HEBREW WORD STUDY – CONFUSION, CHAOS – WUHAN – והן Vav Hei Nun

Psalms 42:7: “Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.”

Someone posted this verse on Twitter without any explanation. That is absolutely fine. The Word of God can handle itself and those who love God’s word will be challenged to search for an understanding. Should the writer have given his own explanation then the reader would most likely depend upon that and think no further. This way, throwing out a verse like this without a context should give a believer cause to stop and ponder.

I know – it is such a shame that someone would just throw a Bible verse out there without any explanation with absolutely no help from a pastor or teacher to explain it to the reader. Such a shame as now the poor readers only have the Holy Spirit to guide them to an understanding. Poor Holy Spirit, what is He to do without the help of pastors, teachers, and showboating Christians with personal agendas around to help Him explain God’s Word.

So, what am I going to do, I am going to be one of those showboaters and explain this verse. Before you gather wood to burn me at the stake, let me at least explain. I read this verse and I had no idea what it meant, I was forced to search out an answer and understanding. Now, this is what I believe the Holy Spirit revealed to me, but I do not expect you to believe it to be the best understanding or the right understanding. The Holy Spirit may very well have an alternative understanding for you and if I have encouraged you to dig further into this verse, I will be satisfied. The goal of Chaim Bentorah Ministries is not to teach you what the word of says and expect you to believe it, but to teach you how to discover on your own what the Word of is saying and to learn to depend upon the Holy Spirit to guide you into truth. As I have said many times I make no money off this ministry, any donations go to support the ministry, not Chaim Bentorah. I am the biggest donor to the ministry using my income from driving a disability bus to prop it up. So, I have no other agenda than to teach believers to fall in love with the Word of God and God Himself.

So, let me share what my personal revelation about this verse was hopefully to motivate you to search for your own understanding when you realize there are many possible alternatives to understanding in verse. By the way, I will be discussing this verse on our Learning Channel at www.hebrewwordstudy.com in our Hebrew/Aramaic Workshop this coming week and that will be posted on our subscription site by the time you read this. So, for a greater understanding of how to study this verse out by yourself or even how I arrived at my rather unusual conclusion about the word deep, I encourage you to subscribe to our Learning Channel.

This topic of the Learning Channel Class is Metaphors and Similes in the Biblical Hebrew. Psalms 42:7 is an example of what I call a lengthy metaphor. Actually, the whole chapter might also be considered an allegory following a nautical theme. The Psalmist is picturing his life’s journey as a seafaring adventure and in verse 7 he has gone over a waterfall where the waves drag him down into the depths of the waters. The waters are too rapid for him to turn around or find his way to shore. He has reached a point where he helplessly watches as he approaches the precipice of the waterfall and then he falls overboard and the waves and billows encompass him. Just as he struggles to the surface for air another wave drags him down under again. The more he struggles it seems the deeper he goes.

Perhaps that is the way you feel about your livelihood during this shut down with the coronavirus. Just as you felt you were about to get a second breath and things started opening up and your income started to come in again, there was another wave dragging you under.

The Psalmist is facing harsh criticism and it seems that criticism never lets up. He barely has a chance to breathe when there is another wave of criticism. Maybe you are a pastor or minister and you and/or your ministry is under attack by those who wish to silence you with lies and rumors. Just as you seem to overcome one assault suddenly another wave hits you.

In verse 9 we learn that God is our rock. When you are struggling in the water you would want to grab hold of something. You might grab an overhanging branch from a tree, but the force of the water could break that branch, your best option would be a rock. With a firm hold on that rock, you will not be drawn under the waters by the waves.

Deep calls the deep. What is that supposed to mean? Well, we can infer it means that one problem leads to another. The word deep in Hebrew thehum. The root word is uncertain. Many translators feel the root word is thehem which means to agitate and create confusion. It might also be rooted in hamah which also means to agitate in the sense of creating noise. That is so like rumors and gossip. People love to spread a lie and the more it is told the deeper that lie gets, the more agitated people get the more noise they make and the more confused they get about your reputation and as to whether there is any truth to the lies. The word could also come from the root word wuhan.

Boy, does that sound like something we have heard a lot about recently, only not in Hebrew but in Chinese. In Hebrew it means to agitate in the sense of creating confusion and chaos, it also means to be futile and worthless. I will leave that to your imagination.

Deep calling to deep could be confusion and agitation causing more confusion and agitation. So, what do you do when this happens? You cling to the Rock of verse 9: “I will say unto God my Rock,” The word rock in Hebrew is sala’ which means an elevated rock which you would need to cling to so the waves will not drag you down. The word also means to move in a balanced way, to rise tall. When you are stuck with these lies by the criticism or words that create fear in you, then just cling to Rock, stand tall and balance your response according to the revelation of the Rock. Ultimately when the waves or the deep knock you down, look to your Rock and cling to your Rock.

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