Tag: Jesus Christ

What Happened to the Ritual Uncleanness Laws After Jesus’s Sacrifice?

What Happened to the Ritual Uncleanness Laws After Jesus’s Sacrifice?

Marissa

The law God delivered to Israel at Mount Sinai included different types of commands. Efforts to sort them into categories aren’t usually all that helpful, but there are some general observations we can make. It’s clear from reading the Torah that not every command carries the same “weight,” if I can use that imperfect term. For example, some of these laws clearly categorize certain behavior as “sin.” These require repentance and animal sacrifice to cleanse (for example, refusing to act as a witness or swearing a rash oath [Lev. 5:1, 4-6] ). Some sins are serious enough they couldn’t be cleansed that way, and resulted in the perpetrator being cut off from the covenant congregation or even executed unless they were directly forgiven by God (murder, for example, Num. 35:15-34; 2 Sam. 12:7-14). (Note: all sins ultimately result in death without God’s intervention, and in that sense there aren’t “worse” or “better” sins [Rom. 3:23; 6:23; Jam. 2:8-11]).

There are other commands in the law that don’t necessarily involve sin. These regard things that result in a person being “unclean” until a certain time, at which point they might wash or offer a small sacrifice. This “uncleanness” is related to being common or unsanctified–the opposite of being holy and set apart for sacred use. It’s not something we talk about much anymore, but it was very important to God in the Old Testament. So what happened?

When we do talk about this concept, we often refer to it as “ritual uncleanness” to differentiate it from “sinful uncleanness.” I’ve been pondering this concept for years, and I finally want to share a formal Bible study post on the subject. Please just keep in mind as you read that this is a big topic, and the depth of God’s truth is something we could study our whole human lives without learning everything. I might get some things wrong or not explain things the best way (which is why I’ve been reluctant to write on the topic), but I think there’s value in sharing things we’re still learning about so that we can grow and learn together.

What Makes Someone “Unclean”?

First, I do need to point out that there isn’t always a clear-cut division between sin and uncleanness. For example, in Leviticus 5:1-6 it talks about four things that can make a person guilty: refusing to testify as a witness, touching an unclean animal, touching “the uncleanness of man,” and swearing a rash oath. All those things required confession of sin and a trespass offering. This indicates a connection between certain types of uncleanness and sin.

However, there are other things that make someone unclean which have a different outcome. For example, in Leviticus 11 God shares a list of clean and unclean animals. Only the clean animals may be eaten or offered to Him as a sacrifice. For the unclean animals, He says, “By these you will become unclean: whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening” (Lev. 11:25, WEB). There’s no mention of a sin offering, simply an uncleanness that expires at the end of the day. That sort of uncleanness doesn’t get you into trouble unless you then do something that God tells you not to do while unclean (such as eat of a holy offering [Lev. 7:19-21]).

If you were ritually unclean, you could not enter the holy places (tabernacle or temple) or touch any holy thing until you became clean again (Lev. 12:4; 22:1-6; 2 Chr. 23:18-19). That cleansing might happen at a certain time, or after washing in water, or after offering a sacrifice. Sometimes cleansing involved a combination of those things, as for lepers (Lev. 14) and those with a “discharge” (Lev. 15). The reason for this hyper-focus on ritual cleanliness was God’s holiness and presence among the people.

You shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creeps. You shall not make yourselves unclean with them, that you should be defiled by them. For I am Yahweh your God. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any kind of creeping thing that moves on the earth. For I am Yahweh who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

Leviticus 11:43-45, WEB

 You shall have a trowel among your weapons. It shall be, when you relieve yourself, you shall dig with it, and shall turn back and cover your excrement; for Yahweh your God walks in the middle of your camp, to deliver you, and to give up your enemies before you. Therefore your camp shall be holy, that he may not see an unclean thing in you, and turn away from you.

Deuteronomy 23:13-15, WEB

There is “a distinction between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean” (Lev. 10:10, WEB). God is holy and clean, and there are things that are part of being human in a post-fall world that are unholy or unclean. Remember, holiness involves “set-apartness” for sacred use (H6944 qodesh, BDB definition). People and things aren’t holy unless God makes them that way, separating them to Himself.

Image of a man reading the Bible overlaid with text from Lev. 20:7-8, WEB version: “Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am Yahweh your God. You shall keep my statutes, and do them. I am Yahweh who sanctifies you.”
Image by Matt Vasquez from Lightstock

Does God Care About Cleanness in the New Testament?

We’re not told exactly why touching certain animals, a woman being on her period, or a man having leprosy make someone “unclean” in the ceremonial sense. But we do know that up to the time of Jesus, these ritual cleanliness laws were enforced. In one case, “ten men who were lepers met” Jesus, but “stood at a distance” as they cried out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” (Luke 17:12, WEB). Jesus told them to go show themselves to the priest, as the Law instructed so they could be declared ceremonially clean after being cured of leprosy.

But there was something different about Jesus. He didn’t seem concerned with the fact that they were ritually unclean. He even touched some of the lepers He healed (Matt. 8:3) and He let a bleeding woman touch Him (Luke 8:43-48). He could cleanse someone in an instant, from sin or from ritual impurity.

Today, we don’t tell a woman on her period that she can’t come before God’s presence in prayer or go to church, or tell her husband that if he touches any surface she does that he’s similarly restricted. And we’re right to do so, but why is that? What changed from the Old to New Testament that the things making people ritually unclean no longer seem to matter to God when they mattered so much before?

The interesting thing is, cleanliness does still matter to God. In the Greek, we often see the word “holy” used to translate the word hagios, where the “fundamental idea is separation, consecration, devotion to the service of Deity, sharing in God’s purity” (G40, Zodhiates). The word is also sometimes translated “saint,” on the assumption that all of God’s people are holy (Rom. 1:7; 15:25-26; 1 Cor. 1:2; 3:17; Heb. 3:1). In 1 Corinthians 7:14, hagios is contrasted with the word koinos, common, defiled, or “Levitically unclean” (G2839, Thayer).

And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is happy to live with her, she should not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified because of the wife, and the unbelieving wife because of her husband. Otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy. 

1 Corinthians 7:13-14, NET

Notice that things here work differently than they did in the Old Testament. Then, if one of the holy people interacted with an unclean thing they became temporarily unclean. Now, if one of the holy people is married to an unbeliever, “the believer is not defiled by the unbeliever” (G37, Zodhiates). Rather, the unbeliever is sanctified by their association with the believer so that the children might be holy to God. Something changed between the Old and New Testament/Covenant so people set apart as holy to God aren’t defiled by “common” things. In at least some cases, they can even sanctify someone who isn’t one of God’s holy people.

Image of several Bibles on a table as people study together, overlaid with text from Acts 10:14-15, 28, WEB version: But Peter said, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” A voice came to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean.” ... [Peter] said to them, “You yourselves know how it is an unlawful thing for a man who is a Jew to join himself or come to one of another nation, but God has shown me that I shouldn’t call any man unholy or unclean.”
Image by Inbetween from Lightstock

What Changed With Jesus’s Sacrifice?

Of course, the big change between Old and New Covenant happened with Jesus’s sacrifice. That sacrifice provided a different type of cleansing than the one provided by the washings, sacrifices, and rituals of the Old Covenant.

For the law possesses a shadow of the good things to come but not the reality itself, and is therefore completely unable, by the same sacrifices offered continually, year after year, to perfect those who come to worship. For otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers would have been purified once for all and so have no further consciousness of sin? But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. …

 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the fresh and living way that he inaugurated for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in the assurance that faith brings, because we have had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. 

Hebrews 10:1-4, 19-22, NET

Sacrifices couldn’t perfect or purify people. But Jesus can, and because of Him we can confidently enter the holy sanctuary. Remember, unclean things can’t come into God’s presence. But God’s not interested in leaving barriers between Him and His people anymore. Jesus’s death tore the veil in the physical temple separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple, and now the whole body of believers is the holy temple of God. Also, we can now enter God’s presence directly through Jesus in prayer. When we’re living in Him, we don’t have to worry about being ritually unclean and if we become sinfully unclean, we can still come straight to God and seek forgiveness (Heb. 4:14-16; 1 John 2:1-6).

Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ. For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him in love. He did this by predestining us to adoption as his legal heirs through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure of his will— to the praise of the glory of his grace that he has freely bestowed on us in his dearly loved Son. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our offenses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight.

Ephesians 1:3-8, NET

And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your minds as expressed through your evil deeds, but now he has reconciled you by his physical body through death to present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before him— if indeed you remain in the faith, established and firm, without shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard. 

Colossians 1:21-23, NET

Jesus’s sacrifice is what washes us clean from all impurity, including ritual uncleanness and sinful unholiness. In both Ephesians and Colossians, Paul points out that the Father chose to make us holy–part of the saints–and did that through Jesus Christ. We are holy, blameless, blemish-free, and washed clean, and we’ll stay that way “if indeed we remain in the faith.”

Do We Have A Role In Keeping Clean?

Image of two people's clasped hands, overlaid with blog's title text and the words, "In the past, uncleanness could separate people from contact with God. Jesus washes that away, bringing us into closer relationship."
Image by Jantanee from Lightstock

Because of Jesus’s sacrifice, we don’t have to worry about the things related to ritual uncleanness anymore. Jesus makes us pure, holy, and washed clean. But as mentioned previously, some uncleanness comes from sin rather than simply from association with common things. Sin is a serious thing; it separates people from God (Is. 59:1-2). God does not want separation between us, so He’s working to make us holy but we also still need to honor God’s laws, avoid the type of uncleanness that comes from sin, and repent as soon as we become aware that we’ve missed the mark (1 John 1:5-10; 2:1-6).

 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearts. They, having become callous, gave themselves up to lust, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you didn’t learn Christ that way, if indeed you heard him, and were taught in him, even as truth is in Jesus: that you put away, as concerning your former way of life, the old man that grows corrupt after the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth. …

Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children. Walk in love, even as Christ also loved us and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling fragrance. But sexual immorality, and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be mentioned among you, as becomes saints; nor filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not appropriate, but rather giving of thanks. Know this for sure, that no sexually immoral person, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God.

Ephesians 4:17-24; 5:1-5, WEB

Here, “uncleanness” is translated from akathartos (G169). It means “not cleansed, unclean” in a ceremonial or moral sense (Thayer). It is an antonym of katharizo (G2511), “to make clean” physically, morally, or “in a levitical sense” (Thayer). Just a little later in the letter to the Ephesians, Paul says that Christ sanctified (hagiazo [G37], to make holy) and cleansed (katharizo) the church “with the washing of the water by the word, so that he may present the church to himself as glorious—not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless” (Eph. 5:25-27, NET).

In the past, ritual uncleanness meant someone following God could not enter the holy places or touch any holy thing. The Father and Jesus erased that distance between Them and Their people by making us holy things that aren’t defiled by the commonness of the world. They also washed away the sins that distance us from God. The sins They’ve already washed can’t come back, but that doesn’t mean that we should go wallow in the filthiness of sin because Jesus cleaned us up. We don’t need to worry about ritual uncleanness, but we do need to make sure if we participate in sin that we repent and come back to Him for spiritual renewal and assistance to grow and change.

People often criticize Christians who still value God’s law by saying things like, “You pick and choose which ones to follow” or “The law was done away with!” I’ve addressed the latter argument in other posts, and I think this study on ritual uncleanness vs. sinful uncleanness helps answer the first criticism. There are some rules in the Old Covenant that don’t apply anymore because they were legal codes for ancient Israel. There are others that we don’t need to follow anymore because we don’t need to worry about ritual uncleanness. Then there are others that are part of God’s Law (which is connected to, but not exactly the same as the Old Covenant) and which both pre-date the Old Covenant (for example, Noah new about clean and unclean meat animals [Gen. 7:2; 8:20]) and which continue into the New Covenant (for example, the two greatest commandments and all the others that depend on them [Mark 12:28-34; Rom. 13:8-10]). Basically, we know we’re not under the Old Covenant; we’re under the New Covenant and in that covenant God makes us holy and writes His law inside our hearts (Heb. 8:6-13; 10:8-18). We still study God’s law to understand what He’s written inside us and we follow His law to honor Him and because it helps teach us how to be like Him.

Featured image by Pearl from Lightstock

Song Recommendation: “What Do I Know Of Holy?” by Addison Road

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Comparing Two Parables That Teach Us How to Wait for God’s Kingdom

Comparing Two Parables That Teach Us How to Wait for God’s Kingdom

Marissa

If I mention the parable where a ruler travels to a far country and gives his servants money to do something with until he gets back, you likely think of the parable of the talents recorded in Matthew 25. It’s one of the most familiar parables in the Bible. There’s another parable in Luke 19, the parable of the minas, which I think is less familiar to people even though it’s very similar. I was curious to look at both and compare the two.

Chronologically, the Parable of the Minas comes first in the story of Jesus’s ministry. He shared this parable in Jericho as He was heading to Jerusalem for His final Passover (Luke 18:31; 19:1, 11, 28). The Parable of the Talents is also something He shared before His final Passover, but this time after He entered Jerusalem (Matt. 21); it’s part of what we call the Olivet Prophecy (Matt. 24-25). In between these parables, we have Jesus’s “Triumphal Entry” into Jerusalem (Matt. 21:1-11; Luke 19:28-40). As He approached the city, He sent two disciples ahead to fetch a donkey’s colt for Him to ride, fulfilling a prophecy recorded by Zechariah (Zech. 9:9).

As prophesied, “the whole crowd of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen” (Luke 19:37, NET). They shouted praises to God, and connected Jesus’s entry to Jerusalem with a Messianic psalm, crying out “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Matt. 21:9-11, NET, quoting Ps 118:25-26). Hosanna literally means “Save us now” (Ps. 118:25, WEB) or “O Lord, save us” (NET footnote on Matthew 21:9).

They had Jesus’s identity right: He is the prophesied Messianic king. However, they didn’t understand that He was here this time to die for our sins and that His kingdom-bringing coming was still in the future. That misunderstanding is one of the reasons Jesus spoke the parables we’re looking at today.

Image of a young woman standing in church services with a Bible overlaid with text from Mark 4:10-11, NET version: When he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. He said to them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you.”
Image by José Roberto Roquel from Lightstock

Kingdom Context

When Jesus entered Jericho on His way to Jerusalem, “a man named Zacchaeus … a chief tax collector” was so eager to see Him he climbed a tree to get up above the crowds. Jesus called to Him and said, “I must stay at your house today.” Zacchaeus was overjoyed, but the crowds murmured against Jesus for being “the guest of a man who is a sinner” because tax collectors were seen as traitors (NET footnote on Luke 3:12) (Luke 19:1-7).

But Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, half of my possessions I now give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone of anything, I am paying back four times as much!” Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this household, because he too is a son of Abraham! For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

While the people were listening to these things, Jesus proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately.

Luke 19:8-11, NET

It’s not immediately apparent what the conversation with and about Zacchaeus might have to do with the parable of the minas, but that is clearly the context. Jesus makes the statement about salvation coming to Zacchaeus because “the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost,” then immediately tells a parable to the people who were listening to those words. Luke tells us that Jesus shared this particular parable because people didn’t understand the timing for the kingdom of God.

Not long after, once Jesus was in Jerusalem, He spoke a parable about the kingdom, answered a question about the resurrection, and challenged people about how they viewed the Messiah (Matt. 22:1-14, 23-33, 41-46). He also spoke woes to “the experts in the law and the Pharisees” who taught God’s law, but don’t actually do what God expects (Matt. 23). Finally, as He walked away from the temple courts, He told His disciples that all those buildings would be torn down. This prompted them to ask Him a private question: “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (Matt. 24:1-3, NET). Perhaps they’d understood the lesson of the first parable–the kingdom of God would not appear immediately–and now they wanted more information. Jesus did give them warning signs to watch out for, but rather than focusing on the “when,” He highlights how His disciples are to prepare for His second coming and what He expects from their conduct.

“Therefore you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

“Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom the master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom the master finds at work when he comes. I tell you the truth, the master will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if that evil slave should say to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he begins to beat his fellow slaves and to eat and drink with drunkards, then the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not foresee, and will cut him in two, and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Matthew 24:46-51, NET

This warning is the immediate lead-in to the parable of the 10 virgins, the parable of the talents, and the parable of the sheep and the goats. The word “slave” is used both here in the warning about being ready and in the parables of the talents and minas. In Greek, it’s the word doulos (G1401). It’s often translated “servant,” but “slave” or “bondservant” is a better translation. Doulos means “one who is in a permanent relation of servitude to another, his will being altogether consumed in the will of the other” (The Complete WordStudy Dictionary: New Testament, Spiros Zodhiates, entry 1401). It could be involuntary slavery, or voluntary and total submission to God. Paul and other apostles frequently use the word to refer to themselves and others serving God, including at times every Christian (Rom. 1:1; Gal. 1:10; Phil. 1:1; Col. 4:12; 2 Tim. 2:24; Tit. 1:1; Jas. 1:1; 1 Pet. 2:16; 2 Pet. 1:1; Jude 1:1). Even Jesus Himself was a doulos of the Father (Phil. 2:7).

I wanted to spend some time on this word before we get into the parables themselves because it’s easy to misunderstand, whichever translation you’re reading. The people in these parables are not hired servants who can just walk away whenever they want, but they’re also not in the terrible, involuntary condition that we think of when we read “slave” with our modern eyes. They are bound to the king in the parable the same way Paul was bound to Jesus Christ and God the Father.

Image of a man reading the Bible overlaid with text from 1 Pet. 2:15-16, WEB version: " For this is the will of God, that by well-doing you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: as free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God."
Image by Matt Vasquez from Lightstock

The King Goes Away

The two parables begin in a similar fashion.

 Therefore he said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. And he summoned ten of his slaves, gave them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business with these until I come back.’ But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to be king over us!’ 

Luke 19: 12-16, NET

“For it is like a man going on a journey, who summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.”

Matthew 25:14-15, NET

We’re talking about a lot of money in these parables. For the first, “A mina was a Greek monetary unit worth 100 denarii or about four months’ wages for an average worker based on a six-day work week” (NET footnote on Luke 19:13). Putting that in perspective, the median income of an American in 2022 was $37,600 a year, so four month’s wages would be about $12,533. That’s a pretty large sum of money to hand someone all at once, but the amount in the second parable is even larger.

In the second parable, Jesus says the man gives his slaves a talent. This “was a huge sum of money, equal to 6,000 denarii. One denarius was the usual day’s wage for a worker” (NET footnote on Matt. 18:24). That’s about 250 months, or almost 21 years worth of an average worker’s wages. Using our median American salary again, it’s about $783,333 for one talent. The one who got five talents would have about $3.9 million. A mina is a decent chunk of money, but a talent is an unbelievably large sum.

I wonder what people thought hearing these parables, especially the people who heard both parables. The 12 disciples would have heard both, and I doubt they were alone in following Jesus all the way to Jerusalem and continuing to listen to Him. Imagine yourself listening to that first parable, possibly putting yourself inside the story. The boss called you, one of just 10 employees, and said, “Here’s $12,500 to do business with until I get back. Let’s see how you handle it.” Then you listen to the second parable, and it’s a similar situation except this time the boss calls just three of you in and gives one person $800,000, one person $1.6 million, and the last person $3.9 million. It might seem unfair, or leave you confused. You’d be hanging on every one of Jesus’s words to find out what happened next.

Image of a smiling woman reading the Bible overlaid with text from Matt. 24:42, NET version: “Therefore stay alert, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”
Image by Pearl from Lightstock

The Rewards

Some time passes in both parables. We don’t know how much, but there’s time for the bondservants to conduct business and increase the money they’d been entrusted with. Then the ruler returns, apparently without sending advance notice of the date of his arrival, the same way Jesus says He will at His second coming.

When he returned after receiving the kingdom, he summoned these slaves to whom he had given the money. He wanted to know how much they had earned by trading. So the first one came before him and said, ‘Sir, your mina has made ten minas more.’ And the king said to him, ‘Well done, good slave! Because you have been faithful in a very small matter, you will have authority over ten cities.’ Then the second one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has made five minas.’ So the king said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ 

Luke 19: 15-18, NET

In this parable, the rewards are directly tied to the outcome. The king gave each bondservant identical amounts of money, and he rewarded them according to what they’d done with the money. The parable of the talents flips this.

 The one who had received five talents went off right away and put his money to work and gained five more. In the same way, the one who had two gained two more. But the one who had received one talent went out and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money in it. After a long time, the master of those slaves came and settled his accounts with them. The one who had received the five talents came and brought five more, saying, ‘Sir, you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’ His master answered, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful in a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’ The one with the two talents also came and said, ‘Sir, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more.’ His master answered, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’

Matthew 25:16-23, NET

In this parable, the bondservants were given different amounts of money, to “each according to his ability” (Matt. 25:18, NET). Then the king came back, and the two who’d doubled the amount of money were given the same commendation for faithfulness and the promise that the king would put them “in charge of many things.”

I find it interesting that in the parable of the minas, everyone gets the same gift and then the rewards reflect what they did with the gift. Then in the parable of the talents, the gifts reflect the people’s known abilities and when they do something with the gift, they receive the same commendation. Taken together, I find both of them reassuring messages. They indicate that while God does pay attention to our abilities and what we do with the gifts He gives us, everyone who does something with those gifts receives a reward. And it’s a good reward, often with very little difference between what you get and what someone else gets.

Image of a man praying with a Bible overlaid with text from 2 Timothy 4:8, NET version: "Finally the crown of righteousness is reserved for me. The Lord, the righteous Judge, will award it to me in that day—and not to me only, but also to all who have set their affection on his appearing."
Image by WhoisliketheLord Studio from Lightstock

The One Who Did Nothing

If the parables stopped there, the message wouldn’t contain any warning or urgency. But Jesus is trying to teach people about the kingdom of God. He wants them to know it’s not happening right now, but that they need to be doing something while they wait. And so we return to one last bondservant, one who didn’t do as the ruler expected with the gift he’d received.

Then another slave came and said, ‘Sir, here is your mina that I put away for safekeeping in a piece of cloth. For I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You withdraw what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow.’ The king said to him, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked slave! So you knew, did you, that I was a severe man, withdrawing what I didn’t deposit and reaping what I didn’t sow? Why then didn’t you put my money in the bank, so that when I returned I could have collected it with interest?’ And he said to his attendants, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has ten.’ But they said to him, ‘Sir, he has ten minas already!’ ‘I tell you that everyone who has will be given more, but from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.’”

Luke 19: 20-26, NET

Then the one who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Sir, I knew that you were a hard man, harvesting where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered, ‘Evil and lazy slave! So you knew that I harvest where I didn’t sow and gather where I didn’t scatter? Then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received my money back with interest! Therefore take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten. For the one who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough. But the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless slave into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Matthew 25:24-30, NET

The phrasing is almost exactly the same in the two parables. One bondservant hid the mina or talent and said it was because he was afraid. The ruler is harsh, he explained, and so it was better not to do anything at all. Maybe the bondservant was afraid of losing money, of not measuring up, and so he was paralyzed by his fear of imperfection (as we might be as Christians, if we worry that God will judge us harshly when we fail). Or perhaps the clue to this bondservant’s motive is in the master’s criticism of him as “evil and lazy;” maybe he knew to do better but thought he’d have more time or that it wasn’t all that important and so didn’t bother doing anything (as we might if we think God doesn’t or shouldn’t expect anything from us).

In both cases, the ruler judges the servant based on his own excuse. If the ruler is a harsh man who expects to receive something back that he didn’t work for himself, the bondservant could have at least put the money in the bank so it was earning interest. It did no good to anyone sitting in a hole in the ground or wrapped up in the back of a drawer. I often think of this as saying, “Well, God, you expect too much so I thought it would be better not to do anything” and having God say something like, “You could have at least gone to church and tithed to support other people who were doing what I asked them to.”

Image of a hands holding a small Bible, overlaid with blog's title text and the words, "The parables of the talents and minas remind us that we have a responsibility to honor the master who gave us great gifts and asked us to do something with them until He returns."
Image by Anggie from Lightstock

Though we’re living about 2,000 years after the people who first heard these parables, we’re in a very similar situation. We wonder when Jesus is coming back. Sometimes we think it could be very soon, sometimes it feels like a long way away. We need to remember that we are living in the end times (John said we have been since the first century [1 John 2:18]), but also that we’re not permitted to know the exact time of Jesus’s return (Acts 1:6-7). We also need to remember that what might seem like a delay is actually God showing great patience and mercy (2 Peter 3:8-10).

The parables of the talents and minas remind us that we have a responsibility to honor the master who gave us great gifts and asked us to do something with them while He’s gone. He is coming back and we’ll give an accounting to Him for how we’ve lived our lives and the choices we’ve made. That’s a good reminder for us, particularly now as we approach Passover this year mindful of Paul’s admonition to examine ourselves before participating in the Passover. God is merciful and gracious. He doesn’t expect too much of us, just that we stay faithful to Him and do something with the gifts He’s given us. If we find we’ve fallen short of that charge, we still have time to repent and ask Him for guidance to follow Him more faithfully.

Featured image by Alyssa Marie from Lightstock

Song Recommendation: “Come People of the Risen King” by Keith & Kristyn Getty

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How Do We “Eat” Jesus Christ, and What Does That Even Mean?

How Do We “Eat” Jesus Christ, and What Does That Even Mean?

Marissa

As we approach Passover (Pesach) and the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Chag HaMatztot), I like to think about Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and the symbolism associated with that. For New Covenant believers, the principal symbols of Passover are foot washing, eating unleavened bread, and drinking red wine. Those are the three things Jesus did at His last Passover here on earth that He told His followers to continue doing (John 13:1-17; Luke 22:14-20).

Today, I want to specifically focus on the bread that symbolizes Jesus’s body. At first, I’d intended to study altars in the New Testament to dig into Hebrews 13:10 more deeply, but I was only a few minutes into that study when I felt prompted to take things in a different direction this week. We’ll still go to Hebrews, but from a different direction than I’d expected when I first started thinking about the topic.

Image of a piece of flatbread overlaid with text from John 6:35, NET version: Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. The one who comes to me will never go hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty.”
Image by Matt Vasquez from Lightstock

The Bread of Life

Because of my focused interest in covenants, I typically spend more time in my Passover studies focused on the wine that Jesus described as “the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20, NET). Today, though, let’s take a look at the bread part of the Passover service. Matthew and Mark’s accounts are nearly identical, so I’ll just quote one of them and Luke.

 So the disciples did as Jesus had instructed them, and they prepared the Passover. When it was evening, he took his place at the table with the twelve. … While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after giving thanks he broke it, gave it to his disciples, and said, “Take, eat, this is my body.” 

Matthew 26:19-20, 26 NET

Now when the hour came, Jesus took his place at the table and the apostles joined him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. … Then he took bread, and after giving thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 

Luke 22:14-15, 19, NET

Here, Jesus and His disciples were observing the first holy time of the year on God’s sacred calendar. As commanded, they’re eating the Passover meal on the evening that begins Nisan 14 on the Hebrew calendar. Per Exodus 12:8, that meal includes “bread made without yeast” or “unleavened bread.” The bread was already there, but Jesus assigned a new, deeper meaning to it. Now when we take Passover, the unleavened bread we eat reminds us of Jesus’s body and His sacrifice. It might also remind us of a discussion recorded in John’s gospel.

Jesus’s miraculous feeding 5,000 people is recorded in every gospel (Matt. 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-34; Luke 9:10-16; John 6:1-13). Interestingly, John includes an extra piece of information: “Now the Jewish Feast of the Passover was near” (John 6:4, NET). This would be the Passover one year before Jesus’s death (NET footnote on John 6:4). John also goes on to describe what happened after the miracle. The crowds followed Jesus to the other side of the lake, hoping for more food. Jesus used the opportunity to talk to them about “food that remains to eternal life—the food which the Son of Man will give to you” (John 6:27, NET). Now, they thought this sounded like a pretty good deal, maybe even better than the manna in the wilderness (Ex. 16.4-36; John 6:28-34). They challenged Him to perform a miracle, and He challenged them to understand at a deeper level.

“I tell you the solemn truth, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that has come down from heaven, so that a person may eat from it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats from this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

 Then the Jews who were hostile to Jesus began to argue with one another, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “I tell you the solemn truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood resides in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so the one who consumes me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the bread your ancestors ate, but then later died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.”

John 6:47-58, NET

My guess is that Jesus was thinking ahead one year, to the next Passover when He would tell His disciples the unleavened bread represented His body and the red wine His blood. He wants us to understand how much we need Him. Physical food keeps us alive for a while, but “eating” Him–taking Him inside us and accepting His sacrifice–is far more important. A real relationship with Jesus will keep us alive forever.

Image of a cup of wine and piece of flatbread overlaid with text from 1 Cor. 10:16, AMPC, version: “The cup of blessing [of wine at the Lord’s Supper] upon which we ask [God’s] blessing, does it not mean [that in drinking it] we participate in and share a fellowship (a communion) in the blood of Christ (the Messiah)? The bread which we break, does it not mean [that in eating it] we participate in and share a fellowship (a communion) in the body of Christ?”
Image by Linda from Pixabay

Inheritance and Sacrifice

The author of Hebrews spends a lot of time explaining how the Old Testament sacrifices, tabernacle/temple, and priesthood all pointed to Jesus. Near the end of the book, the author says, “We have an altar that those who serve in the tabernacle have no right to eat from” (Heb. 13:10, NET). This hearkens back to an Old Covenant practice: the priests serving in the tabernacle or temple ate from the meat of the sacrifices offered in the temple (Lev. 10:10-18; Num. 18:22-24; 1 Cor. 9:13-14).

The priests and the Levites—all the tribe of Levi—shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the offerings of Yahweh made by fire and his portion. They shall have no inheritance among their brothers. Yahweh is their inheritance, as he has spoken to them. This shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep, that they shall give to the priest: the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the inner parts. You shall give him the first fruits of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep. For Yahweh your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand to minister in Yahweh’s name, him and his sons forever.

Deuteronomy 18:1-5, WEB

The Levites–the tribe that all priests came from under the Old Covenant–didn’t inherit land with the rest of the tribes of Israel. Instead, they inherited a special relationship with Yahweh God. New Covenant believers do not directly correlate to the Old Testament priesthood, but we do have similarities with them and the Levites. Peter tells us we’re part of a “priesthood” and Revelation describes the saints as “priests” (1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:5-6; 20:5-6). We also don’t have an inheritance or citizenship on this earth; our citizenship is in heaven and our inheritance is connected with Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:16-17; Phil. 3:20). The verse we opened with from Hebrews indicates we have another similarity with them as well: we’re allowed to “eat from” the altar.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever! Do not be carried away by all sorts of strange teachings. For it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not ritual meals, which have never benefited those who participated in them. We have an altar that those who serve in the tabernacle have no right to eat from. For the bodies of those animals whose blood the high priest brings into the sanctuary as an offering for sin are burned outside the camp. Therefore, to sanctify the people by his own blood, Jesus also suffered outside the camp. We must go out to him, then, outside the camp, bearing the abuse he experienced.

Hebrews 13:8-14, NET

The author of Hebrews just spent a huge section of this letter explaining that Jesus Christ is both the High Priest and the perfect, once-for-all-time sacrifice offered for sins (Heb. 8-10). If we get to “eat from” the altar where He offered His sacrifice, then we’re eating from Jesus Himself. It’s about partaking of His sacrifice, just like we do at Passover.

Our Participation in Passover

Image of small, round flatbreads, overlaid with blog's title text and the words, "When we participate in Passover, symbolically taking in the body of Jesus that He sacrificed for us, we're part of something much bigger than ourselves."
Image by Sofia Terzoni from Pixabay

1 Corinthians is a letter closely tied to Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. In that letter, Paul asks a rhetorical question about the Israelite priesthood: “Are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar?” (1 Cor. 10:18, NET). The Greek word translated “partners” is koinonos (G2844), which also means “associate, comrade, companion … sharer, in anything” (Thayer’s Dictionary). It is the root word of “fellowship,” the Greek word koinonia (G2842), which describes a believer’s proper relationship with God and His whole family as a “fellowship, association, community, communion, joint participation” (Thayer’s Dictionary; see 1 John 1:3-7). It’s the word that’s translated “sharing” in the verses leading up to the one we just quoted:

 I am speaking to thoughtful people. Consider what I say. Is not the cup of blessing that we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread that we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all share the one bread. Look at the people of Israel. Are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar?

1 Corinthians 10:15-18, NET

When we “eat” Jesus Christ’s symbolic body, we’re participating in the altar. Our part in the Passover service is to accept deliverance from God and confirm our covenant commitment to Him. Jesus is the only way to salvation; His sacrifice atones for our sins (Acts 4:11-12; 1 John 2:1-3; 4:9-10). It doesn’t just happen automatically, though: we’re expected to participate to a certain degree, namely, by repenting and believing and committing to follow Him (Mark 1:14-15; 16:16; Acts 2:37-38; Rom. 10:8-11). Once we do that, our lives should change. Passover reminds us of that every year.

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread, and after he had given thanks he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, he also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, every time you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For every time you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

For this reason, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself first, and in this way let him eat the bread and drink of the cup. For the one who eats and drinks without careful regard for the body eats and drinks judgment against himself. That is why many of you are weak and sick, and quite a few are dead. But if we examined ourselves, we would not be judged.  But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned with the world.

1 Corinthians 11:23-32, NET

As Thayer’s Dictionary says when defining koinonia, our fellowship with God as part of His body of believers involves “joint participation.” When we participate in Passover, symbolically taking in the body of Jesus that He sacrificed for us, we’re part of something much bigger than ourselves. We’re reminding ourselves of the covenant commitment we made with God, of His sacrifice that we’ve accepted on our behalf, and of the way we ought to live as people transformed by Jesus. That’s one of the reasons we’re supposed to examine ourselves before taking the Passover–to make sure we’re doing so “in a worthy manner” that correctly values Jesus’s sacrifice and the fellowship God invites us into as part of His family.

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Song Recommendation: “Master of Life” by Zemer Levav

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5 Ways That We’re Just Like Old Testament Believers

5 Ways That We’re Just Like Old Testament Believers

Marissa

A lot of times, I think we assume that Christianity is a New Testament religion and the Old Testament (OT) is just history or a book that the Jewish people use as their religious text. But if you read a translation of the New Testament (NT) like the New English Translation (NET) that highlights the times when Jesus and the NT writers quote the OT, you’ll see that the believers writing the NT were deeply connected to the OT.

When Jesus died and rose again, He didn’t invent a new religion and name it “Christianity.” He was there as the next step in God’s plan that stretches from Genesis to Revelation and beyond. Our faith is a continuation of what came before. Because of that, we have much more in common with Old Testament believers than we might initially assume. For one thing, we serve the same God. There are some major differences between the Old and New Testaments, but those differences have to do with updates and changes that God made to His relationship with people (and which He prophesied in the OT). God didn’t change, and His basic expectations for people as well as His preferred type of relationship with us didn’t change either.

Image of an open Bible with sunlight shining on it overlaid with text from Romans 15:4, NET version: “For everything that was written in former times was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and through encouragement of the scriptures we may have hope.”
Image by Lamppost Collective from Lightstock

1) We Are In Covenant With God

If you want to understand how God relates to human beings, you have to study covenants. That’s the structure that God uses for His relationships with people in the Old and New Testaments. They are binding agreements with expectations for both parties. Those expectations–the terms of the relationship agreement, if you will–are established by God. We get to decide if we agree to enter the covenant with Him or not, but we don’t get the option to change how the covenant works.

There are multiple covenants in the OT, but the ones we discuss most often are the Abrahamic Covenant and the Sinai Covenant. The “Old Covenant” usually refers to the Sinai Covenant. The laws given alongside that covenant are part of that covenant agreement, but in many cases also pre-date it (e.g. Noah knew about clean and unclean meats and how to build an altar to Yahweh [Gen. 7:2; 8:20]; Abraham and Jacob knew about tithing [Gen. 14:19-20; 28:20-22]; Joseph knew sleeping with Potiphar’s wife was a sin against God [Gen. 39:7-9]).

Just like us today, Old Testament believers were in covenant with God. Some were in multiple covenants (David, for example, was under the Old Covenant and he received a kingship covenant we call the Davidic Covenant). They couldn’t perfectly keep the covenants, though. God always holds up His side of covenants perfectly, but human beings aren’t that reliable and He knows it. That’s why He promised the Messiah would come, end the Old Covenant, die to free everyone from their sins by taking the penalty for them on Himself, and establish a New Covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8). We’re part of that New Covenant, which was one of the promises contained in the Old Covenant.

2) We Fall Short of God’s Standards

Like Old Covenant believers, the covenant agreement we’ve made with God includes expectations for our behavior and the way we properly relate to Him (Rom. 6; Gal. 5). But we’re human, and we all fall short of God’s perfect standards. The only human being who ever perfectly kept covenant with God is Jesus Christ. We might look back at ancient Israel’s example and think we’d never be as unfaithful and ungrateful as them, but NT writers have some stern warnings against such an assumption.

For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our fathers … were all drinking from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But God was not pleased with most of them, for they were cut down in the wilderness. These things happened as examples for us, so that we will not crave evil things as they did. …  These things happened to them as examples and were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So let the one who thinks he is standing be careful that he does not fall.

1 Corinthians 10:1, 4-6, 11-12, NET

By and large, Old Covenant believers didn’t have the holy spirit or a personal relationship with God like we do (though there were exceptions, like David). But they weren’t unaware of God’s law or the covenant agreement they made. Two NT writers even go so far as to say they had the gospel preached to them just like we did (Heb. 4:1-2; 1 Pet. 4:5-6). Yet they still fell short. We have the same human tendencies, and we need to be on guard against making the same mistakes. And when we do sin (“miss the mark,” in Hebrew), we need to repent and ask for forgiveness.

Image of an open Bible and notebook overlaid with text from Deut. 10:12-13, WEB version: “Now, Israel, what does Yahweh your God require of you, but to fear Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, and to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul, to keep Yahweh’s commandments and statutes, which I command you today for your good?”
Image by Alyssa Marie from Lightstock

3) Our Sins Are Purified by Blood

In the Old Covenant, God’s law commanded blood sacrifices of animals to atone for sins. God had very specific requirements for these sacrifices, and they needed to be repeated every time someone became aware of their own sin (see, for example, Leviticus 4:22-35). There was also a yearly sacrifice offered by the high priest on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) to cleanse the people. God promised that if they did these things as commanded, “You shall be clean from all your sins before Yahweh” (Lev. 16:30, WEB).

The writer of Hebrews tells us that those sacrifices were not actually capable of perfecting the people worshiping God in the OT (Heb. 9:9; 10:1). In fact, “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Heb. 10:4, WEB). That does not mean God was lying when He told OT believers that He would forgive them. It means their forgiveness depended on something other than the animal sacrifices. Some of the OT believers even knew that; David wrote that sacrifices weren’t what God really desired (Ps. 40:6; 51:16-17) and Job knew that the Lord was his redeemer, not sacrificial offerings (Job 19:25-26).

For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow sprinkled on those who are defiled consecrated them and provided ritual purity, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our consciences from dead works to worship the living God.

And so he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the eternal inheritance he has promised, since he died to set them free from the violations committed under the first covenant.

Hebrews 9:13-15, NET

The NT writers often treat us New Covenant believers as if we were once under the Old Covenant and are now free from it to live under the New Covenant. Paul in particular often talks about us previously living under that Old Covenant law even when he’s writing to Gentiles. He’s including us in the story of the plan of God, like we personally participate in the narrative of making a covenant with God, breaking it, needing redemption, being freed from sin by Christ, and entering a New Covenant with Him (e.g. Rom. 7:1-6). This connects us with the whole plan of God, and indicates that those who died in faith before Christ’s sacrifice are also set “free from the violations committed under the first covenant” by His redemptive work even though it happened after they’d lived and died.

But when this priest had offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, he sat down at the right hand of God, where he is now waiting until his enemies are made a footstool for his feet. For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are made holy.

Hebrews 10:12-14, NET (italics mark allusion to Ps 110:1)

In Greek, “for all time” is translated from the phrase eis to dianekes. Eis (G1519) is a preposition meaning “into, unto, to, towards, for, among” (Thayer). To is the definite article (i.e. “the,” not always translated because Greek uses it more often than English). Dianekes (G1336) is an adjective meaning “continuously, continuous” (Thayer). The phrase only appears in Hebrews 10:12, 14 and it highlights that Jesus’s sacrifice is “continual, perpetual, protracted” (Zodhiates). Most certainly it covers from Jesus sacrifice onward into the future, but His sacrifice also covered those in the past to whom God had promised forgiveness.

4) We’re Called Out to be Different

We’re likely familiar with the New Testament instruction that Christians should be different from the world around us. We’re supposed to stand out like lights in a world of darkness (Matt. 5:13-16; Phil. 2:15). We’ve been chosen by God to belong to Him, to be different from the world, and to be visible examples of His way of life.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. You once were not a people, but now you are God’s people. You were shown no mercy, but now you have received mercy.

1 Peter 2:9-10, NET

The NET Bible marks allusions to OT passages with italics and direct quotes with bold italics. Here, Peter uses “various allusions and quotations from Exod 19:5-6; 23:22 (LXX); Isa 43:20-21; and Mal 3:17” and quotes “from Hos 1:6, 9; 2:23” (NET footnotes). He’s making the point that New Covenant believers are called out as God’s special people who belong to Him, and he’s doing that using Old Testament passages like this one:

For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God. Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth.

Deuteronomy 7:6, WEB

In addition to being chosen as God’s own special people, OT believers were also intended to shine as lights in the world. The OT just uses different phrasing to make that point.

Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, even as Yahweh my God commanded me, that you should do so in the middle of the land where you go in to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who shall hear all these statutes and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” For what great nation is there that has a god so near to them as Yahweh our God is whenever we call on him? What great nation is there that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law which I set before you today?

Deuteronomy 4:5-8, WEB

People were supposed to be able to look at ancient Israel living in covenant with God and marvel at their wisdom, understanding, and greatness. We see this happening only very occasionally in Israel’s history (the reign of Solomon is the only example I can think of [1 Kings 4:34]). God’s not giving up on this goal, though (Isa. 62:1-2). People should be able to recognize us as God’s people. Jesus specifically says they’ll know we’re His disciples by the love we have for each other, and Paul says the same thing can happen when someone witnesses us prophesying in church (John 13:34-35; 1 Cor. 14:24-25).

5) The Greatest Thing We Can Do

Image of on open Bible with sunlight shining on it, overlaid with blog's title text and the words, "Modern Christians might not think we have much in common with Old Testament believers, but the New Testament writers had a different perspective."
Image by Lamppost Collective from Lightstock

God’s expectation and purpose for us haven’t changed that much since the time of His very first interactions with human beings. Jesus highlights this by pointing back to the Old Covenant when someone asked Him about the greatest commandment.

Now one of the experts in the law came and heard them debating. When he saw that Jesus answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is: ‘Listen, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 

The expert in the law said to him, “That is true, Teacher; you are right to say that he is one, and there is no one else besides him. And to love him with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he had answered thoughtfully, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Then no one dared any longer to question him.

Mark 12:28-34, NET

The NET footnotes on these verses say they’re quoting Deuteronomy 4:35; 6:4-5; Leviticus 19:18, and Joshua 22:5. Because the expert in the law properly understood these commands from the Old Testament, Jesus told him he wasn’t “far from the kingdom of God.” That kingdom is what we’re striving toward as NT believers. We might not think that looking back to God’s commands from the Old Testament would help with that, but Jesus says that they do.

In the Old Testament and the New, God wants a relationship with human beings. Since the very beginning, He’s been working with groups of people that He chose and called out from the world. He welcomes them into covenant with Him, makes provision for when they fall short of His expectations, purifies them from their sins through sacrifice, and asks them to follow Him with their whole hearts. Many of the things that He asks of us today are the same things He wanted in His relationships with people in the Old Testament. Indeed, one of the reasons for the change of covenant was so that He could get closer to achieving that relationship (Eze. 11:17-20; 36:22-28; Jer. 31:31-34; 2 Cor. 6:16-18). Now, just as back then, He wants to be our God and He wants us to be His people, His sons and daughters.

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Song Recommendation: “Am Echad (One People)” by Ted Pearce

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What Does It Mean to Worship God?

What Does It Mean to Worship God?

Marissa

Years ago when I first studied the topic of “praise,” I remember I immediately wanted to do a follow-up study on “worship.” That’s what I’m doing again this week. We often use “praise and worship” as a connected idea, almost as if they’re the same thing or they’re simply the label for the time during church services when we sing songs to God. But I remember from my last studies on worship that worship in the Bible is a different thing from praise. They can be connected, but they’re distinct ideas.

Praise, as we saw in last week’s post, involves acknowledgement of something God is or does. It includes the ideas of glorifying God, confessing His greatness, blessing and thanking Him, and lifting up His greatness and mighty deeds. In many cases, praise is public, communal, and enthusiastic. It often involves music and singing. Worship, on the other hand, involves bowing before God with humility, respect, and reverence as you offer service to Him. Praise and worship may occur together, but not necessarily.

Worship Words

As usual here on this blog, I like to start topical studies by looking at the Hebrew and Greek words used in the Bible. We’ll also compare them to the English definition, to see where there might be differences that could affect our understanding.

In English, “worship” as a noun means “the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity.” As a verb (action), it means “show reverence and adoration for (a deity); honor with religious rites” (Google and Oxford Languages). That matches the Hebrew and Greek meanings pretty well, but it’s missing a few points about how we show that reverence, adoration, and honor. We don’t really bow much anymore (at least in modern Western culture), but that sign of humble recognition that we’re entering the presence of someone far superior to us is key to understanding worship in the scriptures.

In Hebrew, “worship” is usually translated from sachah (H7812). This word appears 172 times in the Hebrew Bible, and you can translate it “bow down” or “worship.” Occasionally, English translators may use words like “obeisance” or “reverence” as well. Basically, the word means “to bow down, prostrate oneself” as “before a superior in homage” and “before God in worship” (Brown, Driver, Briggs [BDB]). Strangely (considering how much time they devote to words translated “praise”), the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (TWOT) has little to say about sachah. They simply say that the word can mean to “depress” or “weigh down” someone or something, as well as “‘to prostrate oneself’ or ‘to worship'” (TWOT 2360). The meaning seems to be fairly straightforward. There’s also a similar Chaldean word used in the book of Daniel that means to prostrate or “fall down” in worship (H5657; segid).

In the modern NET Bible, the translators sometimes render the Hebrew words abad (H5647; “serve” in KJV) and yare (H3372; “fear” in KJV) as “worship.” They’ll also translate whole phrases like “set their hearts to seek” or “call on the name” as “worship.” The NET isn’t my preferred translation for the Old Testament (I think they sometimes lose the important, poetic word pictures of Hebrew by reducing them to a single English word), but abad is an important word to look at when we’re studying worship. It blends the meanings of several roots, including “to do or make” and “to worship, obey” (TWOT 1553). It involves service offered to someone, often a king or deity. In a proper sense, it includes the “joyous and liberating experience” of serving the one true God (TWOT). Our worship can include obedient service as well as humble and reverent bowing before God.

In Greek, “worship” can be translated from a wide variety of different words. In the KJV, translators chose “worship” to represent all of these words: proskuneo (G4352; prostrate/worship), sebomai (G4576; revere/adore/worship), doxa (G1391; glory), latreuo (G3000; minister/serve), eusebeo (G2151; be pious toward/respect), therapeuo (G2323; wait upon, worship), threskeia (G2356] ceremonial observance/religion), and also a few single-use derivatives of those words (note: worship is not the only translation for most of these words [e.g. doxa is typically translated “glory”]). Most often (54 out of 73 verses), “worship” comes from proskuneo. The NET also translates these words as “worship,” and they translate latreuo as worship more often than the KJV does (which typically uses “service”).

Taking the Hebrew and Greek together, the ideas that come into the English language as “worship” typically involves either 1) prostration and bowing down before God, and/or 2) service given to God. It also includes nuances of respect, adoration, and reverence. With that background, let’s look at how these words (particularly the Hebrew sachah and abad and the Greek proskuneo and latreuo) are used by Bible writers.

Image of a man sitting at a table with his head bowed over an open Bible, overlaid with text from Psalm 95:6, WEB version: "Oh come, let’s worship and bow down. Let’s kneel before Yahweh, our Maker"
Image by WhoisliketheLord Studio from Lightstock

Kneeling in Worship

The earliest record we have of worship comes from Abraham, the Friend of God (Isa. 41:8; Jam. 2:23). When “Yahweh appeared to” Abraham before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham “ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth” (Gen. 18:1-2, WEB). Here, “bowed himself” is translated from sachah. Abraham also used this word when God commanded him to sacrifice Isaac, explaining to his servants, “We will worship, and come back to you” (Gen. 22:5, WEB). Just in these examples, we see that worship involves humility, respect, and actions that serve God obediently. Sachah may involve literal bowing, but not always.

Oh come, let’s worship (sacha) and bow down (kara).
    Let’s kneel (barak) before Yahweh, our Maker,
    for he is our God.
We are the people of his pasture,
    and the sheep in his care.

Psalm 95:6-7

Here, “worship” is translated from sachah. It’s paired with kara (H3766) and barak (H1288). Kara specifies literal bending and bowing. It’s used 36 times in scripture, and at least 13 are for bowing to the knees and bending the back in worship (TWOT 1044). Barak is one of the words that we looked at last week; it is more typically translated “bless” and can be translated “praise” in some contexts. The use of these three words together makes it clear sachah isn’t always synonymous with kneeling (there wouldn’t be need for another word to clarify it if that was the case). Worship always involves the attitude of humbly prostrating oneself before God, but doesn’t always mean literally falling to your knees (though it can and often does include that).

Like Hebrew, Greek also has separate words for “bow/kneel” than the word for “bow/worship.” One of them is kampto (G2578), which Paul uses to talk about one of his prayers (Eph. 3:14-19) and to express the proper reaction people should have–and eventually all will have–to Jesus the Messiah.

As a result God highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow (kampto)
—in heaven and on earth and under the earth—
and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord
to the glory (doxa) of God the Father.

Philippians 2:9-11, NET

You’ll see something similar in the gospels, too, where people “bow down” and “worship” Jesus. The same thing is happening before God’s throne in heaven (Matt. 2:11; Rev. 5:14; 19:4). In these verses, the words are pipto (G4098; literally “fall down”) and proskuneo (G4352; worship). Zodhiates says that proskuneo comes from a root meaning to kiss, which references an “ancient oriental mode of salutation … when one was much inferior, he fell upon his knees and touched his forehead to the ground or prostrated himself, throwing kisses at the same time toward the superior” (The Complete Wordstudy Dictionary: New Testament, entry 4352). This isn’t necessarily literally happening in the New Testament (though, as we’ve seen, people do fall down or bow before God as well as worship), but it’s a custom underlying the action of showing reverence, adoration, and worship to a deity.

Image of hands clasped on an open Bible overlaid with text from Joshua 23:16, NET version: “If you violate the covenantal laws of the Lord your God which he commanded you to keep, and follow, worship, and bow down to other gods, then the Lord will be very angry with you”
Image by Jantanee from Lightstock

Service As Worship

31 times in the Old Testament, you’ll find sachah and abad in the same verse. Over and over again, God’s people are warned not to bow down to, worship, or serve any other gods (Ex. 20:5; Deut. 11:16; 2 Kings 17:34-35). Doing so violates the covenant ancient Israel made with Yahweh (Josh. 23:16; Jer 22:9). Jesus reiterated the importance of worshiping and serving God alone during His confrontation with Satan following His baptism.

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their grandeur. And he said to him, “I will give you all these things if you throw yourself to the ground and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: ‘You are to worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’”

Matthew 4:8-10, with a quotation from Deut 6:13

Here, because Jesus is quoting from the Old Testament, we can see how he aligned the Hebrew and Greek words for worship. We’re to worship (Greek proskuneo; Hebrew yare) God and serve (Greek latreuo; Hebrew abad) Him. Like the Hebrew abad, the Greek verb latreuo (noun form latreia) involves serving someone greater than you. The root word means “one hired,” indicating this service is voluntary and involves some kind of reward. When worshipping God, it’s not a transactional hiring process, but there are great rewards for those who faithfully serve Him.

Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice—alive, holy, and pleasing to God—which is your reasonable service (latreia).

Romans 12:1, NET

Presenting our entire lives to God as if we’re serving in His temple offering ourselves as a sacrifice to Him is a reasonable service. Reading Hebrews can provide a fascinating study of latreuo. It’s used of temple service under the Old Covenant, which was commanded as part of worshiping God but couldn’t make the worshippers perfect the way that Jesus’s sacrifice does (Heb. 9:1, 6, 9; 10:2). Because of what Jesus did, “the blood of Christ” cleans “your conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Heb. 9:14, WEB). I said earlier this service isn’t a transactional hiring process, but it is a reciprocal relationship. When we accept Jesus’s sacrifice, we’re supposed to respond with worship and service.

So since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us give thanks, and through this let us offer worship (latreuo) pleasing to God in devotion and awe. For our God is indeed a devouring fire.

Hebrews 12:28-29, with a quotation from Deut 4:24; 9:3.

The Bible gives us a few concrete examples of what this service looks like. Anna the prophetess served God by staying in the temple, fasting, and praying (Luke 2:36-37). Paul served God by following Jesus, believing in the law and the prophets, worshiping in the spirit, and preaching the gospel (Acts 24:10-14; Rom. 1:9; Phil. 3:3). Serving God voluntarily and wholeheartedly is a key aspect of how we worship Him.

Spirit and Truth

Image of a man sitting in a church pew with his head bowed, overlaid with blog's title text and the words, "Worship involves bowing before God (literally or figuratively) with humility, respect, and reverence and serving Him in spirit and in truth."
Image by Shaun Menary from Lightstock

Returning to the Greek word most often translated worship, proskuneo (G4352), we can fill in a little more of our picture of what it means to worship. In the gospels, people worshiped when they learned that Jesus is the Messiah (Matt. 2:1-2, 11; 14:33; John 9:38). People also worshiped when they ask Jesus for something (Matt. 8:2; 9:18; 15:25). We can continue both these practices today, worshiping Jesus and the Father as we recognize who they are and what they do, and also approaching them with our requests in a humble, worshipful way.

“But a time is coming—and now is here—when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such people to be his worshipers. God is spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

John 4:23-24, NET

This conversation that Jesus has with a Samaritan woman is probably the most direct discussion anyone in the Bible has about how we’re supposed to worship. Most of the time, we see examples of people worshipping or instruction to worship God without a specific explanation of how to do that. Here, Jesus gives us a “must” statement for how we need to worship God.

Thoroughly examining what it means to do something in spirit and truth could fill at least one more whole blog post. But I think the easiest way to understand it is to think about Paul’s letters that contrast walking in the flesh to walking in the spirit (e.g. Romans 8). Lives transformed by God are spirit-led, and that should affect our worship as well. For the “truth” aspect, I think of the letter where Paul said we should be “practicing the truth in love” (Eph. 4:15, NET). In this passage, truth is a verb. We don’t think of “truthing” as an action in English, but it is here. The NET notes that we can think of it as “being real or truthful in both conduct and speech” (footnote on Eph. 4:15).

Worship involves bowing before God (literally or figuratively) with humility, respect, and reverence. It also involves the service that you offer to Him. All of this must be done in spirit and in truth for it to qualify as true worship in our New Covenant relationship with God the Father and Jesus the Son.

Featured image by Pearl from Lightstock

Song Recommendation: “Here I Am To Worship” by Hillsong Worship

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Praising God With All That You Are

Praising God With All That You Are

Marissa

Several years ago, I did a study on Hebrew words for praise and discussed six different words translated “praise” in the KJV (yadah, zamar, todah, halel, tehillah, and barak). Last year, when I was studying song in connection to prophecy, I also started collecting scriptures related to singing praise. Finally, this spring, I collected those scriptures into a list of 30 to share with my ladies’ scripture-writing group at church.

One of the things I worried about when I shared this list was that 22 out of 30 were from Psalms. Typically, I like to draw from all over the Bible but for this one, most of the on-topic verses were in Psalms (not surprising, considering what we’re studying). I worried it might start to seem monotonous to write out verses from psalms over and over each day that basically all read as “sing praise to God.” But there’s a lot more variation in those verses than it seems when writing them in English. As I wrote these scriptures throughout February, I also wrote down the Hebrew words translated “sing,” “praise,” and occasionally “thanks.” It’s just two or three words in English, but in Hebrew there’s zamar, zamiyr, zimral, shur, shiyr, yadah, halel, tehillah, tephillah, ranan, renanah, todah, anah, and shaback.

I find the wide variety of Hebrew words that surround the concept of praise and song fascinating, particularly since Hebrew has a far smaller pool of words than English. There are “about eight thousand words” in the Hebrew language, in contrast to “one hundred thousand or more in our language” (Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus: How a Jewish Perspective Can Transform Your Understanding, Lois Tverberg, p. 61). Given that vast difference between the two languages, you’d expect that English would be the one with tons of words that are synonymous with praise (it does to a certain extent, but you don’t often see words like commend, compliment, extol, applaud, etc. used in English scripture). Praise must be extremely important to the Hebrew people for them to devote so many of their words to this concept.

To help illustrate this point, let’s look at a concept that the English language places a high value on: the legal system and government. There are a ton of different words for government, branches of government, and the systems of government. But Hebrew doesn’t have words for separating the legislative, executive, and judicial functions of government. They combine everything into one word shapat/mishpat, which Bible translators often render as “justice.” It’s a reflection of a culture where all that authority is centered in God and the king as His representative on earth. In contrast, English reflects a culture where government functions are divided up among different people and conceptualized differently.

It’s similar with praise. In English, we think of praise and worship together and mostly associate it with singing Christian music. We might also include praise in the sense of thanking or acknowledging God for good things that He has done. But praise in Old Testament Hebrew culture is much more varied and vital a concept, and that’s reflected in the number of words the language uses to denote specific types of praise.

Image of a group of people in church singing praises, overlaid with text from Psalm 149:1-3, WEB version: "Praise Yahweh! Sing to Yahweh a new song, his praise in the assembly of the saints. Let Israel rejoice in him who made them. Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. Let them praise his name in the dance! Let them sing praises to him with tambourine and harp!"
Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

Halal–glorifying God with praise

Even if you know nothing about Hebrew, you probably know this word because of our English “hallelujah” (literally, praise Yah[weh]). The root word halal (H1984) appears 165 times in the Old Testament. It can mean to shine, boast, or even “act like a madman” (Brown, Driver, Briggs [BDB]) but most often it means praise. Basically, it “connotes being sincerely and deeply thankful for and/or satisfied in lauding” something or someone (Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament [TWOT], entry 500). One noun form, tehilla (H8416), also appears fairly often in the Old Testament (57 times). It “represents the results of halal as well as divine acts which merit that activity” (TWOT 500c). Tehilla can also be linked specifically to a “song or hymn of praise” (BDB, H8416).

Praise (halal) Yah!
    Praise Yahweh from the heavens!
    Praise him in the heights! …

let them praise (halal) Yahweh’s name,
    for his name alone is exalted.
    His glory is above the earth and the heavens.
He has lifted up the horn of his people,
    the praise (tehilla) of all his saints,
    even of the children of Israel, a people near to him.
Praise (halal) Yah!

Psalm 148:1, 13-14, WEB

Typically in the Bible, halal is used to praise and glorify God. It’s linked with joy, speaking, singing, dancing, and intelligent expression. Interestingly, “most of these occurrences are plural … [showing] that the praise of Jehovah was especially, though by no means uniquely … congregational” (TWOT 500). We can and should praise when we’re alone, but praise is something that’s expected when God’s people gather together. That’s why so many churches sing songs that glorify God as part of their formal services.

Praise (halal) Yah!
    Praise God in his sanctuary!
    Praise him in his heavens for his acts of power!
Praise him for his mighty acts!
    Praise him according to his excellent greatness!
Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet!
    Praise him with harp and lyre!
Praise him with tambourine and dancing!
    Praise him with stringed instruments and flute!
Praise him with loud cymbals!
    Praise him with resounding cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise Yah!
    Praise Yah!

Psalm 150, WEB

Song Recommendation: “Hallelu Et Adonai” (Praise the Lord) by Ted Pearce

Yadah–confessing God is worthy of praise

Another very common Hebrew word for praise is yadah (H3034). It appears 114 times in the Old Testament. This one is often translated “give thanks,” though it’s also translated “praise” or “confess.” The “thanks” translation can be misleading, though, because there really isn’t an Old Testament equivalent to our concept of “to thank” (TWOT 847). In the Bible, thanks “is a way of praising” God rather than something we do, such as say “thank you” to other people. “Confession” is probably the best English equivalent to yadah (TWOT).

Oh, send out your light and your truth.
    Let them lead me.
    Let them bring me to your holy hill,
    to your tents.
Then I will go to the altar of God,
    to God, my exceeding joy.
I will praise (yadah) you on the harp, God, my God.
Why are you in despair, my soul?
    Why are you disturbed within me?
Hope in God!
    For I shall still praise (yadah) him:
    my Savior, my helper, and my God.

Psalm 43:3-5, WEB

In the sense of praise or thanks, yadah has to do with acknowledgement, “‘recognition’ and ‘declaration’ of a fact” (TWOT 847). The word can be used in a good or bad sense: for example, confessing sin or acknowledging God’s goodness. The noun todah (H8426) has basically the same meaning, and is often associated with offerings (e.g. “thank offering” or “praise offering”) (TWOT 847b).

Barak–blessing or praising

Barak (H1288) is used 285 times in the Old Testament (or 415 if you include all the root’s derivatives), and it’s usually translated “bless.” The basic meaning may be “to kneel” (TWOT 285). It’s often used of God blessing people, but when it’s used of people blessing God it can be seen as a type of praise.

Praise (barak) our God, you peoples!
    Make the sound of his praise (tehilla) heard,

Psalm 66:8, WEB

When we looked at yadah earlier, one of the things I didn’t mention is that the root word is likely related to throwing or casting something with the hands (BDB). It makes me think of Paul’s desire that “the men in every place pray, lifting up holy hands” (1 Tim. 2:8, WEB). Lifting hands when praising God can be controversial (some churches discourage or even forbid it, while in others it’s normal), but it’s definitely Biblical. In psalms, lifting hands is linked with praise.

So I will bless (barak) you while I live.
    I will lift up my hands in your name.

Psalm 63:4, WEB

Lift up your hands in the sanctuary.
    Praise (barak) Yahweh!

Psalm 134:2, WEB

With the link between barak and kneeling as well as its use with lifting hands in praise, I think it’s safe to say we could classify this as one of the physical types of praise. In many cases, we’ll see that praise involves our voices and bodies as well as our thoughts. You can praise God in your mind, but you’re also supposed to praise Him with your voice and with your body (e.g. kneeling, lifting hands, dancing).

Song Recommendation: “Blessed is the Lord” (Baruch atah Adonai) by Paul Wilbur

Zamar–singing or playing praise music

The word zamar (H2167) basically means to sing or to play an instrument. But it’s used so much in the Old Testament in relation to praise that it’s typically translated “sing praise.” It might not always mean singing, though, as it’s also linked with playing lyre, harp, and tambourine (TWOT 558). This may imply that praise music typically has lyrics, but can also be instrumental. This word appears 45 times in the Old Testament.

I will give thanks (yadah) to Yahweh according to his righteousness,
    and will sing praise (zamar) to the name of Yahweh Most High.

Psalm 7:17, WEB

Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth!
Sing (zamar) to the glory of his name!
    Offer glory and praise (tehilla)!

Psalm 66:1-2, WEB

Words translated “psalm” or melody, like zimrah and mizmor, are derivatives of zamar. Over and over in scripture, you’ll see praise linked with music and specifically song. Whether we have perfect pitch or we’re just making a joyful noise, we shouldn’t be shy to express our adoration for God through music or even shouts of joy.

Make a joyful noise to Yahweh, all the earth!
    Burst out and sing for joy, yes, sing praises (zamar)!
Sing praises (zamar) to Yahweh with the harp,
    with the harp and the voice of melody (zimrah).
With trumpets and sound of the ram’s horn,
    make a joyful noise before the King, Yahweh.

Psalm 98:4, WEB

Ranan–crying out praises

The basic meaning of ranan (H7442) is “to cry out, shout for joy, give a ringing cry” (BDB). Typically, it’s used of crying out to God for some reason, and in psalms it’s often paired with joy and singing. The word might even mean to sing out joyful praises, depending on the context: “The jubilation which is the main thrust of the root … could equally well be expressed in shouting or song” (TWOT 2179). One of the noun forms, renanah (H733) is “a ringing cry, shout (for joy)” and can be translated “singing” (BDB).

Shout for joy to Yahweh, all you lands!
Serve Yahweh with gladness.
    Come before his presence with singing (renanah).
Know that Yahweh, he is God.
    It is he who has made us, and we are his.
    We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving (todah),
    and into his courts with praise (tehilla).
    Give thanks (yadah) to him, and bless (barak) his name.
For Yahweh is good.
    His loving kindness endures forever,
    his faithfulness to all generations.

Psalm 100, WEB

Shir–songs, often of praise

The words for “sing” and “song” are not confined to religious music, but they are so often linked with praise that it’s worth mentioning them in this study. The Hebrew word shir or shiyrah (H7892) is often used in the psalms, both to describe what is being written (e.g. “a song of ascents” for Ps. 120-134) and as part of the text of the psalm (e.g. “with my song I will thank him” [Ps. 28:7, WEB]).

Praise (halal) Yahweh! Sing (shir) to Yahweh a new song, his praise (tehilla) in the assembly of the saints. 

Psalm 149:1, WEB

Shir is typically used for hymns and psalms of lament. Both can be linked to praise. Many songs of lament “evolve into songs of praise in anticipation of God’s deliverance.” Hymns involve singing to God “in response to something already experienced” (TWOT 23781). Often, this type of song involves praising who or what God is or confessing/thanking Him for things that He has done. As I mentioned earlier, the topic “sing praise” is what prompted this blog post. You can download my free 30-day scripture writing plan and keep studying this topic on your own by clicking here.

Song Recommendation: “Gadol Elohai/How Great Is Our God” by Joshua Aaron

Gadal–praising God’s greatness

The TWOT lists gadal (H1431) or gadol (H1419) in the sense of “to magnify” as one of the synonyms for halel (TWOT 500). You’re not likely to find it if you search for Hebrew words translated “praise” in English Bibles (it’s most often translated “great”), but the usage is linked to praise.

Great (gadol) is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised (halal),
    in the city of our God, in his holy mountain.

Psalm 48:1, WEB

I will praise (halal) the name of God with a song (shir),
    and will magnify (gadal) him with thanksgiving (todah).

Psalm 69:30, WEB

The root verb gadal means to “grow up, become great or important … praise, (magnify), do great things” (TWOT 315). In certain verb stems, it can mean “to magnify” or “consider great.” It’s often used to speak of God’s greatness or to talk about how God magnifies Himself. The adjective gadol has a similar range of meanings (TWOT 315d). Together, the two words appear a total of 643 times in the Old Testament.

Rum–lifting God high for praise

The TWOT lists rum (H7311) in the sense of “to exalt” as one of the synonyms for halel (TWOT 500). The root has three basic meanings: “literal height,” “height as symbolic of positive notions such as glory and exaltation,” and “height as symbolic of negative notions such as arrogance and pride” (TWOT 2133). We can “exalt God in praising” Him, or lift His name high. One specific derivative, romam (H7319), means “high praises” (TWOT 2133f).

May the high praises (romam) of God be in their mouths,
    and a two-edged sword in their hand

Psalm 149:6, WEB

Shabach–praise His mighty deeds

The verb shabach (H7623) only appears 11 times in the Old Testament. It means to praise, laud, or commend (BDB). Typically, it’s “used to praise God for his mighty acts and deeds” (TWOT 2313).

Because your loving kindness is better than life,
    my lips shall praise (shabach) you.
So I will bless (barak) you while I live.
    I will lift up my hands in your name.
My soul shall be satisfied as with the richest food.
    My mouth shall praise (halal) you with joyful lips,

Psalm 63:3-5, WEB


Praise (halal) Yahweh, all you nations!
    Extol (shabach) him, all you peoples!
For his loving kindness is great toward us.
    Yahweh’s faithfulness endures forever.
Praise (halal) Yah!

Psalm 117, WEB

Why Study Praise Words?

Image of a smiling man playing the piano, overlaid with blog's title text and the words, "One of our purposes for being here as Christians is to praise God. Studying Hebrew words for praise helps us better understand this vital concept."
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So why did we spend all this time looking at nine Hebrew words (more if you include derivatives from the root words) that all translate into English so similarly?

In an English Bible, “praise” appears hundreds of times, depending no the translation (254 in WEB, 259 in KJV, 328 in NET, 363 in NIV). It’s a vital concept in scripture, and something that we need to understand how to do if we’re to relate properly to God. One of our purposes for being here as Christians is to praise Him. Our lives should praise God, as well as our lips (Phil. 1:9-11; Heb. 13:14-15).

In Christ we too have been claimed as God’s own possession, since we were predestined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, would be to the praise of his glory. 

Ephesians 1:11-12, NET

If we just looked at the English word for praise, we’d think the definition was limited to “express warm approval or admiration of” and “express one’s respect and gratitude toward (a deity), especially in song” (definitions from Google and Oxford Languages). Studying the variety of Hebrew words related to praise gives us a much broader appreciation of praise. It’s more than just approval, admiration, respect, and gratitude. It’s a whole-life, whole-body, whole-heart expression of God’s glory, our thankfulness, and much more.

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