Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar;

Malachi 3:6: “For I am the Lord, I change not.”

Matthew 10:29: “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing and one of them shall not fall to the ground without your father.”

The word used for “Lord” is “Yehavah” where we get the name Jehovah or as some like to say YHWH.  Actually it simply means “I am.”  But there is a strange twist to this word in it’s use of the “yod.”   As a verb it is an incomplete action, although it is clearly a completed action and oddly enough is also used as a participle.  In other words you would translate the name of God to mean, “I am, I was, and I will be.”

That fits with the following phrase very nicely, “I change not.”  The word “change” is “shanithi” which is in a simple Qal past tense “I am unchanged.”   The root word is “Shana” which means to repeat, do over, again and again and again. In the words of Stuart Hamblin, “What He’s done for others, he will do for you.”

But embodied in this word, “shana” is the fact this is a complete unchanging, down to the slightest detail.  To make sure nothing changes, that God fits into “shana” He must be aware of every little detail in our lives so that nothing will pass His notice so we cannot say: “Ah ha, caught cha, God, you missed that one didn’t you.  See there, you made a slight change.”

As my study partner said, His dependability, His faithfulness,  His way of salvation, His love towards us, His Word, all his attributes will never change. Every detail is covered.

Rabbi Toldos Aharon teaches during this season of Channukah that the main thing is not to give up hope no matter what happens, because it is written: “For I am the Lord and I do not change.”  God watches over every single person who is walking with Him in every single act.  No such person can hurt even a small finger in this world without His notice.

Does this sound familiar to you?  Matthew 10:29: “Are not two sparrow sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.” Note that the passage does not say “without the Father’s notice” but simply “without your Father.”

In the days of Jesus a sparrow carried significant importance for travelers.  It was believed that a sparrow would always return home no matter how far he has flown. Thus a traveler would purchase a couple sparrows indigenous to his home before going on a journey.  Then when he returns home he releases the sparrows and follows them home, and thus, would not get lost.   However, exhausted from his journey a sparrow may fall, and if the traveler was too cheap to purchase more than one sparrow or the sparrows he took died, he would be lost.  However, with the Father the sparrow will not fail to lead you home.  It is the Father who leads you home, not an undependable sparrow, that is so fragile. The father noticing the fall of the sparrow is noticing and aware of the fact that you have lost your way.

The sparrows were also envied by the Jews in Jerusalem because they had the freedom to fly in and out of the temple. They could even fly into the Holy of Holies.  So possibly the home that the sparrow is leading one to is the Holy of Holies or God’s presence.

Verse 31: “Fear ye not therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows.”   So if a dozen sparrows can freely fly into the Holy of Holies or the presence of God, are we not of more value than a dozen sparrows sold for a few pennies that can freely enter the temple or the presence of God?  If Jesus purchased us with His life, would we not have an even greater freedom to enter His presence?

Subscribe to our free Daily Hebrew Word Study for in-depth commentary using Biblical Hebrew!

* indicates required