Genesis18:14: “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”
When Sarah overheard God telling Abraham that she was going to have a child at the age of ninety, she laughed. The word used in the Hebrew here for laugh is tsachak. Lexicographers have debated the nature of this word to determine what type of laughter Sarah had. Was it mockery? Was it just the idea of a ninety year old woman having a child that struck Sarah’s funny bone? Was it laughter of unbelief? Was it laughter of joy? Only the context will tell and even that is cloudy. So we are stuck with man’s best guess as to what type of tsachak (laughter) Sarah had. So what are some of these best guesses? Let me offer one for your consideration.
God’s response in saying that nothing is too hard, suggest that it was a laughter of unbelief and possibly mockery, ah but mockery at what? That is this rub. The word hard is pala’ which is in a Niphal form. As a Niphal it would more correctly be rendered as; “A wonderfully hard thing from the Lord.” It may also not be in an interrogative (question) form at all. I will explain that later. Note that the word thing is devar which is usually rendered as a word spoke from the heart. In the context of its use with God it would refer to a word spoken from God’s heart. Some Hebrew scholars have equated davar with the Greek word Rhema, which is fair as any word from God’s heart has power.
You see, what makes the syntax so difficult here is the fact that there is no verb in this sentence. You can do that in Hebrew but you can’t do it in English. So we have to make up our own verb which the translators did by turning this into an interrogative and using the verb is. I am not certain that the sentence needs to be in an interrogative form, but like most people I like the rhetorical question and I am inclined to just keep it that way. What I do find disturbing is that the preposition from in front of God’s name is completely ignored.
I would suggest an appropriate rendering to be: “Is anything more marvelous or wonderful than a Word from God’s heart?” As the interrogative is uncertain, we could also render this as: There is nothing more wonderful than a Word from God’s heart. Implied in that is that any expression from God’s heart is not too hard to perform. You remember the old Scottish saying from the little girl carrying her disabled brother when asked if he was too heavy to carry. She replied, “He na heavy, he’s mi brother.” When you perform a difficult task from your heart, it is not difficult at all.
Now let’s look at that word laughter. It is the word tsachak spelled “Sade, Chet, Quf.” The Sade shows humility and submission to God. The Chet speaks of a joining with God and the Quf whispers to us that we are going to have a new beginning with God. The Sade and Chet would suggest that Sarah was laughing with God not at God. God had just let her in on His private joke that would confound the world. The word here would suggest that this laughter springs from the joy of the Lord, the joy of a new beginning. Perhaps her fear at admitting that she was laughing was the fear that her laughter was out of context. When Sarah overhead God tell Abraham she would have a child, she submitted herself to this Word from God’s heart and doing so was so filled with the joy of the Lord that she broke out laughing, but then stopped herself because she felt her laughter was not appropriate. Sort of like that old TV episode from the Mary Tyler Moore show where Chuckles the Clown was killed in a parade by being stepped on by an elephant. When it was explained that he was dressed as a peanut, everyone broke out laughing and then felt guilty because the laughter did not seem appropriate.
Keep in mind that Sarah was not a part of the conversation, she was eavesdropping and in oriental culture she should not have been listening to the conversation of the two men. When God pointed out her laughter she denied it. Not to deny it would be admitting to breaking protocol.
I think I can relate to this. One morning as I was praying I found myself laughing, just laughing out of pure joy from the assurance that the Lord had everything under control. Then I stopped myself and my unbelief came into play. “No,” I thought, “This won’t happen, it is just impossible. It is a pleasant thought, but not likely to happen.” Perhaps like Sarah I had a moment of faith and hope that God would take care of everything and then I get hit with reality and the wisdom of man. Suddenly I am overcome by that wave of doubt that comes in as reality sets in like it did for Sarah when she realized she was too old to have a child. God then reminded her that He had given her a word from His heart which is a promise that comes with an iron clad guarantee. God was not rebuking Sarah, but encouraging her to laugh, to continue to laugh with the joy of His wonderful promise. Is anything more wonder than a promise or Word from God? God’s response, “Nay, thou did laugh” is more appropriately rendered as, “No, just keep laughing.”
Maybe that is why God said to name the child Isaac. You see Isaac is the same word as tsachak (laughter) only it has a Yod in front of it. The Yod represents the power of God. God told Abraham and Sarah to name the child laughter with the Yod or the power of God in front of it.
You know, in that moment when I felt that flush of faith and laughed for joy that everything would be ok and God was in control, I forgot to add the Yod, I forgot to realize that I was laughing in the power of God. I did not realize that I laughed for joy because at that moment I realized that nothing was too hard for God, I had heard a wonderful thing from God’s heart. For when you put that Yod (power of God) in front of that laughter you are laughing a holy laughter and not mocking God but mocking your own understanding and mocking the wisdom of man, for you are declaring that with the power of God what man says is impossible is not pala’ or too hard for God.
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