HEBREW WORD STUDY – DO NOT THINK – DALA SEVERIN דלא סברין Daleth Lamed Aleph Samek Beth Resh Yod Nun

Matthew 24:44: “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.”

This morning while reading through ancient Jewish literature, which was written before or during the time of Jesus. I ran across an old Aramaic phrase that sounded very familiar. I should, I grew up with it. The phrase was, “In such an hour that you think not the Shekinah glory will come.” This was apparently a very familiar phrase during the time of Jesus among the religious Jews and possibly among the disciples as well. In fact, dabashatha dala severin (in a moment that you do not think) is an old Aramaic idiomatic expression.

This old Aramaic idiom developed from the picture of a father teaching his son to walk if he did not think (dala severin)he would not stumble. I have to wonder if Jesus was not using this old rabbinic phrase, an Aramaic idiom to teach us something not just of the last days but at any time. If so then the disciples may have heard something quite different, in fact totally the opposite of what we hear when we read Matthew 24:44. Our thinking or what we have been taught is that the return of Jesus would be unexpected. Yet, this being an idiom it might suggest that God is preparing us to bring a message of peace and healing to a troubled world. The message is that like a child we need to learn to walk just as we need to first learn to walk in God’s power and glory.

When a child learns to walk his father sets the child a few feet from him, steps back and opens his arms, and says; “Come here and Daddy will give you a hug. The child is so anxious for that hug that he forgets he doesn’t know how to walk. He dala severin. He does not think about walking his focus is on Daddy and that hug. When he gets that hug he suddenly realizes: “Well, what do you know I don’t have to crawl I can get to Daddy on two legs like the grown-ups. How cool is that, I think I will try that again.”

In this process of learning to walk in His power and glory, we are going to stumble, we are going to fall and we will get bruised and hurt, but keep in mind that that is just part of the process of learning to walk and at the moment we fall and stumble the heavenly Father picks us up, comforts us, tell us, “It’s ok, let’s try this again.”

Peter experienced this very thing when he was learning to walk on water. Once a child starts thinking: “Hey, I’m walking…” He will suddenly stumble. But so long as he keeps his eyes focused on his father anticipating that hug from his father, he will walk without stumbling. Did Peter have this ancient rabbinic teaching in mind when he attempted to walk on water? Once he stopped thinking about Jesus (dala severin) and thought, “This is not possible” he began to sink. According to the ancient teaching, the Shekinah glory will come when you dala severin in other words, when you stop thinking and just focus on God.

Learning to walk is the process of entering the hour when you dala severin (think not). It is the process of learning to clear your mind of all thoughts excepts those of Jesus and being totally focused on Him. Perhaps Jesus was instructing us in an exercise to help us survive in these last days. It is not easy to put your entire focus on God for every time you do the worldly thoughts and problems come in and you stumble. Like Peter, you take your eyes off of Him. Yet, Jesus understands you are still learning to walk and he reaches down with a loving hand and picks you up as you are sinking into the waters, reminding you that you must continue to have faith. When Jesus said “O ye of little faith.” He wasn’t speaking in frustration: “Oh, I don’t know what I am going to do with you people you have such little faith, how will you ever manage.” When I read this in the Aramaic I get a picture of Jesus saying; “Look at you, look what you accomplished with just a little faith. Can you imagine what you will be able to do with whole bunches of faith.” Jesus said the same thing when he calmed the storm. “You had just enough faith to call on me and believe I was capable of doing something. Can you imagine if you expand that little faith you have?”

Don’t get the idea that I am saying Matthew 24:44 does not say that Jesus will return at a time when we do not expect Him. But I just wonder. There are millions of Christians in the world eagerly expecting the return of Jesus. It can be read that way. Is there ever a moment, however, when no one in this world is expecting the return of Jesus to give Him a brief window of opportunity to come? Furthermore, everyone He is talking to are long gone to their reward. Why would he bait them with a hint that He was returning in their lifetime? I am not a prophetic teacher so perhaps there is an answer to these questions, although, after 70 years living in the evangelical world, I never heard one or at least one that was not a real stretch of the imagination.

All I am suggesting is that maybe we look at the other side of this coin. He could be talking about the Second Coming for the generation, maybe us, that will see His Coming and for those of us who don’t, there is another message there. Don’t jump into faith, start with baby steps. Start your learning process by focusing on Jesus who has His arms extended saying: “Come on, Come to me for a hug, don’t look at those waves and the powerful wind, just look toward me.”

Christianity is littered with the dry, sunbaked bones of Christians who have tried to run with their faith before they even learned to walk.

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