The Hidden Please
In linguistic analysis, a particle is a minor part of speech, usually a short few letters added to a word. These few letters are normally not declinable. That means that they cannot be modified in order to show relationships within the language structure. Most words in language can be modified to show how they relate to other words. For example, our verbs change to show us whether or not they apply to person (he is) or many people (they are). They also change to show us whether the act is in the past, present, or future (I did, I do, I will do). But these tiny parts of speech do not change form. Consequently, they are often considered irrelevant. This is especially true when the language itself modifies verbs with additions of small groups of letters. There is a particle in Hebrew that is exactly like this. It is the particle na.
Although na is a tiny, minor part of the language, it is used more than sixty times in Genesis alone. It is attached to a verb, so it is often ignored when the verb is translated into English. But this decision to ignore na actually hides something from us that is quite important. If we look closely, we may see why Jesus proclaimed that not the smallest letter of the alphabet or the smallest part of the letter would pass away until everything it said was fulfilled.
Na is used only 5 times in the whole Tanakh when God speaks to a man. Let’s look at those five occasions to see if we find anything unusual about them. I have introduced the particle na into the translations in English so that we can see how it modifies the sense of the passage.
Genesis 13:14-15 The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Now lift up your eyes and look, please (na), from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendents forever.”
Genesis 15:5 And He took him outside and said, “Look up, please (na), toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendents be.”
Genesis 22:2 He said, “Now take, please (na), your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”
Exodus 11:2 “Now speak, please (na), in the hearing of the people that each man ask from him neighbor and each woman ask from her neighbor articles of silver and articles of gold.”
Isaiah 7:3 Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out, please,(na), now to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway to the fuller’s field,”
Let’s look closely at the context of these uses of na. In Genesis 13:14-15, God makes a promise to Abraham regarding the inheritance of land. God tells Abraham that all the land that he can see, as far away as his eyes can behold, will be given to him and to his descendents forever. In order to grasp the significance of this promise, we must remember that Abraham is nothing more than a resident alien. He owns no property at all. He is certainly not capable of purchasing such a vast area. He has no army to conquer the people who presently occupy this land. In addition, Abraham has no children. Even if by some miracle the land should come into his possession, he has no descendents. Everything about this promise seems impossible.
Genesis 15:5 makes an even more startling claim. Look up at the night sky, Abraham. See if you can count the stars. You will have more descendents than all those tiny pinpoints of light. Millions and billions and trillions. For a man who did not have a single son, such a claim seemed to be utter nonsense.
Genesis 22 is the story of the sacrifice of Isaac. Finally, after over a century of waiting, Abraham has a son. The line of the promise begins with this child. Perhaps God’s previous proclamations might come true. How one son can begin a progeny that encompasses more children than the stars still seems irrational. How one son can find a way to possess more land than the eye can behold still seems unreasonable. But at least there is a possibility now. A child has been born. And now, just when it looks like there might actually be some chance of all these past promises becoming reality, God asks Abraham to “take, please,” your son and sacrifice him. Break the line. Stop the promise. Dead in its tracks. Certainly this has to be the most outrageous, the most ridiculous, the most unbelievable thing one could imagine.
Moses is in the middle of his battle with Pharaoh. He is directing the exodus. Then God tells him to, please, tell every person to go to their neighbor and demand that the neighbor give them their silver and gold. This is not the socially acceptable thing to do. It is not politically wise. By this time the Egyptians absolutely hate those Israelites. The Egyptians have experienced nothing but plagues, loss, and death at the hands of the Israelite God. It would be so much safer and so much more astute to simply get away as quickly as possible. But God says otherwise. Do something that seems completely contradictory to the effort to escape. Load up on silver and gold. And worse than that, go and get it from the very people who want to kill all of you. Exodus 11:2 seems about as reasonable as asking for a match in the middle of a gas leak.
Finally, there is the encounter with Isaiah. God asks him to go out, please, to meet Ahaz, the king. Ahaz was not a king who followed God. He was involved in political alliances with Assyria, an arrangement he thought he needed in order to overthrow the Judean king. But this was an alliance that God did not want. In fact, it eventually led to the downfall and death of Ahaz. In the middle of this political re-alignment, God instructs Isaiah to go out to Ahaz and frankly tell him that his plans were wrong, that God did not support them, and that he was being disobedient to the Lord. This was clearly politically incorrect. Furthermore, confronting the king with a message of his self-seeking disobedience could easily get you killed. Nevertheless, God instructs Isaiah to make the proclamation to the king, along with his son. If the king ever wanted to rid himself of the annoying prophet and his lineage, that time was certainly at hand. Once again, God asks someone to please do something that seems utterly unreasonable.
Each time na is used in God’s speech to a man, God asks that man to do something that defies reason. The first three occasions involve the promise to Abraham. The last two involve Moses and Isaiah. In every example, the use of na indicates that God is fully aware that he is asking the person to do something that is completely contradictory to reason. And this is the secret of the hidden please. In the speeches of God, na is an announcement that God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. Amazingly, God recognizes this very fact and He condescends to our inferiority by asking us to please, if we don’t mind too much, follow His instructions since they come from His sovereign control of the universe. Isn’t this simply overwhelming? The God of all creation could have bellowed his orders. He could have proclaimed His eternal plans in thunder, fire, and glory. He could have deafened us with His power or blinded us with His holiness. But He comes to us as though He is asking our permission. He seeks our cooperation as a favor to Him. God’s na is the na of amazing grace, hidden in one of the smallest parts of Scripture. It is the still, small voice written down.
