Deeper Still
Fear YHWH, His holy ones, for they who fear Him lack nothing. Psalm 34:10 (Hebrew text)
Lack Nothing – The Hebrew particle ayin is used hundreds of times in Scripture to negate some action. You’ll find it in Isaiah 40:17 as a comparative (“it is as nothing”) and in Psalm 32:9 to describe something lacking (“without understanding”). There’s nothing (no pun intended) unusual about this word – except its pictograph.
The consonants are Aleph-Yod-Nun. The components of the picture are Strength (Leader)-To Work or Make- Life (Activity). But this seems all backwards. How can a word that negates actions or mean nothing or nonexistence have a picture that clearly is about power, work and life? It’s a puzzle, isn’t it? And it might remain a puzzle until we realize that ayin has a homophone and the homophone means “where.” As an adverb, ayin is always connected to the preposition min, so it always means “from where” (cf. Genesis 29:4). This is not the same “where” that we find in Genesis 3:9. That “where” is ayyeh. This “where” is about location. “Where is it from?” So how is “where is it from” connected to “nothing”? Ah, did it just click into place?
Where is our sustenance from? Where do we find our security? Where will we look to find purpose in our actions? From nothing on this earth. Just as all that is came from nothing and the speaking of God, so our lives depend on nothing but the speaking God – and when we “fear” Him, we experience “nothing needed because of lack”. Fear YHWH and ayin mahsor. What is mahsor (a word that means “a need from lack of something”)? It is Mem (chaos) Chet (fence) Samech (turn slowly, support) Resh (person). What is a need because of lack? It is a person slowly turning toward the fence around chaos. It is being turned or twisted toward nothing, the very emptiness that God made into all that is.
Those who fear the Lord are not turned toward what is not. They are turned toward the face of the Almighty who provides. They come before Him in awe and reverence, knowing that He stands between them and what is not ordered, what is not living, what is not full.
It all depends on your direction, doesn’t it?
Topical Index: where from, ayin, nothing, lack nothing, Psalm 34:10
Lack nothing…. Boy, I wish I didn’t lack the ability to think on my feet more quickly. Grrr. Anyway, I wanted to share something that has been happening in my classroom, my response to it, and my frustration with it, too. It’s on my blog, but it has to do with this website.
During lunch there’s a group of several girls who usually stay in my room and eat their food. Partially because we work on aspects of the game, and we talk about things pertaining to the class and how it’s going. And sometimes we get into interesting talks. Yesterday we ended up speaking about politics in religion. I think it started when they were speaking about how men had made themselves superior to women, and I told them the story of creation according to the Hebrew Bible, complete with a mini-lesson about the ezer and what Hassah means and how the roles were reversed. And somehow, the discussion ended up at the questions about 2 things: First, how do you know all this stuff? And second, how come you still believe in God if it seems like you’re constantly discovering the Bible’s not accurate? Here’s kind of what I said. I wish I had been clearer.
I told them, first, that I grew up believing because it’s what my parents taught me. But eventually I had to figure out what I believed and why, all for myself. After I did that, I kept learning. Today, I’m digging into our Biblical roots so that I have a broader and deeper understanding of who God is and what I believe.
As for the second thing…. Well, just because I find that the way I was taught is incorrect doesn’t mean that the Bible is incorrect. The translation we have is not perfect because it was politically influenced, and there are lots of words that we just don’t always know how to translate from Hebrew because Hebrew’s such a rich language with so many descriptive words. But even though I may find inconsistency in translation, underneath the foundational principle on which I rest my faith remains the same: God loves me and Jesus died to remove the guilt of my sin so that relationship could be restored between us. (That’s the part I wish I had been clearer on. Because of the whole “don’t push religion on our kids thing” I didn’t get that far into it. I just said that nothing I had discovered in my learning disproved or discounted the basics of what I believe.) Finding out the truth has made my belief in and understanding of God much deeper and richer. Realizing that the version of the Bible I read is not particularly accurate is frustrating, but not also not completely surprising.
I would love to learn Hebrew and Greek so I could read our Bible in it’s original form (I’d like to read the Gospels in their original Hebrew form, but the copy we have of that is pretty rare). So, one day when things seems to be a little less chaotic, I want to study those languages. I want to know more. And I want to be more bold and more direct the next time my students ask me questions. I pray they keep asking.
I point them to this website a lot, but I don’t know if they actually come. Maybe next time I’ll pull it up at school and explore a little. 🙂 Skip, thanks for your work… It’s affecting more people than anyone knows.
Amanda
Well, that didn’t format quite like I’d hoped. The part from my blog is the second, third, fourth, and fifth paragraphs (up until where I said I point them at this website). Sorry! Still learning the intricacies of code.
Amanda- your twig is “bent” in the right direction! LOL!- I know you were “blessed” just being able to share the Name with these two young inquiring minds! We all come from somewhere- but I (just as yourself) know YHWH is changing me. (Rapidly, I might add!- LOL).
This “one thing” has helped me tremendously. “Christianity” is not a religion- it is a relationship!. Fix your focus! Do NOT become distracted. You know (I know, we know) it is all about Him!
I was “weaned” on KJV and mostly read from it. Yes, I “feel your pain” in not knowing Hebrew or Greek, but look what we have been given in the form of one- “Skip Moen!” LOL!- That’s we we’re here for- to learn- precept upon precept, line upon line.. “it all adds up!” (It’s a beautiful thing- isn’t it?) G-d will take us where we need to be and He will provide for us along the way. He has never (ever) failed, now has He? His words are true and He is holy. Do you hear our Teacher say- “fasten your seat belt- it’s going to be a bumpy ride?” LOL! – “Living by faith” is anything but boring- fer sure!
“Come Thou fount of every blessing- “tune” our hearts to sing Thy praise!! Amen.
Beloved Brother:
“Christianity” is not a religion- it is a relationship!
What “it” is all about is indeed a relationship with Yeshua. But my brother, “Christianity” is in fact a religion … a religion thoroughly enmeshed in the culture of this dying creation.
So we keep the babies but throw away the bath tub! The Lord has relationship with children (sons and daughters) … not with the bath tub (a.k.a. the religious framework which holds the non-living waters) ….
I could reference hundreds of comments by Skip on this topic … but humor me please and I will just introduce a few from the last year or so:
1) “When Constantine adopted Christianity as the official religion of Rome, he simply transferred the existing pagan celebrations into the religion of Christianity. He replaced the Jewish calendar of God’s festival events with a calendar of his own pagan practices. Easter, another pagan fertility celebration about divine eggs, became the Christian day of the resurrection. Christmas became the day of Yeshua’s birth. It was no longer necessary to follow God’s festival calendar. Constantine and Christianity just made their own list.”
2) “Somewhere along the way, Christianity embraced the Greek metaphysics of the body/mind/soul split. When this alien concept crept into Christian thinking, it eventually led to the postulation of a carnal Christian, the believer who has confessed Christ as Savior but does not live with Christ as Lord. This is the person whose life is characterized by actions that do not glorify God but at the same time claims God’s forgiveness and acceptance.”
3) “Christianity today is the syncretism of political, economic, social and epistemological views that are not based in the Word of God. Replacement theology did more than promote the supremacy of the Church. It broke the continuity of the culture of God’s people. By the end of the second century, the beliefs and practices of Yeshua and his disciples had been eliminated from the newly invented religion of Christianity.”
4) “Peter Leithart suggests an answer. “Christianity is institutionalized worldliness . . . worldliness that has become so much our second nature that we call it piety.”[1] Leithart argues persuasively that what we call Christianity is really the accommodation of religious ideals and doctrines to the larger culture. We have converted the Kingdom of God into an acceptable form of right thinking and right feeling.”
5) “As a result of many corrupting influences, not least of which is the Reformation, we seem to accept a dual-kingdom world. We think that Christianity does not seek earthly dominion. We think Yeshua wants us to join the heavenly kingdom while we are settled into whatever version of national boundaries we choose. We are wrong. God seeks dominion – now and in the future”
5) “Why don’t more embrace Torah today? Probably because Christianity is not biblical. It is cultural and has been infected by two thousand years of anti-semitic thinking and a lot of Greek metaphysics. Probably because every major denomination teaches a replacement theology. Probably because, just as in the days of Luther, the people have been “protected” from actually knowing the Scriptures. And finally, because the individual freedom, “I can decide for myself” mindset is the dominate worldview both inside and outside the church.”
6) “This paradigm is not based on Scripture. It is based on a general concept of religion, independent of the actual prophetic tradition of Israel. Therefore, it reads the Hebrew Scriptures within the paradigm – and ignores or reinterprets contradictory passages to fit the paradigm. The biggest problem is really right in front of us: How do we take off the blinders?
Unfortunately, many wonderful and devoted believers will not be able to take off the blinders. The paradigm is so much a part of their way of looking at the world, and has been reinforced by the Church for so long, the very idea that there might be another way is so frightening they refuse to consider it. They are sure of their beliefs, so forget the problems and the text. This is the way it has always been. It takes enormous patience, gentleness, yes, and sometimes shock, to remove the fear of examining the text. For some, it just isn’t going to happen.”
7) “A very curious thing has happened to Christianity in the last 2000 years; something that may now be finally coming to an end. I don’t mean the return of Yeshua. In spite of the current crop of “signs,” no one has ever yet been right about that return and there is no reason to believe that human beings will ever be right about predicting it. No, the situation that seems to be coming to an end is the nearly universal assumption about the irrelevance of the God of Israel. For 2000 years, Christianity has basically operated as if Israel had nothing more than passing interest in God’s plan.”
8) Evangelists who do not bring the lost back into a relationship with the God of Israel (not the same as the God of Christianity) are missing the point pretty drastically. First, God is not our God. He is the God of Israel and whatever relationship we have with Him is either in or through Israel. He revealed Himself through Israel and we are to serve Him according to that revelation.”
9) “Walking the walk of the Way. That’s the message. The Way isn’t what Christianity today preaches. The Way is what Paul and others refer to as something called a “sect” of Judaism, but is actually the true Hebraic understanding of Elohim YHWH. So, if we are called to be like Yeshua, we are ipso facto called to walk like Yeshua. And the one we follow (at invitation) should be following in the Way.”
As for me … I pray fervently that children enter and remain in relationship with Yeshua …. despite religion!
I do however believe that presenting “Christianity” as a Biblical relationship with Yeshua is simply not right! I have no problems with the sheep just the pen!
Just for the record … In no way is my commentary herein designed to dis-respect the faithful (the saints and family of true believers) that have shared the heart of Mashiach throughout the ages. My lamentations are for a world in dire need of healing and salvation while my frustrations are focused upon a movement that frankly has failed to deliver the promise of The Kingdom … a movement that has not resulted in Earthly transformation simply because the movement “left the path” from times of old! My soul is more saddened than irked!
Skip rightly declares that the objective is to “arrive together” … yet the principalities that we battle often keep us from engaging each other … keep us from getting on the path together! And the principalities most often operate within the confines of “religion”! Until we recognize this fact the greater population will never really know who their enemy is and how the religion they cling to is the very roadblock to a transformational and intimate relationship with The Lord and the community!
We have been rebellious and stiff necked children … may He be merciful!
Excellent, Drew! A very powerful and concise summary! Do you mind if I use it elsewhere (with appropriate attribution, of course)?
WOW, thanks for collecting all those thoughts in one place. Did I really write all that? Yes, I did. And I am move convinced every day that the western religion of Christianity would be unrecognizable by most first century followers of Yeshua. We need a THOROUGH revision of our history. Most believers today have no idea how we moved from Messianic Judaism, the “Way”, a sect of Judaism, to what is called “Christianity.” What a shame? It’s like being an American and having no idea what the Declaration of Independence is all about. (That is true too, unfortunately).
“something called a “sect” of Judaism”
Hi Drew,
In my favorite scene from King Lear, before Lear and his daughter are executed, Shakespeare speaks of “sects of great ones:”
Come, let’s away to prison;
We two alone will sing like birds i’ the cage:
When thou dost ask me blessing, I’ll kneel down,
And ask of thee forgiveness: so we’ll live,
And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues
Talk of court news; and we’ll talk with them too,
Who loses and who wins; who’s in, who’s out; —
And take upon’s the mystery of things,
As if we were God’s spies: and we’ll wear out,
In a wall’d prison, packs and sects of great ones
That ebb and flow by the moon.
King Lear, Act V scene iii
King Lear
In Shakespeare’s King Lear, the king says, “Nothing can come of nothing” to his daughter Cordelia, meaning that as long as she says nothing to flatter him, she will receive nothing from him.[1] Later, Lear nearly repeats the line, saying, “Nothing can be made out of nothing” (Act 1.1 and Act 1.4 respectively).
“KING LEAR: ..what can you say to draw
A third more opulent than your sisters? Speak.
CORDELIA: Nothing, my lord.
KING LEAR: Nothing!
CORDELIA: Nothing.
KING LEAR: Nothing will come of nothing: speak again.
In the greatest tragedy ever written, King Lear must learn, too late, the importance of “nothing.”