Genesis 12:10 “There was famine in the land.”
Habakkuk 2:4: “The just shall live by his faith.”
“Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink.” Samuel Taylor Coleridge – Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
The Zohar (80a) gives an interesting insight into Genesis 12:10. The word for there was (yehi) can also be rendered and he was becoming. Of course we do not translate it that way because it does not fit the word famine, but then again maybe it does. I often encourage my Hebrew students to be on alert for the many word plays found in the Hebrew. This is one of them. Sure there was a literally famine, a lack of physical food in the land, but suppose we also rendered this and He was becoming a famine in the land. This little play on words gives you a double meaning. The Zohar does not overlook this play on words and comes right out and says that not only were people suffering a famine for physical food but for God as well. The Zohar gives the flip side or the spiritual rendering as There was a lack of faith in the land.
I, like most Americans, have never really experienced a famine. So the words in the Bible that speak of famine, have little significance for me, unless I give a verse like Genesis 12:10 it’s optional rendering. And He was becoming a famine in the land. Sounds strange, that God would become a famine in this land that filled with churches, Bibles, TV, Radio ministries, books, CD, DVD’s etc. Yet, as I share just the simple Word of God from the Hebrew, I find Christians with bookshelves filled with Christian Books, CD’s and DVDs about the Bible or spiritually related topics but not actual Bible study, lapping of every word as if they were starved. There is much teaching on how to live successfully, prosperously, etc., but so little deep study in the Word of God. Sort of makes the words of Samuel Taylor Coleridge ring true.
The word for famine is ra’av which is spelled Resh – prideful man, Ayin – greed and Beth – feelings of spiritual superiority.” As you can see the very structure of the word for famine tells us what brings about a famine which is spiritual pride and greed. This brings not only brings famine to a nation, but an individual. It may not a famine of food but of God.
But let me not point a finger at the nation or the church, but at myself. As I read the Zohar’s rendering of Genesis 12:10 I realized there was a famine in my own life. As I go through some spiritual trail there is spiritual advice coming from everywhere. Everyone has their own little bit of spiritual wisdom, knowledge and personal insights to share. Advice, advice everywhere but not a word from God, not a verse of Scripture. This old boy is going through a famine and all I am offered is the dust of man’s wisdom to drink. I am in a ra’av (famine) or as the Zohar would render, a lack of faith.
I read in Habakkuk 2:4 that the just shall live by faith. Actually, in the Hebrew there is a little different rendering: “The just shall live in his faith.” My desert wanderings come when I step out of my faith and let the pride of man enter. I allowed my own pride to soar and I start to trust in my job, my relationships, but not in God. I realized that if I lost my job, my relationships, I would be hopeless. I remembered an old hymn I used to sing as a child in church:
My hope is built on nothing less,
Than Jesus blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’name.
On Christ the solid rock I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
Oh, by the way, the word translated as faith in Habakkuk 2:4 in Hebrew is amen. That has the idea of being constant or to completely rely upon. But its primitive meaning is even more direct. The word amen is spelled Alpeh, Men, and Final Nun. This letter combination expresses the idea of trusting in the revealed Word of God.
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