Hurry Up and Wait
The mind of the hasty will discern the truth, and the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak clearly. Isaiah 32:4 NASB
Hasty – First we need to clear up the footnotes. If you read this verse in the NASB, you will see footnotes for the words “mind” and “truth.” There should probably be another one for “hasty,” but we will get to that. The word translated “mind” is lev, so it should be “heart” (correctly translated in the ESV). The NASB choice of “mind” shifts the exegesis toward Greek patterns rather than Hebrew. Mistake number one. Similarly, the word “truth” is really bin, the Hebrew word for “understanding,” not “truth.” Since the NASB moves the original thought to cognitive rather than volitional emphasis, truth follows. But not in Hebrew. Mistake number two. Finally there is mahar, in this verse, nimharim. It is not a prepositional phrase. It is a verb, a plural participle. So we should read, “The hurrying heart will understand.”
So what does this mean? Well, the context suggests that usually someone quick to choose is vulnerable to mistakes. The Bible usually recommends patience and diligence. But here Isaiah is contrasting the reign of the righteous king with the current situation. In the days when the leaders of the nation are righteous men, decisions can be made quickly because the leaders can be trusted to do what God intends them to do. They will act as refuge, as water in a parched land, and shelter for the oppressed. Then decisions come speedily. Then things work the way God intended. But not until then.
What do we learn by correcting the text according to the footnotes (and the missing one)? We learn that we must choose carefully now. We learn that patience is required. We learn that acting with mehera now is probably a mistake. Now we live under unrighteous kings. Now we must be discerning. Now is not the time for rapid decisions. Now is the time to listen to the instructions in Proverbs and act slowly.
Torah obedience is not found in merely fulfilling the legislated requirements. It is also found in the approach to action. Do not be hasty to decide. If God is slow to anger (and He is), why do we rush to judgment? There’s time to wait, to contemplate, to discern and then to act. When the Millennial King rules with righteousness in his hand, then we will know what to do instantly, from the heart. But until then, be gentle in Spirit. Allow God to work. Go slow. So much of our present disunity seems to arise from the need to make a decision right now! And since none of us have all the facts, perhaps the lesson from Isaiah is one to take to heart. Mahar is a verb of the Millennium. Wait for it!
Short and sweet, but with a long nose. That’s today’s approach. The rest will come later, when the King arrives.
Topical Index: hasty, mahar, Millennium, Isaiah 32:4
“Torah obedience is not found in merely fulfilling the legislated requirements. It is also found in the approach to action. Do not be hasty to decide. If God is slow to anger (and He is), why do we rush to judgment? There’s time to wait, to contemplate, to discern and then to act.”
Profound words Skip. You have a way of consistently pointing us towards the goal of emulating the character of the Father.
Due to your teaching, it is becoming clearer and clearer that YHWH’s chesed – mercy, long-suffering, ‘slow-to-anger’-ness – is His most cherished trait. Without it we humans would not stand a chance of being redeemed, much less having the hope and opportunity to ‘grow’ into His likeness and to take on His ways! How much I have failed…! Yet I am encouraged to press toward the goal because of His steadfast love expressed in His chesed toward me.
In an earlier post (https://skipmoen.com/2015/02/22/wiifm/), you concluded with the words – “Love is vacuous without the verbs of Exodus 34:6-7. Tithing is useless. Weeping in front of the altar is a sham. Revivals are fiction. Unless! Unless the character of YHVH becomes the behavior of His people.”
In your passionate way you are helping to return Torah and the whole Hebraic way of being…, to its rightful place in the hearts of YHVH’s people. For real, the character of YHWH must, yes, MUST become the behavior of His people. We MUST… “Produce the fruit of hesed in all its flavors” (your quote), and that has to start with me. I myself grew up as a Christian, “in love with Jesus” and “secure in the Father’s love”, while all this time not even knowing that Exodus 34:6-7 had something salient to convey about the character of the Father!! Now, the walk with Him feels like it is starting all over again, not from the beginning but from a new paradigm.
Many of us who ‘came to faith’ through ‘accepting Jesus’ are being strengthened, enriched and challenged by the profound matters you cause us to consider. Thank you for faithfully pursuing the task YHWH entrusted to you. Many blessings to you and Roxanne as you give of yourselves to YHWH’s people in South Africa. Shalom, Arnella
Your words are greatly encouraging to me. Thank you. But I must tell you that what I write is often the result of great turmoil and personal agony. Each sentence is a lesson in conviction and a mirror I must hold up before myself. I look back on a lot of this and wonder how I could be the man who put the words on paper. I am often discouraged with the gap between what I discover in the text and my own display of the truth. But, like Jacob, I will not let go until I find that man at the brook blesses me too with a new name that changes my destiny.
YHWH be praised that you are encouraged Skip. May I add that without your “great turmoil and personal agony” you would not have been able to minister life-giving thoughts to us. ‘Measure for measure’, your emptying of yourself will not be without divine compensation (for He is faithful that called you…). You are still on the journey. Even Jacob at the ‘end’ confessed “few and evil has been the days of the years of my life…” [pending translation errors :>)]. You are in good company!
Besides Messiah will do for you as He did for Peter; you will not be “Left Behind” (https://skipmoen.com/2015/03/01/left-behind-2/). That you become acutely aware that you are a ‘sinful man’ (as you showed us re Peter) is what YHWH desires of all of us. However the awareness of one’s “unholiness” can be devastating in itself, leaving one altogether ‘undone’ (Isaiah 6:5). But Peter was not left there (nor was Isaiah). Peter experienced Yeshua’s heart of deep forgiving love and looked into eyes full of compassionate understanding… and was wooed to the place of total capitulation. He went on – freed of self-condemnation – to glorify YHWH with his life.
You too are poised for that legacy and may we who read your heart-wrenching words follow suit whatever our calling may be… Like Peter may you be encouraged to trust Messiah to come alongside your humanity…with whatever ‘added’ words of life you need.
As for your name, dare I suggest that your life is already giving expression to your name? Like your hero Jacob, you are already leaving behind the legacy of a patriarch, and THAT in spite of yourself!
Be consoled in knowing that many in YOUR community are praying for you…
Yah bless you and your house.
Arnella
PS
I also need ‘added’ words of life as I am struggling too… Blessed journey. Arnella
Really wanting to say too – we all do need ‘words of life’ as we are all in a ‘war’, and we are all on the journey. It is one reason why this community is such a blessing to us. Thanks to you all!
Amen, Skip, and I am praying for that for you, too, as I am praying for myself!
I did want to let you know that I am quite certain that I do not read you with the same agony and perhaps contortion that you must wrestle with: on the contrary, I think I must be reading you with the same Spirit that inspired you to write in the first place: it’s great on this end! I really like the story that another reader wrote about her daughter that sat in church and heard something entirely different than what the preacher preached. There’s hope for all of us! LOL!
I think we all have stammering lips and a loaded heart, but that is not acceptable as an excuse. If we are to be hands and mouths and so forth, we have to start with where we are, and He does the rest. The only unacceptable response is no response. Yes, He does the rest of what we are still lacking, but, as I have told my kids over and over, you have to be moving before He can do anything. He will show up to push and steer, but we have to at least be wiggling! Or, in your case, writing…
I am praying for all you and yours, and that includes this precious community! May YHVH bless us and keep us, and may His face shine upon us, and give us shalom! Amen!
I wonder if the bittersweet Words from YHVH were ever written or spoken from human lips, or to human lips, without turmoil and agony once the forbidden fruit was eaten. You are one of the first teachers that I have respected to the degree I am slowly trusting you. It was very common for me to find error. You are set apart from the rest at this time in my journey. I appreciate your skill with the “sword” even though i’m often left feeling slain.
Those who use the sword bleed a lot.
Your insight and commentary are appreciated.