A Deeper Knowing
A few days ago I had mentioned my favorite ancient story, the one about a guy named Jacob. The text I shared was how Jacob awakened to the Divine who had been present the entire time, but Jacob was simply not “aware” of it. Which brings me to my absolute favorite Hebrew word.
The Hebrew Scriptures, aka the Old Testament, were originally written in the Hebrew language. Shocking, I know. I joke, but to get our English version we have to translate the Hebrew, which means the text also needs to be interpreted. And when one explores the depth and pliability of the Hebrew language, you find that you have to pick one of several definition choices. There is a depth in excavating the wider and deeper meaning of specific words, which can lead to an awakening experience, like Jacob, as the tuning fork of the soul vibrates from being struck.
Now, the Hebrew word behind “aware” is yada`. This is most often translated into English as “know.” But when westerners read or hear “know,” we tend to equate it with an intellectual grasping. But this Hebrew word carries a very specific kind of knowing. It is an experiential knowing. It is to move beyond hearing with the ears or intellectually agreeing with something stated.
Ah, maybe it will help to know that yada` is also a Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse. Exactly. It is deeply intimate. This is a holistic experience in which souls intermingle and then echo throughout the body.
So when Jacob says that the Divine has been present the entire time and he just wasn’t aware of it, he is acknowledging how he, until this moment, did not have an experiential knowing of the Divine. He may have had an intellectual knowing, one in which he earned the candy bar or got the good grade by memorizing the proper answers, but he didn’t have a soul knowing.
Let’s keep unpacking this.
As a kid, I was the super annoying Sunday school participant. My childhood church was rigid, hell threatening, and hell bent on teaching people all the right things to believe. We were taught how to give the right answers to the right questions. But I was the kid who had a hundred questions, because having the right answers just didn’t provide me with soul satisfaction. I was constantly told that I was too sensitive, I had too many feelings, or according to my step-dad, I was a simply a sissy.
Both my Sunday school teacher and the elder who was assigned to oversee the kids ministry, let me know very clearly that I asked too many questions. They were not mean to me, they just didn’t know what to do with… all. the. questions. So I was instructed time and again to just memorize the verse, learn the correct answer, and inquire further when I got older. Your kid feelings are in the way Wally. The important thing is believing the right answers and doctrines, which was really about intellectually agreeing with them.
But the invitation is much deeper, more intimate, and far more life transforming and guiding. Let’s look at yada` through another passage, an ancient wisdom song, Psalm 25:4. I’ll provide three different translations, the popular English Standard Version, the contemporary VOICE translation, and then the Passion translation, which intends to translate the original languages of the Bible with the purpose of a heart-level knowing. The goal of this last translation is to bring the reader into an experience of the text, which I find fascinating… and helpful.
The ESV translation, “Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths.”
The VOICE translation, “DEMONSTRATE Your ways, O Eternal One. Teach me to understand so I can follow.”
The Passion Translation, “LORD, direct me throughout my journey so I can experience your plans for my life.”
“Know.” “Understand.” “Experience.” The word behind each of them is yada`. I hope you can see that it is not bullet point knowing, intellectually memorizing, or a spiritual google map to get one to heaven kind of knowing. It’s under the skin, in the blood, wrapped around the bones and salsa dancing in the soul kind of knowing.
Which is what I anticipate during Advent season. Christmas is about incarnation. And incarnation comes through giving birth, which is sweaty and bloody and messy and wildly intimate. I’ll leave the pain talk for the women who have actually given that kind of birth, thank you.
I could write about yada` until my fingers fall off or I until type a hole in my keyboard. Because it has changed everything for me. It has changed everything in me.
And my hope is that you have that kind of Advent experience as well.
