HEBREW WORD STUDY – PLEASE SPEAK MY HEART – DAVAR NA דבר נא Daleth Beth Resh Nun Aleph

Exodus 11:2: Please speak (my heart) in the ears of the people, and let every man borrow of his neighbor, and every woman of her neighbor, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold.”

Here is something very curious, the first two words in this verse are devar na. The word devar is speaking from your heart and the word na is an entreaty. Practically all your modern English translations will render this word na as now, which expresses an urgency, not an entreaty. Jewish commentators render it as please or I pray thee. But please is the more modern expression.

Why would God ask Hebrews to plead for jewels of silver and gold from the Egyptians? Why would God practice deception by telling the Hebrews to borrow from his neighbor when there was no intention of returning the items.

Most Bible scholars point out that the word for borrow is sha’al is more correctly rendered as ask, rather than borrowed. In fact, the very next verse tells us that God gave the Hebrews favor with the Egyptians. Asking was all they need to do, no deception was needed.

The commentaries I have read all say that this was really in payment to the Hebrews for their years of slavery. Well, it would help to have a little extra spending money on their journey in the wilderness. You might want to pick up a cool beverage at the local oasis on a hot desert day. Seriously, what good would money do them? Wealth in ancient times was not determined from gold and silver but from livestock and land. Food was a precious commodity more valuable than gold or silver. You cannot eat gold or silver. I believe it is just a Western cultural notion that this gold and silver were to be used strictly for wealth. That just does not fit historically. Most of the gold and silver in those days were used for idolatry purposes, for ceremonial objects or to be worn to honor their gods. It was actually believed there was the power of the gods in the articles of gold and silver that they wore.

Also, note the words jewels. That is the word kele in Hebrew. It could come from two possible root words, nakal or kalah. As a noun kalah is a word for a bride. Gold and silver vessels and utensils were used during a wedding ceremony. The word nakal means a dishonest or untrustworthy person. So, I think I will go with kalah. Kalah also has the idea of utensils and vessels. These were likely used for idolatry and ceremonial practices in idolatrous worship.

As was the custom in ancient times, to the victor belongs the spoils. That concept has been outlawed today in the Geneva Conventions but was an accepted practice up to that time. So, it is believed by many Jewish scholars that when the new pharaoh arose and enslaved the Hebrew people the Egyptians helped themselves to the possessions of the Hebrews which included all their ceremonial utensils and vessels used in their wedding ceremonies which were a highly religious occasion as it is today. But more than that, they were likely also used in the worship of God that was practiced by the Hebrews. Now they were all in the possessions of the Egyptians using these objects for pagan worship.

Why did they need the gold and silver? There was no place to spend it. Well, where do you think all that gold and silver for the tabernacle and its vessels and utensils came from? That would also explain why God added that word na – please.

I remember some time ago an elderly woman of means was robbed. The robbers took many valuable items of jewelry, gold, and silver. Among them were gold and silver vessels and utensils that were used in her wedding sixty years prior. Her husband had passed away after many years of a loving and blessed marriage. I remember the interview briefly on the news where the woman made a plea for the return of just these wedding items. She said that the insurance would pay for them, she could replace them with similar items, but they would not be the ones used in her wedding. Her plea went like this: “Please, you can have everything else, just drop these wedding items at my door and I will pursue no charges.” There is no replacing something of sentimental value.

Yes, I think God is a sentimental old fool. These items were used by His people confirming their love and devotion to Him and he wanted them back to use in the tabernacle where His people would worship him and eventually in His temple. Not only that the Chassidic Masters teach that there is a little spark of God, a little residue of God’s touch in those items. We would say they were sanctified. To have them used for pagan purposes would break the heart of God as that elderly widow whose wedding utensils once touch by the one she loved were now being desecrated.

For this reason, I believe a more accurate rendering of the first two words davar na would be “Please speak my heart.” God is asking that the Hebrews to please speak His heart to the Egyptians to return those items that have so much sentimental meaning to their God.

I think we all have an object of love that is precious to us from a loved one. Do you have such an object from God? Could it be a Bible that you carried all your life? Could it be a cheap little aluminum cross that you have carried for years, a poem that God once spoke to you that you wrote down, a song that you recorded that you and God shared in love together? Just maybe that little object is sanctified and just as special to God as it is to you, actually more so, because God is just a sentimental old parent who treasures that crayon stick figure picture hanging on His refrigerator door.