A Biblical Hebrew Take on Marriage

There’s a Biblical English figure of speech related to marriage that I used to think was odd and confusing. This expression, “to take to wife”, appears regularly throughout the King James Version of the Old Testament. One reason the phrase sounds so foreign to English-speakers is because it’s a literal word-for-word translation of the Biblical Hebrew phrase לקחת לאישה (lah-KAH-khat leh-ee-SHAH). In modern English, the most common expression we’d use now for “to take to wife” is “to marry”. Here are just a few of many examples of the archaic phrasing that can be found in the Old Testament:

And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. (Exodus 2:1)

“When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken.” (Deuteronomy 24:5)

At first glance, the wording “to take to wife” can appear chauvinistic and demeaning since the act of taking something or someone implies the use of force, reducing the one being taken to the status of a subject (at best) or an object (at worst). On closer examination, though, it turns out that this idiom is anything but sexist. At the center of this phrase is the Hebrew verb לָקַחַת (lah-KAH-khat), which has various meanings, depending on the context. The most common translations are “to take, grasp, or seize”, but it also means “to receive” – the more accurate translation as it relates to marriage. So an alternate reading of the Biblical idiom “to take to wife” is “to receive to wife”.

Two parallel scriptural passages that detail the same event – the Lord “taking/receiving” the City of Enoch to Himself – demonstrate the interchangeability of these seemingly incompatible meanings. The first reference is from the Doctrine and Covenants, while the second is from the Book of Moses:

“I am the same which have taken the Zion of Enoch into mine own bosom; and verily, I say, even as many as have believed in my name, for I am Christ, and in mine own name, by the virtue of the blood which I have spilt, have I pleaded before the Father for them.” (D.C. 38:4, emphasis added)

“Enoch and all his people walked with God, and he dwelt in the midst of Zion; and it came to pass that Zion was not, for God received it up into his own bosom; and from thence went forth the saying, Zion is Fled.” (Moses 7:69, emphasis added)

The more accurate English rendering of this Hebrew-language idiom as "to receive to wife" affirms that both womanhood and marriage were highly respected and considered sacred by the ancient Israelites and in Patriarchal Era family groups. Receiving someone into an association or relationship signified honor, love, respect, and acceptance. For example, the Lord, as the Spiritual Bridegroom of the faithful who love Him, receives His spiritually begotten sons and daughters with honor into a closer association with Himself.

“And the Father and I are one. I am in the Father and the Father in me; and inasmuch as ye have received me, ye are in me and I in you.” (Doctrine and Covenants 50:43)

We receive Him in covenant, and He in turn receives us into an eventual full association in fulfillment of that same covenant.

Applying this idea back to marriage, I now read Old Testament passages that include the phrasing “took to wife” in a very different light. By receiving one another in covenant, both husband and wife pledge their best efforts and best selves to nurturing their relationship. By the same token, it follows that they also receive each another at marriage, faults and deficiencies included, with an implied commitment to help one another overcome them. “Receiving to wife/husband” in this sense might be one of the best gifts spouses can give each other.

The Mind vs. the Heart: A Biblical Hebrew Perspective

And he said unto them, “Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.”

Deuteronomy 32:46

One of the things I love most about studying linguistics is learning how East vs. West cultural and world-view differences often surface in language.

For example, in Western thinking it’s the mind that’s most often referenced in literature as the controlling agent of human thought, desires, and behavior. On the other hand, in Middle Eastern culture and language it’s primarily the heart that takes on these duties. This becomes especially evident in the use of adverbs and in certain figures of speech. In Romance (Latin origin) languages, variations of the Latin word for “mind” (mens) are regularly attached to the end of adjectives in order to create adverbs that end in -ly in English. I’ve highlighted the suffixed variations of mens in the following Romance language translations for happily:

French – heureusement

Italian – felicemente

Spanish and Portuguese – felizmente

These Latin-based words literally mean “happy minded” or “of a happy mind”. Other examples of adverbs in Spanish that follow this same formula of adjective + variant of mens (mente) = adverb include:

lentamente = slowly, or literally “of a slow mind” or “slow-minded”

completamente = completely, or lit. “complete-minded”

lógicamente = logically, or lit. “of a logical mind”

In contrast, Hebrew adverbs are built much more often around the word “heart” (לֵב lev) than the word for "mind" (נֶפֶשׁ NEH-fesh). Here are some common examples:

בְּחֵפֶץ לֵב be-KHE-fetz lev – willingly, or lit. “with a desiring heart”

בְּתוֹם לֵב be-TOHM lev – in good faith, lit. “with a complete, perfect heart”

When discussing matters of the heart in Hebrew and other Semitic languages, it's rarely associated with romantic interest, which is more of a Western cultural-linguistic association. As seen in the examples I provided above, in Hebrew the heart is most often linked to the human will, motives, desires, thoughts, and mental attention or focus – the core of what influences our behavior(s). So when Biblical Hebrew writers used the word heart, it was rarely linked to emotions.

Here's an example that helps underline this point. The following is a common phrase in both Biblical and Modern Hebrew that literally means “to set or place one’s heart on (something or someone)”, but its figurative, practical meaning is “to focus intently on, to regard, or to pay close attention to.”

…לְ לָשִׂים לֵב (lah-SEEM lev leh…)

One of many examples of this saying that appear in the Old Testament can be found in Exodus 9:21. In the original Hebrew, this passage literally reads "And he that placed not his heart on...", but as you'll see below, this idiomatic phrase was translated here into the common meaning "regarded not".

And he that regarded not (שָׂם לִבּוֹ לֹא loh sahm lee-BOH) the word of the Lord left his servants and his cattle in the field.

Again, this metaphorical use of the word "heart" has little to do with emotional attachment or love; instead it centers on the mind, and mental and spiritual exertions of will. In the verse from Deuteronomy that I included at the top of this post, the Hebrew meaning of “set your hearts” is to focus unwaveringly on and to pay close attention “unto all the words which I testify among you this day.” One of the few exceptions to this rule of disconnection between emotion/affection(s) and the Hebrew-based figure of speech “to place, set one’s heart on” (lah-SEEM lev leh…) appears in the Book of Mormon. 

Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever. (Alma 37:36, emphasis added)

Here the figure of speech still works, though, since the prophet-writer is communicating the idea that our affections or love should always be focused on the Lord. In other places where this metaphor appears in the Book of Mormon, and throughout the Old Testament for that matter, it’s usually associated with the spiritual danger of focusing our attention inappropriately on material wealth. I’ve listed several examples below.

Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your heart (i.e., don’t focus inordinately) upon them. (Psalms 62:10) 

And thus, in their prosperous circumstances, they did not send away any who were naked, or that were hungry, or that were athirst, or that were sick, or that had not been nourished; and they did not set their hearts upon riches; therefore they were liberal to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, whether out of the church or in the church, having no respect to persons as to those who stood in need. (Alma 1:30)

(Also see Mosiah 12:29, Alma 5:53, Alma 7:6, Helaman 7:21, and Helaman 12:4.)

My final illustration of the Hebrew usage of  the heart as a fountain of rational thought, knowledge and wisdom appears in Exodus 36:2. The English translation reads:

And Moses called Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man (אִישׁ חֲכַם-לֵב ish khah-KHAHM lev), in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it.

So evidently it's not just the mind (brain) that acts as the repository of rational thought or intelligence, unless the Lord is only speaking metaphorically in these types of passages. On the other hand, if this verse and others like it are to be taken literally, this may be a case of science finally catching up with spiritual and scriptural truth. Some recent heart function studies now indicate that not only does the brain send neural and chemical transmissions to the heart, but the opposite is also true - the heart communicates with the brain and directly influences its activities by these same means. See the link below for an interesting read on this topic.

Let Your Heart Talk to Your Mind

Living Waters

This post has to do with both Hebraisms in modern scripture and Hebrew language metaphors that Christ used to teach gospel doctrines during His ministry. As with parables, the reason these metaphors were (and still are) so effective as teaching tools is that spiritual truths can be packaged symbolically in common elements of our daily experience. 

One of these metaphors is fresh water. Hebrew uses two main phrases for the term “fresh (as opposed to salt) water”. The first phrase is the contemporary Hebrew expression, while the second is the Biblical term.

מתוקים מים (MY-eem meh-too-KEEM) – Literally, “sweet waters”

חיים מים (MY-eem KHY-eem) – Literally, “living waters”

(Notice that both Hebrew phrases use the pluralized form “waters” to describe a body or source of water. The singular form מי, pronounced mey, is the Hebrew word for water as an element or in other generic references.)

In Jeremiah 2:13 we find one example of this older Hebrew term for “fresh water”:

“For my people have committed two evils ; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” (Emphasis added)

  כִּי-שְׁתַּיִם רָעוֹת, עָשָׂה עַמִּי:אֹתִי עָזְבוּ מְקוֹר מַיִם חַיִּים, לַחְצֹב לָהֶם בֹּארוֹת, בֹּארֹת נִשְׁבָּרִים, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-יָכִלוּ הַמָּיִם.

In the scriptures, Christ’s words and doctrines are often associated with “living” or fresh water, an analogy that would have resonated strongly with the people Christ taught in the Middle East since fresh water was (and still is) a valued commodity in that mostly arid region. Ironically, the Holy Land is surrounded by, or has within its borders, many large bodies of water (the Mediterranean Sea, the Dead Sea, the Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba, etc.), but all of them are briny except for one – the Sea of Galilee. I think it’s interesting that this unique, immense source of fresh (“living”) water is located in the region where the Savior was raised and began His early ministry. The connection may be a simple coincidence, but we find many links between the Lord’s life, His pure doctrines and references to fresh water in the scriptures. Just as daily fluid intake is essential to our physical survival, the “living waters” of Christ’s doctrinal teachings and His love, represented by “the fountain of living (fresh) waters” in Lehi’s dream (see 1 Nephi 11:25), sustain us spiritually day after day.

Sea of Galilee

With the exception of the Sea of Galilee, all other fresh water in the region had to be extracted from wells or the river networks that flow within the borders of Israel. In John, chapter 4 we read about Christ’s instructive encounter with the woman of Samaria at a well. Verses 10-14 read:

“Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

How appropriate that the Source of spiritual living water taught these doctrines while sitting by a well!

To further expand the analogy, the Lord often references “bitter fountains” in His teachings given through Biblical prophets and His apostles. A “bitter fountain (spring, source of water)” was one that had brackish (salt) water seeping into it, contaminating what was previously fresh (“living”) water and effectively rendering it harmful and useless. The invasive salt water can represent false or tainted teachings and practices that infiltrate and contaminate the pure, living doctrines of Christ. (See Exodus 15:23-25 and James 3:11.)

This metaphor was also used by Book of Mormon prophet-writers and later by Christ in revelations given through Joseph Smith. Not only has the Lord continued using this reference for instructional purposes, but it’s noteworthy that He also uses the pluralized Semitic-origin term “living waters” and “waters of life” (instead of the singular “living water”), providing yet another example of Hebraisms that can be found in the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants. (See Alma 5:34, Alma 42:27, and Doctrine and Covenants 10:66 as examples.)

“Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?”

The Galilean town of Nazareth (circa 1900 A.D.) 

Although this post has more to do with historical irony than it does Biblical Hebrew, I’ll do my best to weave some useful linguistic information into the story as I go along.

The starting point for this discussion is the origin of the name for the Galilean town of Nazareth (נצרת nah-tzeh-RAHT), the place where Jesus spent almost all his childhood and most of his adult years. Its origin can’t be nailed down with any certainty, but the name seems to stem from a Hebrew word for “offshoot, offspring, shoot, sprig, sprout” (נֵצֶר neh-TZEHR), a term that may be related to the numerous olive groves planted in the surrounding areas. New branches and shoots that sprout out of a tree’s older limbs and exposed roots extend the life of the tree in cases where the main trunk has died off or has become unproductive. When these shoots are grafted into other olive trees, they can enhance the productivity of the host tree and improve the quality of its fruit. 

Here’s where the historical irony begins.

Based on what we know of Nazareth at the time of Christ’s birth, the ancient town would have been considered an unlikely and even unfitting place for the Son of God to be raised and begin His ministry. More than one scriptural passage from the New Testament hints that the Galilean town was probably regarded with some degree of contempt at the time of Christ. When Phillip reported back to his friend Nathaniel that he had found the long-awaited Messiah, the latter dismissed Philip’s invitation to “come and see” with the geographic jibe, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” In contrast, the Lord unconditionally embraced his personal connection to the town as demonstrated by the following: (1) in mortality He answered to the name "Jesus of Nazareth" (see John 18:5), (2) He referred to himself on at least one occasion following his resurrection by that same title (Acts 22:8), and (3) He apparently never discouraged his apostles from referring to him by the name (Acts 2:22, 4:10, and 10:38).

But the irony gets even better.

The modern and Early Christian Era Hebrew terms for “Christianity” and “Christian” are respectively nahtz-ROOT (נַצְרוּת) and nohtz-REE (נוֹצְרִי). For obvious reasons these words don’t directly reference Jesus’ name or his titles of Christ or Messiah, as happens in other languages; instead the Hebrew translation of Christianity is something akin to “Nazarinity”, with Christians being referred to as Nazarenes. It appears that there were tactical reasons behind this practice since Roman political leaders and the Jewish hierarchy both had something to gain by linking the budding Christian faith and Jesus’ followers to what was generally considered an insignificant, backwoods town. For example, during the Apostle Paul’s hearing for sedition in front of the Roman governor Felix, the High Priest Ananias’ spokesman refers to Christianity as “the sect of the Nazarenes” instead of the sect or religion of Jesus (Acts 24:1-5).

A rural road leading into present-day Nazareth

But the core meaning of the Hebrew terms for Christianity and Christian seems to have shifted over the centuries. The present-day usage of nahtz-ROOT and nohtz-REE focuses more on the linguistic relationship in Hebrew between the noun for “sprout, branch, shoot” and the Jewish view that Christianity is merely an off-shoot religion that grew out the living trunk of Judaism. So in Modern Hebrew, Christianity might be better translated something closer to “branching-off-ity” than “Nazarinity”.

The amazing thing is that Biblical prophecy addresses both of these meanings. 

If the term nahtz-ROOT was originally meant to emphasize Christianity’s link to the otherwise unremarkable rural town, the linguistic association has only worked to further validate Nazareth’s long-foreseen and honored place as the predicted hometown of the Messiah.

“And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.”

(Matthew 2:23, emphasis added)

If, on the other hand, the Hebrew terms for Christianity and Christian are meant to underline the “off-shoot” religion’s subordinate relationship to the "father trunk" of Judaism, this meaning also fulfills Biblical prophecy.

 וְיָצָא חֹטֶר, מִגֵּזַע יִשָׁי; וְנֵצֶר, מִשָּׁרָשָׁיו יִפְרֶה.

"And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch (neht-ZEHR נֵצֶר) shall grow out of his roots.”

(Isaiah 11:1, emphasis added)  

From the Christian perspective, Christ Himself was the prophesied-of Branch that came directly out of the ancestral roots of the House of Judah. (Please see the caption that describes the photo below.)

Off-shoots (nahtz-REEM) growing out of the roots of an older olive tree

A Linguistic Connection Between Power and Temples

Sometimes during my lunch breaks at work I pull out my set of Biblical Hebrew flashcards. I like to review key words that tend to resurface throughout the Old Testament, and one of those I came across a few weeks ago was the word for temple, hey-KHAL (הֵיכָל). The great thing about this and many other words in Biblical Hebrew is that often you’ll find common consonant combinations that reveal associated meanings.

In the case of hey-KHAL (הֵיכָל), we see the three letter root yod-khaf-lamed ( ל+ כ + ׳). This root appears is many words related to the idea of power and ability, including the noun יְכוֹלֶת (yeh-KHOH-leht), which signifies “power, ability, capability, capacity, competence, possibility” and the verb לִיכוֹל (lee-KHOHL), which means “to be able to, capable of, possess power to”. Lastly, the Hebrew term for “almighty” or “omnipotent” is kohl yah-KHOHL (כֹּל יָכוֹל), literally translating to “all-powerful, all-capable”.

After reviewing this word, I thought about how temples have been a focal point in God’s relationship to mankind over the centuries, and that whenever the Lord has established His covenant relationship with people in various times and places throughout history, He has always commanded them to build temples. One of the Lord’s key promises as part of this covenant relationship is that He will manifest His presence and power in temples as long as His people live worthy of these blessings.

The temple-power connection resurfaces throughout the scriptures, especially when temples are dedicated. The first example we have is related to the tabernacle that Jehovah commanded Moses and the people of Israel to build while in the wilderness. Shortly after the tent and all its contents were consecrated and dedicated to the Lord, He demonstrated His power in various ways to the wandering Israelites.

“And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up the cloud covered the tabernacle, namely, the tent of the testimony: and at even there was upon the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until the morning. So it was always: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.”

Numbers 9:15-16

Later, at the dedication of the Temple of Solomon, Jehovah again showed His acceptance of the structure and the sacrifices made by His people to build a House of God through manifestations of His power.

“Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the house. And the priests could not enter into the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house. And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth forever.” 

2 Chronicles 7:1-3

The last example comes from the prayer given to the Prophet Joseph Smith by revelation prior to the dedication of the Kirtland (Ohio) Temple, the first temple constructed during the “dispensation of the fullness of times” (see Ephesians 1:10). This prayer was first read publicly at the initial dedicatory session on March 27, 1836. The brief except I’ve included below references the temple-power connection in several places.

“And that all people who shall enter upon the threshold of the Lord’s house may feel thy power, and feel constrained to acknowledge that thou hast sanctified it, and that it is thy house, a place of thy holiness. And we ask thee, Holy Father, that thy servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power, and that thy name may be upon them, and thy glory be round about them, and thine angels have charge over them.”

 Doctrine and Covenants 109:13, 22

Later that evening, during a priesthood session that took place inside the temple, various demonstrations of Divine power were poured out on the church members. The Prophet Joseph described them in this way:

“A noise was heard like the sound of a rushing mighty wind, which filled the Temple, and all the congregation simultaneously arose, being moved upon by an invisible power; many began to speak in tongues and prophesy; others saw glorious visions; and I beheld the Temple was filled with angels, which fact I declared to the congregation. The people of the neighborhood came running together (hearing an unusual sound within, and seeing a bright light like a pillar of fire resting upon the Temple), and were astonished at what was taking place. This continued until the meeting closed at eleven P.M.”

History of the Church, 2:428

The personal take-away for me is that I'm reminded each time I attend our modern-day temples that I and every other person who is there can have access to God's power (according to our desires) in overcoming challenges and unholy influences in the world.

Amen

Before commenting on some of the varied meanings of the Hebrew word amen, I’ll write briefly about why the language has so many nouns and verbs that carry an unusually high number of multiple meanings. Compared to other languages, especially modern ones, Biblical Hebrew includes a relatively small total vocabulary. For example, The Second Edition of the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary lists 171,476 words in current use[i]. On the other side of the spectrum, Biblical Hebrew only has about 8,000. Because the Old Testament Hebrew vocabulary set is so limited, a comparatively high number of meanings are assigned to each word. This makes the language both easy and difficult to learn. Easy, because there are fewer total words to memorize in order to become fluent in the language, and hard, because it requires more time and research to learn the full scope of each word’s possible related meanings. 

When I first started studying Hebrew, it was both exciting and daunting to learn that many nouns and verbs represent five or more ideas. Take the well-known word shalom, for example. Most Westerners are only familiar with one primary meaning, that of “peace”, but shalom actually carries at least nine distinct meanings, including: peace, safety, tranquility, completeness, comfort, wholeness, well-being, hello, and goodbye.

So, what does this have to do with amen? It's another example of a Biblical Hebrew word that takes on various related meanings. Church and synagogue goers everywhere are very familiar with its two main scripture-based meanings, but its last two have added depth to my personal worship as I've learned more about their origins. 

First we’ll start with the primary meaning of amen as expressed today. It operates as a voiced agreement with a prayer, talk, or testimony and means “true”, “surely (it is so)”, or “may it be so.” This Hebrew word gets its principle meaning from neh-eh-MAHN נֶאֱמָן, which signifies “true” and “faithful”. We see the same three-letter root אמן (A-M-N א-מ-ן) from amen and neh-eh-MAHN appear in other Biblical Hebrew words and phrases that also include references to the idea of "truth". The word ahm-NAHM (אָמְנָם) from 2 Kings 19:17 is an example. It signifies "indeed" or "of a truth".

Amen is similarly anchored in the principle Hebrew word for “truth”, eh-MEHT אֶמֶת. Underlining this point, the common modern-Hebrew phrase beh eh-MEHT בֶּאֱמֶת means “Really?” or “Are you serious?”, although it's literally translated as “In truth?” As a matter of fact, the word amen is so rooted to the idea of “truth” in Hebrew that the Savior Himself is referred to as The Amen in Revelation 3:14. In this verse notice how the Lord uses the words faithful, true, and witness, which are all directly linked in meaning to the word amen, immediately after referring to Himself as "The Amen".

“And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God…”

The self-application of the word amen as one of His Divine titles makes sense seeing that He is “the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). 

The next usage of amen is as a sealing witness by a speaker at the end of a discourse or testimony. In this case, amen changes from being a statement of agreement coming from the hearer to being an affirmation by the speaker that what he or she has just said is accurate and true. In a sense, it functions like a New Testament “verily”, except that it comes at the end of a discourse instead of at the beginning, in effect sealing the individual’s words as a personal witness or testimony. This is the common usage we come across in the scriptures where the Savior or the Apostles are testifying of truth. Besides the examples I’ve given below from the Apostle John’s testimony and the writings of the New World prophet Nephi, see Alma 13:9, Helaman 12:23-26, Ether 5:1-6, and Doctrine and Covenants 81:1-7.

“Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.” (Revelation 1:7)

“And (1) I bear record that I saw the things which my father saw, and the angel of the Lord did make them known unto me. And now I make an end of speaking concerning the things which I saw while I was carried away in the Spirit; and if all the things which I saw are not written, (2) the things which I have written are true. (3) And thus it is. Amen.” (1 Nephi 14:29-30, emphasis added)

Nephi makes three prior testimonial statements here before capping his witness with the final affirmative amen.

There’s even more to amen when we take into account two verbs that stem from the same Hebrew root אמן (A-M-N). The third meaning comes from a verb that incorporates the concept of truth: leh-heh-eh-MEEN (לְהֶאֱמִין). It signifies “to believe”, “to trust”, and “to confide in”.  So when a listener says amen at the end of a prayer, testimony, or talk, it takes on the deeper expression of “I/we (actively) believe that what was said is true,” rather than just being a statement of passive agreement.

The last application of amen that I’ll reference here is the one that I like best, mainly because it's directly effected my personal prayer relationship with the Lord. I’ll explain what I mean by referring to another Hebrew verb that’s founded on the word amen and, again, is linked to the word “truth”. This form is the masculine, imperative (command) form of leh-ah-MEHN (לְאַמֵן), a verb that means “to teach, train, educate, tutor, coach, bring up/raise”. So, this command-form of ah-MEHN אמן, when stated at the end of a prayer, literally means, “Teach and train me (in the truth)”. It also carries an added indirect reference to our Father-child relationship with God since the verb also means to “raise” or “rear (a child)”.

This personalized amen at the end of my prayers reminds me that I need to pause and patiently wait for the Lord’s tutoring inspiration once I stop speaking, instead of rushing off to other tasks that are calling for my attention.

____________________________________________________________

[1] Oxford Dictionaries online

"To Hear is to Obey"

Shema Yisrael at the Knesset Menorah in Jerusalem

“And at the end of that time she said to Janshah, 'I wish to go with thee to thy mother land, where thou shalt marry me and we will abide there.' 'To hear is to obey,' answered he and took counsel with Shaykh Nasr who said to him, 'Go thou home, I commend her to thy care.'”

A Thousand and One Nights, The Story of Janshah (Volume 5, chapt. 74)

A few years back, at a time when my wife and I struggled daily to help our younger son, Kent, learn to follow instructions, I would often respond to his frequent misbehavior by putting him in timeout and reviewing his choices with him. On some of these occasions, especially those days when he had succeeded at wearing me down to the point I didn’t have the energy or will to creatively address his misbehavior, I would just repeat my default phrase “Kent, you need to learn to listen.” Eventually he caught hold the saying himself, and after a few seconds in timeout he would emphatically declare “I will listen!”

My wife and I know now as we knew then that Kent really didn’t have an issue with hearing or listening. In most cases, he had heard exactly what we had asked him to do (or not to do) - the problem was his failure to respond to our instructions.

It’s always interested me that in Biblical Hebrew the verbs “to listen/pay attention/hear” and “to obey” are one and the same: leesh-MOH-ah לִשְׁמוֹעַ. Not surprisingly, the same linkage exists in other regional, archaic languages. The following are some examples where I’ve listed the language followed by the single verb that expresses both “to hear” and “to obey”.

Persian – اطاعت کردن

Turkish – dinlemek

Armenian – հնազանդվել

Macedonian – слуша

The linguistic connection between hearing and obedience was so well understood in ancient Middle Eastern and Central Asian culture that for centuries the automatic response to a command was either “To hear is to obey” or "I hear, and I obey." This phrasing can be found throughout the famous compilation of Islamic Golden Age stories known as A Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights), as illustrated by the citation at the top of this post. The scriptures also point to this concept in various places. I’ll start with the Old Testament and finish with one example from the Book of Mormon.

In the Book of Genesis the connection hearing = obedience and vice versa is made as Jehovah speaks with Abraham:

“That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.” (Genesis 22:17-18) 

First line of "Shema" in Hebrew (Deut. 6:4)

Some of the best known examples of the verbal connection between hear and obey are from King David’s writings. Notice that each time the King of Judah says “hear,” he follows up with a request for the Lord to act upon or respond to (obey) his petition:

“Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.” (Psalms 4:1)

“Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer.” (Psalms 61:1)

My favorite example from the Book of Mormon is found in Mosiah 21:15.

“And now the Lord was slow to hear their cry because of their iniquities; nevertheless the Lord did hear their cries, and began to soften the hearts of the Lamanites that they began to ease their burdens; yet the Lord did not see fit to deliver them out of bondage.”

Obviously God isn’t slow to hear our petitions in the sense that there’s a time delay between when we say our prayers and when He hears them; He knows all things from the beginning, even our thoughts and words before we express them. The verse above uses the Semitic language meaning of “to hear” to communicate the idea that God was slow to respond to (obey) the cries of His people because of their prior failure to hear (obey) Him.