WORD STUDY HARKEN UNTO HER אלילשׁמע בקלה VOICE Genesis 21:9, 12: And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. (12) And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. I read something very interesting in the Jewish Eastern Babylonian Targum aka the Jonathan Targum. The Targum came about during the last century before the birth of Christ. When the Jews returned to Israel after the Babylonian captivity their language was in transition from Hebrew to Aramaic. Hebrew became a ceremonial language much as the Latin became a ceremonial language within the Catholic Church. Just like in the Catholic Church fewer and fewer people spoke and even understood Latin, so too within the Jewish community fewer and fewer people really spoke or understood Hebrew. Eventually, like the Catholic Church it became necessary to start reading the Scriptures and explaining the passages in the language common to the people which in the Jewish community was the Aramaic. These readings and explanations in the common language of the people were known as Targumim. The Jonathan Targum is in Aramaic. It is believed that the Old Testament version of the Peshitta (the Aramaic Bible) is based upon rabbinic Targumim. The study of the Targumim can be very valuable as it reflects the most ancient understandings and interpretations of the Old Testament.
What I found interesting in the Eastern Babylonian Targum with regard to Genesis 21:12 was its interpretation of the words in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, harken unto her voice. The words in all that Sarah hath said unto thee is kol asher to mar aleyka sarah shema. God is just not saying, Listen to Sarah but to listen to all that she says. God was reminding Abraham of something. The Eastern Babylonian Targum indicates that Sarah was a prophetess. It was easy to see that Abraham thought his wife was partial to Isaac rather than Ishmael, after he was the child of another woman and Ishmael was the eldest and in line to receive the inheritance, that was, of course, tradition, but not God s Word. From reading this chapter in English we get the impression that Ishmael was tormenting poor Isaac and Sarah in trying to defend her son and out of a jealous rage demands that Abraham send Hagar and Ishmael. We get this idea that Ishmael from verse 9 which indicates that Ishmael was making sport, mocking or making fun of Isaac. That sounds a little harsh for simple childish play. Actually, this word for mocking is metsachak which comes from the same root as the word for Isaac which is tsachak which means to laugh. If you will recall Isaac got his name because Sarah laughed when she heard the news that she was pregnant. The name Isaac is a play on the word tsachak and represents tsachak as laughter of rejoicing not mockery. When Ishmael tsachak we have another play on that word. Scripture does not say he mocked Isaac. Isaac s name is not even mentioned in that verse, it simply says that Ishmael tsachak, he did the same thing Sarah did when she discovered that she was pregnant with Isaac. Most commentators agree this was all about who was getting the inheritance and not about any cruel treatment Isaac was receiving. Ishmael was simply rejoicing with his
mother Hagar that he was the eldest and was going to receive the inheritance. Abraham was about to make the same mistake his son Isaac would make many years later. Isaac wanted to give the birthright to Esau who was the eldest yet God intended for Jacob to have the birth right and Rachel, like her mother in law Sarah had to do many years earlier, intervened to make sure God s plan was carried out. Sarah was not a nagging wife and Abraham a henpeck husband. Sarah was a prophetess and Abraham listened to her when she spoke about God s plans. Yet, in this case he would not listen to her until God spoke to him either in a dream or in some other overt fashion and told him in no uncertain terms, Listen to you wife. After being married to this woman for over eighty years you would think he would have really learned to respect her prophetic office. Yet, he was torn, like his son Isaac would be later on, between tradition and the Word of the Lord. What amazes me about this story is that after all these years Abraham was still listening to tradition and not to the Word of the Lord. He knew his wife was not infallible when coming up with nifty little husband and wife plans which were not prophetic like tell the king I am your sister. But in matters that concerned God s prophetic plans he knew she was on the spot and God was reminding Abraham of this. Abraham s problem was discerning when she was speaking prophetically and when she was not and the problem got all mixed up when you add the ingredient of tradition.
Today we have the Bible as the Word of God, the prophetic word and we do not hesitate to hold it up as our only authority. Yet, just as one example from many, how about the clear instruction in James 2:3 If you give special attention and a good seat to the rich person, but you say to the poor one, You can stand over there, or else sit on the floor well. Come on, admit it, we do it all the time, we play our politics, we will smooze the rich man and patronize the poor man. It is tradition, it is the American way to honor the successful person and pity the loser. We know the Word of God but like Abraham we just know the Word of God with our minds and not our hearts. When the Word of God just rest in our minds and not our hearts, tradition will dictate. Sarah let the Word of God go to her heart and she reminded Abraham that he too must take the Word of God not to his mind but his heart. HEBREW WORD STUDY HOLY LAUGHTER Genesis18:14-15: Is anything too hard for the Lord Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.
When God told Abraham that Sarah was going to have a child at the age of ninety, she laughed. The word used here in the Hebrew for laugh is sachaq. Lexicographers have debated the nature of this word to determine what type of laughter Sarah had. Was it mockery? Was it just the idea of a ninety year old woman having a child that struck Sarah s funny bone? Was it laughter of unbelief? God s response that nothing is too hard suggest that it was laughter of unbelief and possibly mockery. Yet the word hard is pala which really means something wonderful or marvelous. It is in a niphal form. As a niphal it would more correctly be rendered as; A wonderful thing from the Lord. Note that the word thing is devar which in its Semitic root has the idea of an expression of the heart. Thus, another rendering of this passage would be, This is something wonderful coming from the heart of God. You see, what makes the syntax so difficult here is the fact that there is no verb in this sentence. You can have a sentence without a verb in Hebrew but you can t do it in English. So we have to make up our own verb which the translators did by using the verb is. I am not certain that the sentence really needs to be interrogative or in the form of a question, but let s just keep it that way. What I do find disturbing is that the preposition from in front of God s name is completely ignored. I would suggest an appropriate rendering to be: Is anything that comes from the heart of God too wonderful or marvelous? As the interrogative is uncertain, we could also render this as: There is nothing more wonderful than an expression of the heart from God.
Now let s look at that word laughter which is sachaq. It is spelled Sade, Chet, and Quf. The Sade shows humility and submission to God. The Chet shows a joining with God and the Quf represents a new beginning with God. The Sade and Chet would suggest that Sarah was laughing with God not at God. The word here would suggest that this laughter springs from the joy of the Lord. That God Himself was laughing. Perhaps her fear at admitting that she was laughing was the fear that her laughter was out of context or inappropriate when she overhead God tell Abraham she would have a child. It was sort of like that old Mary Tyler Moore TV episode where Chuckles the Clown was killed in a parade by being stepped on by an elephant. When it was explained that he was dressed as a peanut, everyone broke out laughing and then felt guilty because the laughter did not seem appropriate. I think the reason she was fearful, however, was that she broke protocol. You see Sarah was not a part of the conversation and in oriental culture she should not have been listening to the conversation of the two men. When God pointed out her laughter she denied it. If she did not deny it would be admitting to breaking protocol, a violation of a cultural standard, but God was and is above all cultural standards so what may seem inappropriate in one s culture may be alright from God s standpoint. I remember one time I was teaching a Hebrew class in the basement of an inner city church. Suddenly from the sanctuary I hear joyful singing, handclapping and feet shuffling as if there was dancing. I asked one of the pastors who was in my class what was going on and he said it was a funeral. Now in my cultural background you did not singing joyful songs, clap your hands or dance as that was inappropriate, you were supposed to be sad and quiet. But to these people someone had just entered into the presence of God and it was a time of joyful expression.
I think God was reminding Sarah that He had given her a word, a promise. Perhaps God was encouraging Sarah to laugh, to continue to laugh with the joy of His wonderful promise. Is anything more wonder than a promise or Word from God? Nay, thou did laugh could also be rendered as: No, just keep laughing. Maybe this passage is suggesting such a thing as holy laughter. Laughter which comes from God but to our minds or our cultural norms it seems inappropriate for the moment. Yet God does not live in a Western or Eastern culture, He is not subject to any culture. So He may just laugh at what to us seems an inappropriate moment. If we happen to enter God s heart at that moment we discover ourselves also laughing at such an inappropriate moment. It is curious that God said to name the child Isaac. You see Isaac is the same word as sachaq (laughter) and literally means he will laugh. The only difference in this word is the Yod that is placed in front of it. The Yod represents a message from heaven. In other words this message from heaven brings laughter. Perhaps God told Abraham and Sarah to name the child laughter with a Yod to describe this heavenly holy laughter. In other words, God has a sense of humor and sometimes when you enter God s heart He is laughing. We are, after all, made in His image and laughter is a part of that image. I believe the name Isaac was more than just a memorial to that moment of revelation, it was a reminder that God wanted to share His joy with Abraham and Sarah. That use of the word davar suggest that Sarah entered God s heart at that moment and began to laugh. Not realizing that God was laughing and that she was really laughing with God she realized her cultural indiscretion and stopped laughing and
felt embarrassed. But God said, Hey forget your petty cultural norms, come on laugh it up with me. In my journey to discover God s heart I have learned that when you enter God s heart you begin to mimic what God is feeling. If he is weeping you weep, if he is dancing you dance and if He is laughing you laugh, even if it seems inappropriate or culturally wrong in your mind, God is saying, It s ok, I want you to share with me what I am feeling. When you love someone you want to share you most emotional times with that person whether it be joy or sorrow. You see what was inappropriate was not Sarah laughing but that she stopped laughing. {Word Study} Beside WORD STUDY BESIDE Genesis 18:8: And he took butter and milk and the calf he dressed, and set before them and he stood by them under the tree and they did eat. Beside: Hebrew Alihem: exaltation, rising above, upon, (in rare cases) beside. This is a very interesting passage of Scripture. Three angelic beings, one of whom is later identified as God Jehovah, appear before Abraham. Abraham invites them to dinner and serves them a non-kosher meal (milk and meat together) and does something very strange, he does not eat with them. In that culture it would be considered very rude to not eat with your guest. What really catches my interest when reading this in my Hebrew
Bible is the word, alihem, which is rendered as Abraham standing beside them. This is not the most common word to use to say beside. Etsel, al, zuwlah, bad, arm, iummal, im, yad, min are all common words for beside. I rarely run across alihem as a word rendered as beside. This is where translators engage in some paraphrasing. There is enough ambiguity in this word to correctly render it as beside but I have to ask myself: Why use such an ambiguous word for beside when there are other words more clearly rendered as beside, if indeed beside was the intended meaning of the word? Alihem is really a word to express the idea of exaltation, rising above or the most common usage is upon. Abraham was standing upon the three men, and learning one is deity, he was standing upon Jehovah. In searching through Jewish literature I found that the sages taught that the use of alihem was to indicate a place of service. Abraham was standing above the three men indicating that he could do what they could not do; he could rise to a different level in his service to God. Angels are fixed at only one level in their service to God and, of course, if one of the individuals was Jehovah Himself, Jehovah could not move any higher than he already was. Yet, Abraham could move to another level in His service to God by standing upon God (in a figurative sense). Here is another level of our relationship with God. We first walk before God, then we walk with God, and now we see where we walk upon God. So what is the difference? Walking before God is like a child learning to walk. Walking with God is like a child now holding his father s hand and walking with him and running about doing little errands for his father. For instance, in walking through a market place the father may prepare to give an alm to a beggar but will choose to let his son drop the coin in the cup. Walking upon God is now assuming the role carrying out the Father s business, becoming a full partner with his father in the
family business. Note the reaction of Abraham and Sarah when God said she would have a child. Sarah laughed in disbelief, Abraham had no problem believing. Could it have been the physical proximity of each when the announcement was made? Abraham was standing alihem to God where Sarah was at the doorway. The word alihem is spelled Ayin, Lamed, and Hei. The Ayin shows spiritual insight and discernment, Lamed teaches us learning, and the Hei indicates God s presence. The word alihem speaks of spiritual instruction while in the presence of God. Perhaps the writer used this word alihem to indicate that Abraham was getting deep spiritual insight while in the presence or close proximity of God Himself. In this case alihem is sort of like our modern term for downloading. In looking at this word alihem I think it is very possible something much deeper was going on while Abraham watched them eat. As indicated earlier it is very strange in this culture that Abraham did not eat with his guest. But Abraham was eating, he was eating spiritually. God had come to his level to raise him to a higher spiritual level and in this process was downloading deep spiritual insight such that he could believe a 90 year Sarah would have a child where Sarah not standing in alihem found it hard to believe. Was this a one time event? Not really, Jesus did this very same thing a couple thousand years later with His disciples. If fact I am of the mind that this was Jesus Himself with Abraham downloading information as he did with his disciples and gasp! perhaps he is doing it with us today. Anyways, many of us have learned to walk before God, as a little child watching and learning about God. Some of us have been walking with God, running little errands for Him. Maybe you have matured enough to walk upon God that is to enter the family business. To sit in God s board room and let him open up His books to you and download you with all the
secrets of running His business.