HEBREW WORD STUDY – THE RANSOMED – PADAH – פדה    Pei Daleth Hei 

Isaiah 35:10:  “And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

Oh, the wonders of our modern age.  I can download the entire 63 volumes of the Babylonian Talmud into a Kindle and carry it with me wherever I go. The first volume I downloaded was the Sanhedrin as this is my favorite and full of surprises.

Clearly Isaiah 35:10 is a reference to the return of the Jews from Babylon. I was reading a reference to this passage in Sanhedrin 110b which indicated that this event is also a reference to the world to come.  The entrance to this world to come will be preceded by the sound of a great trumpet which shall be blown drawing all the people out of the land of Assyria and Egypt to Jerusalem to worship God.  Possibly the Apostle Paul was alluding to this in I Corinthians 15:52, “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”  Forget I wrote that/ 

But that raises the question, just what is this world to come?  Is it referring to a physical world or a spiritual world? That was hard to determine from reading this tractate in the Talmud but my assumption is that when the Sages referred the future world they were referring both to the return of the Jews who are living to Israel as to those who have died to a life in the heavenly realm. 

The word ransomed  in Hebrew is padah which comes from an old Akkadian word padu which is used for purchasing property which includes the purchase of slaves.  The word ransomed is really an ideal English word to use here for we often use the word ransom in a kidnapping where a relative is forced to make a payment to the kidnappers for the release of a loved one held in captivity.  

The word padah is such a beautiful word to use in this context.  It creates the picture of being held in slavery or captivity and then having someone that loves us make a sacrifice or payment to purchase us out of slavery.  As a Christian, I clearly see this as Messianic, a reference to Jesus who paid that price, the highest prices possible, His very life to purchase us, deliver us from slavery or the captivity of the enemy.  As a result, we will return.  This word in Hebrew for return is shuv. This word is sometimes rendered as repent. Sometimes it is used in reference to the spiritual world or the physical world. It has the idea of restoration. However, when used with padah a more appropriate rendering of shuv would be to relinquish. When Jesus pays the ransom we are not returned for we were born into sin, we were born into a world that was owned by the enemy.  So when Jesus pays the ransom the enemy must relinquish us. Shuv is also used to describe a turning away from something and facing toward something new and different. As Jesus has paid the ransom for our souls that do not automatically release us from the control of the enemy, we must willingly turn away from the enemy and face Jesus our Redeemer.  Salvation is still an act of our will, it is not automatic, we must shuv turn our backs on the enemy and face Jesus.

When we do we shall come to Zion with songs.  The word in Hebrew for song is rinnah which is really a shout of joy, victory, and triumph.  It is like being lost in a desert, dying of thirst and starvation, then suddenly we see a fortress (Zion) out in the middle of the desert, a place where we can find water, food, rest and comfort.  Suddenly all our despair changes to rinnah or a cry of joy and relief. 

But note the next line, an everlasting joy upon their heads. The word used here for joy is simchah.  This is a joy that you experience during a celebration, a party or festival.  The host would pour Frankincense on the head of a guest which caused a euphoric feeling.  We will have that feeling forever and not until the frankincense wears off.  The writer is saying that God will continually anoint us with this joy and peace in the new world.  

Then it says that we will obtain joy and gladness.  The word obtain is nasag which means to reach out and take hold of.  God will anoint us with joy but we need to also reach out and take hold of simchah or joy.  We enter that banquet hall of God through the salvation offered by  Jesus, we must nasag that salvation and when we do He will anoint us with joy, such that all sorrow will flee away.  If you have entered into the Salvation of Jesus by nasag, taking hold of it then you may remember the joy of that moment and how all sorrows did flee away.