Help Us to Dream
Your
Dreams oh
Lord!
Your
Dreams oh
Lord!
Twice in Ex. 34 the Lord announces His "hesed" translated in the Amplified and the KJVS Bibles as abundant in goodness and keeping of mercy. This is the passage where God answers Moses's prayer to "see God" and He is allowed to have the "backside" of the Lord pass before him. In this powerful scene God hides Moses in the cleft of a Rock then passes by and proclaims who He is: "The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness (hesed) and truth, keeping mercy (hesed) for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting [avenging] the iniquity [sin, guilt] of the fathers upon the children and the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations [that is, calling the children to account for the sins of their fathers].” Ex 34:6-7 Amplified Bible. The Amplified Bible uses [these kind of brackets to better explain the Hebrew words as best they could with the KJVB text they used] and I added "hesed" in parentheses to show what words or phrases were interpreted from that word in the above passage. God was emphasizing His "hesed" by repeating it twice. It would have read in Hebrew "Yahweh, Yahweh El, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in hesed and truth, heseding ten thousands in a familyline, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin...." How do I get that translation. I start with several versions of the Bible, go to Strongs Concordance to understand the original Hebrew then find Hebrew scholars to give me better insight. Both the KJV and Amplified however seems to have misunderstood God's character and word when they seemed to have inaccurately interpreted the word "visited" or 'avenging' a parent's iniquity "on" future generations. Perhaps avenging for those children but not avenging it "on" those children. That is counter-intuitive to so many other scriptures about God's character towards the children of believers in both the OT and NT.
In an attempt to better understand the meaning of the word "thousand" in Hebrew, I ran across a website by Skip Moen who describes his mission on his website called: "Hebrew word study" as "recovering the meaning of Scripture, one Hebrew or Greek word at a time." I was blessed by the few articles I read in attempting to better understand this passage but my first rule is to let Holy Spirit teach me thru my own study of the original word. After I did this I was most blessed to learn the meaning of a different word in this passage that was far more important for me to understand. It helped me understand the next verse that seems so contrary to the 'hesed' love he just proclaimed. I couldn't find any study focusing on this word "thousand". Instead he focused on a different word that in simple ignorance to Hebrew thought, the KJF translators likely misunderstood. Moen explains the meaning of the word pāqaḏ that KJV and other Bible translators translated "visiting." My few lessons in Greek by a dear Pastor, Mike Redeker, taught me a lesson in translation I will never forget. "It is always important to know who is running the verbs." In the way KJV translated this word God runs this verb and yet it sounds to contradict the nature of God for God to run this verb in a negative way towards children of sinners as if they were the actual sinner. This word pāqaḏ reveal God's hesed so much better than I ever imagined in the way the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren are treated by God when their parents/grandparents fail to represent God well. In the KJV and Amplified version and most any other English translation it appears God's anger is poured out on the generations that follow because of an unfaithful dad but it is the exact opposite in meaning. Moen points out that this Hebrew word has a negative connotation and a positive one and the positive one is used about half the time in other uses of this word in the OT. Sure enough Strongs Concordance concurs. We NEVER get punished for having unfaithful parents or get "brownie points" or a "free pass to heaven" because our parents were faithful. We each get to choose, but for those who have parents who did not represent God well, there is an extra measure of grace for them. That is the kind of "visit" the children of unfaithful parents get from God. How does a translator determine whether to use a negative or positive connotation of a word in a particular translation. The "law of first mention" is a good start. That translation "rule" says the best and most complete definition of a word in the Bible is found in the first time this word is used in the Bible. So I went back to Gen 21:1 the first time the word is mentioned in the Bible. God came to "visit" Sarah in order to do what He promised. Obviously a very positive visit. In all the definitions that this word can mean according to Strongs, clearly in this first mention it means "to commit, entrust, commit for care, deposit." In Sarah's case all this was true about this vist which deposited in Sarah's womb the seed that would bring about the One who would Redeem the sins of all our Father's before us- Jesus was to come from her family line. Through Jesus, the mercy of God poured out upon a world ruined by sin so that Sarah's seed could bless every nation on the earth with the choice to follow that Redeemer or reject Him. Either way, it is all about choice. I get to choose to worship God or the demons behind our false gods. How much better I understand that this passage no longer contradicts so many other passages like: He "is close to the broken-hearted", "is a Father to orphans and widows," came to "set prisoners free," "open the eyes of the blind." He keeps a "special eye" on those who's sinful ancestors would otherwise keep us in those patterns of sin. He puts a deposit in us because of His "hesed" lovingkindness that gives us fortitude and courage to break sinful patterns. All these years this passage seemed to perpetrate the victim mentality and self-pity that I could so easily fall into through the years. It made me question God's mercy and justice but now I see it is rich with unfailing, steadfast "hesed" kind of love that is beyond words. This morning, God put these word to music, singing them over me to confirm that I am finally free to understand God's justice and hesed love for family-lines much better. I sing this over those who come to this blog for comfort, wisdom and revelation today: I bless you and bless your family too, with grace and mercy that will follow you and them all the days you roam on earth until my Son returns to reign My child. They still get to choose to follow or to disobey. Yet my hesed love and grace and mercy follow them in a special way. To give them many chances, To give them special grace To see my hesed love for them each day. I choose to bless their heritage. I bless their children, their children's children too and so, so many more after them. Until they come to Me with hearts that turn to Me. Chorus: It's my hesed love that draws them, It's my hesed love that holds them. It's my hesed faithful nudges they'll receive. I will pursue them with a love that will not fail them. Yet they get to choose Life and death Its theirs to choose. And the more my children understand My hesed love And pour it on their children and their children's children, Their kids will not help but come to Me with Holy hands of praise. Chorus: It's my hesed love that draws them, It's my hesed love that holds them. It's my hesed faithful nudges they'll receive. Some will still harden their hearts because of the sins of their Father And when that happens I give them special care, Special love to draw them in. Because of the faith of my first mention on the lips of the patriarch of that family, Those that first called out to Me in faith. They knew that only I could redeem their souls That moment that faith met Me. They knew it was not just for their redemption But for yours too! Chorus: It's my hesed love that draws them, It's my hesed love that holds them. It's my hesed faithful nudges they'll receive.
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