Why We Must Read Books

Books are vital in cultivating wisdom—not only for the truths they contain, but also for the way they help us think. In our distracted age, books give us perspective, focus, and space to reflect. Reading books—a wide variety, from different eras and places and worldviews, both fiction and nonfiction—keeps our anachronism and self-centeredness in check. They educate us, help us make connections across disciplines, and open up the world.
 
Books Help Us Connect, Explore, Think Well

When we read books, we are stepping into another’s shoes. We are entering the author’s world, giving our attention to the author’s perspective for an extended time. This last part is key. It’s hard to develop empathy when you only read a tweet by someone; but a book-length immersion in someone’s world creates the opportunity for understanding. The act of reading a book is literally the act of being “quick to listen, slow to speak.” In literary fiction, we develop empathy by getting inside characters’ minds. We may love or hate them, but to the extent that we listen to and live with them for a time, we can learn from the particularity of their existence. Research shows that literary fiction especially helps readers develop empathy—a better understanding of the complexity of what others are thinking and feeling.
We read to connect, but also to explore. Even though we technically read a book without ever physically going anywhere, we all know the feeling of how a book transports us to other places and other times.
 
There is a growing body of research that shows the powerful ways reading books—long, immersive reading in contrast to the fragmented, quick-scan reading we do online—strengthens our brains’ abilities to think well.
 
Books Confront the Noise
 
At a time when the glut, speed, and tailored-to-you nature of information is making us ever more prone to misinformation and unsound wisdom, reading books offers a powerful antidote. Books confront the “too much information” problem by focusing our attention on one thing for a longer, deeper time. They confront the “too fast” problem by forcing us to sit with one writer’s perspective for long enough to really grapple with it. Books challenge the “too focused on me” problem by putting us in another’s shoes.
 
Books give us solid grounding at a time when everything is up for grabs. They offer rubrics to better evaluate the barrage of information we face in today’s world. In a world of snapshots and soundbites, books offer fuller context, and as Andy Crouch writes, “generally speaking, the older the book, the deeper the context.”
 
Books Help us to Change
 
But reading is not merely a defensive act. To read and learn well we must also be teachable, willing to let our guard down enough to be impressionable (but not gullible). When we open a book we should be ready to be changed, open to being convinced, eager to learn something we didn’t know. If you think you know everything, you’ll have no use for books; if you are humble and curious (key foundations for a life of wisdom), you’ll devour them.
 
This is a key, yet countercultural, aspect of reading well. We live in a “death of expertise” world, after all. Our prevailing hermeneutic is suspicion. We are more comfortable proclaiming ourselves experts than we are being swayed or influenced by others. That’s why today’s discourse is at an impasse. We’ve so emphasized “you do you” liberty that expert knowledge, educated consensus, and logic no longer matter. It’s the problem educators face when they so emphasize students “learning to think for themselves” that the teacher’s own credentials and authority to adjudicate right and wrong answers loses any force.
 

Greatest Book

Still, we must put these books in their proper place. It would be folly to build one’s wisdom diet around great books but not also the greatest book, the Bible. Without the reference point of God, the “truth” of books is relative. One reader might find a book true, while another finds it false. There can be no consensus on canon if there is no transcendent reference point for words like good, true, and beautiful. “The only guarantor of communal truth is transcendent truth,” writes David Lyle Jeffrey. “Without intellectually accountable access to the Greater Book, very many lesser, yet still very great, expressions of truth may go without understanding.”
 

- Brett McCracken, The Wisdom Pyramid:

Feeding Your Soul in a Post-Truth World, 2021

 

The Words under the Words

The words you choose can change the decisions people make. Psychologists call the mechanics of this choice “framing.” They’ve found, for example, that more people will decide to have a surgery if they are told that the “survival rate is 90%” than if they are told that the “mortality rate is 10%.” They’ve also found that having to pay a “surcharge” for using a credit card rankles people more than if they were simply told they would get a “discount” for using cash. They’ve even found that people enjoy meat labeled “75% lean” more than they do the same meat labeled “25% fat.” Framing, it seems, extends all the way to taste buds.

Think about more than just the straightforward definition of the words you use. Think about the connotations of those words as well—the ideas they might evoke, the reactions they might elicit, the images and emotions they could stir up.

--- Patrick Barry, Good with Words: Writing and Editing, 2019.

Discomfort of Growth

Writer Alice Walker on the discomfort of growth:

"Some periods of our growth are so confusing that we don’t even recognize that growth is happening. We may feel hostile or angry or weepy and hysterical, or we may feel depressed. It would never occur to us, unless we stumbled on a book or a person who explained to us, that we were in fact in the process of change, of actually becoming larger than we were before.

Whenever we grow, we tend to feel it, as a young seed must feel the weight and inertia of the earth as it seeks to break out of its shell on its way to becoming a plant. Often the feeling is anything but pleasant.

But what is most unpleasant is the not knowing what is happening. Those long periods when something inside ourselves seems to be waiting, holding its breath, unsure about what the next step should be... for it is in those periods that we realize that we are being prepared for the next phase of our life and that, in all probability, a new level of the personality is about to be revealed."

How To Read A Book

Read the title. Define every word in the title; look up any unknown words. Think about what the title promises for the book. Look at the table of contents. This is your “menu” for the book. What can you tell about its contents and structure from the TOC?

Read a book from the outside in. Read the foreword and introduction (if an article, read the first paragraph or two). Read the conclusion or epilogue if there is one (if an article, read the last one or two paragraphs). After all this, ask yourself what the author’s thesis might be. How has the argument been structured?

Read chapters from the outside in. Quickly read the first and last paragraph of each chapter. After doing this and taking the step outlined above, you should have a good idea of the book’s major themes and arguments.

You are now finally ready to read in earnest. Don’t read a history book as if you were reading a novel for light pleasure reading. Read through the chapters actively, taking cues as to which paragraphs are most important from their topic sentences. (Good topic sentences tell you what the paragraph is about.) Not every sentence and paragraph is as important as every other. It is up to you to judge, based on what you know so far about the book’s themes and arguments. If you can, highlight passages that seem to be especially relevant.

Take notes: Many students attempt to take comprehensive notes on the content of a book or article. I advise against this. I suggest that you record your thoughts about the reading rather than simply the details and contents of the reader. What surprised you? What seemed particularly insightful? What seems suspect? What reinforces or counters points made in other readings? This kind of note taking will keep your reading active, and actually will help you remember the contents of the piece better than otherwise.

source: https://courses.bowdoin.edu/writing-guides/reading/how-to-read-a-secondary-source/

Reframe Uncertainty (4): through the lens of God

 Reframe uncertainty through the lens of the certainty of God’s love, and interpret current events from the perspective of promise that is never revoked. What are the images of life you are holding on to that create false narratives? What is God saying that the headlines aren’t declaring? What is anxiety communicating that the Comforter is not responding to?
 
He can answer all your unknowns in a blink but he loves you by giving you a choice of response. If you are allowing uncertainty in the world to determine how useful you are to God, maybe it’s time to rethink who and what is informing your value and worth.
 
We are never too old, experienced, or responsible to need the certainty of our heavenly Father’s love. And never too old, experienced, or responsible to misinterpret silence from God during seasons of uncertainty as unloving. Silence rings as wisdom with the luxury of time and distance. Reframing uncertainty through the lens of being deeply loved and fully known changes the way we translate adversity in beginnings and what I would come to define as a tumultuous middle.
 

- Shelly Miller, Searching for Certainty: Finding God in the Disruptions of Life, 2020.

Reframe Uncertainty (3): Happy Ending with Uncertainty First

Transitioning from the familiarity of captivity to the unknowns of the desert, the exiles were unsure if God was going to make good on his promises. Are we loved or are we damned? Will the Promised Land be worth the long, arduous journey rife with uncertainty? Or will adversity and hardship divert the Israelites from the good God has planned for them? Spoiler alert: There is a happy ending. But happy endings don’t often come without navigating times of uncertainty first.
 
Uncertainty provides rescue from being stuck in the familiar ways of life that keep us from moving forward into the purposes of God. Wandering into the wilderness of the unknown is God’s divine reorientation, from what we know in the present to what God knows about the future. That’s why God chose manna to satisfy the appetite of the Israelites for forty years instead of milk shakes and cheeseburgers. “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions” (Exodus 16:4).
 

- Shelly Miller, Searching for Certainty: Finding God in the Disruptions of Life, 2020.

Reframe Uncertainty (2): Moses in the Time of Uncertainty

Not enough was the cry of the Israelites in response to the fear of uncertainty threaded throughout the Exodus story. I am not enough was Moses’ knee-jerk reaction to God’s request from a burning bush to lead the Israelites out of captivity. Not enough is ultimately our deepest fear when we encounter the wilderness of the unknown as we journey through life. Maybe right now, as you hold this book in your hands, you fear that you won’t have enough time, food, money, influence, approval, friendships, support—you fill in the blank. What is missing in your life that God is not enough for you? What situations are you attempting to solve with self-reliance instead of reliance on God?
 
Three days after God provides a miracle in parting the Red Sea, ushering the Israelites into safety, that miracle in moments of desperation becomes a faded memento forgotten once stomachs begin growling. In the desert, it was as if the whole community had amnesia when their hunger was unsatiated. “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death” (Exodus 16:3).
 
It is scary to open one’s self to the dark of the divine, giving up control that brings an illusion of safety with it. Mystery can make you hesitant to hope, decidedly prone toward doubt, and more anxious for preferred outcomes. Who am I? Why me? Why now? Those were the first questions Moses asked when God tasked him with leading the Israelites out of slavery and into freedom. And they are the same questions that haunt us when uncertainty flares like a burning bush on the sidewalks of suburban life.
 

- Shelly Miller, Searching for Certainty: Finding God in the Disruptions of Life, 2020.

Reframe Uncertainty (1): God Watches Sinner from Different Perspectives

When a career is replaced by a bot, a church splits due to irreconcilable differences over theology, a friendship dissolves in betrayal, and livelihood is compromised by a health diagnosis, self-protection is our knee-jerk reaction. It is human nature to turn inward, self-reflect, and assess current uncertainty through the lens of our circumstances. But God requires something different from us. Look up and make eye contact with him amid the disruptions of life.
 
Exiled from his own people, perhaps Moses was looking for proof that he was worthy of love and belonging too, as he watched an Egyptian beat up a Hebrew, a man who could’ve been his distant relative. What provoked him to watch his people endure the ravages of hard labor? What question might he have been trying to answer? What false narrative had he made into truth? Moses chose murder over love. How might his actions been different had he chosen to look up rather than out?
 
Because God was watching the Hebrews too. But his response was compassion and liberation, freedom from captivity. Ironically, God chose Moses to lead his own people into freedom, a man prone toward self-reliance rather than relying on God. They watched. Both Moses and God were watching the same people from different perspectives. The Egyptians could’ve been wiped out in a breath, but God offered the choice of response first. What are you watching?
 

- Shelly Miller, Searching for Certainty: Finding God in the Disruptions of Life, 2020.

The Failure of Open Floor Plans

If you’ve ever worked in a building with few to no offices, at first it seems so inviting, creative, and collaborative. Yet, the day-to-day reality is that these environments breed distraction. It’s like they were designed by extroverts to make everyone have to talk and force them to collaborate; yet it ends up being a constant fight to stay focused.

Research supports growing complaints from professionals who say that these environments look great on paper but are a painful and unproductive space in which to work. Certainly, you can cram more people into smaller spaces and sell it as a way to foster more collaboration, but does it lead to more interruptions and distractions and to less privacy? In addition, in many of these open environments, there’s practically no place to go for a private call or conversation, not to mention an area to work that’s quieter and conducive to concentration.

In one study of these open environments, there was an ironic, noticeable increase in workers interacting less face-to-face and relying more on technology like e-mail and instant messaging to communicate. More research is showing that the spaces directly impact concentration. In fact, the main sources of workplace dissatisfaction were increased noise and a marked loss of privacy.

- Joseph McCormack, Noise: Living and Leading When Nobody Can Focus (2020)

Overcoming FOMO

Overcoming FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) is a serious challenge that requires some strong virtues:

1. Fortitude. An inner strength and courage to make frequent choices to miss out.
2. Conviction. A commitment to embrace fewer, not more, things.
3. Trust. An instinct that tells you what seems alluring and essential is probably just mindless noise.

In our own circumstances, the habit of turning to noise (e.g. giving into distractions, permitting interruptions, and embracing multitasking) all undermine our ability to focus and train our minds toward craving this impulsiveness, often completely unaware it’s even happening.

- Joseph McCormack, Noise: Living and Leading When Nobody Can Focus (2020)

External Solutions to Internal Problem

For the past five hundred years or so, we’ve searched for external solutions to our internal problem. We have been deluded by the forces of economics and religion to believe that the purpose of life is hard work. So every time we feel empty, dissatisfied, or unfulfilled, we work harder and put in more hours. This trend can be traced to Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses, Christopher Columbus, and the Age of Discovery. With Luther, laziness became a sin, and with Columbus and the Age of Discovery, the developed world’s eyes turned to new and unfamiliar places, to novelty as an end goal.

These obsessions became widespread during the industrial age and they have only strengthened in the more than two centuries since. Our time periods are not named for human development anymore, like the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. We are currently in the jet age, the information age, the nuclear age, and the Digital Revolution. We measure our years in work products, not personal development.

Ultimately, the solution is not digital. It is as analog as the human body. Technology can do many things for us—extend our lives, keep us safe, expand our entertainment options—but it cannot make us happy. The key to well-being is shared humanity, even though we are pushing further and further toward separation.

We don’t seem to trust our human instincts. When we’re faced with a difficult problem, we search for the right tech, the right tool, and the right system that will solve the issue: bulletproof coffee, punishing exercise, paleo diets, goal-tracking journals, productivity apps. We think our carefully designed strategies and gadgets will make us better. My goal is to dispel that illusion and help you to see that we are not better, but in many cases, worse.

- Celeste Headlee, Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving. 2020.

Cult of Efficiency

We are members of the cult of efficiency, and we’re killing ourselves with productivity.

What is the cult of efficiency? It’s a group whose members believe fervently in the virtue of constant activity, in finding the most efficient way to accomplish just about anything and everything. They are busy all the time and they take it on faith that all their effort is saving time and making their lives better.
But they’re wrong. The efficiency is an illusion. They believe they’re being efficient when they’re actually wasting time.

hedonic treadmill

We have endured incredible hardship and unspeakable tragedy, but we developed a coping mechanism to prevent us from slipping into despair. It’s called the hedonic treadmill. It’s a tendency in our species to adjust our mood so that no matter what terrible things happen, we quickly return to the same level of happiness we enjoyed before the traumatic event.

There’s a catch, though: It also works in reverse. In other words, if an incredibly happy change occurs in our lives, we don’t move forward as happier people. Instead, the hedonic treadmill brings us right back to the state of mind we were in before the raise in pay, new house, or lost weight. It means that, for many of us, we are never satisfied.

- Celeste Headlee, Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving. 2020.

Fight off Non-essentialism

We have all observed the exponential increase in choices over the last decade. Yet even in the midst of it, and perhaps because of it, we have lost sight of the most important ones.

As Peter Drucker said, “In a few hundred years, when the history of our time will be written from a long-term perspective, it is likely that the most important event historians will see is not technology, not the Internet, not e-commerce. It is an unprecedented change in the human condition. For the first time—literally—substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people have choices. For the first time, they will have to manage themselves. And society is totally unprepared for it.”

We are unprepared in part because, for the first time, the preponderance of choice has overwhelmed our ability to manage it. We have lost our ability to filter what is important and what isn’t. Psychologists call this “decision fatigue”: the more choices we are forced to make, the more the quality of our decisions deteriorates.

 Here's how an Essentialist would approach the closet:

1. Explore and Evaluate
2. Eliminate
3. Execute

ESSENCE: WHAT IS THE CORE MIND-SET OF AN ESSENTIALIST?

This part of the book outlines the three realities without which Essentialist thinking would be neither relevant nor possible. One chapter is devoted to each of these in turn.

1. Individual choice: We can choose how to spend our energy and time. Without choice, there is no point in talking about trade-offs.

2. The prevalence of noise: Almost everything is noise, and a very few things are exceptionally valuable. This is the justification for taking time to figure out what is most important. Because some things are so much more important, the effort in finding those things is worth it.

3. The reality of trade-offs: We can’t have it all or do it all. If we could, there would be no reason to evaluate or eliminate options. Once we accept the reality of trade-offs we stop asking, “How can I make it all work?” and start asking the more honest question “Which problem do I want to solve?”

- Greg McKeown, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. 2014.

Life-giving Network

The ground for generosity is the awareness that the world is funded by a generous, active God who has made creation as a gift that keeps on giving, and that we are on the receiving end of that endless gift-giving! 

Thus we need not and cannot imagine that we are self-made or self-sufficient. Nor does it follow that “I made my money and it belongs to me.” Responsible materiality recognizes that we are each and all embedded in a life-giving network, and we are permitted the glorious chance to be full participants in and contributors to that life-giving network. 

- Walter Brueggemann, Materiality as Resistance. 2020.

Tower of Babel

People hear an opposing view, and their response is not to listen but to disagree. It’s as if we live in a Tower of Babel where everyone is speaking a different language and people can’t hear or find common ground.

It all becomes noise.

Morals, views, opinions should be held and strongly defended, of course. Yet the loss of civil discourse is troubling. People tune each other out instantaneously. One word is a trigger to shut someone off.

- Joseph McCormack, Noise: Living and Leading When Nobody Can Focus (2020)

Homeless Minds

in The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff, 

Zuboff traces the aggressive way in which the great research engines, specifically Google and Facebook, have intruded into the most intimate and personal dimensions of our experience. Indeed our “experience” has been transposed into marketable “behavior,” so that Google and Facebook sell data about our experience to marketers in a way that contributes to the ruthless, uncaring commoditization of our lives. 

She describes our new social reality as one of “exile” in which we experience a loss of a capacity for privacy and intimacy... those with homeless minds (generated by the new intrusive technologies) are not likely to notice those with homeless bodies (of the left out and left behind who live in economic isolation).

 - Walter Brueggemann, Materiality as Resistance. 2020.

Complete Attention in A Hug

 “You shall fear the Lord your God; you shall serve Him and cling to Him, and you shall swear by His name.” —Deuteronomy 10:20 (NASB)

 
I would like to focus on just one word in the above verse: “cling.” In the Hebrew, this word is devek (קבד). To render it as “to cling” is really to sell it short, since the idea is not like clinging to a rock or a tree during a storm so you do not get blown away. This word is an expression of love and respect—an embrace or a hug. In the context of this verse, I render the word as follows: “You shall fear the Lord your God; you shall serve Him, and you shall hug Him….”
 

The Gift of the Sabbath

 
Rabbinic literature teaches that a devek (קבד) is a high and deep stage of spiritual development in which the seeker attaches himself or herself to God and exchanges individuality for a profound partnership with Him. The force behind a devek (קבד) is a love of God and a desire for intimacy or closeness with Him. Is that or is that not the definition of a hug?
 
This would explain why many Orthodox Jews view the requirements of the Sabbath as the gift of the Sabbath. The requirements are not a burdensome bother, filled with restrictions, but an opportunity to draw closer to God in order to enter into a devek (קבד) and receive a hug from Him. The “dos and don’ts” of the law are thus opportunities to connect with Him. This is why David said in Psalm 1:2, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.”
 
How could anyone get so excited about laws? The Orthodox Jews could because reading, studying, and meditating on the law of God was an opportunity to enter into a devek (קבד) and receive an embrace from God. Why Do You Go to Church? Consider the gift of the Sabbath. Why do you keep the Sabbath?
 

Why do you go to church?

 
Some people see it merely as a family or social obligation, or maybe as a way to win favor with God so they can receive some blessings, get some good luck, or secure a passport to heaven. But for others, observing the Sabbath is an opportunity to draw closer to God.
 
You cannot get to heaven by keeping the law. You can get to heaven only by receiving the finished work of Jesus Christ. The law, however, enables you to come to know this Jesus who is taking you to heaven. When you start to really know God and understand His heart, your love for Him grows; and when you love Him, you begin to desire a devek (קבד).
 
When reading Deuteronomy 10:20, therefore, we must take note that God is not calling us to cling to Him like a parasite or a leech. This thing is two-sided. God will cling to us if we will cling to Him. He will give us a hug if we will give Him a hug. The picture is that of two lovers embracing each other. Devek (קבד) is not a group hug. It is a hug between two individuals—you and God. When God embraces you, it is as if there is no other being in this universe but you. He gives you His full, complete attention in a devek (קבד).
 

- Chaim Bentorah, Hebrew Word Study, Vol 1 . 

Weep and Meditate for Joy

Weeping is an expression of the heart. Many times, when your meditation brings you into the heart and mind of God, you begin to weep. Other times, you might weep for pure joy. There is something so cleansing when you have a time of weeping before the Lord. Sometimes, you might weep out of heartbreak as God shares with you that part of His heart and mind that weeps for a lost world, for the suffering of the world.

 The Hebrew word for “meditate” in Psalm 1:2 is hagah (הגה), which has many usages. It is sometimes rendered as “to moan,” “to growl,” “to utter,” “to muse,” “to devise,” “to plot,” “to roar,” or “to imagine.” I can see “imagining” and “musing” as meditation, but what is this “moaning” and “roaring” business?

Meditation is more than just musing over something. It is intense concentration, focusing all of your attention on the Word of God. If you are to know God’s heart and mind, you must focus your own heart and mind on Him. 

                                        - Chaim Bentorah & Laura Bertone, Hebrew Word Study , Vol 2.

What Does It Mean to “Rest”?

God had commanded His people to “rest” on the seventh day. (See Exodus 16:23.) The phrase “so the people rested” in Exodus 16:30 is translated from the Hebrew word yisheveth (ותבשׁי). It is from the root word Shabbat (תבּשׁ), which means “to rest” and “to cease.”

In addition to Shabbat, there are twelve words in Hebrew that begin with shin (שׁ) beth (ב).

Here are the other 12 words that begin with shin beth (בשׁ):

1. Shin beth (בשׁ), aleph (א) = shava’ (אבשׁ): “God’s passion.” The first letter of the alphabet is aleph (א) and represents God. Shin (שׁ), beth (ב), aleph (א), or shava’ (אבשׁ), refers to God’s passionate love. The first thing you are to do on this day of rest is to just sit back and let God love you, enjoying His passionate love.
 
2. Shin beth (בשׁ), beth (ב) = shavav (בבשׁ): “Kindle a fire.” The next thing that should follow on the Sabbath is shavav (בבשׁ), which is to allow this passionate love of God to kindle in you a fire of love and affection that you can return to Him.
 
3. Shin beth (בשׁ), hei (ה) = shavah (הבשׁ): “To take as captive.” When you and God express love to each other, He will take you as His personal “captive.” Shavah (הבשׁ) is the same word used when a groom comes for his bride, takes her from her father’s house, and carries her to his father’s house to make her his bride and to enter into intimacy with her. So, the next thing God wants to do after He has expressed His love to you, and you have expressed your love to Him, is to shavah (הבשׁ), or to take you away as a bride to His bridal chamber to spend a time of intimacy with you.
 
4. Shin beth (בשׁ), chet (ח) = shavach (חבשׁ): “To soothe, calm, relax.” When God takes you away as His bride, the first thing He will do is what a bridegroom will do for his new bride—he will seek to make her comfortable and relaxed, to assure her that everything is all right, that he will make certain nothing will happen that will shame her or harm her. During this time with God, you will become shavach (חבשׁ); the pressures and stresses of the prior six days will settle down and be soothed, and you will find your frayed nerves being calmed.
 
5. Shin beth (בשׁ), teth (ט) = shavat (טבשׁ): “To measure.” Once you are in the bridal chamber, God will measure you. He will lovingly gaze upon you as a husband would gaze upon his bride and measure her beauty. Then he will softly, quietly, whisper to her that she is beautiful. This is the moment when God reminds you that through the sacrificial death of His Son Jesus Christ, all your iniquities and sins have been cleansed, and He has made something beautiful out of you.
 
6. Shin beth (בשׁ), kap (כ) = shavak (כבשׁ): “To mingle, interweave, have intercourse.” After a time of just enjoying your beauty as His bride, God will then share a more passionate intimacy with you.
 
7. Shin beth (בשׁ), lamed (ל) = shaval (לבשׁ): “To grow.” During this time of intimacy, God and you will grow closer together, more in love and more passionate with each other.
 
8. Shin beth (בשׁ), mem (מ) = shavam (מבשׁ): “To share hidden secrets and hidden knowledge.” When two lovers are being intimate, speaking lovingly to each other, they cannot help but share their deepest secrets. They will share things that they would express to no one else. Thus, during this Sabbath rest, God will share the secrets of His heart with you as His bride, as you share the secrets of your heart with Him as your Bridegroom.
 
9. Shin beth (בשׁ), nun (נ) = shavan (ןבשׁ): “To be tender and delicate.” (The word shavan (ןבשׁ) uses the final form** of the letter nun.) During this time of intimacy, having trusted each other with the deep secrets of your hearts, you enter a period of just sharing intimate words with each other. This will be a time when God speaks tenderly to you as His bride. He will speak of love. He will call you His dearest, His most precious, His treasure, and other gentle, loving, sweet names.
 
10. Shin beth (בשׁ), ayin (ﬠ) = shava’ (ﬠבשׁ): “To become satisfied, fulfilled.” After a time in which God and you share love, intimacy, and the secrets of your hearts, you, as His bride, will feel a great, overwhelming sense of satisfaction and fulfillment.
 
11. Shin beth (בשׁ), sade (צ) = shavats (צבשׁ): “To weave or intermingle together to create something beautiful.” During this time of intimacy, God as Bridegroom and you as His bride will intermingle together, will weave together, to create something beautiful from your relationship.
 
12. Shin beth (בשׁ), resh (ר) = shavar (רבשׁ): “To examine in order to make pure.” As the Sabbath concludes, and God has cleansed you, shared His secrets with you, and made you an intimate part of Him, He will then do a final examination of you as His bride and declare that you are indeed pure and holy before Him. 

- Chaim Bentorah, Hebrew Word Study, Vol 1 . 

 

Why 'Amen'?

 “Amen” comes from a cluster of words that refers to what’s true, trustworthy, reliable, and faithful.
 
Truth implies a commitment to reality, and faithfulness implies a commitment to others.
 
Words related to amen and emet describe not only God and people but also “solid,” “secure” ground into which a tent peg can be hammered (Isa 22:23). In fact, they’re also used to describe “reliable” sources of water. Because of how arid Israel could be, many springs and streams would run dry, placing people in life-threatening situations. The Bible uses words related to amen and emet to describe sources of water that were “trustworthy,” no matter how bad the surrounding drought (Isa 33:16).
 
So, why do we say “amen” at the end of prayers? One way of seeing the word is as an affirmation that God is dependable, reliable, and faithful.45 We end prayers with a vivid reminder that God is like an ever-flowing stream that provides life-giving water.
 
A more popular way of interpreting the word is that it reaffirms our agreement with the words of the prayer. As one scholar puts it, saying “amen” is like saying, “Precisely! I feel the same way about it, may God do it!” When we say this word at the end of prayers, we’re signaling not only that we agree with the prayer but also that we’ll do what’s needed on our part for the prayer to come true. We commit to living in a way that helps see the prayer reach fruition.
 

--- Matthew Richard Schlimm, 70 Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know. Abingdon Press. 

The Lost Meaning in the Names

While it’s nice to hear the Hebrew approximated, each Hebrew name in these chapters is loaded with meaning that does not translate into English:
 

The Hebrew for Adam means “Humanity.”

The Hebrew for Eve means “Life.”

The Hebrew for Eden means “Delight.”

The Hebrew for Cain means “Spear.”

The Hebrew for Abel means “Fleeting Breath”

 
Our English Bibles could be summarized as follows:

Adam and Eve initially live in the garden of Eden.

After God kicks them out, Cain kills his brother Abel.

 
However, if we focus on the meaning rather than the sound of these names, Genesis 2–4 looks a bit different.
 
The Hebrew could be summarized like this:
 

Humanity and Life initially live in the garden of Delight.

After God kicks them out, Spear kills his brother Fleeting Breath.

 
Names alone don’t determine whether a story is symbolic or historical. However, Genesis 2–4 has other clues that it’s more symbolic in nature. There’s a talking snake—with no explanation of why the snake can do more than hiss (3:1). The directions to the garden in Genesis 2:10-14 describe the world as a whole, rather than a single location. No one has ever found angelic beings guarding the entrance to the forbidden garden (3:24). The Hebrew text has poetic qualities, and Hebrew poetry is filled with symbolism. These factors, combined with highly meaningful names, suggest that the story as a whole should be seen as symbolic.
 
But when we see what the Hebrew names actually mean, then Genesis 2–4 appears less about science or history and more a symbolic story that helps us understand who we are, who God is, and why the world works the way it does. The words behind “Adam” and “Eve” are invitations to see ourselves in these characters. When translators kept the Hebrew sounds for “Adam,” “Eve,” and their children’s names, they also surrendered the rich meanings of these names that allow us to see what the opening of Genesis is really all about.
 

--- Matthew Richard Schlimm, 70 Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know. Abingdon Press.

A Basket of Summer Fruit

The book of Amos rages with disturbing images. Because of Israel’s harsh treatment of poor people, God’s judgment is coming with furious destruction. Toward the end of the book, just before describing a new round of horrors, God shows the prophet Amos a basket of summer fruit. Without explaining the fruit basket, the text jumps to God’s coming judgment. Here’s the passage:
 
This is what the LORD God showed me: a basket of summer fruit.

He said, “Amos, what do you see?”

I said, “A basket of summer fruit.”

Then the LORD said to me,

“The end has come upon my people Israel;

I will never again forgive them.

On that day, the people will wail the temple songs,”

says the LORD God;

“there will be many corpses,

thrown about everywhere.” (Amos 8:1-3 CEB)

 
Most English readers of this text are left confused. Why did God show Amos the summer fruit? How could that be terrifying? What on earth does it have to do with what follows?
 
The text actually makes perfect sense in Hebrew… This word is associated with the last crop to be picked during the agricultural calendar. In fact, one of the oldest inscriptions from Israel is a tenth-century BCE calendar that lists what farming activities take place during the year.
 
The last word in this inscription is what we have here: “summer fruit.” This word sounds similar to the Hebrew word for “end” that God uses to talk about Israel’s demise in this passage: This word evokes ideas of death not only here but also when it’s used to describe Noah’s flood (Gen 6:13) and the destruction of Jerusalem (Lam 4:18; Ezek 7:2-3).
 
So, although in English the words “summer fruit” and “end” look and sound nothing alike, in Amos the two are closely related. God shows Amos a basket of qayits as an ominous sign of Israel’s qets. English readers wonder what’s horrifying about a fruit basket, but Hebrew readers see the ominous potential in Amos’s vision. Together, qayits and qets make over one hundred appearances in the Bible.
 

--- Matthew Richard Schlimm, 70 Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know. Abingdon Press.

 

Loving and Being Loved

Most of us are familiar with the three words in Greek that express three levels of love: agape (unconditional love), phileo (brotherly love, friendship), and eros (erotic love). The Hebrew language also has several different words that are rendered as “love.” There are basically four common words that are translated as various forms of love, although they also have other renderings: ’ahav (בהא), “love”; racham (םחר), “tender mercies”; dodi (ידוד), “beloved,” as in spousal love; and ra’ah (הﬠר), “brotherly love,” or “friendship.”
 
It would be wrong to try to make a parallel between the Greek words for love and the Hebrew words for love. However, this does create a real problem for translators, because love is at the very root and center of Scripture. The Septuagint* uses the word agape for the Hebrew word ’ahav (בהא). This is probably the closest word in the Hebrew to the meaning of agape, but it is far from a perfect match. I suppose we could say that ra’ah (הﬠר) is like phileo, since it is a word for friendship, and that dodi (ידוד) could, in a certain context, be like eros. Yet these definitions would not be accurate because they are too limited.

Ahav (בהא) is used in cases where agape would not fit, and ra’ah (הﬠר), although rendered as “friendship,” is also rendered as “shepherd” and “consuming passion” and was often used by David to express his love for God. Oddly, ra’ah (הﬠר) is also used for evil in the sense in which one has a consuming passion for something that is not of God (such as when people abuse drugs or alcohol). So, in many cases, it would be very inappropriate to consider ra’ah (הﬠר) as equivalent to phileo. Additionally, Solomon used the word dodi (ידוד) with his beloved to express a sexual desire, but this word does not carry the lustfulness or self-gratification of eros.
 
The fourth Hebrew word for love mentioned above is racham (םחר), which is often expressed as a romantic love or rendered as “tender mercies.” It is rarely used in the Old Testament, but it is frequently found in the Aramaic New Testament, where it has a similar spelling and sounds the same in Aramaic as it does in Hebrew.
 
Does God Have Favorites?
 
In the Greek New Testament, we find that the word used for “love” in “God so loved the world” (John 3:16) is agape. In the Peshitta—the Aramaic Bible—the word for love is chav (בח), which is similar to the Hebrew word ’ahav (הבא) and means “love.” However, in John 21:20, where we read about “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” the Greek again uses the word agape, but the Peshitta uses the Aramaic word racham (םחר), which is identical to the Hebrew racham (םחר).
 
So, again, when Jesus said, “God so loved the world” (John 3:16), He used the Aramaic word chav (בח), but when John wrote the phrase “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 21:20), he used the word racham (םחר). These are two entirely different words that both mean “love.” Initially, the most logical conclusion from all this would be that we are dealing with two levels of love, and this would suggest that God either loved the world more than He loved this disciple, or that He loved this disciple more than He loved the world. In other words, we face the old dilemma of whether there are degrees to the love of God.
 
Note that John 21:20 does not merely say “the disciple whom Jesus loved” but “the disciple whom Jesus loved following.” In Greek and Aramaic, this phrase is more properly rendered as “the disciple whom Jesus loved who followed Him.”
 
Loving and Being Loved
 
The key difference between chav (בח), as used in John 3:16 as God loving the world, and racham (םחר), as used in John 21:20 of the disciple whom Jesus loved, is that chav (בח) is a love that is not necessarily returned. Chav (בח) speaks of a love that flows from just one person and is not always completed. For love to be completed, it must be returned. Racham (םחר) is a completed love. Love can be pretty lonely and painful if it is not returned.
 
God loves the world, but the world does not love Him in return. It is when we love Him in return that His love is complete; it is when we love Him in return that He is able to rejoice over us with singing. (See Zephaniah 3:17.) Salvation is not just about getting saved and going to heaven. It is about completing the love that God has for us, bringing joy and celebration to His heart—which has been loving us for years.
 
It is not that God loves one person more than another. He loves all equally. It is just that very few people will love Him in return and complete His love, bring Him the joy of His love, awaken Him in that love, and cause Him to sing with joy in that love. In my exploration of God’s heart, I believe the most defining element I have discovered is not only a passion in God’s heart to love, chav (בח), but also a longing to be loved in return, racham (םחר). You and I—humble, little, frail human beings—have the ability to bring joy to the heart of the God of the universe simply by saying to Him, wholeheartedly, “I love you.”
 

 - Chaim Bentorah, Hebrew Word Study, Vol 1

God Joins His Heart with Ours

“Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.” —Song of Solomon 4:9

Let us look at the words “Thou hast ravished my heart.” This is one of the most beautiful—and, at the same time, one of the most heartbreaking—words that I have ever run across in my forty years of studying biblical Hebrew. You see, this phrase is only one word in Hebrew: livabethini (יניבבל). It comes from the root word levav (בבל), which means “heart.” The first thing to understand is that this is one of the rare cases where the double beth (בב) is used. 

The ancient Jewish sages used to teach that the beth (ב) represents not only the home but also the heart. As the saying goes, “Home is where the heart is.” A double beth (בב) represents God’s heart and our hearts joined in a love relationship. It is a picture of two hearts opening up to each other and becoming equally vulnerable.

So, what is Solomon expressing when he says to his beloved, “Livabethini” (יניבבל), or “Thou hast ravished my heart”? He is saying that with just one glance from his beloved, he has fallen hopelessly in love with her. She has stripped him of the hard shell that he had built around his heart to protect it, and he has made himself vulnerable. He is a king with the most powerful security force in the world surrounding him to protect him, yet one little peasant woman, with a mere look, has caused him to open his heart and say, “I am giving you the ability to break this heart. You have my heart in your hands—please be careful with it. There is no one to protect my heart from you; only you can protect it.”

If we are the bride of Christ, and He is our Bridegroom, does it not follow that He is saying to us, “Livabethini” (יניבבל), “You have ravished My heart”? If He is saying that, He is also indicating, “Although I am God, and although I may be to you a towering giant who seems invulnerable, I am stripping the bark off My tree; I am voluntarily making Myself vulnerable to you; I am giving you My heart. You have the ability to deeply wound My heart; no one but you can protect it, so please be gentle with My heart.”

- Chaim Bentorah, Hebrew Word Study, Vol 1 .