Words of Hope

A Word Study on the Biblical Word "Hope"

Study #39 - An Eternal Hope

We are continuing to look at the three passages of Scripture in which the Hebrew words "hasa" and "mahseh" are translated by the English word "hope".  Each of these passages reflect the root idea of these Hebrew words as describing the believer's hope in God as a Shelter in times of difficulty or danger.  In Jeremiah 17:17 we found that the Lord is the believer's Sheltering Hope in the day of distress.  For Jeremiah this was a day of persecution for faithfully preaching the word of the Lord. He found the Lord to be a Safe Retreat amidst the evil times in which he lived and ministered.  In Proverbs 14:32 we find that the Lord is a Sheltering Hope in the believer's day of death:  "The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope (hasa) in his death."  Literally the idea is that the righteous finds a shelter or refuge when he dies; that is, he is kept safe in the day of his death.  This is in stark contrast to what Matthew Henry called "the desperate condition of a wicked man when he goes out of the world."  Henry comments:  "... he is driven away in his wickedness, dies in his sins, under the guilt and power of them, unjustified, unsanctified.  His wickedness is the storm in which he is hurried away, as chaff before the wind, chased out of the world" (emphasis mine).  The wicked man has no shelter in which to hide his soul - he cannot escape death nor its eternal consequences!  He is without hope because he is without God.  But the believer who has been declared righteous by God has hope even in the face of death!  But in what ways is the righteous person sheltered from death?  Certainly at times God may shelter us from the fact of death, even when it seems impending or imminent.  We are no doubt protected by His Providence from an untimely death more often than we are aware.  There are a lot of ways to die in this fallen world, and it is only the grace and goodness of God that keeps us alive every moment of our lifetime. And yet we know that we too will one day have to face the fact of death.  We have a divine appointment or reservation with death that we will not escape, nor postpone (Hebrews 9:27).  And yet, despite the fact of death, the believer has hope in his death, for God shelters us from the fear of death.  Knowing that our day of death is in God's hands, we need not fear the approach of death.  Our day will come when and how God has determined for us and not a moment before!  To be freed from the fear of death is a great gift that shelters us from anxiety and liberates us to live our lives to the glory of God for as long as He gives us breath.  This is an emancipation secured for us through the victory of Christ over the power of death (Hebrews 2:14,15).  Peter Marshall, in his sermon entitled "Go Down Death" (a sermon well worth reading if you can find it) wrote:  "It is only when we do know Him that we are not afraid, for there is nothing to fear. Only when one is no longer afraid to die is one no longer afraid at all.  And only when we are no longer afraid, do we begin to live ... in every experience, painful or joyous in gratitude for every moment to live abundantly .... If you are afraid of death, then you are afraid of life. Only when you have something to die for, have you something to live for."  But there is more than this to the believer's hope in death.  God shelters us from the final penalty of death.  It is not the fact of death (when or how it will come) that is most to be feared, but the final outcome or aftermath of death.  The righteous soul is sheltered from eternal condemnation and is kept safe in the Eternal Presence of God.  Our hope is an eternal hope that extends beyond death!  It is the confident assurance that we love God and He loves us that casts out all fear of death and condemnation (I John 4:17-19).  But are we reading too much into this verse from the book of Proverbs?  Delitzsch doesn't think so, for he comments on this passage:  "The godless in his calamity is overthrown, or he fears in the evils which befall him the intimations of the final ruin; on the contrary, the righteous in his death, even in the midst of extremity, is comforted, viz. in God in whom he confides ... Yet though there was no such revelation then, still the pious in death put their confidence in Jahve, the God of life and of salvation ... and believing that they were going home to Him, committing their spirit into His hands (Ps. 31:5), they fell asleep, though without any explicit knowledge, yet not without the hope of eternal life" (emphasis mine).  Yes, the righteous man has hope in the day of death, for he knows that he will be transported into the Presence of God and will be forever safe in that "Haven of rest".  Again we turn to the words of Peter Marshall:  "And death when it comes, will come to you as a welcome friend, sent to usher you into the glorious life that awaits you just around the bend of the road ... But what will you do, if you don't know Jesus?"

Words of Hope

A Word Study on the Biblical Word "Hope"

Study #38 - A Shelter of Hope

Last time we introduced the Hebrew words "hasa" and "mahseh" as expressing the idea of "hope" under the image of "seeking for refuge" or "finding shelter" in a time of distress or danger.  This concept of the believer's hope in God as his Refuge is well expressed by the prophet Isaiah:  "For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge (mahseh) from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against a wall" (Isaiah 25:4).  The picture is that of God's protection of His people from the oppression of their enemies.  Several figures are employed in this picture:  The "terrible ones" (oppressive enemies) are portrayed as a sweltering heat and a violent storm raging against the people of God.  God's people are portrayed as "poor" and "needy" and under great "distress".  And God is portrayed as the Strength (literally Stronghold or Fortress), Refuge (Sheltering Hope), and Shadow (Comforting Shade) of His people.  Delitzsch provides a stirring commentary:  "Jehovah had proved Himself a strong castle ... a shelter from storm and a shade from heat ... so that the blast of the tyrants ... was like ... a storm striking against a wall ... sounding against it and bursting upon it without being able to wash it away ... because it was the wall of a strong castle, and this strong castle was Jehovah Himself."  Edward Young carries the thought further:  "... in this crisis God has shown Himself in very truth to be a place in which the poor, namely, God's own afflicted people, might find refuge.  The thought is not merely that the poor find God a place of refuge, but that, when they are afflicted, God is a refuge to them.  It is one thing to utter generalities about a god helping the needy; it is something entirely different when the needy, at the time of crisis, find a true hiding place in their God ... When His people are in need, then He is present with His aid" (emphasis mine).  God is truly our "Shelter in the time of storm"!  As we noted in our last post, there are three passages in the King James Version of the English Bible in which the words "hasa" and "mahseh" are translated by the word "hope".  In keeping with the root idea of these words, all three passages speak of God's people finding shelter and refuge in God during times of distress and possible danger.  There are three crisis times in a believer's life when God alone must become our Shelter of Hope:  1) In the day of distress (evil) - Jeremiah 17:17;  2) In the day of our death - Proverbs 14:32; and 3) In the day of decision (the Day of the LORD) - Joel 3:14.  God is our Shelter of Hope in days of distress.  Jeremiah was a persecuted prophet of the LORD.  He had faithfully proclaimed God's Word as it was revealed unto him.  And yet his own people hated him for it!  He was mocked, ridiculed, accused of lying, and eventually put in a dungeon for his despised message of coming judgment.  It was truly an "evil day" in which Jeremiah lived and preached!  He had prophesied of a "woeful day" that was coming upon the nation of Israel.  He had not chosen that message of his own will, nor did he desire for that terrible time to come upon his nation.  The message was hard but he had not run away from his responsibility of following God as a shepherd to his people, nor had he failed to preach what was right in the sight of God  (Jeremiah 17:15,16).  It is in this context that Jeremiah cries out to God:  "Be not a terror unto me: thou art my hope (mahseh) in the day of evil" (Jeremiah 17:17).  Jeremiah had good reason to be afraid, humanly speaking.  He was being terrorized by those who opposed his message.  But in God he would find not a source of terror (fear, dismay, confusion), but a Shelter of Hope!  God would protect him, shield him, hide him and save him not only from the evil day of persecution he was then facing, but from the day of calamity and judgment that was to come.  In that day his persecutors would be confounded and dismayed, but not the man of God.  He would be kept safe in the day of evil and destruction (Jeremiah 17:14,18).  And so may all who trust in the Lord find Him to be a Shelter of Hope in all their days of distress, both present and future.  "The Lord's our Rock, in Him we hide, A shelter in the time of storm;  Secure whatever ill betide, A shelter in the time of storm.  A shade by day, defense by night, A shelter in the time of storm; No fears alarm, no foes affright, A shelter in the time of storm.  The raging storms may round us beat, A shelter in the time of storm; We'll never leave our safe retreat, A shelter in the time of storm" (V. J. Charlesworth).

Words of Hope

A Word Study on the Biblical Word "Hope"

Study #37 - A Refuge of Hope

We are now coming to the last of the Hebrew synonyms for "hope" found in the Old Testament, the verb "hasa" and its noun derivative "mahseh" (Strong's # 2620,4268; Wordbook #700).  Gesenius in his Hebrew Lexicon states that the word "hasa" properly means "to flee ... especially to take refuge, to flee somewhere for refuge ... hence to trust someone, especially in God" (emphasis mine).  Both Strong's Concordance and The Theological Wordbook compare "hasa" with our previous synonym "batah" by stating that "hasa" expresses "more precipitate action", that is, both express the idea of seeking for protection and safety but "hasa" is the stronger term denoting a greater sense of urgency and danger.  The Wordbook notes that "'To seek refuge' stresses the insecurity and self-helplessness of even the strongest of men" (emphasis mine). Thus this word is used in various contexts of men in desperate situations:  of seeking shelter in times of battle, of fugitives in exile, of those caught outside in storms, and even of criminals fleeing into the Temple to escape revenge.  There are two names found in the Old Testament based on these words:  Hosah (meaning a refuge) - I Chronicles 16:38; 26:10 (a Levite); Joshua 19:29 (a town); and Maaseiah (meaning the LORD is a Refuge) - Jeremiah 32:12; 51:59 (a relative of an official in Jerusalem).  Like the previous synonym "batah", "hasa" may also be translated by the word "trust" (See Psalm 2:12; 5:11; 7:1; 25:20; 31:1; 37:40; etc.).  In fact it is translated in the King James Version as "trust" some 34 times (that I could find), but as "hope" only three times. We sometimes find this word translated in its more literal sense of seeking for or of finding a physical refuge or shelter.  For example:  

Job 24:8 - "They (the oppressed) are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter."

Psalm 104:18 - "The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks for the conies."

And this concept is naturally carried over to the idea of the believer finding spiritual shelter and refuge in God:

Psalm 57:1 - "Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast."  According to the title of this Psalm, David composed these words when he was forced to hide from Saul in a cave.  The cave afforded him some physical protection and refuge from the elements and from his enemy, but the LORD was the true Source of his protection and safety.  This is a favorite theme in the Psalms:

God is the believer's Refuge (Psalm 14:6; 46:1; 62:8; 91:9); Shelter (Psalm 61:3); and Fortress (Psalm 91:2).  With this root idea in mind of "finding refuge in times of trouble" we may now take a look at the few verses where this word is translated as "hope" in the King James Version:

Proverbs 14:32 - "The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death."

Jeremiah 17:17 - "Be not a terror unto me: thou art my hope in the day of evil."

Joel 3:16 - "The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel."

We will attempt to consider the contexts and implications of these three passages in our next post, but for now we will simply note that the Lord is the Refuge of His people in all times of danger and distress.  To Him we may safely flee and find Him to be a Safe Retreat - A Refuge of Hope!

Words of Hope

A Word Study on the Biblical Word "Hope"

Study #36 - A Sure Hope

This is our last study on the Hebrew synonym "batah" which is used to express that "hope" which results in a sense of well-being, safety, and security.  This word and its derivatives are often used to express a calm feeling of confidence that results from the absence of all fear and danger. Isaiah wrote: "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust (batah), and not be afraid ..." (Isaiah 12:2).  Zophar told Job, "...thou shalt take thy rest in safety (betah). Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid ..." (Job 11:18b-19a).  Israel was promised by God that if they would keep His commandments then "... ye shall dwell in the land in safety. And the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety" (Leviticus 25:18,19).  In both places the word "safety" is the Hebrew word "betah".  This was a promise made over and over to Israel but was forfeited by them through unbelief and disobedience. This is the theme of many of our Christian hymns as well.  Elisha Hoffman wrote in the hymn "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" the familiar words:  "What have I to dread, what have I to fear, leaning on the everlasting arms! I have blessed peace with my Lord so near, leaning on the everlasting arms!  Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms ..."  But unfortunately the unbeliever often seems to dwell in a false sense of hope and security not realizing that his soul is in eternal danger!  And so this word is also used of those who live without care or caution even though danger may be all around them.  Gesenius notes that "batah" is used "in a bad sense, of men who set all their hope and confidence in worldly things, and do not fear God and the Divine displeasure."  Proverbs 14:16 says, "A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident" (batah).  One of the reasons the armies of Israel were able to conquer certain cities so easily was because the inhabitants were living in a sense of false security (see for example Judges 18:7, 10, 27).  Isaiah warned the women of his time that their feelings of safety and attitude of carelessness would be overthrown by God's judgment upon the land (see Isaiah 32:9-11).  And so, as we noted in the last post, our feelings of security and well-being are only valid when there is a good reason and foundation for them.  Our last passage brings out this concept very clearly:  "Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth (betah) in man, and maketh flesh his arm (source of strength), and whose heart departeth from the LORD. For he shall be like the heath (shrub) in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusteth (betah) in the LORD, and whose hope (mibtah) the LORD is.  For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful (anxious) in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit" (Jeremiah 17:5-7).  "Mibtah" translated as "hope" in this passage is a derivative of "betah" and bears the same meaning of confidence and security.  There is a clear difference between the two types of individuals described here.  One bases his sense of hope and security in man, whether himself or others; the other bases his sense of hope and security in the LORD.  The one ends up spiritually destitute (living like a desert shrub); the other flourishes, grows and bears fruit.  The one is full of trouble and care; the other is freed from anxiety and fear.  All of this is set in the context of the deceitfulness and wickedness of the heart of man.  Why should we trust our own heart when it is so inherently evil?  As J.S. Baxter wrote:  "The heart of man's problem is the problem of man's heart"!  The only sure hope and true sense of security and safety is found in trusting the LORD.  That is a hope that can carry us safely through this world and into eternity without any fear of death or condemnation.  In the LORD alone the believer dwells secure.