HEBREW WORD STUDY – BREAD OF AFFLICTION – LECHEM TSAR לחמ צר
Isaiah 30:20: “And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be hidden any more, but thine eyes shall see them, teachers:”
There are no tenses in Hebrew, however, we do have what is called perfect and imperfect forms. A perfect form means an action that is completed and we assume a past tense in English. The imperfect means an action that is not completed and so we assume a present or future tense. A participle, which ends in ing is assumed to be a present tense. However, we still need to look at the context to determine a tense.
So take Isaiah 30:20 where the word give nathan is in an imperfect form but you will find that the NASB puts the word in a past tense, the Lord gave you bread, yet the KJV uses a present tense the Lord gives you bread and the NET puts it in a future tense the Lord will give you bread. Three very different translations and each is nothing more than a paraphrase, the translator offering his opinion. Where this ambiguity is upsetting to a Western mindset the Semitic mindset, has no problem seeing this as the Lord gave, is giving and will continue to give bread. Hence speaking metaphorically we find that the Lord has given, is giving and will continue to give you the bread of adversity
This ambiguity continues in Isaiah 30:20 with the Hebrew word for waters of affliction. The word for water is mayim. We cannot really sure just what the root word for water is here. It could be mi which is simply waters or it could be yim which is the word for hot springs or boiling water. From the context we could assume hot water as it is a reference to affliction. It could be just water as waters can smooth or drill through rocks. This would also indicate waters of affliction. The Jewish sages teach that God will give you an affliction that will drill through the rocky coverings of your heart to penetrate your heart with the love of God.
What about this metaphor of bread of adversity. The Jewish sages teach that the adversity brought on by your sinful acts against another or God are pounded, rolled and baked to bring you to repentance and the forgiveness of God. Many people have had to go through the pounding, rolling and baking trials by God to bring them to repentance and forgiveness in Jesus Christ so that Jesus can make them into something new, something of value to others, to bring nourishment to others.
Here is another little grammatical twist, the verse goes on to say: Your teachers shall not be hidden from you. The word teachers in this passage is moreka. Note it is plural and not singular. Yet many modern translations as the popular ESV and NASB will make is singular. That does not mean the ESV and NASB are not accurate. In fact, singular and plural are different in Hebrew than is English. When we say plural in English we mean more than one where the singular is just one. However, that is not always the case in Hebrew. For instance, the word Elohim (god) in Hebrew is plural but that does not mean more than one God. It could also mean the ultimate God or the supreme God and still be singular. So this passage could say just one moreka Teacher and be Messianic referring to Jesus.
Another thing to note about Hebrew is that it is continually drawing pictures. For example the word here for hidden. Our Master Teacher, Jesus will not be hidden, or kanaph in the Hebrew. The word kanaph comes from an Akkadian root for a winged creature. A winged creature is very elusive to an archer and hence it gets its Hebrew form of hidden.
What the prophet seems to be saying here is that God is always speaking to you, to give you direction, to set you on the right path or way but sometimes it just does not get through that thick head of ours, and God may have to bring the bread of adversity, (adversity that will bring us to repentance and the forgiveness of God) and the hot water of affliction to drill through that hard shell of our heart and pierce it with the love of God through Jesus Christ our Master Teacher whom we will one day see face to face.
Thankyou so much for the glimpses into the Hebrew meanings and even more so for your explanations at the end of each text . You are a true gift Chaim and I pray your work continues to touch so many in these troubled times .
Thank you Chaim for being so faithful in delivering such inspiring insights into the Word. This must be the 3rd or 4th time over the past years that you presented a word from Isaiah 30:20-21 and each time offering something fresh and new. You have made me to ponder over it myself and here’s what I have come up with:
Bread of privation and water of oppression (NASB) sounds like poetry to me. Whether or not they are metaphorical of being pounded and rolled or drilled to the heart, it suggests that just as bread and water are essential foods for physical life, then so privation and oppression are essential experiences to grow spiritually. In our day, we can simply go to the supermarket for bread or turn on the tap at home for water but I am sure in Isaiah’s day (as it is in many parts of the world today) it was quite an effort to procure bread and water. There are many even in Western society today that struggle to put food on the table. So I see that life has in-built afflictions and oppressions that are there for us to grow spiritually. They can lead to repentance, but I doubt that they will stop coming even if we were perfectly obedient.
However, in the context of a rebellious nation, I wonder if adversity and oppression are really the teachers here (and therefore the reason for the plural), in the sense of “having learned their lessons” from idolatry. The teachers exposed idolatry for what it really is. The bitter taste purges us of the desire for such things and our eyes are opened to the truth. The truth being that God is the source of all life and is the one providing water, food, protection and healing. Anything else is a lie and a distraction that results in oppression and adversity.