Joshua 3:5; And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”

I will usually start my evening/morning study reading my Hebrew Bible.  When I reach a verse that seems interesting I will check it out in my English translation.  Sometimes when I compare my rendering to that of the English Bible I am amazed at how much I missed the mark.  I will then go to another English translation and another until I find one that agrees with my rending.  Then I give a sigh of relief figuring I can’t be too far off the mark if at least one modern translation matches my rendering.

In this case I could find no modern English translation that fits my rendering. When this happens I usually do a deep examination of the passage linguistically and grammatically to determine where I went wrong. Quite frankly, I can’t figure out where I went wrong with my rendering in this verse.

Every modern translation renders this: “For tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”  A few translations will say: “I will do wonders in your midst.” I render this as: “I will do wonders deep with inside of you.” Ok, I know the context clearly shows that God is going to do a wonderful miracle for the people the next day and exegetically you would render this as among you, as this miracle is not within the people but among the people, i.e., the crossing and drying up the Jordan River. Still, to me the Hebrew word beqirebekem which every translation renders as among you can only mean in your inners. That is another use for this word beqirebekem. There may be a miracle going on outside, but God is talking about a miracle that will take place within the people themselves when this outside miracle takes place.

Why did God tell the people to hithekadashu sanctify? This is from the root word kodesh which means to make holy but it is put into a Hithpael form. The people were to make themselves holy. How does one make himself holy and why should they be made holy to witness a miracle.

To the first question perhaps there is answer in the built in commentary on the word kodesh.  Anyways I have been working some long hours and I am now suffering a super duper headache so I will just pause and lay down for a moment.  Oh no, come on guys, I have been working some very long hours and I am tired, no I don’t want to go behind my Looking Glass. Qop, Daleth and Shin (kodesh – holy) are waving at me from my Looking Glass hanging from my Daleth.  Sleep, sleep, I need sleep, but it is tempting to maybe find out what Qop, Daleth and Shin are up to behind my Looking Glass. Perhaps they can explain why you need to be holy to witness a miracle and how you can make yourself holy.  Ok guys you win I’m coming, but I tell you I need my sleep so this had better be worth it.

As I passed through my Looking Glass I found myself in a theater and on stage were my friends Qop, Daleth and Shin which spelling out Kodesh holy and/or sanctification. Qop, Daleth and Shin were dressed in formal outfits with straw hats and a cane in hand. They did a little bow and started to do a tap dance, sort of a soft shoe type dance. They were really quite good. At one point in their number Qop stepped forward and in time with his soft shoe he said: “I am Qop and I am holy.” My head was pounding too much to try and recall is Qop represented holiness so I decided to take his word for it. He looked like an honest Qop.  Daleth stepped forward and said; “I am the doorway to…” and he motioned to the Shin who danced forward, threw his three arms out saying “to me.”  Suddenly the Shin flared up in a flame, well the Shin is supposed to represent a flame, fire is the symbol of the power and wonders of God. They then joined hands and took a bow.  Then while still holding hands Qop, Daleth and Shin went back into their soft shoe. What? That’s it, that is what I give up my sleep for? My head was really pounding and I was so disgusted  that I stood up and said: “Look, I have a splitting headache from lack of sleep and working long hours, I am sacrificing some good sack time for you guys and you have told me nothing more than I already know.  I mean everyone knows holiness is the doorway to God’s power. I am tired of this old song and dance act, I have been hearing it all my life: “Be holy, you must sanctify yourself, but nobody tells me how.  I want to know how do you make yourself holy? Qop, Daleth and Shin looked at each other and Qop asked: “Do you know where you are?”  I replied I was in some theater in this nonsensical Hebrew Esoteric Land.”  Qop replied: “You are in the performing arts center of the University of Hebrew Esoteric Land.”  Go across campus to the Gematria research lab where Dr. Lamed is just about to give his Lecture on Kodesh.” Well, as I was getting nothing from the old song and dance, I hurriedly ran across campus to the Gematria building and into Dr. Lamed’s class just as he was beginning his lecture.

There was Dr. Lamed with gray wild hair and a matching color mustache, sort of Einsteinish. “Class, today I want to show you Qop, Daleth and Shin.  These three letters together form the word Kodesh.  Each letter will tell you how you can become holy.  First the Qop, is the number 100.  The 100 represents a new beginning, in other words leaving behind the old and making peace with the change in your new beginning.” Ouch, that hit home as I have found myself starting a new beginning lately, albeit with long working hours. Dr. Lamed continued:  “The next letter is the Daleth. The Daleth is the number four. Four represents creation. Dr. Lamed continued and showed that the Shin was the number 300 which represents our separation from something.  Dr. Lamed then said that the total value of kodesh was 404 and our assignment was to determine what the total value kodesh meant. Great, working 80 hours a week and now I get a homework assignment, is there any rest for the weary.

Then it hit me, yeah to make myself holy (Qop) I need to make peace with the changes God has brought into my life, these longer working hours point in fact. I need to understand that God will use this to create something new in my life (Daleth) and then to allow this new change and new creation in my life to separate me from the cares of this world (Shin). Perhaps these changes in my life are not so bad after all, perhaps this is God’s way of helping me to make myself holy.  By that I mean to make myself holy I need to just go with the flow and let Jesus do his finished work in me and allow God to do what he wants to do in my life, even if it means working eighty hours a week to strip me of the my trust in myself.  All these trials in my life are there to make me holy.  I just need to allow God to continue this wonder within me so he can perform the wonder of bringing me, like the children of Israel into the Promise Land.

As I return from Hebrew Esoteric Land to my desk I ponder my assignment, what does 404 have to do with all this? What other Hebrew word has a numerical value of 404 and then it hit me, it is the word vabahanasim which means to carry me. And then, omg, the word hafashim has a value of 404 and that word means to strip away. Being holy is God stripping away all that extra weight of guilt and sin so he can carry me into the Promise Land.