HEBREW WORD STUDY – MURMURING – LAVAN   לין 

Exodus 16:7: “And in the morning, then you shall see the glory of the Lord; for he that hears the murmurings against the Lord and what are we that you murmur against us?”

“You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because the thorns have roses.”  Ziggy

Sometimes we need to think through our complaints before we offer them to God.  I guess I have been doing my share of complaining to God because things are just not going the way I want them to go.  

I don’t often complain about the KJV but Exodus 16:7 is sort of a rough translation and it might be more easily understood if rendered this way: “And in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord when he hears your murmurings against the Lord.”

When we read of the “glory of the Lord” we find that it represents the revealed presence of God, which is an expression of God’s pleasure. Pleasure He receives when He gives us a blessing or gift. It is interesting that the word for glory is kavod and is found only in a construct state in the Pentateuch, that is it only appears as a construct to YHVH. The Talmud teaches that this glory is not a cloud, but is in the midst of a cloud. This glory can also appear in the midst of a fire, but it is not a fire.  In Exodus 16:7 the reference is to the fact that every morning the glory of the Lord appeared to give the people their daily bread, or their manna. They complained about this manna but God continued to give them manna, not because they complained but because he promised to provide for them. But they never experienced God’s pleasure because they complained and God found no pleasure in giving His gift. But Moses and Aaron, who did not complain, were allowed to enter the glory cloud where they saw the miraculous and experienced His pleasure.

Ok, so God will keep his promises to me whether I complain or not. If that is all I want, I can go ahead and complain away. But if I want to enter that glory cloud, hear his voice and let him fill me with His pleasure, I had better stop my bellyaching. I wondered what constitutes murmuring and at what point does my dissatisfaction cross over into murmurings? 

Suddenly Lamed Vav and Nun (lavan – murmurings) poke their heads out of my Looking Glass and invite in for a visit where they promise to explain themselves to me.  Well, I certainly wasn’t getting any answers from my lexicons and dictionaries so I jump through my Looking Glass where Lamed, Vav and Nun lead me into a royal castle. “What?” I ask my companions “Are you going to explain yourself (murmuring) in a fairy tale?  “Hush,” says “Lamed (who represents learning) and learn something here.  Look around what do you see?”  I looked around and I realized that all the inhabitants were wealthy, full, and had all the material things one could want.  I go to the gatekeeper, who happened to be Daleth which means a door or gate and ask if my friends Lamed, Vav, Nun and I can enter.

The gatekeeper turns his nose up at me. “What are you doing hanging around with that riff-raff, lavan?  They are the ones who twist things, and mocks them?” “Uh,” I uh(ed)  “I hadn’t looked at them like that, is that what lavan means?” “Yes,” said the gatekeeper “And you can find their brothers over by the throne room. They have twisted the significance of yet another blessing and are complaining about it to the King. The Vav and Nun are even mocking the King’s blessing.”

Daleth, the gatekeeper led Lamed, Vav Nun and myself into the palace where Lamed, Vav, and Nun joined their brothers. Suddenly, I saw my companions change. “Would you look at your so-called pal Lamed?” says the gatekeeper, I did and realized it was really Lamed’s shadow. Lamed represents learning from the heart. Yet, in its shadow form, he allows that learning and knowledge of God go to his head and not his heart and as a result, he does not understand its true meaning of that learning and knowledge.  Lamed only complains that this knowledge isn’t earning him wealth or respect and honor.  Had he taken it to his heart he would have seen that this knowledge would lead him to an intimate relationship with God.  Instead, he is using his knowledge to mock God.

I asked the gatekeeper what happened to the Vav? The Daleth pointed to the palace door where the shadow of the Vav was throwing rocks at the door.  “What’s Vav’s problem?” I ask. I recall the Vav represents a connection with heaven and earth. The Vav is fed from heaven. Daleth answered: “It is just never satisfied with the gifts and blessings from heaven.  It is so dependent upon the gifts and blessings that Vav shadow fails to see the message behind each gift and blessing.  It only wants the gift or blessing for the gift sake and not for the message that God is trying to send from heaven.  Now Vav is complaining because he does not like the gift he received.  If only he would look at the nature of the gift and its message he would be so thankful for the gift.” “Oh,” I reply, “It is sort of like complaining about the thorns of a rose rather than rejoicing over the fact that the thorns have roses.“  “That is it exactly” replied Daleth. “So you’re a Ziggy fan too.”

I looking over at Nun which is a final nun. The final form of a letter that extends beneath a line symbolizes some sort of connection with earth and heaven.  The final nun extends below the line.  I look over at Final Nun who is shouting at the door to the throne room.  Nun’s shadow was displaying dualistic thinking.  Trying to get heaven to satisfy his earthly and material desires rather than his spiritual fulfillment.  

Daleth turns to me and asks if I have seen enough. I believe I had and Daleth escorted me back to the “Look Glass.”  As I turned to leave I confessed to Daleth, “I don’t know why I followed lavan it sure is not doing me any good.  But just what am I doing when I lavan or murmur?   Daleth responded that the word itself means to twist or mock and the shadow of the Lamed, Vav, Nun shows that I twist the message I received in my blessings from God and act like they are curses.  Like Vav, I have a connection with heaven where I have a steady flow of gifts and blessings from heaven, but I am not grateful for those gifts, I just complain about the thorns and never see the rose.  Finally, like Nun, I use these gifts to satisfy my physical desires rather than my spiritual desires and when I do that I end up murmuring.  

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