HEBREW WORD STUDY – AN IMPARTATION – ‘ANAH – ענה  

Proverbs 16:4 “The LORD hath made all [things] for himself.

How selfish can you get. God made everything for Himself. The word made is curious in the Hebrew.  It is not the usual word that you find that is rendered for making as in producing or creating something which would be ‘anah.  This is the word pa’al which is working for a reward or commission. 

The word things is not in the text, it is simply God made all lama’anehu which literally means for His answering.  Actually, the word lama’anehu is a word for  producing something. Now here we have the word ‘anah which is the common word for work or make. Yet, when you trace this word to its Semitic root you find it has the idea of an impartation. It is like Jimmy Durante once said when he asked a friend, “Who are you working for?”  His friend replied, “The same people, the wife and the kids.”   The English translation does not go far enough by saying that the Lord has made all things for Himself.  That is true but the word ‘anah suggests even more.  God is working, laboring for his own pleasure but His pleasure is in being able to impart the blessings of his labor to us. Just as a man goes to work every day to provide for his family for he finds joy and pleasure in his family and all the fruits of his labor are passed on to his family so he can enjoy their love and draw pleasure from their pleasure.

What I find  Proverbs 16:4 telling me is that, yes God made everything for Himself.  He made it for Himself so that he could  feel the joy and the pleasure of saying “I love you.”  His greatest joy and His greatest pleasure comes in being able to say, “I love you.”  He longed for the chance to say “I love you.”  So he created us and breathed into us his very breath of life so that He could have someone that he would be able to say, “I love you.” Every tree, every blade of grass, every little squirrel that runs up to you, looks at you and runs away, every bird on your porch that sings and dances is God saying to you, “I love you.”  God built this world, all of His creation to be our home for a short time, the time of our engagement or betrothal to Him. During our engagement period or our betrothal period we are living in this world filled with all his pa’al works, that he ‘anah made to impart his love.  

As we live in this world during our betrothal period to God we grow more and more in love with Him and every day through His pa’al works of creation he tells us that He loves us. As He keeps telling us how much He loves us we reach the point that we  just can ‘t stand being alone anymore so that one night Jesus will come and take us to live in His Father’s house.  We will then be allowed to “consummate” our marriage with Him and spend eternity living in His heart.