ARAMAIC WORD STUDY – GROUND LEVEL – MIKIKA     מכיכאMem Kap Yod Kap Aleph

Matthew 11:28-30: “Come unto me, all [ye] that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.(29) Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. (30) For my yoke [is] easy, and my burden is light.”

For me this is one of the most beautiful verses in the Bible, yet, I rarely hear preachers quote it. There seems to be a tendency in the church to want to emphasize the fear of God.  By fear, I mean to be literally afraid of Him.  From my understanding of the Hebrew and Aramaic I do not see the use of the word fear as a reference to being afraid of your own gizzard, but to be afraid of wounding the heart of God, of breaking His heart.  As a husband fears his wife. Not that he is afraid that she will do harm to him but that he may do something that would wound or break her heart. 

However, what better way to keep you coming to church and paying your tithes but to put a little of the “fear of God” in you.  That is the fear that something bad will happen to you if you miss church or do not pay your tithe.  People in the day of Jesus had the same problem, they lived in fear that if they broke one of God’s laws something bad would happen to them.  So they struggled to keep the law and every little nuance of the law. They would carefully measure the distance they would walk to make sure they did not exceed a mile by one inch.  They made sure they paid their tithe to the temple, exactly 10% not any more or any less and worried if the 10% was before or after taxes.  They made sure to say their prayers and live a kosher life although they failed many times to be precise about it.  Even the Pharisees worried about keeping the letter of the law. You had what was known as the bleeding Pharisees who would close their eyes when a woman approached so they would not lust after her and ended up walking into walls getting bloodied, but at least they kept the law. 

Jesus had just finished warning what would happen to the cities that did not repent when they heard the call to repent and it was scary.  Jesus immediately put His listener’s minds at ease by saying that if they would just come to Him, they would have nothing to worry about.  But what He says is that all who labor and are heavy laden. People were put under heavy labor by landowners. The word yolk was a word commonly used for a landlord or employer who would work one to exhaustion just for meager wages. The listener understood that Jesus was making a reference to God who they were trying to serve but were burdened under the heavy weight of the law. Paying a tithe to the temple when they could barely feed their family, unable to afford the necessary things to keep a kosher home.  Jesus is telling them to just rest.  The word rest in Greek is anapausin which is a ceasing from labor, being refreshed.  It is doubtful Jesus is telling them to stop their labor for after all that is what the Sabbath was for.  I think it has more to do with being refreshed.  The word Jesus used in Aramaic is nucha which is the idea of just relaxing, stop worrying and fretting and just rest. It is actually a nautical term used by sailors who struggle with their ships in the midst of a storm.  It was all hands on deck working feverishly to maintain the sails or bring them down, to bail water from the ship, repair damages to keep the ship afloat and then there is nucha, the storm passes, the crew rests, they enjoy the sun and work at a comfortable pace doing necessary repairs. They are singing and even dancing, rejoicing that the storm has passed.  That is what Jesus is telling those listening to Him and to us. “Come to Me, stop all that frantic labor, just rejoice for I have calmed the storm in your life, just sing and dance and praise the Lord. But He takes it further saying He is meek and lowly in heart. The word meek in Greek is praus which is not a weakness as we think of in meekness or the “Ah shucks!”  we think of in humility as some translations render praus. Some say gentle which I believe is the closest.  There is no word in English to really express the true intent of praus.  I like to use the words “a gentle giant.”  Jesus is saying: “I am the Almighty, powerful God of the Universe, but I am really just a gentle giant with a tender heart.”  In fact, He says he is lowly in heart. In the Greek, that word lowly is tapeinos which some translate as humble.  This is another hard word to translate.  It has the idea of making yourself lower than someone else to exalt them. Jesus being God Himself, I have a hard time understanding how He can lower Himself to exalt Himself. 

The word for meek in Aramaic is the same word for rest nucha.  I believe Jesus is saying: “Come to me and find peace and rest because I am nucha peaceful and restful. Like a little child who is fearful and his father picks him up in his arms and the child feels restful because his father is restful, he has everything under control.  Jesus says he is lowly in heart.  That word lowly is mikika which means to not rise far from the ground.  I believe what Jesus is saying is that His heart is with those on earth.  Even though He may go to heaven His heart will still be on the ground level with those He loves. 

Jesus is assuring us that when judgment falls on the unrighteous, we need to fear for He is a gentle giant a nucha who will be mikika, always with us in our hearts so he can pick us up and tell us it is all ok, He is in control.