HEBREW WORD STUDY – COME NEAR – NAGASH נגשׁ
Genesis 44:18: “Then Judah came near unto him, and said, ‘Oh, my Lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my Lord’s ears…’”
The word for “come near” is nagash. This word means to draw near, but to draw near with a gift, offering or a request. I read something interesting in Jewish literature today. The sages believe that this verse is teaching three ways in which we can approach God in prayer. That with any of these three, we will be able to have the strength to approach God in prayer.
The first is to consider that we are sinful and we have no right to approach a Holy God as sinful creatures. All our deeds are filled with foolishness and emptiness, like filthy rags Isaiah 64:6. Yet, we still must approach God. We do so not on our own merit, but in that of the holy ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Well, for one thing, they are not my ancestors and even if they were, they were sinners just like me. When I read that I have learned to substitute Jesus for the ancestors. “We approach God, not on our own merit, but on the merit of Jesus Christ who died for our sins.”
The second is that God has placed within us a soul which has been designed to attach itself to its source, God, when we pray. An interesting thought, prayer is the instrument God uses to attach our soul to Him. Actually, the word prayer in its Semitic root is the notch in a tent peg. It is that notch that keeps the tent attached to the tent peg. But once again we are overlooking the problem of sin which is a pretty perplexing problem for the Jews, but not for me as Jesus Christ solved that problem 2,000 years ago so that the sinfulness of my soul is made pure and Holy before God, so that I may use prayer to attach my soul to the God of the universe.
The third way is to consider that God spoke through the mouth of Moses. As our soul attaches to God, He will put His words in our mouth as we pray. By His mercy, and I would add the finished work of Jesus Christ, He will place His words in our mouth and we will pray with Him. Consider what the sages are teaching. We move from praying to God to praying with God. We are literally conversing with God as one.
Do you ever find yourself praying for guidance from God and saying things like: “Lord, I don’t know how I will find the time to get this project done. I know I can cancel this appointment, I don’t have to watch that TV show, and I could skip the time I spend on my favorite hobby…” Or, as I find myself praying sometimes. “Lord, I don’t know how to handle this project, give me some guidance. I guess I could call Jim who has done a similar project and see how he handled it.
When we pray and our soul attaches to God it is sort of like Paul said: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 2:5. Our words spoken in prayer often becomes the words of God giving us the answer to our prayer just as we are praying. How does God speak to us? Sometimes He speaks to us like he did with Moses, through our own mouth.
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