Latest / Reformed Thinking / חֵפֶץ (Chefetz): What God Takes Pleasure In

Transcript

חֵפֶץ (Chefetz): What God Takes Pleasure In · Reformed Thinking

0:00
Welcome to reformed thinking. We are.
0:02
We are so glad you're joining us today.
0:03
If you are listening to this, you are probably the kind of
0:05
person who loves to look closely at the text of Scripture.
0:08
You are the kind of person who wants to know not just what a
0:11
verse says in your English translation, but the actual
0:14
mechanical workings of the original language behind the
0:17
text. So today we have a specific
0:20
mission. We are taking a comprehensive
0:22
look at a stack of linguistic sources.
0:24
Specifically, we have lexical entries, theological
0:27
dictionaries, and scholarly commentary notes, and they are
0:30
all focused on a single, fascinating Hebrew word.
0:34
That word is T. We have pulled extensive
0:36
definitions from the theological workbook of the Old Testament,
0:39
the Brown Driver, Briggs, Hebrew and English lexicon, and we have
0:42
brought in commentary excerpts from scholars like Samuel Rolls
0:45
Driver, Thomas Kruger, and George Angus Fulton Knight.
0:49
Our goal for this deep diet is to track how this single word EP
0:53
moves from describing raw emotion and joy all the way to
0:56
defining everyday business and practical schedules.
0:59
OK, let's unpack this. We want to understand how this
1:01
specific noun shapes our view of human desire and, more
1:04
significantly, how it illuminates our understanding of
1:07
God's sovereign will. Looking at these original
1:09
languages is never a dry academic exercise.
1:14
It is quite the opposite actually.
1:16
When we examine a word like OP, we are gaining a direct window
1:20
into the theology that shapes our entire understanding of God.
1:24
For those of us who hold to a Reformed perspective,
1:26
specifically adhering to the Westminster Confession of Faith,
1:29
we talked quite a bit about the decrees of God.
1:32
We talked about how God ordains whatsoever comes to pass.
1:35
But sometimes when we discuss the decrees of God, we can
1:38
accidentally make it sound like a cold, mechanical
1:40
administrative process. By looking at this specific
1:43
Hebrew word. We're going to see first hand
1:45
what the confession means when it talks about God's good
1:47
pleasure. Understanding this word proves
1:49
that God's decrees are not reluctant, obligated choices.
1:53
They are actions of supreme delight.
1:54
Yeah, I have the stack of lexical entries right here in
1:57
front of me and I want to start right at the beginning of the
1:59
definitions. They provide the primary
2:02
definition of PAPI across our sources, whether you are looking
2:04
at the standard dictionaries or the theological word books.
2:06
Is joy, delight, or pleasure? But the dictionary notes make a
2:10
huge deal about the grammar here.
2:12
They point out that this noun is frequently paired with specific
2:15
prepositions. You do not just have to pee
2:18
floating in a vacuum. You take pleasure in something
2:21
or you have delight in someone. I am looking at these
2:24
grammatical notes and I see the Hebrew prepositions listed.
2:27
But why does the grammar matter so much here?
2:31
Why do the lexicon spend so much ink on the prepositions?
2:33
The grammar matters because it reveals the psychology behind
2:36
the word. The dictionary notes show OP
2:39
used with the Hebrew preposition Lee, which means two or four,
2:43
and the preposition B, which means in.
2:45
What this grammatical structure requires is an object for the
2:48
delight. You cannot just experience a
2:51
generic ambient sense of happiness.
2:53
You are directing your joy toward a specific target.
2:56
This orientation of the heart is critical.
2:58
The emotion does not exist independently.
3:00
It is a response to an object, a person, or an action that has
3:03
captured your affections. Right.
3:05
And I want to bring up a specific historical event that
3:07
our sources highlight to show this orientation of the heart.
3:11
First Samuel 15.22. This is the very famous
3:14
confrontation between the prophet Samuel and King Saul.
3:17
The context here is heavy. Saul was commanded to completely
3:20
destroy the Amalekites, but he compromised.
3:22
He kept the best of the sheep in the oxen.
3:25
And when Samuel confronts him, Saul justifies his disobedience
3:27
by claiming he kept the animals to sacrifice them to the Lord.
3:31
And then Samuel delivers this devastating question.
3:33
He asks, has the Lord has great delight and burnt offerings and
3:36
sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
3:40
The word translated delight there is ippa.
3:42
Can you weigh in on how the specific word dismantles Saul's
3:46
entire justification? If we view this historical
3:48
moment through a reformed theological lens, this single
3:52
verse establishes the entire basis of true religion.
3:55
Saul thought he was doing religion correctly.
3:57
He thought the mechanics of the sacrifice, the blood, the altar,
4:00
the outward action was the point.
4:02
He believed he could manufacture favor through a ritual.
4:06
But Samuel uses the word day P to show that God's pleasure, his
4:09
joy, is not triggered by empty external rituals.
4:12
His delight is in genuine obedience.
4:15
The object of God's joy is a heart that listens to his voice.
4:18
This completely destroys the idea that we can earn standing
4:21
before God through mechanical actions.
4:24
True religion is about knowing where God's delight rests and
4:26
aligning your life with that delight.
4:28
God looked at Saul's massive, elaborate sacrifice and found
4:31
absolutely 0 opie in it. Wow, yes, and we see the same
4:34
principle applied to the human heart in another major reference
4:37
from our sources, which is Psalm 1.2.
4:40
The text describes the righteous man, and it says his delight is
4:43
in the law of the Lord. Again, the word is the P.
4:45
Now, in our modern context, the word law usually brings up
4:49
feelings of restrictions, speed limits or tax codes.
4:52
It is rarely something we associate with delight.
4:55
How does this fit into our theological framework?
4:58
This connects directly to the affections, which is a massive
5:01
category in our theology. The unregenerate mind hates the
5:04
law of God. To the natural man, the law is a
5:07
crushing burden, a set of rules that restricts his autonomy.
5:10
But for the righteous man, the man who has received grace, the
5:13
law becomes an object of supreme satisfaction.
5:16
This is complete reversal of the natural human condition.
5:19
He takes a pee in the law. The law is a reflection of God's
5:21
perfect holy character, and therefore meditating on it
5:24
produces actual, palpable joy. I think an analogy helps picture
5:28
this. Think about the difference
5:30
between a child eating a plate of steamed vegetables and a
5:33
child eating a bowl of ice cream.
5:35
A parent can command a child to eat a plate of broccoli.
5:38
The child might comply, they might chew it up and swallow it,
5:40
but they're doing it out of pure obligation, maybe out of fear of
5:43
losing dessert or fear of punishment.
5:46
There is outward obedience, but there is 0 vapi.
5:49
Now put a bowl of ice cream in front of that same child.
5:52
You do not have to command them to eat it.
5:54
You do not have to threaten them with a timeout.
5:56
They consume it because they take genuine delight in it.
5:59
Their affections are fully engaged with the object.
6:02
What song 1.2 is saying is that the righteous man consumes the
6:05
law of God like ice cream, not like forced vegetables.
6:09
There is genuine, eager delight. I like the direction of your
6:12
analogy, but the Hebrew pushes it even further.
6:15
It is not just that the child enjoys the taste of the ice
6:18
cream. The child's entire disposition
6:20
toward the parent providing the ice cream changes because of it.
6:23
It is an eager, joyful reception that affects the whole person.
6:27
In fact, one of the sources notes a phrase from Proverbs
6:29
31.13 describing the excellent wife working with her eager
6:33
hands. The literal Hebrew translation
6:35
provided in the lexicon is working with a dopey of her
6:38
hands. Our hands are working with joy,
6:40
with pleasure. It is not drudgery.
6:42
The joy of her heart literally animates the labor of her hands.
6:45
That is such a vivid picture. The dictionary entries also give
6:48
us some fascinating negative examples of this word, which
6:51
help clarify the meaning even further by showing us the
6:53
inverse. When we see where delight is
6:55
absent, we understand the concept better.
6:58
The sources list Ecclesiastes 5.3, which states that God has
7:01
no pleasure in fools. The text literally says there is
7:04
no oopy in Fools, but the prophets use this negative
7:07
construction in a very visual way.
7:09
The sources list Jeremiah 22.28 and Hosea 8.8.
7:13
Both of these verses use an incredibly vivid phrase.
7:15
They describe a vessel wherein is no pleasure, a vessel with no
7:19
boopy. Can you unpack this imagery of
7:20
the broken vessel for us? Think about the role of a clay
7:23
pot in the ancient Near East. Pottery was everywhere.
7:26
It was the plastic of the ancient world.
7:28
If a vessel is beautiful, or if it holds water perfectly without
7:31
leaking, the owner takes pleasure in it.
7:34
They keep it, they use it, they might even display it.
7:37
But a vessel wherein is no pleasure is something broken,
7:40
defective or contaminated. It cannot hold water, it cannot
7:44
store grain. It is useless.
7:46
Therefore it is discarded into the rubbish heap.
7:49
When Jeremiah and Hosea describe people or entirely rebel nations
7:54
as a vessel with no OP, they are describing something that has
7:57
lost its value to the owner. It is cast aside because it
8:00
brings no joy and fulfills no purpose.
8:02
So we have to ask you, the listener, what does this all
8:05
mean for you? When you look at these examples,
8:07
from King Saul's rejected sacrifice to the discarded clay
8:10
pots of the prophets, you start to see that delight is not just
8:13
a fleeting feeling. In the biblical text, opia is a
8:15
measurement of value. What you take pleasure in
8:18
reveals what you value. And conversely, if you find no
8:21
opium something, you treat it as worthless, like a broken vessel.
8:24
Which logically requires us to move to the next phase of the
8:27
word. Because opium measures value and
8:30
joy, it naturally transitions into a word about longing.
8:34
If delight is what assigns value, it makes perfect sense
8:37
that what we value dictates what we long for.
8:40
And that leads us to seamlessly to the second major definition
8:43
in our lexical sources. The word progresses from meaning
8:47
joy to meaning wish, desire, or longing.
8:50
The usage shifts from experiencing pleasure to wanting
8:54
something that will bring pleasure in the future.
8:56
The psychology of the Hebrew mind presented here is
8:58
strikingly accurate to human nature.
9:01
You only desire what you first perceive as delightful.
9:04
Desire is the engine, but it is driven by the fuel of delight.
9:07
You do not long for things you find repulsive.
9:09
You long for what you believe will bring you up here.
9:12
The sources highlight to Samuel 23.5 to show this transition.
9:16
This is from a section often called David's Last Words.
9:19
We actually have a commentary on our stack from Samuel Roltz
9:22
Driver, specifically on this section of Second Samuel.
9:25
In this verse, David is an old man looking back on his life,
9:28
reflecting on God's covenant with him, and he asks A
9:31
rhetorical question. He says, will he not cause to
9:34
prosper? All my help and my desire.
9:36
The word for desire there is to pee all my desire.
9:41
Drivers Know places this firmly in the context of David's final
9:43
reflections. David is looking at the
9:45
covenant, the specific promise of salvation, and the royal lion
9:48
that got established with him, and David identifies that
9:51
covenant as the sum total of his desire.
9:53
His longing is completely wrapped up in what God has
9:56
promised. He does not say his desires for
9:58
more land or more wealth or more military victories.
10:01
His Toby is the covenant of God. Another massive example of this
10:04
definition is Job 31 point Cheney.
10:06
Two Job is defending his integrity against the
10:09
accusations of his friends. And he says if I have withheld
10:12
the poor from their desire, again, the word is Hopi.
10:14
This verse is highly significant because it grounds basic
10:18
visceral human needs. In this specific word, the plea
10:22
of the poor, their desperate, aching need for food, for
10:25
shelter, for justice is described as their though pee.
10:29
It is what they long for, to bring relief and joy to their
10:32
immense suffering. Job is stating that he never
10:35
stood in the way of the poor finding that relief.
10:37
He did not block their path to finding provision and safety.
10:40
Let's pose a thought experiment for you as you listen to this.
10:44
Think about your own desires. Think about the things you long
10:46
for on a daily basis, the things you Daydream about when your
10:50
mind wanders. Our desires dictate our actions.
10:53
In our theological framework, we understand that fallen humanity
10:56
has corrupt desires. Our natural EP is oriented
10:59
toward rebellion and self-service.
11:01
We desire things that are actually broken vessels.
11:03
This is why the concept of grace is so central to our theology.
11:06
But it is a specific kind of grace.
11:08
Can you unpack the concepts of total depravity and effectual
11:11
calling for us in a way that connects directly to this idea
11:14
of changing our P? This is a crucial point of
11:17
application. When we use the term total
11:19
depravity in Reformed theology, we're not saying human beings
11:23
are as evil as they could possibly be.
11:25
We are saying that sin has affected every part of us,
11:28
including our affections. Our wanter is broken.
11:31
Left to ourselves, we will never naturally desire the things of
11:34
God. We will never find AP in His
11:37
law. So when we talk about effectual
11:39
calling, we mean that God does not just offer an invitation and
11:42
hope we accept it. He actively intervenes and
11:46
changes the core of what our hearts actually want.
11:49
He replaces the broken affections with new affections.
11:52
Grace is God regenerating us so that RTP aligns with His.
11:56
We cannot simply choose to desire the right things through
11:59
willpower. The orientation of our delight
12:02
must be resurrected by God. Here's where it gets really
12:05
interesting. We move from the desires of
12:07
regular people or the desperate desires of the poor to the
12:09
desires of kings. The scale of the word expands
12:12
massively. The lexical sources list quite a
12:15
few verses showing a Pau. Specifically, is the desire of
12:18
monarchs. We have a string of references
12:20
from First Kings and Second Chronicles.
12:21
Let me lay out the historical context.
12:23
We have First things 5 verses 22 through 24.
12:26
King Solomon is building the temple, a massive architectural
12:29
undertaking. He sends a message to Hiram, the
12:31
king of Tyre, asking for cedar and Cypress timber.
12:35
The text says that Hiram provided all the to pee all the
12:37
desire of Solomon regarding the timber.
12:40
Then we have First Kings 10.13 which is identical to the Second
12:43
Chronicles 9.12. The Queen of Sheba travels to
12:46
Jerusalem, sees the wealth and wisdom of Solomon, and before
12:48
she leaves King Solomon grants the queen all her desire, which
12:52
she asked all her dutty. When you look at these royal
12:55
contexts, you we realize how much weight this word can carry
12:58
when paired with authority. A sovereign's desire is not just
13:02
a passing wish or a Daydream. When a king has ethopia, it is a
13:06
command waiting to happen. If King Solomon desires timber,
13:10
fleets of ships are mobilized, thousands of workers are
13:13
dispatched into the mountains of Lebanon, forests are cut down,
13:16
and the entire economy of a neighboring nation shifts to
13:19
accommodate it. The desire of a monarch comes
13:22
with the absolute authority and the resources to ensure that the
13:25
desire is fulfilled in the physical world.
13:28
A sovereigns desire is a command waiting to happen.
13:30
It does not just sit there as an internal feeling, it executes
13:33
reality. It alters the landscape, and
13:36
that bridges us perfectly into the third major definition
13:38
provided by the lexicons, which is easily the most theologically
13:42
massive section of our sources today.
13:44
The lexicons define AP here as the good pleasure will purpose
13:48
of Yahweh. We have moved from human joy to
13:50
human desire to royal commands, and now we arrive at the
13:54
absolute sovereign will of God Himself.
13:57
I want to read the specific references from the prophet
13:59
Isaiah that the sources provide. Isaiah 4610 where God declares
14:04
my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose.
14:08
The word translated purpose is Audi and Isaiah 44.28 where God
14:13
speaks of the Persian king Cyrus long before Cyrus was even born,
14:16
saying He is my shepherd and he shall fulfill all my purpose,
14:20
all my brapi. We need to dissect this
14:22
thoroughly using our Reformed perspective.
14:25
The Westminster Confession states that God, from all
14:27
eternity did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own
14:30
will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass.
14:34
When the Confession uses phrases like the counsel of His own will
14:37
or His good pleasure, we are looking at the theological
14:39
concepts built directly upon this Hebrew word a day.
14:43
The framers of the Confession understood that God's
14:45
sovereignty is intimately tied to His delight.
14:47
So when God says I will accomplish all my purpose, he is
14:50
quite literally saying I will accomplish all my delight.
14:52
Spot on. God's will is his happy.
14:55
His decrees are not burdensome obligations that He must fulfill
14:57
to keep the universe running. They are the expressions of His
15:00
supreme joy. Whatever God ordains, he ordains
15:03
because it brings Him pleasure to do so.
15:05
He delights in his own sovereign plans.
15:07
There is no separation between what God decrees and what God
15:10
enjoys. We have another verse from
15:12
Isaiah in our notes that brings us into sharp, almost shocking
15:15
focus. I want to slow down here because
15:17
the weight of this verse requires us to pause and truly
15:20
consider what is being said. The lexicon cites Isaiah 53.10.
15:25
This is the famous chapter about the Suffering Servant predicting
15:28
the crucifixion of Christ centuries before it happened.
15:31
The text says Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him.
15:34
He has put him to grief. The word translated will or
15:37
pleasure. There is a baby.
15:39
The dictionary entry actually provides a slightly very literal
15:42
reading, translating the second-half of the 1st as the
15:45
baby of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
15:46
This connects directly to the mechanics of the atonement.
15:49
It pleased the Lord to crush him.
15:52
Think about the gravity of that statement.
15:54
The supreme plan of redemption involving the agonizing physical
15:58
and spiritual suffering of the Son of God on the cross was
16:01
God's to be. It was His delight and His
16:03
purpose. Now we must be careful here.
16:06
This does not mean God takes malicious or capricious joy and
16:09
suffering. It means that the outcome,
16:11
vindication of His perfect holiness, the satisfaction of
16:15
His justice, and the salvation of His elect people, was His
16:17
supreme delight. The atonement prospering in the
16:20
hands of the Messiah was the fulfillment of the Father's
16:22
deepest, most resolute joy. Let.
16:24
Me, use an analogy here to try and grasp this.
16:27
Think about a master architect designing A magnificent,
16:31
sprawling cathedral. The blueprints he draws are
16:33
highly technical. They involve precise
16:36
measurements, stress loads, material specifications, and
16:39
engineering mathematics. To an untrained eye, those
16:41
blueprints just look like cold, calculated geometry.
16:44
But to the architect, those blueprints represent his highest
16:47
artistic vision. They are the realization of his
16:50
highest creative joy. When the cathedral is finally
16:53
built according to those exact specifications, the architect
16:56
looks at the stones in the glass and and he feels immense
16:58
pleasure because his design has become a physical reality.
17:01
I like the architect analogy, but let's take it a step further
17:05
to align it perfectly with our theology.
17:07
An earthly architect might be constrained by the laws of
17:10
physics, or by his budget, or by the skill of his construction
17:14
workers. He might have to compromise his
17:16
vision. But God has no constraints.
17:19
God's decrees are the uncompromised blueprints of His
17:22
joy. When we read that God does all
17:24
His purpose, all His OP, we are reading about the Master
17:28
Architect ensuring that His glorious design is perfectly
17:31
realized in history without a single alteration or failure.
17:35
It is not just divine mathematics.
17:37
It is unstoppable delight. I want to look at a note from
17:40
the sources regarding how this concept was translated later on
17:43
in history. The sources indicate that the
17:46
Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament
17:48
produced a couple of centuries before Christ, translates this
17:51
massive concept of day up using the Greek word thelema.
17:55
Thelema is the standard Greek word for will.
17:57
It is used extensively throughout the New Testament.
17:59
And we use that English word will all the time in our
18:02
theological discussions. We talk constantly about the
18:04
will of God. We do.
18:06
But the English word will can often sound very administrative,
18:10
almost clinical. It sounds like a legal document,
18:12
a last will and testament, or a sheer exercise of raw, unfeeling
18:16
force. But knowing that the Greek
18:18
thalema in these Old Testament passages is translating the
18:21
Hebrew through PE changes our reading entirely.
18:24
The Hebrew root retains that warmth.
18:26
It retains the concept of delight.
18:28
So when you pray the Lord's Prayer and you say Thy will be
18:30
done, you're actually praying. Let your supreme delight be
18:33
accomplished on earth as it is in heaven.
18:35
That reframes so much of how we view God's sovereignty.
18:38
It is the sovereignty of joy. Now the sources show us a fourth
18:41
major category of meaning for 2P, and it moves us into the
18:44
realm of value and aesthetics. The word is used as an adjective
18:48
for precious things, specifically jewels and stones.
18:51
This is a beautiful linguistic extension of the concept.
18:54
The sources cite Isaiah 54.1, which speaks of delightful
18:57
stones. The literal Hebrew is stones of
19:00
two pia. They also cite Proverbs 3.1,
19:02
teen and 8.11 where wisdom is compared to precious things or
19:06
jewels. The text says that all things to
19:08
be desired, all P cannot compare to wisdom.
19:11
I look at this and I have to ask, why does a word for joy and
19:15
sovereign will suddenly apply to shiny rocks?
19:18
We can connect this right back to the core theme we established
19:21
at the very beginning of our analysis.
19:23
Why is a stone precious? A diamond or a Ruby is
19:27
essentially just a piece of compressed carbon or mineral
19:31
sitting in the dirt. It has no intrinsic utilitarian
19:34
value. You cannot eat a diamond to
19:36
survive. You cannot build a sturdy house
19:38
out of rubies. The value is not inherent in the
19:41
rock itself. The value is assigned entirely
19:44
by the delight of the beholder. A stone becomes a precious stone
19:47
because a human being looks at it, takes dot P and its beauty,
19:50
and decides it's worth a fortune.
19:51
The delight creates the value. And this has massive theological
19:56
implications when applied to God's relationship with his
19:58
people. One of the sources introduces
20:00
Malachi 3.2 O where God promises that Israel will be a land of
20:03
OP, translated as a delightsome land or a land in which one
20:06
takes joy. But even more striking is the
20:08
derivative noun mentioned in the dictionary text Hepsiba.
20:12
Hepsiba is a beautifully poetic name given to the city of Zion,
20:16
representing God's people. It translates literally to My
20:20
delight is in her. This is how God views His
20:23
redeemed people. In our Reformed theology, we
20:26
talk about the doctrine of unconditional election.
20:28
This doctrine teaches that we are not chosen because we
20:31
possess inherent value or inherent righteousness, or
20:34
because God looked down the corridors of time and saw that
20:36
we would choose Him. In our natural state, we are
20:39
like common worthless stones. But God in His sovereign grace,
20:43
sets His delight upon us. He declares My delight is in
20:46
her. By doing so, he makes his people
20:48
into precious stones. They're the objects of his
20:51
specific electing delight. He assigns the value by
20:54
bestowing his Dolby. So when you consider this, you
20:56
have to ask yourself, what do you treat as precious stones in
20:59
your own life? What are the objects that
21:00
pursuits the relationships or the goals that you assign high
21:03
value to because you take opie in them?
21:05
And how does your list of precious things align with what
21:07
God calls precious? God calls His law precious.
21:10
He calls His redeemed people precious.
21:12
He calls wisdom precious. We need to align our evaluation
21:15
system with His. The continuous alignment of our
21:18
affections with the affections of God is essentially the
21:21
ongoing work of sanctification. If delight is what assigns value
21:26
to a precious stone, it makes perfect sense that what we
21:29
valued dictates where we spend our time and money.
21:32
Which actually explains this unusual shift I saw in the later
21:35
biblical texts as I was reading through the sources.
21:38
This brings us to the 5th and final major section of our
21:40
analysis. The sources document a semantic
21:43
shift in late biblical Hebrew, specifically in books like
21:46
Ecclesiastes, also known as Kohilith, and the later chapters
21:49
of Isaiah. OK, it comes to mean matter a
21:52
fair pursuit or business? The shift from joy to daily
21:55
business sounds jarring at first glance, but it is a thoroughly
21:58
logical progression of human behavior.
22:00
Let me list the verses the dictionary provide for this late
22:03
usage. Ecclesiastes 3.1 a very famous
22:07
verse. It says for everything there is
22:09
a season and a time, for every matter under heaven the word
22:12
translated matter there is do P. The sources also list
22:16
Ecclesiastes 3.17 a time for every matter and Ecclesiastes
22:20
8.6. We actually have a specific
22:22
commentary note from Thomas Krueger on this verse from his
22:25
volume on Kohelith. Krueger's note falls under his
22:28
section on knowledge and authority in his commentary
22:31
outline. What is highly revealing here is
22:33
how the Greek translators handled this late usage of the
22:36
word. Earlier we noted that the
22:38
Septuagint translated the P of God as philema or will, but
22:42
Kruger and the lexical notes point out that in Ecclesiastes
22:45
the Septuagint translates UP as pragma.
22:48
Pragma. That sounds like our English
22:49
word pragmatic. It is the exact route.
22:52
Pragma means a deed, an action, a practical matter, or a
22:56
business affair. So the ancient Greek translators
22:58
recognize that by the time Ecclesiastes was written, the PA
23:01
had shifted in its common usage. It was no longer just referring
23:04
to internal joy or future desire.
23:06
It was referring to the external, practical actions that
23:09
fill up a human schedule. We.
23:10
See the same usage in Isaiah chapter 58, the sources site
23:14
versus 3 and 13. We have a commentary excerpt
23:18
from George Angus Fulton Knight on this section.
23:21
In Isaiah 58, God is indicting the nation of Israel for their
23:24
intense hypocrisy. They are fasting, going through
23:27
their religious motions. But God says in verse 3, behold,
23:31
in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure.
23:33
And in verse 13 He warns them against doing your pleasure on
23:36
my holy day. The word in both places is AP.
23:40
The dictionary entry notes that it can be translated as doing
23:42
your business or affairs. Knight's commentary helps us see
23:45
the conflict clearly. Israel is complaining that God
23:48
is not answering their prayers during their fasts.
23:51
God replies that they're fasts are useless because while they
23:54
are supposedly denying themselves food to seek Him,
23:57
they are aggressively pursuing their own new PIA, their own
24:00
business affairs, and exploiting their workers.
24:03
They are physically fasting, but their schedule is still entirely
24:07
driven by their commercial ambitions.
24:09
What's fascinating here is tracing this entire linguistic
24:13
evolution. How does a word that starts out
24:15
meaning pure joy become a word for running errands or
24:19
conducting business transactions?
24:21
If we connect this to the bigger picture, it makes perfect sense.
24:24
It reveals A striking reality about human nature.
24:27
We are fundamentally worshipping creatures.
24:29
Whatever we delight in, whatever our core Foo is, in the end
24:32
dictates our daily business. You cannot separate your
24:35
affections from your schedule. If you delight in money, your
24:38
daily pragma, your practical business, will be consumed with
24:40
acquiring wealth. If you delight in comfort, your
24:43
daily affairs will be structured around avoiding difficulty.
24:46
The calendar never lies. Precisely.
24:49
Our calendars and our bank accounts are the truest
24:51
reflections of our affections. The shift in this Hebrew word
24:55
demonstrates that what starts in the heart as joy inevitably
24:58
moves out into the hands. As business.
25:00
You spend your time on what you take pleasure in.
25:03
Let's do a recap of the massive linguistic and theological arc
25:06
we have analyzed today. We took a stack of dictionary
25:09
entries and scholarly commentary notes on the Hebrew word Hopi.
25:13
We watched it start as pure joy and delight, defining the
25:17
orientation of the heart either toward true obedience or toward
25:20
foolishness. We saw it crystallize into
25:22
desire and longing, motivating the desperate actions of the
25:25
poor and commanding the vast resources of kings.
25:28
We saw it manifest perfectly in God's sovereign will, proving
25:31
that His eternal decrees are the realization of his absolute good
25:34
pleasure. We looked at how it assigns
25:36
value to precious things like stones and the redeemed people
25:39
of God. And finally, we tracked its
25:41
evolution in late Biblical Hebrew, where it dictates our
25:44
practical daily affairs and business.
25:46
It is a remarkable progression. It covers everything from the
25:49
highest unchangeable decrees of the Almighty down to the mundane
25:53
task we write on our To Do lists.
25:55
And that leaves us with a final thought for you to consider as
25:58
we wrap up this deep dive. If the ancient Hebrew mind sees
26:01
absolutely no separation between what gives you joy and what
26:05
occupies your daily schedule, I want you to look closely at your
26:08
mundane routines. Tomorrow morning when you wake
26:10
up. Look at your calendar.
26:12
Look at the tasks you have prioritized.
26:14
What delight is quietly dictating your business?
26:17
Are your affairs driven by a desire for status or comfort or
26:20
control? And how does viewing your daily
26:22
schedule through the lens of God's sovereign, joyful purpose
26:25
change the way you approach your day?
26:28
When you recognize that God ordains all things according to
26:30
His soapy His good pleasure, you can engage your daily business
26:34
with a heart seeking to align with His joy.
26:36
We. Want to thank you for joining us
26:38
on this deep dive into reformed thinking.
26:40
We wish you clarity as you process these concepts, and we
26:43
hope you find great delight in the text of Scripture.