The Difference It Makes
For the Jews there was light and gladnessand joyand honor. Esther 8:16 NASB
Gladness/joy – The usual Hebrew word for “joy” is śimḥâ. It comes from the root śāmaḥ, “to rejoice.” You would have expected it to be the Hebrew translated as “joy” in this verse. But it isn’t. In this verse, śimḥâ is translated “gladness,” because there is another word here that also means “joy, gladness” and “rejoicing.” It is śāśôn and appears in this verse as “joy.” Is this simply a case of using synonyms for emphasis, or is there something else happening?
In order to answer this question, we have to investigate any difference between these two words. “The root ś-m-ḥ denotes being glad or joyful with the whole disposition as indicated by its association with the heart (cf. Ex 4:14; Ps 19:8 [H 9]; 104:15; 105:3), the soul (Ps 86:4); and with the lighting up of the eyes (Prov 15:30).”[1] Waltke comments:
Joy characterizes wedding (Jer 25:10) and farewell festivities (Gen 31:27), but most frequently the word is used for joy in the Lord on holy days (Num 10:10), sacred occasions of many sorts (cf. II Sam 6:12; Ezr 3:12). Because Israel is a sacred community, however, one cannot sharply divide secular from sacred festivities.[2]
What about śāśôn? “This masculine noun makes twenty-two appearances in the ot, and almost universally it speaks of human happiness and abounding delight.”[3] But the root, śûś, suggests something more. “śûś here [in the Mosaic writings] thus seems to convey the idea of God’s enthusiasm to bless the righteous and to punish the wicked.”[4]
Let’s apply these explanations to the context in Esther. This verse follows the vindication of the Jews. The threat to their existence as a people has been removed. Haman has been punished. The translation of śimḥâ (gladness) certainly fits the situation. A national celebration is in order. It is commemorated each year in Purim. Israel rejoices because it was spared.
But that’s not the end of the story, is it? In this most unusual of books, the name of God appears only once, in an offhand remark of Mordecai. Christian explanations often follow logic like this: “The book of Esther records no miracles and no direct intervention of God at all. In Esther’s story, the Lord redeems His people through the faith and courage of one strategically placed woman and her cousin. All the while, things are happening behind the scenes to bring about the final result.”[5]
But Hebrew is much more subtle. We would only conclude that God isn’t mentioned if we stuck with the translation. Otherwise we would immediately notice that the two different words in this summary verse imply something more than the translators can capture. The words are not synonyms. The second word amplifies the meaning of the first by recognizing God’s involvement in the whole process. It is a poignant reminder of YHVH’s involvement with Israel during the time of Moses. In other words, it is a deliberate clue in the text to look somewhere else if you want to know what’s really happening. And when you look, you end up in Deuteronomy 28:63 and 30:9, “It shall come about that as the Lord delighted over you to prosper you, and multiply you, so the Lord will delight over you to make you perish and destroy you; and you will be torn from the land where you are entering to possess it.”
śimḥâ leads us to human efforts within the sacred community. Śāśôn shows us that God is behind it all.
Topical Index: joy, rejoicing, gladness, śimḥâ, śāśôn, Esther 8:16, Deuteronomy 28:63
[1]Waltke, B. K. (1999). 2268 שָׂמַח. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament(electronic ed., p. 879). Chicago: Moody Press.
[3]Cohen, G. G. (1999). 2246 שׂוּשׂ. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament(electronic ed., p. 873). Chicago: Moody Press.
How perfectly fitting for this week’s Parsha Nitzavim and last week’s Ki Tavo. This subtly is really HUGE and makes me glad He cares about minutia and blending His message it so beautifully. Thanks Skip! XO
Rab. James Scott Trimm:
“The Name of YHWH does appear encoded in the Hebrew text at four transitional points of the story,… through what is called NOTARIKON. (A Notarikon is an acronym; anagram or acrostic. Taking the first or last letters of the words of a phrase and joining them to make a new word or, conversely, expanding a word into a phrase.)
(1) The first Notarikon of YHWH in Esther is found in Esther 1:20 – And when the king’s decree which he shall make, shall be published throughout all his kingdom, great though it be: all the wives will give to their husbands honor, both to great and small.
It was this decree that ultimately brought Esther before the throne of the King, thus saving the Jewish people. Now if we look at the phrase “all the wives will give” in the Hebrew we find that the first letter of each word spells out YHWH backwards because YHWH is over ruling and reversing the wisdom of man. Whereas it was man’s intention that this decree causes women to do the will of men, YHWH would ultimately use it to have the King do the will of Esther.
(2) Next we come to Esther 5:4 – And Ester said, If it seem good unto the king, let the king and Haman come this day, unto the banquet that I have prepared for him.
Now if we look at the phrase “let the king and Haman come this day” in the Hebrew we find that first letter of each word spells YHWH going forward because YHWH’s hand was upon this feast that He might defeat Haman.
(3) Next we come to Esther 5:13 – Yet all this avails me nothing, so long as I see Mordekhai the Jew, sitting at the king’s gate
If we look at the phrase “Yet all this avails me nothing” in the Hebrew we see that the last letter of each word spells YHWH backwards. The final letters are used because this is the beginning of the end of Haman’s plot. The Name is backwards because YHWH is turning back Haman’s plot.
(4) Next we come to Esther 7:7 – And the king arose in his wrath from the banquet of wine, and went into the palace garden: but Haman remained to make request for his life to Ester the queen, for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king.
If we look at the phrase “that there was evil determined against him” in the Hebrew we will see that the last letter of each word spells YHWH forward. The final letters because Haman’s plot had come to an end, and forwards because YHWH was moving the plans of Ester and Mordechai forward.
(5) Then spoke the king Achashverosh and said unto Ester the queen, Who is he, and where is he, that dares presume in his heart to do so?
If we look at the Hebrew “is he, and where is he” we see that the Masoretic Text makes the final letters of each word larger, spelling the Notarikon “EHYHE” which is the same backwards and forwards “I Am” one of the names of YHWH (Ex. 2:23-25; 3:14-15). The Name is made from the final letters so that YHWH shows that unlike Hamen, YHWH does have the authority and power to reverse the decrees of a King.
Thus we see that while YHWH is never mentioned in the short version of Esther, He is ever present working behind the scenes in the original Hebrew.”
One might suggest ( 😉 ) that finding YHVH in the text (or HVHY) is really an effort to MAKE the text say something by looking at any possible way. This reminds me of The Bible Code which “finds” the date of JFK’s assignation in numerology. A real stretch, as far as I can see.
Whether the Jews (Rabies or “the Mordecais”) are stretching the text (Prof. Skip Moen), composing (Prof. Alan Dershowitz) propaganda, or discovering the golden apples in the silver bowl (Prov.25:11), for me the essence of the book of Esther (as also the books of the Maccabees) seems to be more about wrongdoing from both sides of the political (palace’s) isles than a lesson in what is the right approach to intercultural relations.
I have experienced sason interpreted this way! I wrote before about a recurring nightmare I had for decades where I tried to put my family (siblings as well as my own children, as I had been responsible for both) inside the house of my childhood to keep them safe from monsters. I would always fail. Until several years ago. One night I dreamed that I got everybody in and boarded them in so they would stay, leaving me able to turn around and actually fight the monsters. They were hideous and numerous and I fought and fought. I bit them and tore their limbs off and there was literally gore to the eyeballs, but I was so happy while I did it I could have busted a gut. Well, next morning when I got up I found I had, instead, busted a blood vessel in my left eye: I had a red eye for months afterward to remind me of just how much terrible fun I had had. Needless to say, THAT dream has never returned!
I don’t think it is wrong to wish for the vanquishing of our enemies, but because I also believe that people are given opportunities to choose love until they exhaust all the choices up until their very last breath, everybody around me – still living, anyway – is still a potentially redeemable brother or sister. I think this is why true judgment/vengeance is reserved for the hereafter; that great Judgment Day when all will be resurrected “some to everlasting life, and some to eternal destruction” to face the final result of their choices in this life. Until then, my enemy is your enemy and we would do well to fight for ourselves and everyone else around us (“love your enemies”) against our REAL enemy who is trying so hard to keep us from the unity of each other. Righteousness is about the joy of being able to keep togetherness possible faster and better than the darkness is able to fracture and separate us from each other, God, and ourselves. The real energy with which to conduct that fight has been modeled for us, where our Example, for the “JOY (sason?) that was set before Him, endured the shame, even the shame of the cross”.
Like Him I also have a last (first?) resort – a cross card up my sleeve. Few darkness scenarios are able to resist the humility of someone willing and ABLE to climb up on the cross of the crucifixion of self to reach another. The darkness is counting on us agreeing with the eclipsing of God with other interests, as well as agreeing with division from others and the supremacy of self. May I vow not to let that kingdom succeed today! Fighting! (Um, make that sason fighting!)
Vital Sason?
Could we get that in a shampoo?
Only with condition(er)s. Repent, Gather, Repeat.
How do we begin to consider the “joyful” lengths God
goes through to delight over us and prosper us, whether it’s
behind the scenes, in between the lines, or jumping right out of
the pages of Scripture?
How, for instance, are we to embrace that it was “for the joy
set before Him” that Yeshua endured the cross for you and I?
Remarkably, in His own words, He tells us He did it so that “my joy
may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” Jn 15:11
That blows clear past my limited human understanding.
But in my faith, I certainly do rejoice!
“śimḥâ leads us to human efforts within the sacred community. Śāśôn shows us that God is behind it all.”
Skip, this for me, is a glimmer of a ‘golden thread’ that is easy to overlook because it blends in and as you point out, it’s subtle. I see it as a connector (back to Mate’/mindbody isn’t separate). Joy delivers gladness and gladness delivers joy.
John 15 speaks of the ‘whole’ telling us Yeshua is the vine, we are the branches and then there’s the fruit that comes from being connected. One can’t produce anything without the other. I may see the pieces, i.e. the vine, then the branches, then the fruit by dissecting and isolating the pieces (Greek/Western mindset). This kind of thinking (my understanding) reduces and minimizes God’s creation to fragments with many splitting points along the way. Kinda like ‘science’ under the microscope or building blocks in the lego world.
The bond between joy and gladness is there. If I have joy (peace, completeness) in me… stands to reason I have gladness (favored, exultation, honor) that goes with it. Again, hard to separate one from the other… mind is the body and the body is the mind.