Pastoral Counsel – Jen Miller
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Jen is a…
Key to this series on JOY (bottom of page).
Simcha is again the root word for joy used in our next King James Old Testament scripture. I began to wonder if and when the other four root words for joy are used (see key at bottom of page). So, I looked at every verse ahead of us until I reached the first one which had a different Hebrew root. It’s Ezra 6:16
In this scripture, the root for joy is Chedvah (Aramaic), which, as you can see from our key, is not included in our key. I found this very interesting since the root Hebrew words for ‘joy’ pulled up the five in our key. So, I took a deeper look at Chedvah (khed-vaw) and found that it’s definition carries two sub-root words:
- Qal: to rejoice
- Piel: to make glad, gladden
Now, I’m curious how the meaning of these newly uncovered words for JOY plays out in Ezra 6:16 in context with verses 15-17. ‘Joy’ appears in verse 16:
“Then the people of Israel—the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles—celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy.”
The re-building of God’s temple was finally complete – after a long time. The emphasis in the book of Ezra is on the rebuilding of the Temple. God’s people – the Israelites – began the work around the year 520 B.C. (some historians note it as 537), known as The Persian Period. When they finally saw their hard labor come to completion, it was in the year 516 B.C. and the dedication in 515 B.C..
Some of you have built your own houses. You know the intensive time in details, decisions, labor, and setbacks that go into building a new home. The Israelites definitely had some major setbacks. So, when the temple of God was complete in all its glory, they were ‘glad’ – VERY glad – to finally see all their hard work come to an end and then plan for, carry out, and witness the great dedication and first ceremonial sacrifices to God. They Quled (rejoiced!), and were Piel (glad).
We go through great trails and much hard work and effort to see something worthy to its completion – school is a big one. Going for that Master’s degree or Doctorate. For many, seeing High School graduation is a major feat due to undesirable home environments. In the end, we’re ‘whew’ glad. We rejoice… and hopefully GIVE THANKS TO GOD for all He did to see you through.
Joy Copyright 2010 Jen Miller – All Rights Reserved
Key for this study:
The Old Testament text language is Hebrew. Hebrew has several words for joy that is fascinating, each with different shades of meaning, graded in order of its intensity:
‘Simcha’ means happiness in the most full sense.
‘Gila’ is a stronger sensation of joy but more temporary, fleeting and worldly
‘rina’ is a joy related to singing and shouting.
‘ditza’ is joy related to dancing.
‘hanaah’ is enjoyment of something specific – like a food you enjoy.
NOTE: Throughout this study I’ll be using the King James Version of scripture as my research base for all 187 references, as this version is known to be the most accurate in translation from the original Hebrew and Greek text from which we have gained the Word of God. I don’t want man’s perspective on joy; I want God’s, so I want to uncover joy in the most literal translation. For ease of understanding, however, I will be incorporating the KJV’s joy words into the NIV scriptures, as the NIV is the next closest translation in accuracy, yet easier to understand. In other words, I’ll be inserting in the NIV text the original ‘joy’ words from the KJV where it might otherwise be substituted in translation in the NIV. The KJV ’joy’ words I insert into the NIV scriptures will be indicated with italics and underlining so you can quickly identify which words are from the KJV.
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