HEBREW WORD STUDY – GIVE CREDIT WHERE IT IS DUE – YAHAV יהב Yod Hei Beth

Psalms 29:1: “A Psalm of David. Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength.”

Job 1:21: “And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”

Psalms 29:1 says something very curious: “Give to the lord…strength.” Can we really give strength to the Lord. Does He need our strength? Some time ago I did a study on this verse where I spoke on mighty ones. I felt I needed to revisit this verse and focus on the word give. Clearly, this translation is saying we are to give to the Lord strength as well as glory.

There are two words in Hebrew rendered as give. Job 1:21 is an example of the second give as the Lord gives and takes away. In Psalms 29:1 the word give is yahav in Hebrew and in Job 1:21 the word is nathan in Hebrew. Both mean to give. In our Western English, we have no problem with two different words meaning the same thing. We even have a word for it, synonyms. A synonym for a synonym is a substitute or replacement. Another example is cars and automobiles. Both mean the same thing but two entirely different words.

A rabbi once told me that Biblical Hebrew has no synonyms. I mean English has over a million words so you are bound to have two words meaning the same thing. But Biblical Hebrew has only 7500 words so it is a lot less likely two different words will have identical meanings. So what is the difference between yahav and nathan? Our English word give means, according to the Webster, to present voluntarily without expecting compensation. To bestow.

That definition fits nathan in Job 1:21where the Lord gives and he takes away. God didn’t have to give anything to Job in the first place. Job could have been a slave in Egypt rather than a counsel to the Pharaoh. He could have been in poverty rather than wealth if God so chose and Job knew this and when he lost everything he knew it belonged God in the first place. His wealth was not a gift it was just something given to him like the Town that I drive my disability bus for gives me a bus, gas, insurance, license plate, maintenance, a cell phone, coat with the Town’s name on it, etc. They give it to me but do not give it to me as a gift, it does not belong to me, it all belongs to the Town and any time they want it back, they have a right to take it back. That is why Job did not say the Lord gives gifts and takes away gifts, He just gives for the purpose of carrying out His Divine will. Just as the Town gives me what I need to carry out their mission.

Sometimes we forget that everything we have God has given to us, not for our own possession but to be used for his purposes. Sometimes God will give you a beautiful home or maybe just a house trailer. Just as the Town gave me a clunker of a bus that kept me praying that I would not break down when going through Garfield Park where you stand a 75% chance of getting robbed if you break down. After some passenger complained that she did not feel safe on that bus I was given a brand new bus and the old one was put out to pasture (actually, I think they shot it). God may bless you with good things just like the Town blessed me with a new bus with zero mileage where everything on it works. Really, I don’t have to kick the side door to get it open or jiggle some wires to get it started. I don’t even have to jump out in the rain to readjust the windshield wipers. To get the job done properly I needed a new bus and the Town blessed me with it. But it still belongs to the Town. God could bless me with a Candy Apple Red Tesla if it would somehow help improve the quality of my books. Instead, I drive a vehicle that keeps me wondering if it will start in the morning or if I will walk to work can call the Auto Club later that day which keeps me trusting Him, keeps me humble so that He shines my books, not me.

So the Lord gives material blessings and He can take it away if He so desires because He only gave it to us to carry out his purposes. However, in Psalms 29 we are to yahav give to the Lord. Yahav is giving credit or honor to where it belongs. Hence give credit to the Lord for the glory you receive, give credit to the Lord for the strength you are given.

I get a lot of wonderful comments and reviews on my writings and books. I am told what a great writer I am and how I blessed people with my books. Ain’t I wonderful or not? Not! It is God who gave me the ability to write those books, it is His love and passion that is being poured out in those books and I need to yahav, give Him the credit. If not I will be calling the Auto Club tomorrow as the Lord humbles me with the reminder that everything I have is no more mine than that brand new bus. It is simply yahav for my use to fulfill a mission.