HEBREW WORD STUDY – FREEDOM – BAMARACHAV בסרחב
Psalms 118:5 “I called upon the Lord in my distress; the Lord answered me and set me in a large place.”
I am feeling distressed lately and I am having a hard time understanding why a wide or large place will relieve my stress. The word for large place is rachav which means a large space or large place. Rachav is preceded by a Mem and Beth. I have found no grammatical explanation for the Mem. The Beth is a preposition for in or on so the Lord sets him in a large place. The Pathah under the Mem would suggest a definite article so you would render this as in the large place.
A clue is found in the word for distress, which is qabah which means something tight. When you are in distress you feel a sense of tightness in your chest or just emotionally. You feel hemmed in, surrounded, up against a wall with no way out. In such distress, God brings you to rachav, a large place where you can breathe and stretch out. You see in ancient times people lived and slept in one room of a house. Often entire families ( I mean aunts, uncles, cousins etc) crowded into these rooms to sleep. It was the safest, but very uncomfortable. There was often not enough room to really stretch out and be comfortable. Thus, rachav, a large place became a metaphor for a place that was large enough to stretch your legs, relax and be comfortable. When you feel qabah – tight you need a rachav large place to stretch.
I believe Rabbi Samson Hirsch the nineteenth-century linguist and Hebrew master explained it the best. A rachav is best used for a place of comfort and relaxation as stretching out relieves that tight qabah feeling.
I have been feeling really stressed lately, hemmed in by obligations and responsibilities and I have been looking into another week of living in silence. But what I am looking for is to find a place of solitude in a wide-open area where I can just stretch out my arms and feel a sense of freedom. I noticed Rabbi Hirsch also finds the word freedom in rachav. So I am waiting upon the Lord to show me a rachav, a wide space to spend a week of silence where I can stretch out and be free from my qabah – stress.
Benjamin Giroux, a 10-year-old kid from Plattsburgh, New York, has Asperger’s disorder – a type of chemical imbalance. He was as of late given a school task where he was approached to compose a lyric titled “I Am.”
I am odd, I am new
I wonder if you are too
I hear voices in the air
I see you don’t, and that’s not fair
I want to not feel blue
I am odd, I am new
I pretend that you are too
I feel like a boy in outerspace
I touch the stars and feel out of place
I worry what others might think
I cry when people laugh, it makes me shrink
I am odd, I am new
I understand now that so are you
I say I, “feel like a castaway”
I dream of a day that that’s okay
I try to fit in
I hope that someday I do
I am odd, I am new.
http://www.postlajme.net/21299
Breathe, just breathe…
It’s a line in a song and I use it to remind myself when stress does not have an end in sight. I tend to find myself holding my breathe which only adds to the stress. Yes a wide open space is needed to restore. It silences the noise.
Journey well
Katie & Chaim, I feel exactly the same – I have been SO blessed by the Word of the Day and the All-Access membership site and I haven’t even been able to consistently read the Words or access the site. Every single time I do though, I am blown away by how God is speaking directly to me through the inspiration that He gives to you.
Be encouraged that what you do is touching lives out in a wide space as I think I have shared almost every Word that I have read on my Facebook spaces and I know that has blessed my friends as well.
I pray blessing on your search for rest, that the week away will refresh you far beyond what you are hoping for and that God’s peace would rest on you so that even in the stressful moments, you will feel His arms of love holding you close and His breath renewing your mind.
Chaim, I live in Colorado Springs, Colorado ( not as wide open as it used to be) however we do have some great places of solitude in the beautiful Rocky Mountains. Your ministry has so blessed me, I read your devotional every morning before work and I have a few of your books that I am working through. I’m very excited for your new upcoming teaching plans. To get to the point, I have an offer for you that the Lord laid on my heart when you said you were stressed and needed some space, if you are interested please email me and I can discuss this with you. Thanks again for sharing all your years of wisdom, I feel like you are a personal mentor have never met, but been blessed by every day, sincerely, Katie. My email is datsmykids4@gmail.com