HEBREW WORD STUDY – IT’S OK CHASAH חסה Cheth Samek Hei

Nahum 1:7 The LORD [is] good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.

Nahum was a prophet around 600 BC. The Northern ten tribes of Israel had already been taken into captivity by the Assyrian Empire. Judah would be taken into captivity by Babylon about 17 years after Nahum prophesied. Nahum’s prophecy centered around the coming fall of the Assyrian Empire by the Babylonians in 615 BC.

Nahum’s prophecy was not a pretty prophecy. It explained that God was no longer going to tolerate the barbarianism, brutality, and idolatry of their nation. His prophecy fell on deaf ears much like the prophecies of Jeremiah. So why does God bother warning people of the coming destruction if He knows they will not listen?

For one thing, we find in Amos 3:7: “Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” The word “but” is rendered from the words ki im which is very difficult to translate. This could be rendered: “Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing unless He reveals the secrets of Heart unto his servants the prophets.” I get the heart idea from the word devar which is usually not translated because it is hard it fit into the English. So, God’s heart desires that He gives a warning to the people. After all, He is a just God and a just God will give them a chance to repent. He did this with Jonah and the people of Nineveh repented and their destruction did not occur. By Nahum’s time, less than two hundred years later the people of Nineveh were again warned but this time they did not repent and were destroyed.

Another reason God sends a warning is that some people do repent and are spared. Perhaps the entire nation did not turn to God but God is a God of individuals, a God who has the very hairs of your head numbered and each person is important and if just one person repents, it was worth the effort of the prophet. The Talmud teaches that if you save one life you save the world. The point of that is you never know what that one life that is saved could accomplish.

Nahum’s message was not all doom and gloom he does interrupt his fateful message with a word of hope, “the Lord is good and a stronghold in the day of trouble”. The word good is tov which means He is a harmonious God and is a stronghold to those who are in harmony with Him. The word stronghold is lamaoz which comes from the root word oz which means strength. The Lamed is a preposition for to or for and the Mem is the preposition from. Thus, God is a harmonious God for and from a place of strength. You can get the idea of a stronghold or fortress from this. However, the idea is that you get strength from God. Its Semitic origins is that of a strong and powerful bird like an eagle. An eagle can not only be a predator but a protector as well who nurtures and tenderly cares for its chicks in a harmonious relationship.

So, the Lord is a source of strength and protection in times of trouble. There are many types of trouble. This trouble is tsara. This has its origins in the trouble a rival wife faces, such as Leah and Rachel both vying for their husband’s affection. It is emotional and mental trouble more than a life-threatening situation. I live in an apartment building that provides parking spaces for their tenants. However, they barely leave enough room to fit your car into the space provided. We have a new tenant that moved in and has the parking space next to mine. I come home from work and found that he had taken not only his space but part of mine making it very difficult to park. All he has to do is park a little closer to the wall and give me another foot, otherwise I will have to park out on the street. Now that is bothersome, irritating troubling because he has no concerned for his neighbor’s welfare. However, this is not a life threatening situation, but one that I need to approach so as not to cause hard feelings with a new neighbor. It is tsara, troubling, it weighs on my mind and until it is resolved, I find it very disturbing and robbing me of my peace.

But God is promising me something. “He knows them that trust in Him.” The word know means more than the fact that He is aware of those trusting in Him, but the word know is yada’ which is an intimate knowing. It is the word rendered as trust that caught my attention. It is not the word chatah, to weld yourself to God, but it is the word chasah which is to hide and find refuge but also to have the confidence that all will be ok.

Like the little child who runs to his father fearful of some perceived danger, but when the father picks the child up in his arms, hugs him and tells his, “It’s ok, daddy is here.” You know what, it is all ok. If you are living your life in harmony with God then the only condition is that you have to believe that it is ok once you run to your Heavenly Father and let Him pick you up in His arms.

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