Hebrew Yardsticks
“For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares YHWH, “plans for welfare and not calamity to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 NASB
Hope -Did you know that this famous passage in Jeremiah is connected to Paul’s remarks about transformation in Romans 12? Probably not. When we read this verse, we don’t think like a rabbi. We think like good Greek Christians. We imagine that God has a special plan for us; a plan that will prosper us in the future. Because we want to be prosperous, we hope that what God says is true. So, we wait for our ship to come in. With that kind of interpretation, we might as well be waiting for a ship in the middle of the desert. Not impossible (cf. Hollywood’s movies), but not likely.
Rabbi Paul saw a different connection. The Hebrew word for hope in this verse is tiqwah. It is not the usual word for “hope.” Fifty times in the Old Testament, the word for “hope” is qawah. It is the picture of what comes from being nailed down over the horizon; something assured in the future. That makes sense, but tiqwah is a little different. It has some peculiar characteristics that lend itself to Paul’s comments in Romans. You see, there are two roots spelled exactly the same way (T-Q-W). One of these roots is connected to qawah but the other is connected to qaw, and the word tiqwah that is connected to qaw doesn’t mean something that is nailed down in the future. It means a measuring line. It’s used in Isaiah, 2 Kings, and the Psalms to describe a standard of measurement. Here’s the critical piece of detective information. This word is translated in Greek as metron.
Don’t you think that Paul knew that the Hebrew word for his choice of metron was tiqwah? Don’t you suppose that Paul also knew that tiqwah had two different meanings depending on the context? Is it possible that Paul used the fact that tiqwah meant both “hope” and “measure” to provide a subtle reminder to his Greek/Hebrew audience that God’s standard is directly tied to the hope that God gives? Don’t you think that maybe this all points to Yeshua?
Just think about it for a moment. It’s no accident that Paul chooses metron to describe the measure of faith. Remember that this implies that God provides a measuring standard, not that God supplies a quantity of faith. Now, if tiqwah is the same as metron, then wouldn’t the reader who knew Hebrew also realize that the same word speaks about what is nailed beyond our horizon? Doesn’t this suggest, at least a little bit, that God’s measuring standard and God’s provision of hope are both tied to something beyond our vantage point? So, when Jeremiah uses tiqwah as the word for “hope,” he not only speaks of completely human expectations for this life; he also pushes us to catch a glimpse of something beyond us. And Paul tells us that if we really want to exercise the gift that God gives, we must do so according to that standard that lies beyond our horizon; a standard that is exemplified in the death and resurrection of Yeshua.
It’s not quite enough to have great plans for life here and now. God’s plans don’t stop when the lights go out. God’s standard is set in eternity, not in the present realm of redemptive actions. If we want to use most productively what God gives, we will set our sights on measurements that aren’t fixed to this world. This is something we can take with us. And that gives us hope.
Topical Index: transformation, tiqwah, hope, Jeremiah 29:11
Amen and emet.
“…And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.”
“But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”
And Abraham hoped against hope. From a hope with Earthly circumstances to a hope with Heavenly promises. Where Abraham could be fully assured
Thank you Skip.
So hope is not something I just make up according to the measuring stick of my desires and retroactively (once the board has met in the back room and voted on next year’s projections) ‘include’ (allow) God to ‘bless’ (wave His magic wand) over the food (expectations) I set out on my table? Well!
I think expectations are the closest the flesh can come to real faith and hope, but I think expectations were born attached to their Siamese twins: assumptions and presumptions. None of them, however, leave any room for trust (vital missing ingredient in false hope) which is the stuff faith is made of and hope runs on. Expectations and assumptions only require trust in myself: my interpretation of what is ‘required’ and what God, the universe or reality – take your pick – must hurry up and conform with for me to get what I want. I don’t have to trust anybody or anything else if I am coveting the future of my imagination. No one else even has to be in the room. God? I only let Him in after that board meeting so that He won’t mess up my sacred desires with His own. God is only there to rubberstamp what I think He should do about the future. If I think (pray, too) ‘hard’ enough, He will have to (be forced to) agree, and, in the process, ‘prove’ that He loves me by agreeing with me! I have sadly concluded that the flesh has no basis to even know what hope is.
If I am to tie my hope to a “standard that lies beyond our horizon” then I am going to have to allow the standard Setter in the room when the board meets, and I am going to have to consult with that standard to decide what I should be desiring, first, before I start hoping for it.
What are these standards? Can we know them? I believe that they are the promises – all 3,000+ of them – written in that Word, and covering all conceivable circumstances and needs of all humans on this planet. I think all true hope is based on the promises of God that we can trust. Hope does not even start with me, but with Him. Hope, in fact, is where I am deciding to catch up with His will in my life, by agreeing to my part (conditions) of those promises. The knowledge that I am conforming to the conditions of those standards opens my door to the right Spirit of motivation to power my (now correct) expectation that “what He has promised, He is able to perform”. Hope is no longer ‘up to me’, then, but up to Him with whom it is all “yea and amen”. Whew! What a relief!
“then I am going to have to allow the standard Setter in the room when the board meet,”
Your statement reminded me of a time when my Father-in-Law, a very kind, meek and successful Mennonite farmer was asked to be on the building committee which was to decide whether the church was to in-debt the congregation to the tune of $2 million and build practically a “new building” to accommodate the growth (1970). The pastor and several other committee members prayed and asked for guidance of the Holy Spirit to have the committee make the right decision. When things got to the details my Father-in-law recommended that the Church NOT go into debt, but start a new congregation as they had done in the past somewhere else. Well, the majority of the committee did not agree and asked my Father-in-law to resign. Another member was selected, the committee prayed again. They got their building. The result? The congregation over the year has become very liberal accepting what most modern “evangelicals christians” no consider important to draw the young people and other lifestyles into their circle.
I will second Richard’s AMEN!!