ARAMAIC WORD STUDY – WHILE REJOICING – KAD CHADA’ חדא כד
Acts 5:41: “And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.”
Peter and other apostles had been imprisoned by the Sanhedrin which was ruled by Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection, heaven or any other type of afterlife. This is what Peter and the other apostles were teaching. They were causing such a disturbance that they were tossed into prison but along comes an angel who released them and the Sadducees who thought they got rid of these radicals got word they were out preaching again. They were brought in and after much discussion and a word from Gamaliel, who was the grandson of Hillel the Elder one of the most respected Jewish teacher of that day, Peter and the apostles were just whipped and released ordered not to preach again, an order they disobeyed. Talk of being on fire for the Lord.
I have a friend who had been a gang banger, drug addict, dealer, and the whole ball of wax. We call him The Boss because of his professional wrestler size. He told how he wandered into a rival gang’s area one night with his girlfriend and they shot him two times, he tried crawling to the hospital until the police found him and took him to the hospital. It didn’t take him too long to recover and found his way back into the gang and drugs. Until one day he was in Humboldt Park. This is truly a bad place, you don’t want to go there. However, some preacher of a little storefront church was there and he walked up to The Boss and said; “You wanna get off all that bad stuff – then pray with me.” Well, The Boss did and he did. He said he was instantly released from drugs, alcohol, anger and whatever else.
That was ten years ago and he has been clean ever since. He works in a convenience store and drives his employer crazy because he witnesses to everyone who comes in. His employer won’t fire him because nobody is crazy enough to work at a convenience store in that neighborhood. No one wants to mess with him because they think he is crazy, always waving to people, saying “Praise the Lord.” He walks the streets stopping people and asking if he could pray for them. You know the type. Here’s the point, he is at his happiest when people laugh at him, mock him or make fun of him. He just loves the Lord so much he is like Peter and the apostles who counts himself fortunate that he is worthy to suffer shame for the name of Jesus.
I said he is the happiest. The word I would use is the Aramaic words kad chada’. People laugh at him while he is rejoicing. Kad is the word while and chada’ is a word for being glad or merry. It is the Aramaic variation of the Hebrew word chadah which is a natural joy. It is a joy expressed when you feel at peace with the entire world. There really doesn’t have to be a reason for the chadah which is why the writer inserted the word kad. I see two reasons for kad. One is that it shows the apostles were happy even while they were being persecuted and beaten. The second, well, the very pronunciation of the words kad chada is like saying “Hip Hip Hurray.” It is an idiom that is used as a cheer.
I mean who feels like cheering when people are persecuting you and beating you? The Boss does, Peter and the apostles did. Yet what do you do when someone says an unkind thing to you. Most people are on the like ugly on an ape. But if your life is totally wrapped up in Jesus like The Boss who cares what people think or say about you because you have kad chada’. Nehemiah 8:10 tells us that the chadah of the Lord is our strength.
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