WORD STUDY – ASHAH (MAKE)
Genesis 6:5-6; And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
Yesterday we shared with a group of people who deeply love God at an Aglow meeting. I always find this time exciting as they love to talk about my favorite subject and that is the Word of God. Someone asked me the question about Noah getting drunk after the flood and as I shared in an earlier study, I explained my view that Noah was really just drunk in the spirit and when his son saw him the sin was that he intruded on a private and intimate moment that Noah was having with the God he loved. Yet, I was left to ponder this idea of intimacy and why this became the first thing on Noah’s agenda after the flood, that was to enter a time of deep intimacy with God.
This morning I went back to Genesis 6 and when I came to verses 5-6 I began to weep. I did not understand why I was weeping. When I begin to weep for seemingly no reason at all I am aware that I have once again entered God’s heart and God is holding me to a deal I made with Him during my time of silence, that is if He would weep with me when I had a broken heart I would weep with Him when he suffered a broken heart. I knew and recognized it was my time to weep for God’s broken heart.
As I read this verse I began to ask myself the question, “Could we be as wicked today as man was before the flood? Could God be repenting even now that he made man on the earth? As I read these words and re-read them, I could not stop crying. But surely we are not like the people on earth at the time of the flood. I mean verse five says that their wickedness was great. Is our wickedness just as great? What is the nature of this wickedness anyway?
The word for wickedness here is ra’ah which is a consuming type of wickedness. Oddly ra’ah is also a word used for friend and shepherd. It is the very identical word used in Psalms 23: “The Lord is my Ra’ah.” We automatically plug in the word shepherd because it fits the shepherding motif of the Psalm. But we could just as easily plug in the word consuming passions or security and be just as correct in our translation but just not following the proper motif of the Psalm. The question that begs an answer is, “Why is the word shepherd associated with ra’ah?
Years ago I owned a house on five acres in the country where, at one time, I purchased a little lamb. It was really cute. He was all white with little black face and he went “baaa.” But I also realized the problem Mary had. You know “Mary had a little lamb.” Wherever Mary went the lamb was sure to go. You think a dog hangs by your side, get a lamb, they follow you everywhere. I would get in my car and after driving a quarter mile I would look in my review mirror and there was Lambo following me. Ra’ah is telling us that we are sheep following a shepherd. Sheep need a shepherd and finding a shepherd they will consume themselves with total trust in that shepherd, even to be led to the slaughter.
God created us to be His consuming passion as we to be His, yet we have created so many things in this flesh that become our consuming passion rather than God. Our society has created so many stop gaps and forms of security that we do not need to turn to God for our security. Unlike David, our consuming passion is not Jesus but it is finding the wealth of this world, relationships, jobs, money market accounts, etc. These have become our consuming passions.
Secondly, all the imaginations of man’s heart were evil. This second word for evil is a different word, it is “ra’a’” This is an evil of engaging in activities that are empty and worthless. This worthless activity involves the chashev which the KJV renders as inventiveness or creations of the mind. We use the English word imaginations. But soft, this is not only the creations or inventiveness of the mind but of the heart as well. This is what grieved the heart of God. He was not the consuming passion of the people. Their life on earth and building their little empires of security was their passions. Their imaginations and heart were filled with creating things that were not in harmony with God.
As a result God repented that he made man. The word for repent here is nachem. This is found in a niphal imperfect form. Repent is an unfortunate rendering as it is associated with our idea of repentance leading to salvation. Nachem has the idea of grief and sorrow. Recent studies on the niphal at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem have discovered a reflexive nature to the niphal. However, to put a reflexive spin on this is very difficult. I got stuck on that word make in trying to make nacham reflexive and imperfect.
I realized the only way to figure this out was to consult with my friends behind my Daleth. So, I made a quick trip through my Daleth behind the Looking Glass. It was dark and cold in Hebrew Esoteric land as I passed walked Beyond the Daleth. Through this darkness I hunted for the word ashah (make) which is spelled with three of my old friends, the letters Ayin, Shin and Hei. I saw then just up ahead on the dark trail that I was on. When Shin saw me he did what He has done many times when I met him along a dark road, he turned into a blazing fire lighting up all the area around me. Not only did he bring light but a warmth as well. Then my dear friend Ayin took Shin’s hand and with the insight of an Ayin he said, “The word make means more than just to fashion and fabricate. Remember as Ayin, I bring to you insight and discernment. God not only made man with careful deep insight and discernment, but He did it with a deep burning passion.” Then the final letter Hei appeared out of the shadow and took Shin’s hand and said: “Remember me? I am Hei; I represent complete attention, attention to every detail. When God created you He just didn’t slap you together, he made you with deep insight and discernment and attention to every detail of the life you are to lead on this earth, but don’t forget that standing between Ayin (deep insight) and me, the Hei (attention to detail) there always lies the Shin which tells you why He did gave such insight and attention to the detail in making you and that is because of his deep burning passionate love.” Shin just smiled at me, he did not have to tell me. I knew that the Shin not only represented this burning passion of God but also His burning desire. He made me with deep insight and attention to detail because of His burning passion and desire for an intimacy with me.
Ashah (Ayin, Shin and Hei) then pointed to the portal leading to my Daleth and back to my office. I knew now that I could return to my desk with full understanding as to why he put Ashah into a Niphal form. God grieved or sorrowed over having made (ashah) man because he made (ashah) man out of deep passion and desire for intimacy and then by giving man a free will man then went out and put his passions elsewhere. Surely that would grieve God’s heart. But, no, it just didn’t grieve His heart. This word for grief is asav which is in a Hithpael imperfect form. Asav is to travail in suffering. But when you put this in a Hithpael form we find that it caused His heart to grieve. In my spirit and heart of hearts I believe I translated this verse correctly the moment I read it which is why I began to weep. My mind and soul are just now catching up with my heart and spirit. For you see being in a Hithpael form this would be rendered as: “By forming me out of such deep insight, attention to detail and passion and desire to be intimate with me, He caused His heart to be broken or put into deep distress.” It is like a mother who gives birth to a child, nurtures him, cares for him, puts all her passion and love into him and then the child turns around and says: “I don’t trust you as a mother, I want another mother.” Just as such a statement from a beloved child would grieve the heart of a mother, so it would grieve the heart of God.
That is what the people of Noah’s day and what we have done to God. That is why we grieved His heart. Once we get a little insecure we suddenly turn around and direct out passions to the gods of this world to give us security rather than direct out passions to the God who passionately formed us with deep insight and attention to every detail of our lives. He lovingly has laid out every detail of our lives as part of the fashioning process. So why do we need to worry or fret about the future when we can just rest in the knowledge that He has all the details of our lives worked out and all we need to do is sit back and enjoy His presence in every situation and use each situation as the opportunity it was fashioned for in the first place and that is to just become intimate with Him.
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