Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar and Nevim Arith Hayomim:

Zephaniah 3:17:  “The Lord your God in the midst of you is mighty, He will save, He will rejoice over you with joy. He will rest in his love, He will joy over you with singing.”

When looking at this in the Hebrew the first thing that strikes me is the word used for “in the midst of you.”  It is the word “karav.”   The first thing about this word is that it does not contain a definite article even though most your translators will put one in their translation. I can understand why.  It would be very awkward to say: “The lord in a midst of you…”   Perhaps there is another reason for the lack of the definite article.  The word “karav” can have two very different meanings.  The only thing that would make the difference is a pathah under the resh rather than a qamets.  This again takes us back to the masorites who used their discretion, which is not really inspired.  If we follow their thinking then we have a pathah and hence the Lord in your midst, or nearby is mighty.  However, without the definite article I would suspect a qamets would be more appropriate and hence it would mean: “The Lord in your inward parts or your heart is mighty.”

The word “mighty” is “kavar” which is strong, powerful but it is a power or strength to help or rescue another.  Hence this could be rendered: “The Lord your God in your heart is a power or strength that will rescue or save you.”  But not only is the power there to save you, the verse follows that “He will save you.”  Last summer there was story in the paper of a couple teenagers who drowned.  The life guards were aware of the situation, they have the equipment and training to rescue the teenagers, but they were also under strict regulations and instructions that prevented them from acting and could only call for the fire department to help. By the time the fire department arrived, it was too late.  It takes more than just having the power of God in you to be rescued, there must be the willingness to be rescued.  Hence, this verse specially says: “He will save you.”   Don’t get too Christianized with this word: “saved.”  I have not doubt it references our soul salvation, but it also means a physical salvation, being rescued from our troubles.

“He will rejoice over you with joy.”  Not to sound too cynical, but what else would you rejoice with?    The word “rejoice” is “sus.”  This is a pure form of joy.  It is a joy that is not at the expense of others.  You can rejoice in your favorite ball club winning a game, but that is because there is a loser involved.  That is not “sus.”  I remember watching someone laugh with what was called “holy laughter.”  I mean nothing funny was going on, they were just laughing, laughing out of pure joy.  I remember watching Bob Hope as a child.  Half the things he would say were not funny and made little sense to me.  But I laughed anyways.  Just watching him perform made me relax and feel good and hence I just laughed out of pure joy.  That is “sus.”   God will rejoice in us out of pure joy.  He will rejoice over us with “joy.”  That word “joy” is “besimchah.”   This is simply being joyful.  The whole expression: “He will rejoice over us in joy” is like my rejoicing over watching Bob Hope.  What he says or does may not make much sense, but it does make me feel good and joyful.   So too, with God, He just feels good and joyful around us when we are trying to make Him feel good.

“He will rest in His love.”  The syntax is hard in this one.  It would appear that God will rest in His love.  The word “rest” is “charash” which is in a hiphil form.  Charash can have a number of usages, including the idea of  fabricating, enchanting, ploughing, or engraving.   The basic idea is to produce something.   He will rest in His love has the idea that his love will cause something to be produced.  In this context, his love will produce joy.   Then he will “Joy over you with singing.”   This word for “joy” is “gadal” which means “great and mighty.”   The word “singing” is “ranan” which is a celebration or jubilation.  He will have a might jubilation over us.

It seems to me that from this verse it appears that God can find an awful lot of pleasure in us if that is our desire.

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