Word Study – Obedience
Isaiah 1:19: “If you be willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land.
Obedience – Hebrew: shama – hear, to listen, to give attention, understand, submissive, obedience
“One act of obedience is better than one hundred sermons.” Dietrich Bonhoffer
Oddly, there is only one word in the Hebrew for obedience, it is the word “shama” which is generally translated as “hear,” In fact “shama” is rendered as “hear” 785 times, and as “harken” 196 but only 81 times as obey. There seems to be a direct correlation between hearing and obeying. This is where we run into difficulty in finding a proper English word to fit the context of a verse. In our relationship to God, I thinking a rendering of hearing would be more appropriate.
I don’t about you, but my problem is not one of obedience to God. My problem is hearing God. I doubt any of us would have any problem obeying God if we really knew that it was God we were hearing from. I believe that is why obedience and hearing share the same word in the Hebrew. If you were riding on a crowded bus and God told you to stand up and start preaching, everyone of us would stand up and preach without hesitation. The only reason we would hesitate is that we would question if it was God that was speaking. I once had a student who went through Airborne school as an Army Ranger. He said his instructor told him that he had nothing to worry about; the parachute opened 99.9% of the time. But when he stood at the door of that plane looking down he found himself wondering if his chute was that one tenth of a percent. I hear a lot of people say: “The Lord told me to do this or that.” Well, that might be their experience, but it sure
isn’t mine. I find I have to walk down the road a bit to be sure it is the Lord speaking and even then I don’t reach that three finger surety.
Jewish literature teaches that the central prayer of Judaism is the “shama,” Hear O’Israel the Lord our God is one. “To know this oneness, we need first to have a kavanah or an intention to do so. Then we need the avah (willingness) of spiritual practice to prepare the soil of our minds and hearts to directly experience this oneness.”
The word for “willing” is “’avah” which is spelled “Alep, Beth, Hei” Jewish literature teaches that the aleph represents the yoke of the oxen. The ancient Phoenician form of the letter “aleph” is shaped like an ox’s head. Proverbs 14:4 tells us that a rich harvest comes through the strength of an ox. Ancient sages saw the ox as a representation of the spiritual power of God inside of us. The yoke symbolizes the disciplines to harness this power. Willingness or “’avah” is harnessing the power of God or yoking ourselves to the power of God so that our hearts (Beth) are filled with His presence (Hei). When we do this then we will hear (shama). Eating the good of the land is the produce that comes from yoking ourselves to the “ox” or the “aleph” and that is “good” or “tov” in harmony with God and proper to be eaten or consumed. The produce is the “shama” what we hear from God. The point is that
unless we are harnessed to the power of God and have a heart filled with His presence, we will not “shama” or hear the voice of God.
When a farmer yoke’s oxen together, he first choses a very aggressive ox and then yokes it to an ox that is not aggressive. Thus the non aggressive ox will just follow the lead of the aggressive ox. If he yokes two aggressive oxen together they would likely try to go in different directions and he would get nothing plowed. When we yoke ourselves to God he is the aggressive one and we are the ones that just yield to that aggression. The result is that we end up going wherever God wants to go. The hearing comes naturally and the result is a field that produces what is good (in harmony with God).
Knowing God’s voice then comes down to a matter of just knowing what pleases Him. A man will buy a gift for his wife. He may not be 100% sure it will please her, but if he has a good idea that she will be pleased he will purchase the gift based upon his best understanding of her. As the relationship grows, the better he will know what gift to purchase that will please her. In O’Henry’s story “The Gift of the Magi” a young couple were very much in love and very poor. They wanted to please each other with a Christmas gift. The young woman’s most prized possession was her beautiful long hair which she had cut and sold so she could purchase a watch chain for her husband’s most prized possession, his pocket watch. He, unknown to her, sold his pocket watch so he could purchase hair clips for his wife’s most precious possession, her hair. Both gifts turned out to be wrong in a practical sense, but it didn’t matter, both were
pleased with their gift. So too in following God’s voice. I may be wrong in a practical sense in hearing God’s voice but if it was done with “’avah” it won’t matter, all that matters is that is was meant to please God.
Recent Comments