Tag-Archive for » samach «

Emotional Imperatives

Saturday, December 12th, 2009 | Author:

“And you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son, and your daughter, and your male slave, and your female slave, and the Levite, and the alien, and the fatherless, and the widow that are inside the gates.” Deuteronomy 16:14


Shall Rejoice – “Yeah, I see what it says, but what if I don’t feel like rejoicing.  I mean, sometimes I just don’t feel so happy.  How can God command me to feel a certain way?”  Answering this question requires a look at the usage of this Hebrew verb, samach.

Two-thirds of the occurrences of this verb in the Hebrew text are found in theological contexts.  Forty of these 180 occurrences are direct statements about God.  We can conclude that this verb reveals something important about the God-Man relationship.  Furthermore, despite our understanding of “rejoice” as a feeling, this Hebrew verb expresses actions.  What we discover when we look carefully at the texts is this:  rejoicing is associated with dancing, singing, clapping, playing and external movement consistent with festival celebrations.  In other words, samach is party language.

Why can God command you to rejoice?  Because once again it is not about how you feel.  It’s about what you do.  God tells you to get out there and party!  When its time for one of the feasts, it doesn’t matter if you feel blue.  You are supposed to clap, sing, shout, dance, jump up and down and act as if you are having a great time even if you don’t feel like it.  Why would God command you to do these things despite your feelings?  Because He knows that you are a nephesh – an embodied manifestation of His living breath – and what you do in the body affects your emotional makeup and your mental state.  If you don’t feel joyful, go act like you do and pretty soon you’ll find a smile on your face and a renewed spirit in your heart.

There’s one other important lesson in this verse.  Did you notice that rejoicing is commanded of everyone in the camp?  Rejoicing is a community affair.  Why do you suppose God specifically requires even children, foreigners and slaves to participate?  Why would He require widows and orphans to rejoice?  If there are any groups of people who are the least likely to have something to jump for joy about, it would be these.  But God insists.  Why?

You could suggest that God’s festivals are inclusive.  He requires participation for theological reasons.  All are under His covenant commitment.  That’s true, of course, but there might be another, more practical, reason.  If you don’t feel like it, someone else might.  And enthusiasm is contagious.  Get children laughing and playing and dancing and singing, and it’s pretty hard to stay blue.  See those much less fortunate jumping up and down for joy and your perspective might change.  This is group think.  After all, what good is a party for one?  God loves a good party.  He invites everyone, but He expects us to get into the spirit of the celebration and have a good time at His event.  Are you ready to dance?

Topical Index:  samach, rejoice, community, joy, Deuteronomy 16:14

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , ,  | 6 Comments

Fit for a King

Wednesday, May 06th, 2009 | Author:

Therefore, my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; also my flesh shall rest in confidence. Psalm 16:9

Glad – The Hebrew word sameach has a rich history; a history that we need to know in order to see the majesty in this simple idea. First, it’s found in Deuteronomy 16:15 where it describes the blessings of the Lord. In 1 Kings 1:40, it’s used to describe the great joy over the king’s anointing. In Psalm 126:3 it describes rejoicing over what God does for His people. In Proverbs 15:13, gladness produces health. Even in the dark book of Ecclesiastes (2:10), it finds a place in the description of satisfied labor. In fact, in terms of relative frequency, it occurs more often in Ecclesiastes than any other book. That seems pretty amazing.

The Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament tells us that this verb of “moving emotion” is so frequently combined with prepositional objects that it “is better classified as a verb of action.” This helps us understand what the Hebrew concept really means. It is about everything we do to express an inner feeling. It includes dancing, clapping, shouting, singing, and even “frisking about.” This is festival language. We took a look at the verb in a different form once before (March 24). What we learn is an essential aspect of the Hebrew view of human existence: Emotions are not separate from actions. My feelings and my behavior are intimately linked. Of course, we all know this, don’t we? You would think it is obvious. But consult with modern theories of psychology or behavior modification specialists or even medical practitioners and you get a very different view of human beings. The Hebrew view is one, unified person. Greek metaphysics divides us into parts – a body, a mind, a soul or spirit. You go to the doctor for one part, the psychotherapist for another and the minister for another. You are not an integrated whole. You are compartmentalized, and as a result, you are taught to live in little insulated boxes. Your job is in one box, your church life in another, your family life in another. Have you ever wondered why contemporary treatments of human ailments (all of them) usually break you into pieces? Now you know. Our view of the human being is fragmented, so our treatment of the human beings reflects our philosophy of fragmented compartmentalization.

But Hebrew is different. “I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.” You could translate this: “I was singing, dancing, jumping up and down, laughing, horsing around, clapping and shouting. I was so excited.” Is that your expression about going to the house of the Lord? Of course, you probably don’t go to the temple. That would be something, especially since it doesn’t exist at the moment. But if you’re missing some of the sameach that goes along with setting God before you, then maybe you’re too Greek to enjoy an integrated existence. Just asking.

Topical Index: sameach, samach, glad, moving emotion, person, Psalm 16:9

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , , ,  | 6 Comments

Two For The Money

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 | Author:

YHWH, in Your strength the king rejoices and in Your deliverance how he rejoices greatly!   Psalm 21:1 (my translation)

Rejoices – English just doesn’t cut it.  English is a language focused on things.  So, we have dozens of words to distinguish slight variables in things.  Just think about the many different words we have that all point to an automobile.  Every year the industry introduces us to more car vocabulary.  Hebrew doesn’t seem to be in love with these kinds of subtleties, but it often makes distinctions where we use only a single word.  This is one of those cases.  Here, David uses two different words for rejoice.  The first is gyl, the second is samach.  The puzzle is why there are two words and what the difference is between them.

First, let’s connect gyl to something more familiar.  Abigail is a name that means “my father is joy.”  You can see it in Hebrew – ab for father coupled with gyl for joy.  This might not be a popular name in our culture, but it certainly has a wonderful meaning in Hebrew.  Who wouldn’t want a daughter with a name like this?

Thirty-six times in Scripture, gyl and samach are found in the same sentence.  Twenty-five of those times, samach comes first.  Scholars believe that this indicates that samach covers a wider range of joyful expression than gyl.  It is also significant that gyl is not found in the Torah.  Almost all of its occurrences are in the prophets and in Psalms.  Finally, while gyl has a secular use, when it is used theologically, it is usually about God.  It describes rejoicing in God’s deliverance, loving-kindness (hesed), judgment and glory. 

Samach occurs in almost all the Old Testament books.  Although you might find this odd, samach occurs quite often in Ecclesiastes.  In the consummate book on the vanity of life, joy seems to play a rather significant role.  Like gyl, samach is a typical Hebrew verb that describes actions that result from emotions.  Nearly two-thirds of its uses are theological. 

Now we’re ready to note the difference between gyl and samach, and why the psalmist uses both so often.  Samach is a word that implies external motion as a result of internal emotion.  It is about clapping, dancing, shouting and singing.  It is joy out loud.  Gyl seems to express a more limited, and more internal experience, often associated with reflection on the character of God.  Gyl is never used “to express individual, isolated events in the past.” It is a present tense, existential experience of overflowing emotion, often resulting in physical action.

Here’s what we learn.  First, our language doesn’t capture all that Hebrew teaches us about rejoicing.  Second, the Hebrew concept of rejoicing covers both internal experience and external action.  Third, rejoicing is ultimately tied to a recognition of the character of God.  When David says that the king rejoices, in both samach and gyl, he says that the king finds the character of God and God’s benevolence so wonderful that his soul is thrilled and his body moved.  He just can’t help clapping and singing, dancing and shouting because what’s happening inside him is more than he can contain. 

Is that how you feel about God?  Are you so filled with His wonder that you just can’t stand still?  Is your rejoicing unbound?  Or are you a mental giant of Greek cognition who can’t quite make your feet move?

Topical Index:  rejoicing, samach, gyl, Abigail, joy, Psalm 21:2, Psalm 21:1

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , , , , , ,  | 3 Comments