HEBREW WORD STUDY – STRANGE GOD – ZAVAR  זבר    Zayin Beth Resh

Deuteronomy 32:16; “They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods…”

The word In this verse is  yikeni’ahu which is found in a Hiphal form. This Hiphal is why we add the word provoked, which is not found in the Hebrew text but the translators could not translate it as a Hiphal without adding the word provoked.  He was caused to be jealous or provoked into jealousy.   However, the spelling of the word or jealousy is defective, that is that it is an earlier form of the word before the full spelling of the Biblical Hebrew was developed.  This would suggest a broader rendering to encompass the meaning of the root word kana which is used to express the idea of a romantic rival, or a measuring stick.  The translators intensified the causative using the word provoked purely for contextual reasons rather than grammatical.  Had the writer intended to intensify the causative he would have made this an infinitive or added a paragogic.  Hence, I see no reason to say God is “provoked,”  nor do I see any reason to upgrade this word to “jealous” when grammatically no intensity is indicated and other options seem more appropriate.   To say God is “provoked to jealousy” by other gods, would suggest God is somehow insecure and threatened by these other gods.  I would prefer a more scaled down rendering: “They caused Him to become a measuring rod or a rival to strange gods.”   The difference in this rendering moves you from a God who becomes irrational ready to shoot down  His unfaithful mate and her lover, to a God who is looking in a mirror asking: “What does this god have that I don’t have. Am I not good enough for you?”   In other words the traditional rendering of this passage suggest an enraged God  over an unfaithful lover rather than a God who is heart broken over His lover’s unfaithfulness.  I find this latter rendering fits my style better as I like to think I am faithful to Him  not because I fear He will take a rolling pin to my head if he catches me with another god, but rather because I fear I will break His heart.

But say, notice that the word “elohim” or “god”  is not in this little phrase.  Again translators put that in there for reasons of context.   Yet, the word used is simply: zavar which has the idea of loathsome. It is also the word used for a harlot or to bind a wound.    

I recall a time I as working security in downtown Chicago on Lake Shore Drive.   The building is located in what the news media calls the “Viagra Triangle.”   I was working the night shift when about  4:15 AM in the morning a young, attractive, college aged, woman who looked like she just got off the bus from Kansas came to my desk and asked me to call a rather prosperous, high profile resident.  This resident had called fifteen minutes earlier asking that I reserve a parking space for two hours for his “daughter” and to allow her to enter without checking ID which I was obligated to do. My Aspie naivety never considered that she just didn’t get off the bus from Kansas but had been around for a while – as my relief pointed out to me and warned me – none of my business.  Still I thought I would mention it as that fits a zavar.  

This strange god or zavar that is mentioned in Deuteronomy 32:16 is anything or anyone who provides temporary relief from our needs, fears, or hurts.  This “strange god” is just a bandage.  It is a god that will break the heart of our God when we turn to it to meet our needs or heal our wounds. Our God stands ready and longing to meet our needs and desires, to heal our wounds.  He stands ready with open arms, but instead we rush off to a rival god.  We pull out a measuring stick and figure we will go to the god that we think will offer us the best deal.   I know I tend to be like that little child who will run for a dinner of cream puffs and cakes rather than the fruits and vegetables  offered by the loving parent.  Then go running to the loving parent when I have a belly ache. 

To me this passage is telling us that our God is a jealous God only in the sense that He longs to give us the best and is heart broken when we settle for anything less.