Exodus 15:2: “This is my God and I will praise Him.”

Our various English translations are pretty well split down the middle in how they would translate the phrase  ve-anvehu.  Some will say: I will prepare him a place of habitation. Others will render this as  I will praise Him or I will glorify Him. 

The word anvehu comes from the Semitic root word navah means a dwelling place. It is  in the Hiphil form thus you would render this as: to prepare a place for dwelling.  Translators tend to avoid this particular rendering because it does not make sense that the God of the universe needs a placed to dwell, his dwelling place is everywhere. For this reason the NIV, NAS, ASV  merely paraphrase or make the assumption it means a place to praise or glorify God.  Both renderings are based upon the Masoretic text.  The Talmud, however, pays little mind to the Masoretes.

I was reading in the Talmud today in Shabbat 133b and found something very interesting.

Without the vowel pointings, you are free to view this word as a construct of two smaller words, ani and hu.  This would be rendered as I and He. Ah, those wonderful sages have given us the best of both worlds. It would not only carry the idea of offering  God a place of habitation, but glorifying Him as well.  What the Talmud is suggesting by viewing this as a compound word and rendering it as: I and He, is to say that “He is my God and I will try to be like Him.  I will try to imitate His divine traits.  In other words this phrase a dwelling place really becomes idiomatic for a place where you and God can rest and become one.  Just as a husband and wife have a special place where they can rest alone together and become intimate or one a ve- anehu.   So you are not preparing a dwelling place for just God but for you and God so that you can become one with him, you can imitate Him.  It is often said that the highest compliment someone can pay you is if they try to imitate you. Such a declaration would be glorifying to God and would praise God.  Of course if you want to imitate Him you would have to provide a dwelling place in your heart for Him so you readily have His example before you to follow.  Thus all your translations are correct, just lacking in its richness.

During my three to four hours a day of being closeted with the Lord, I have begun to ask Him what it is that He wants me to do. I am certainly not accomplishing much now in the way of ministry.  In my closet area are two comfortable chairs.  I sit in one, Jesus sits in the other.  Hey, you spend three to four hours a day  alone every day, you tend to get a little flaky. Since it is the Lord and the Word of God I am alone with people can’t exactly say “Get a life.”  So they say: “Get a wife.  Anyways, I am digressing here.  As I sit alone with Jesus facing me in the other chair we have a little chat.  It is pretty one sided with me doing all the talking.  But this time I asked the question. “Ok, just what is that I am to be doing?”   The response wasn’t verbal or audible, but it was very clear: “Just glorify Me.”  That left me with more questions than I started with, because what does it mean to glorify God?   If I had 30 people in a room and asked that question, I would probably get 30 different answers.  I wanted an answer from the Word of God.   Hence I found myself staring at Exodus 15:2 and the word navah.

To glorify God means to prepare him a place of habitation, whatever that means.  It is also to praise Him.  Somehow I felt God wanted more than just uplifted hands and repeating over and over “I praise you.”   I traced this word naval, dwelling place or praise to its Semitic origins and found it is a word used when a bridegroom looks upon his bride in the marriage chamber and celebrates her beauty.  She is so beautiful that he cannot take his eye off of her and just keeps repeating over and over: “You are so beautiful.”  In fact she is so so beautiful that she becomes a dwelling place in his eyes and heart. Just as God is so beautiful He becomes a dwelling place in your spiritual eyes and heart.

Hey want more proof that this is one of the ideas behind all this? I’ve got more proof. The numerical value for naval is  61.  Chamah  also has a value of  61 and it means to be passionate.  Ah but here is the capstone,  vekalah has a value of 61. Vekalah means for a bride.  In other words the beauty of your bride will create a passion in you. Just as a husband gazes upon his wife’s beauty he begins to have a growing passion for her.  So too as we gaze upon the beauty of God we begin to have a growing passion for Him.

To glorify Him is to be more than just a bride and groom, it is to be like an old married couple where you know each other so well you begin to act and look like one another.  People who have been married for many years tend to take on each other’s traits. They even begin to look like each other and even after fifty years of marriage that husband will still look upon his wife as just so beautiful.

So why do not translators translate it this way but stick with tried and true I will make him a habitation?  Two reasons. One our culture seems to suggest that beauty belongs to the younger folk.  Ah but as I age I see woman who are my age that are far more desirable to me than any younger woman, for as I get older, my idea of beauty is altered and if I do not accept what the world and our culture is throwing at me I can find some 65 year old women who take care of themselves to be one hot number.

Some years ago they took a poll of Japanese men (seriously I read this in Time Magazine) and ask what American woman they found to be the most desirable. On top of the list was Madeleine Albright.  When asked about it Madeleine Albright simply said: “Amazing.”  So truly beauty is in the eye of the beholder and age does not have to play into it. You can see her picture on the internet.

The second reason translators do not translate it my way or the Sage’s way is because we are so culturally oriented to think of God in a male image. God is neither male nor female and his roles can change with the occasion.  On this occasion we see God as a beautiful bride.  I know that is creepy to many of you so go back to you make a habitation rendering. If you wrap your brain around it, I just challenge you to mediate on my idea for a bit.