Luke 16:22, “And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried.”
Psalms 35:13, “But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing [was] sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.”
Yesterday our pastor presented Bible study on fasting which opened my eyes to certain aspects of fasting I had not considered. When he quoted Psalms 35:13, I suddenly felt my spirit quicken as if the Lord was saying, “Did you hear that?” I hate when that happens because I know it is going to be long night as I meditate on this passage trying to figure out just what the Lord is trying to tell me. I felt our pastor did a good job explaining fasting so what more was there for me to learn? I found myself coming back to the word bosom.
As I mediated on this verse I kept getting hung up on that last phrase, my prayer returned into mine own bosom. I hate when our translations uses the old English word bosom. I don’t know, it just sounds so creepy, you know the bosom of Abraham (Luke 16:22) and all that. Even as a kid when we sang Rock a my soul in the bosom of Abraham I didn’t have the slightest idea what we were singing about and nobody even bothered to explain it. Webster defines the bosom as the breast of a human being or woman. It also means to hide from view and a state of intimacy or warm closeness. Obvious it is the latter that is intended when used in the Old King James Version that is a sense of closeness or intimacy. Thus David is saying that when he prays intercessory prayers he is drawn into an intimacy or closeness with the one he is praying for. Why does God want us to pray for others. Are we to bribe Him with prayers and the more people we get to pray for someone the more God will be persuaded to answer those prayers. Why do we start a prayer chain, why do we want to get as many people to pray as possible? Do I stand a better chance to get my prayers answered if five people pray rather than one or two? David explains it in Psalms 35:13, the prayers return to our own bosom that is we are drawn closer in caring and loving. I recall a guy I knew from Campus Crusade for Christ who said he was asked to pray for the salvation of a friends neighbor was in the hospital dying. My friend never met this neighbor but he prayed anyways, after a week of fasting and praying for this stranger he never met he became so burden for this guy that he came rushing into the hospital ran up to this dying man and said, “Charlie, you don’t know me but I am a friend of your neighbor and I have been praying for you all week, you have just got accept Jesus as your savior. The poor dying patient was so shocked that stranger was so concerned for his soul salvation that he accepted the Lord on the spot. That is what it means to have our prayer return to our own bosom.
The word that is used in the Hebrew for bosom is cheyak which means your lap, but it is also used to express the idea of covering or embracing. In the Aramaic it is the word euba which also means the lap. A similar word is found it he Akkadian meaning the shore of the sea, a picture of the land embracing the sea. The Ancient Persians, the old romantics, used it to indicate a hug or embrace. The Greek word used here for bosom is kolpon which also means the lap but is really a reference to an overhanging of a garment . It speaks of the upper part of a garment that is folded to form a pocket. It is also used for a bay or gulf area by a sea. In other words the Greek word also carries the idea of intimacy. Hence the English word side is not that far off but it still ignores that idea of intimacy which is found in both the Aramaic and Greek.
In the Semitic mind what they would get is picture of a mother’s embrace while nursing her baby. The emphasis is on the embrace, the protection, support, shutting out the rest of the world as she nourishes her baby. It is a picture of deep intimacy. Thus, I am little uncomfortable with many of our modern English versions which rendering Abrahams bosom as Abrahams side. It should be Abraham’s embrace, Abraham’s hug.
However, in defense of our modern translations they are considering Abraham’s bosom as a well known expression to depict heaven, the place where the dead goes. We often say that when one dies he goes to live with his father who has also passed away. Thus the bosom of Abraham is an expression of heaven and hence the translators would render this as going to Abraham’s side in other words to live where Abraham lives which is in heaven. But both the Hebrew and Aramaic word for bosom expresses more than side, it is an embrace or an intimacy, and I am not so much interested in embracing Abraham as I am to embrace and experience an God the Father.
What I have always found a bit troubling about this is why did Jesus say Abraham and not the Heavenly Father? Especially when the word for bosom implies an intimacy. Others have been troubled by this as well and conclude that Abraham’s Bosom is not heaven but a place souls go to waiting for the time when they are redeemed by the blood of Jesus and are then allowed to enter heaven.
Perhaps there is another way to look at this. The word Abraham in the New Testament is just a transliteration of the Hebrew word which means father of multitudes. But in the Aramaic is also could be rendered as the father of the heights. Perhaps in the mind of the people of the first century who spoke Aramaic they did not really associate the word abraham as a proper name or as a reference to the patriarch but more of a description of the Father of Heights or God Himself. The Jews in the first century went to great lengths to avoid speaking the name of God and would use many references to Him and the Aramaic abrhm could have been pronounced with different vowels other than the ones used for Abraham so as to distinguished itself from Abraham the Patriarch. Thus, where Lazarus went and where we who are cleansed through the blood of Jesus will go after we die would be to the ultimate intimacy of the Father of Heights or the Heavenly Father.
When I say heaven what comes first to your mind, mansions, streets or gold, pearly gates? Or would it be the first thing that came to the mind of the first century Semitic person, a place where you enter an intimacy with God the Father?
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