Times Best Seller. Christians all over the country were purchasing this book. The writer followed up a study guide and small study groups were breaking out all over with Christians trying to find some purpose in their life. Another use of this word saba is filling one with purpose. Why would a book on finding a purpose in life become a national best seller among Christians. Does not the Bible in Psalm 91:16 tell us that God will give us a purpose when we are bonded with him and love Him? I can only conclude one of two things. My rendering of this verse makes no more sense in reality than the traditional rendering that God will give us a long life. Apparently, not only is a long life unrealistic but a life where we are filled with satisfaction and purpose is also unrealistic. The other conclusion could be that maybe if by some odd twist of fate my rendering is this verse is correct and that if we learn to trust God, develop a love relationship with Him and bond with Him we will have purpose and satisfaction in our life, then multitudes of Christians say they are Christians but have not really explored the depth of the love of God and His heart. They are, as we used to say

4 in the Baptist church, saved so as by fire. In other words they got saved for the sole purpose of gaining a get out hell free card and have no desire to learn to love the one who purchased that card with His life. I remember reading a book about a man who was sent to the Gulag in the old Soviet Union. He struck up a friendship with another prisoner and began to tell him about the family and career he left behind and his plans to return to them after his 25 year sentence was up. The other prisoner stopped him and said: Look this is the Gulag, not many leave here alive. You do not know if you will be alive tomorrow. If you are to survive you must think on what is important. The man asked what was more important than his family and career? The older prisoner said; The present, the here and now, you and me talking, forming a friendship, a bond, that is what is important. Jesus said: Matthew 6:34: Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day [is] the evil thereof. My father used to always ask me what I would do if a doctor told me I had only one month to live. I would always reply with the answer he gave me, I would live one day at a time. We do not realize the miracle of life, that every morning we wake up and the sun comes up, we get out of bed and we are alive. That very thing is a gift from God. A gift is meant to be enjoyed and when you bond with God you will enjoy it, no matter what the day may bring because He promised it in Psalms 91:16. We do not need to focus on past mistakes, they are over with, we focus on the future but there are no guarantees. What is important is right now, God and you becoming friends, bonding together, that is what is important. Then whatever the future holds good or bad, you can still

5 rejoice and you can smile at a rain storms. WORD STUDY LIFE ETERNAL חיא עלמא John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Of course we all know what life eternal is, it is heaven. We have been taught that in Christianity ever since we embraced Christianity. Yet, come with me into a world where I too am a stranger and just trying to find my way. It is the world of Judaism, our spiritual ancestors, our heritage and the very people who were the first Christians and tried in figure out their new faith as it related to their Judaic faith. By the third century AD Constantine had kicked all the Jews out of the church because they refused to compromise with pagan religions. They were kicked out along with their Oral Traditions aka Traditions of the Father aka (in later years) The Talmud. For the past thirty years I have journeyed into the Talmud to practice my Aramaic, but what I found were treasures of wisdom and knowledge of God that opened my eyes to many of the mysteries of the Word of God.

6 This past weekend my study partner and I had the opportunity to share with a couple other believers from out of town and one directed our attention to John 17. Since I began my journeys into the Talmud I have pretty much found myself in the Old Testament and spent far too little time in the New Testament. I actually do not believe I ever made a study of John 17 anytime in my life. I have read it, heard it preached over and over, but never really sat down and meditated on it. When I read John 17:3 after years of studying Jewish literature suddenly all sorts of bells, alarms and whistles went off. Look at it, And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Life eternal is not heaven, it is knowing God and Jesus Christ. That word for know in the Greek is ginosko which is the very same word that Mary used in Luke 1:34 when she said: How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? She has just been told she is going to have a child and she wonders how this can happen since she knows no man. Hey, she knew Joseph, in fact they betrothed. In my new book I explain this betrothal and in it I show how a man and woman who are betrothed are actually legally married. They just do not have a sexual relationship. It is obvious when she refers to knowing a man it is saying she had no sexual relationship or intimacy with a man. The Aramaic Bible uses the word yada which is identical to the Greek work ginosko. Yada is also rendered as knowing and is also used to indicate a sexual relationship or intimacy. In my new book I talk about how the Bible seems to indicate that while here on earth after we accept Jesus as our Savior we become betrothed to him. The He will return on day to take us as his bride where our betrothal will be consummated. Jesus is saying in John 17:3 that eternal life isn t heaven. True heaven is a fringe benefit of eternal life, but that is not what Jesus is saying makes up

7 eternal life. Eternal life is entering into a knowing or an intimacy with God. Whenever I sense the Spirit of God is seeking to reveal something to me, I will lay back, close my eyes and just enter into a time of enjoying a closeness to God. As I did that this evening I was taken back many many years. A vision, a hypnotic state, I don t know what to call it. But there is level in your consciousness where you can return to a period of time in your life and it is almost as if you are really there, you can hear the sounds, even smell the smells of the place. For a moment I was twelve year old standing in the crowded McCormick place for a Billy Graham crusade. Those times were a very a happy time in my life and I just relived the joy and thrill of that experience as if it were actually happening. I looked up at the platform where Cliff Barrows was leading a 3,000 voice choir and over the choir I saw a banner which read: I am the way, the truth, and the life: John 14:6. I recalled puzzling over that verse wondering what it truly meant and then I heard an inner voice at that moment. I had not thought of it in all these years until now, it said; Remember this verse for one day you will understand. I jumped up, grabbed my Kindle and turned to the Talmud Abodah Zarah where I read an account of Rabbi Eliezer who lived in the second century AD, around 109 AD to be precise. He gave this account of having been arrested for heresy. This heresy was believing that Jesus was the Messiah. He was taken before a tribunal and the judge asked how he, a sage, could occupy such thoughts. He replied: I acknowledge the Judge as right. The Judge said that since he agreed, he would be acquitted. Actually when Rabbi Eliezer said the Judge he was referring to, and these are the exact words from the Aramaic in the Talmud, His Father in Heaven. One of his disciples upon

8 hearing this story from Rabbi Eliezer, suggested that perhaps he had heard this heresy and had really approved of it which is why he was suspected and thus arrested. Rabbi Eliezer responded: Akiba, thou has reminded me, I was once walking in the upper market of Sepphoris when I came across one of the disciples of Jesus the Nazarene, Jacob of Kear-Sekaniah, who said to me, Thus was I taught by Jesus the Nazarene, The words that followed so pleased Rabbi Eliezer that he was convinced it was the reason he was arrested for apostasy. Talmud Abodah Zarah 17a. He was so moved and convicted by the words of Jesus that people actually thought he was embracing this new religion and he had to admit that maybe he did. Like you and I, he craved and longed for eternal life, an intimacy with God. It was what he said further that caught my attention, One may acquire eternal life after many years (that is while on earth), one may acquire it in an hour (in the life hereafter). Abodah Zarah 17a. You see the Talmud is telling us that eternal life is not a time or place but a relationship and a way of life. This was first century thought. Jesus only confirmed what Judaism was teaching that eternal life was an intimate relationship with God and a way of life only he added and Jesus Christ whom God sent. Jesus further said that He is the way, the truth and the life. The word way in Aramaic is aurcha which is a way or path of life. For seven years I have been on this journey, a quest similar to Rabbi Eliezer, to discover and know (be intimate) with the heart of God, or he put it eternal life. I now understand what God was telling me that day so many years ago at the Billy Graham Crusade when I read John 14:6. He was telling me to remember that verse because I was saved, on my way to heaven, a born again Christian, but one day I would begin a journey, a quest, to know God s heart. The Jews called it eternal life, so that is what Jesus called it.

9 Maybe you have been a Christian for many many years. Maybe you feel your spiritual life is growing stale or cold, or you may even feel backslidden. You know you are saved, you know you are going to heaven and that God has saved you from hell. But isn t about time you start seeking eternal life. Jesus told us what that is, it is being intimate with God. Too many Christians are just enjoying their salvation, many have no yet began their journey to eternal life. Do you care to join me in that journey? It is a journey to the inner chambers of God s heart. Only when you enter those inner chambers do you experience that intimacy with Him and that is what the Jews of the first century called Eternal Life. WORD STUDY BOOK OF LIFE מספר חיימ

10 Luke 10:20: Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. Psalms 69:28: Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous. The Book of Life was a common theme when I was growing up in the Baptist Church. We would have periodic revival meetings and, of course, in a revival meeting people had to get saved or the evangelist was not worth the page his name was written on in the Sword of the Lord newspaper. My father used to subscribe to the Sword of the Lord newspaper and as a child I loved reading the fire and brimstone sermons that were published in the paper, the latest results on the largest Sunday Schools and bus ministries and of course the list of evangelist which included the average number of people getting saved in their revival meetings. Those who averaged converts had full schedules, those who had less, well they had plenty of openings and smaller churches could afford them. But I am digressing. Let s return to this Book of Life

11 matter. Practically every evangelist I had the privilege to sit under always pointed his finger at us and asked: Is your name written in the Book of Life? As a little child sitting in that pew more terrified than sitting in a Wes Craven movie I pictured a long white haired, bearded elderly man sitting at a wooden desk with a quill pen slowing writing names in a monstrously large book. Today, of course, this centurion is replaced by a young, snaggled tooth, bespectacled computer geek sitting before a computer terminal typing names into a word processor. Nonetheless, that is scarier as all he needs to do is hit the delete button and your name goes off into that twilight zone of cyber space where the bearded old man had to use White Out to blot your name out and at least your name is still there somewhere. How about it, does anyone really believe that God has a celestial bookkeeper recording the name that your parents gave you when you were born and a huge bottle of White Out to blot names out of it? Is there a literal book up there in heaven or is this some kind of metaphor? Historically, kings would honor someone by writing their names in a special scroll. Think of Mordecai in Esther 6:2-3 where such a record saved his gizzard. In ancient times the names of individuals who were to be honored or on a fast track to promotions had their names written in the Chronicles of the kings. In Hebrew the words for Book of life is sofar chaim. Chaim is a word we recognize as life and in its plural form represents both physical and spiritual life. Every man has two lives, the one he lives here on earth and the one that he will live in eternity. Hence this book of life is a record of one s physical and spiritual life, it records everything you do in the physical realm as well as everything you do in the spirit. Every time you pray, worship and express your heart to God, it is recorded. The word sofar in its noun form means a book or scroll. But it also means to write, to number,

12 count, to speak or talk. The whole idea behind the word sofar is to commit to memory or record something that is to be referenced at a later date. In other words we will spend an eternity reliving all those wonderful times we shared with Jesus while we lived our life here on earth. We will relive those joyous times of worship, those times when we felt the love, closeness and very presence of God at a time when we needed it most. You see in heaven there will be no sorrow, no pain, no fear, and no evil. Hence we will not know that special joy of Jesus coming at that eleventh hour to rescue us, of feeling that relief of His presence during times of sorrow and pain, of being miraculously healed. In heaven such joy will no longer take place. But, soft, our names (Heb. Shem name, reputation, and life experiences) are recorded for eternity. Shem (name) is not the name our parents gave us, it is what we are and what experiences we had, have and will have that make us up. In heaven we will have access to these records and we can relive them, experience the joy, the love, that special moment over and over throughout eternity. Like an old married couple going on a second honeymoon and visiting the places they spent together on their first honeymoon and reliving the joy and memories of those cherished times. But, soft, those memories will not only be enjoyed by us for eternity but others as well. Why do you think angels rejoice over one sinner that repents? They get to live those joyous memories over and over throughout eternity. Remember they do not have to live on this earth and experience pain, rejection, sorrow and then find that special joy the presence of God in dark times. They do not know the joy of redemption. But they will have access to that joy when they open the Book of life and experience that joy through us. No wonder Jesus said not to rejoice if you can cast out demons or perform healings. Heck, that s nothing compared to the ministry you will have in heaven when you share your

13 testimonies from the Book of life and every one can experience that joy and love relationship you had with God through your experiences here on earth. Count it all joy when you experience trials of every kind (James 1:2) because, boy, you will have some great camp meetings in heaven when you can share your testimonies before millions and joy in that roar of praise that will come from countless throngs as you share how God filled you with his love during that time when you were all alone, weeping from heartbreak and rejection while on this earth. If you enjoy reading Biblical Hebrew word studies, why not try doing your own Chaim has made it is easy to learn and put into practice in his new book and companion manual /ref=tmm_pap_title_1?ie=UTF8&qid= &sr=8-2 / /ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid= &sr=8-3&keywords= chaim+bentorah

14 HEBREW WORD STUDY GOD LONGS TO SHARE HIS HEART Psalms 23:2,6: He makes me lie down in green pastures Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Practically every English translation will translate that last phrase as I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Yet, this is not the standard Hebrew word for forever. We are automatically assuming that the house of the Lord is referring to heaven where we will live forever. It was this verse that I was discussing with an orthodox rabbi who simply shook his head and said: You Christians do not understand the heart of David. It was then I realized why the word le orek rather than olam

15 is used in this passage. Both can mean forever, but le orek simply means a length and is followed by yomim which means days. Thus it literally means a length of days. David really seems to be talking about the remaining days of his life on earth not in heaven. We assume the house of the Lord means heaven and therefore David is speaking of the afterlife. But Heaven does not exist in time, there are no yoms days in heaven. David is talking about the here and now. Before this David says that goodness which is tov or harmony with God, and mercy will follow him all the days of his life. The word mercy is chasad. Jewish literature teaches that in a spiritual context this word chasad (mercy) pictures one being sheltered in the heart of God. The word follow is radapa which is used in a Piel form and means to be pursued, chased or sought after. In other words God is chasing after us to be in harmony with Him and to shelter us in His heart. He is longing to share His heart with Him as a wife is longing to share her heart with her husband and he with her. We don t have to beg and plead with Him to be sheltered in His heart, we just have to stop running away from Him in pursuit of our own ways and simply trust Him enough to share our hearts with Him. Looking a little deeper into this word radapa (follow) we find it has a numerical value of 284. The phrase: for his mercies endure forever also has a numerical value of 284. Ancient rabbis believed that these words, his mercies endure forever, opened a portal, as it did for Jehoshaphat when he went to war against the three kings. In other words God is pursuing us with an open portal to His heart. Once we enter His heart we will find rest. I believe hidden in Psalms 23, one of the most famous and

16 favorite of all Psalms, is a key to opening a portal to God s heart of rest. It is in verse 2: He makes me lie down in green pastures. A green pasture in Hebrew is dasha. The spelling of this word reveals a built in commentary, the word itself will tell us what these green pastures are. The word is spelled Daleth which is a portal to the Shin a resting place in the Aleph God s heart. Note that David says that God makes or causes him to find a resting place in His heart. God is the one who opens this portal. When David says that surely goodness and mercy will chase after me all my days, he is admitting that he is running away from God. What happens when we let the lovingkindness of God catch up with us? He will lead us to green pastures or He will open a portal to his heart of rest. Until the rabbi challenged me to understand the heart of David, I just assume that when David referenced the house of Jehovah, he meant the temple where the presence of God dwelled or heaven. But the word house or byith in Hebrew which has a broad range of meanings and could also mean the heart as a dwelling place. To fit the poetic flow of this Psalm it would be appropriate to render this as: I will dwell in the heart of Jehovah for all my days. To David, it was not enough to dwell in the presence of God, he wanted to dwell in the heart of God. Dwelling in the heart of God and finding rest in the heart of God is really the message I found this morning when reading this passage. When two people fall in love with each other, they will naturally share their hearts with each other. They will open themselves up and reveal the very depths of their longings and desires with their beloved. We are made in God s

17 image and this does not mean physical features but emotional features. In other words we have a heart like God s heart that longs to be shared with another person. Yet, sharing your heart with someone is very risky business. It makes you vulnerable to that person, it gives them the power to deeply hurt and wound you. Thus we only open our hearts to that person that we can trust. We are so designed to long to share our hearts with someone that people will actually pay someone to open up their hearts to. They would pay a therapist or counselor knowing that that person is professional sworn and legally bound to not betray the secrets of the heart that the person will reveal. Yet, the greatest fulfillment of love is when you can trust someone who is not bound by profession or law to protect your hearts secrets but is bound by love to never reveal the secrets of your heart. So too with God, we know we can share our hearts with God, he poses no threat to us, he is not going to go around blabbing to all the angels about the secrets of your heart. But this works two ways. If someone shares their heart with you because they love you and you love that person in return you will make yourself just as vulnerable by sharing the secrets of your heart with them. This creates a deep bond between you and the one you love, you both have made yourself vulnerable and it is this vulnerability that deepens this bond and also brings you rest and peace with you are with that person. It is that bond that causes you to find comfort in that person and makes you long to be with that person. If you were to share your heart with another person that one that loved you enough to share their heart with you will be deeply wounded and feel betrayed.

18 If we can trust God enough to share our heart with Him, can He trust us enough to share His heart with us? Can He trust us to not seek other gods for comfort and security. Can he trust us to open His heart to us, to share His longings, desires and pain with us. Can He find rest in us? For only when two hearts make themselves vulnerable to each other do they find that rest and security. Only when we share our hearts with God and He shares His heart with us do we lay down in those green pastures. {Let Your Compass} Heart be Your Last week I shared from Psalm 119 (which is arranged in an acrostic style) with a verse that starts with the letter Aleph ( )א and this week I m going to continue with the letter Bet( )ב. Psalm 119:10 With all my heart I have sought Thee; Do not let me wander from Thy commandments What s interesting about this first word with all ( )בכל is

19 that though it means complete, whole, and an expressive totality, it also means bride, bridal state : espousal. Describing the way in which God is being sought after with wholehearted, passionate love. The word sought ( )דרש is an inseparable pronoun form and has the idea of consulting an oracle, and inquiring of the Lord. Inseparable shows that the author was seeking God Himself. If it had been in a separable form, then he would be seeking something from God. The word wander shagah ( )ש גה means stray, to be hindered, sin or err out of ignorance. The word not ( )אלל is also the word for terebinth, an oak tree. Here it expresses the desire to be firmly rooted and grounded in the Lords commandments. So what does the word commandments really speak of? Tsavah ( )צוה means, to appoint, decree, commission. All the different usages for this word have a military aspect, as in going forth to war or a service in the military. It is also used for trial, struggle, or affliction. For me, what this verse is expressing is epitomized by Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Since I don t (yet) know Aramaic I asked Chaim to look up some words for me from Matthew 26:39,42. We discovered that there was indeed a direct correlation between Psalm 119:10 and the verses from Matthew. In Matthew 26:39 Jesus is speaking Aramaic and literally says Not as I want, but as You. The word want that is translated into English as will, is the Aramaic word צבא and is the equivalent to the Hebrew word for command ( )צוה from Ps.119:10. This Aramaic word צבא gives us an even greater understanding of what Jesus was expressing because not only does it mean: go forth to war, to serve in the temple, warriors, soldiers, and commander in chief, but also purpose, to will, pleasure and choose, denoting Divine design. Matthew 26:42 Jesus literally says: if it is not possible for

20 this cup to pass over except I drink it, your desire will be done. The word for desire in Aramaic is again צבא,which is equivalent to the Hebrew word for command ( )צוה. I can t count all the times I ve heard someone ask the question how do I know I m being led by God?. Let your heart be your compass, with Jesus as the example. When we yield our hearts to God and seek Him wholeheartedly, His desires become ours. Our steps are in sync with His and we are positioned to receive our marching orders. However, If we give ourselves the role of Commander in Chief over our lives and simply ask God to bless what we are doing, even if it s good and Godly, we cannot know for sure that it is His specific design. It s simply a matter of the will. Also, Chaim has done a word study on the Hebrew word Kavas cup which is equivalent to the Aramaic word for cup that Jesus used saying if it is not possible for this cup to pass over The word cup in Hebrew is kavas, which has a double meaning, both a cup and a pelican or stork. Here s an excerp from his study which was previously posted: To the ancient world a pelican and a stork were considered the same bird and both were noted for the tender care of their young. They would even care for the young that was not their own. Hence, you have the legend of a stork delivering a baby. There was also the belief that when food was not available for its young, the pelican would feed its young on its own blood. There was also the ancient belief that if one of its young died, the mother pelican would resurrect it with her own blood. When Jesus was arrested He said: Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? Matt.26:53 We see in this verse that Jesus had a choice, yet because He was a prisoner of love His only option was to do the will ( )צבא of His Father. The cross was the only way because love is

21 designed to be sacrificial. Will we love the same way? Matt. 10:39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. Lastly, another meaning for the Hebrew word commandments ( )צוה can mean monument or pillar and can have the idea of a sign post. The entire time Chaim and I were discussing these Aramaic words it was raining outside. The moment we finished and left the coffee shop the sun came out and there was a big, beautiful rainbow in the sky. Sure you can say it was just a coincidence, but for me it was a nod from God, a sign post telling me that my study today was His desire ( )צבא Laura P.S. Chaim is going to do a devotional on this idea for cup. It s going to be very interesting, so keep an eye open for it! WORD STUDY OUR LOT IN LIFE

22 Psalms 16:5-6: The Lord is my portion and my cup, you maintain my lot, the lines have fallen to me in pleasant places, indeed my heritage is beautiful to me. We are all made to suffer, it is our lot in life. C3PO Star Wars We seemed to have picked up an old Hebraism in our language. Whenever someone finds himself in a situation which is unpleasant, he often will say, Well, I guess it is just my lot in life. This expression goes back to ancient times to a practice which still exist in some areas today. In ancient Northern Israel every farmer would receive a portion of land to farm for one year. In order to be fair about the apportionment of land, as some would have land that was rocky or difficult to cultivate or even be located a distance away from his home, the priest would redistribute the land every year. On an assigned day each year, all the farmers would gather at a threshing floor and the priest would place small stones in a cup. Each stone had the name of a particular portion of land and a young child who would be too young to understand the significance of what was taking place, would reach into the cup and choose a stone and give it to a

23 farmer. None of the farmers could read so no one knew what portion of land they received. They might have received a good piece of land or maybe a rocky piece of land. The land might be located four hours walk from his home. However, after all the stones have been distributed, the farmers would hold the stone up to God and say: May Jehovah maintain my lot. The priest would then read each stone and the farmer would accept his lot in life or at least his lot for the next year, without complaint. If he drew a bad lot, he would only hope for a better one the next year. David is saying in this verse that Jehovah is his lot in life. Jehovah is his means of livelihood. Whether it be difficult or easy, David is dedicating it back to him by saying: He will maintain it. The word maintain is tamak which has the idea of making it smooth and holding it together. Whatever lot he has drawn in life one is no different than the other because what he has drawn is the Lord, not his circumstances. Yet, David declares that his lot has fallen on pleasant places. The word pleasant is na am which has the idea of agreeable or harmonious. So what is your lot in life, poverty, sickness, wealth, power? It doesn t matter what it says on that stone drawn from the cup, if you have given your life to Jesus, then He is your portion, not your circumstances. If He is our portion, then whether it be in poverty or richness, sickness or health, our portion will always be na am pleasant and agreeable. In 1905 songwriter Civilla Martin was visiting a couple, with

24 the surname of Doolittle, in their home. Ms. Martin hesitated in the visit for she had heard that Mrs. Doolittle had been bedridden for 20 years and her husband could only move about and conduct his business from a wheel chair. Civilla Martin feared her visit would be very sad and depressing. Yet, she found the couple to be the most delightful, happy and Godly people she had ever met. She asked Ms. Doolittle what the secret of their joy was and she said: His eye is on the sparrow and I know He watches me. Of course that was the inspiration for that famous song she later wrote by the same name which bears these lines: Why should I feel discouraged Why should the shadows fall, Why should my heart be lonely And long for heaven and home, When Jesus is my portion, My constant friend is He, His eye is on the sparrow And I know He watches me. That song could have been written 3000 years ago by a man who also knew hardship and discouragement, yet rejoiced in the fact that his portion or his lot in life was God. If Jesus is our portion or our lot, then it doesn t matter if our lot in life is rich or poor, sickness or health, what matters is that Jesus is all we would ever need.

25 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. 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

26 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. 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.

27 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 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

28 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!