HEBREW WORD STUDY – JOY IN OVERCOMING – RANAN רנן Resh Nun Nun

Isaiah 52:5-6: “Now, therefore, what have I here, saith the LORD, that my people is taken away for naught? they that rule over them make them howl, saith the LORD; and my name continually every day [is] blasphemed. (6) Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore [they shall know] in that day that I [am] he that doth speak: behold, [it is] I.”

Isaiah 52:9: “Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.”

Isaiah 52 is written to bring comfort to the people of Judea who were taken into captivity by the Babylonians. God is promising to deliver His people although not because of their goodness but to protect His name which is being blasphemed by the Babylonians. Israel’s oppressors will face their day judgment just as Judea faced theirs in captivity.

It is interesting that God asks a rhetorical question: “Are my people taken away for naught? It is not altogether clear what that means and commentators tend to either disagree as to whether God was using this captivity to ultimately test and punish the Babylonians or to bring the people of Israel back to Him. Some commentators totally ignore this question. I believe it represents both.

In other words, this captivity is not a random haphazard blip in history but has a Divine purpose. As believers in God, our tendency is to consider this coronavirus to have a Divine purpose just as the sufferings of the people of Judea. Verse 6 tells us God’s purpose, that “my” people will know my name. The word name is not a reference to an identifying word like George or Peter, it is a reference to what God is and what His reputation is. In knowing God’s reputation His people will recognize His voice in the midst of the crisis.

In verse 9 the prophet is speaking prophetically. He is telling God’s people that they will return from captivity but when they do they will find the Holy City Jerusalem in ruins. It will be a chorbah a land in total ruin, a wasteland. Chorbah is a word used for a parched land, a land in the midst of a draught where nothing can grow and the land is totally useless. Yet, upon their return will be greeted with a land filled with joy and singing. The word joy is patsach which is a sudden breaking out of emotion. The word together is yachad which is probably better understood with the English word altogether for syntactically the passage suggests a unity of patsach. The land and the people will share an equal emotion. I believe the reason for the metaphor or more correctly the personification of the land expressing emotion is to suggest that the land should be sad and mournful in it ruined state, yet even the land will rejoice with the people returning to it for God has redeemed the land back to its proper owners and He has comforted his people.

The word comfort is nacham which has a root meaning of changing an attitude. The whole purpose of the captivity was to change the attitude of the people. When their attitude changed in a positive direction toward God they found peace and comfort in their captivity. Such comfort that upon their return it was prophesied that they would patsach and ranan. They would show a great emotional outburst which would be expressed in a ranan. Ranan is a word for singing but more than just singing, it is also used for a celebration in having overcome a great crisis.

As I write this there is a lot hope in reports that this coronavirus is peaking and actually showing signs of a decline. There is a day coming when we will return to our land so to speak, return to normalcy. But there is great fear as to what we will find in that return. Will we see our land in a state of chorbah – economic ruin?

For those of us who are diligently seeking the presence of God during this time, reconnecting with God we will return to our land filled with patsach and ranan, filled with great emotions of celebration of having overcome this crisis. It won’t matter what state of chorbah our nation is in, it will rejoice with us as we rebuild.

Note that the words nacham (comfort or change of attitude) and ranan (celebration in overcoming a crisis) are in a Piel form, an intensive form. Our change of attitude will be complete and our rejoicing will be great. The word patsach(expressing a strong emotion) is in an imperative (command) form. When we do return we are commanded to express to the world our emotion of joy and celebration.

How can we rejoice when if we return to a land of economic ruin? Back in 1910 a Methodist pastor and evangelist Luther B. Bridges returned home from a successful evangelistic crusade only to find his wife and three small sons had perished in a fire at the home of his wife’s parents where he left them to go off on his crusade. Luther Bridges, this 26-year-old father and husband, was naturally devasted and filled with guilt that he was not there to protect his family. As he sorted through his emotions over finding his chorbah (ruin) upon his return to his family he wrote these words, his ranan:

All my life was wrecked by sin and strife

Discord filled my heart with pain

Jesus swept across the broken strings

Stirred my slumbering chords again.

Tho sometimes He leads thru waters deep,

Trials fall across the way,

Tho sometimes the path seem rough and steep,

See His footprints all the way.

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest Name I know

Fills my every longing, keeps me singing as I go.

If Luther B. Bridges could find his ranan in his chorbah strewn land, there is no reason we cannot find our ranan when we return to our land of normalcy.