WORD STUDY – BARAR

II Samuel 22:27: “With the pure thou will show thyself pure, and with the fraudulent thou wilt show thyself unsavory.”

This passage is part of a Psalm of praise by David.  It is the same as Psalm 18:26. This sounds real good that to the pure he will be pure. Still I am really hard pressed as to explain just it means that to the pure he will be pure.

I guess my problem is that I am stuck on that word pure. In the Hebrew the word is barar which means to be complete, perfect, chosen. The Septuagint uses the Greek word eklektos which means the elect. So you have a wide range of meanings for this. You could say that to those who are perfect, he will be perfect. Or to the elect he will be elected?

There is also another twist to this mystery and that is that this word pure is a Niphal participle when used in reference to us and is in a Hithpael imperfect form when used in reference to God. So this is really rendered: “With those who are making themselves pure (or complete, elected, chosen), God will make himself pure (or complete, elected, chosen). This kind of brings us back to the old question, can we make ourselves pure, completed, elected or chosen? Does God have to make Himself pure, completed, elected or chosen?

I was reading a passage in Jewish Literature which might shed some light on this. The ancient Jewish sages struggled with this question: “How did God who is infinite manage to communicate with human beings who are finite? When the infinite meets the finite, one of them must, by logical necessity, become the other. Either we become infinite or God becomes finite. From the very words of a Jewish orthodox rabbi we discover the reason why God had to come to earth in human form, although I doubt He had Jesus in mind.  To effectively communicate with us, He had to become like us in human form.  He had to be in human flesh to know what hunger is like, to know what physical pain is like, to know all the things that we in the flesh experience that one in the spirit cannot experience.   No matter what English word you apply for barar whether it be purity or perfection, the idea is that God is willing to meet us at our level. When we seek to make ourselves pure, God will then make himself pure, he will meet us at that level.

This is probably best explained in a story from the Talmud. It is said that Jesus based his story of the prodigal son on this ancient story. It is the story of a king who had a disagreement with his son. Before long the father and son were so out of harmony with each other such that the son left his father’s kingdom and went to another kingdom to live. After some time the king, the father, sent a messenger to his son and said: “Come home.” The son sent the messenger back with this message. “It is too far for me to come.” The father then sent the messenger back with this message. “Then come as far as you can and I will meet you.” David appears to be saying in this verse that God will meet us at whatever level we are willing to meet Him. He will meet us at the highest level of purity or barar we can attain.

So the question is, what English word best fits barar in this verse. Is it purity, perfection, election, clarity etc.?  Remember the word barar is in a niphal form which makes it reflexive and would indicate that it is something we are to try and accomplish. The word barar is spelled Beth, Resh, Resh. I read something else in Jewish literature that is interesting, it concerns the twin or double Resh.  The resh teaches us that each experience or situation that we face does not have a context to it. We supply the context, or the reason for that situation and God’s Resh will meet us at the level of our Resh. In other words Resh tells us that we are to apply our own context to a situation. We may say it is a learning experience, or a secret blessing from God or it is judgment from God.  What is important is that the twin Reshs flow from the Beth or God’s heart. Thus whatever context we put in our Resh will be the context that God’s Resh will find us.    Hence, when you seek an English word for barar, you will find its usages are mainly in a positive note, that is; purity, clarity, perfection etc.

So my car breaks down. If I try to make myself pure or barar in this situation, I will bring God into it. I just won’t stand around feeling sorry for myself or wondering how I am going to pay for the repairs. I will bring God into this and ask my Resh what is it from this situation that can make me pure before God. My Resh may give one or a number of answers. “You could learn trust” or “You could learn patience.”  Or my Resh may say I could learn dependence upon God. Then I will tell my Resh, “Ok, I am good with that, find God’s Resh and we can enter God’s heart in that God will bring purity to this matter.

So next time your world falls apart, be assured that Gods Resh is right there with your Resh pulling on your pant leg asking: “How do you wish to find purity in this matter.” If you seek purity in the matter, say a stronger faith, God will use that situation to meet you on that level of barar or purity.