Isaiah 30:20: “And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, your teachers be hidden no more, but thine eyes shall see they teachers:”

Today my study partner and I were debating the color blue.  She insisted that the color blue is found in the Bible. It is not.  There is really only one way to know exactly what a color term represents and that is to have a sample of that color.  Well we know blood is red so in II Kings 3:22  we have the phrase red like blood and thus we can make a fair assumption that adorn means red.  Trees and plant life have always been green so we can assume that the word yarok is green.   In ancient languages words tend to follow patterns so that the more basic colors enters the language before the more complex colors like auburn, maroon and purple.  So we have the primary colors that we can be pretty certain of in Hebrew like red, green and yellow.  Well, there is really no textual evidence that tsahov is yellow but it seems to have always meant yellow. But then gold is yellow so zahav might be used for yellow.

Blue is a problem.  Biblical Hebrew is a dead language and died out during the captivity period. The oldest sample of anything blue is less than 2,000 years old so we have no sample of blue from Old Testament times to match a Hebrew word to.  My study partner insisted they do have blue water and blue skies, but the Bible does not talk of the color of the skies and the color of water.  Post Biblical literature and Aramaic does have the word kachol which means blue, but then that would give us four possible Biblical Hebrew root words that could be blue.  The most likely would be t’chelet.

But as indicated earlier objects such as gold zahav could be used to indicate a known color.  That would include the word mayim which is the word for water. So we have the phrase the water of affliction. The word for water is mayim. This could come from the root word mi waters or yim hot springs.   I don’t believe this is where our English idiom being in hot water comes from,  but it is a cool idea. Water has many symbolic meanings in Hebrew.  One meaning is that water can be so powerful it can drill through rocks. Hence we would draw the idea of  waters of affliction. I have read in  Jewish literature that God  will give you an affliction that will drill through the rocky covering of your heart to penetrate your heart with the love of God.  Thus, their understanding of the water of affliction is an affliction to drill down to the core of your heart.  God does not allow us to go through affliction randomly, He is seeking to penetrate your heart so your heart will be open to Him.

My study partner is teaching a class on dream interpretation using only the Bible as a source of interpretation and not some Eastern or New age thought of what symbols in your dream means.  Colors in dreams are a tough one but I think it would be a good bet that objects that represent colors such as water hold the key to interpretation.  So if you dream of wearing a blue shirt, it might do well to examine the meaning behind objects that are blue such as sky or water and see if any satisfy what your spirit I trying to tell you.  Maybe blue can represent going through waters of affliction or on a positive side water completely surrounds you so it might mean being surrounded by the presence of God. Ok enough on that, back to the text.  We not only experience waters of affliction to drill through our rocky hearts, but we also may face the bread of adversity.

Bread also has many symbolic meanings.  One aspect is how bread is made. The taking of  wheat, pounding it into a flower, rolling it and then baking it at a high temperature. Next month on October 2, the Jewish community will celebrate Rosh Hashanah. It is a custom in baking bread for Rosh Hashanah to invite people who have hurt you during the year and as you roll your bread you forgive them.  Hence the bread of adversity.  Jewish literature teaches that the adversity brought on by your sinful acts  are pounded, rolled and baked to bring you to repentance and the forgiveness of God.  I would also like to add my thought to this.  That grain which is pounded, rolled and baked comes out as something new (bread) to bring nourishment to others.  Many people have to go through the waters of affliction for God to penetrate their hearts and then go through the pounding, rolling and baking trials by God to bring them to repentance and His forgiveness in Jesus Christ so that Jesus can make them into something new, something of value to others, to bring nourishment to others.

Your teachers shall be hidden no more.  Teachers in this passage is moreka. This particular form is a participial noun, 2^nd person singular.  Note it is singular not plural.  It is a teaching teacher or a master teacher.   The word used her is yarah  not lamad which is the common word for teach.   Yarah has the idea of throwing out,  or an archer who is shooting an arrow.  A teacher is throwing out knowledge, or shooting out knowledge which is aimed at a target.   This Master Teacher will not be hidden. The word hidden is kanaph.  This is the word for wings, or a loose flowing skirt.  These particular words give a picture of an archer shooting at a winged creature but because of its illusiveness, the arrow shot by our Master Teacher does not meet its target. God is constantly speaking to us, but we just keep eluding His voice.

The last part of this verse also explains it. And your eyes will see your teachers.  The word see is ra’ah which is a reference to spiritual seeing, spiritual insight.  Your spiritual eyes will be opened and you will see the redemption offered by our Master Teacher.

What the prophet seems to be saying here is that God is always speaking to us, to give us direction, to set us on the right path or way (see following verse) but sometimes it just does not get through that thick skull of ours or that thick rocky heart of ours and God may have to bring the bread of adversity, (adversity that will bring us into repentance and the forgiveness of God) or the waters of affliction to break through that shell of our heart and pierce it with the love of God through Jesus Christ.

p.s…so like I was saying blue is in the Bible, Laura ; )