HEBREW WORD STUDY: FIGHT “Yilachim”
Exodus 14:14: “The Lord will fight for you and you shall hold your peace.”
“If I see ten problems walking down the road toward me, I can be confident that nine will fall into a ditch before they reach me.” President Calvin Coolidge
Yesterday I faced a problem that just sapped me of all my strength. I could not concentrate on anything else but that problem. I could not enjoy the day, I could not even sleep. Yet before long, I discovered the problem was not even a problem at all. I wasted a perfectly good day fretting over a problem that didn’t even exist.
I spend a lot of time fretting over problems that God has chosen to fight for me. Looking at the literal understanding of Exodus 14:14 it clearly tells us to let God do the fighting and we just hold our peace. God was fighting my problem today but I was not holding my peace.
The word peace used here is charesh not shalom. The word charesh is in a Hiphal form. There are two possible ways to express this in the Hiphal. You could say: “The Lord will fight for you and just keep your big mouth shut.” Or you could say: “The Lord will fight for you and you will just go about your business.” I would say it can be rendered both ways. “The Lord will fight for you so just shut your mouth, quit bellyaching and just go about your business.
The word fight is yilachim. My eyes are getting bad because when I first read this I overlooked the “Yod” and read: “The Lord will feed lechim you. Yes, the root word for fight is lechem which is the word for bread. Used as a verb it means to feed or devour. I don’t feel that fighting or even waging war is an appropriate rendering for yilachim. For one thing, in English, the word fight suggests the outcome is uncertain. I mean does God have to duke it out with an enemy? How many punches does He need to get in before the enemy topples? Only one English translation that I read uses something other than fight that is the BBE which says the Lord will make war for you. That is why I prefer to read a verse in the Hebrew Bible before going to the English translations.
I would have a tendency to just skip over a word when all the translations give basically the same rendering.
Would you like Chaim Bentorah as your personal Hebrew teacher?
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Keep in mind that all words in the Hebrew originate as a verb and the noun evolves out of the verb. Originally as a verb lechem meant to eat or consume. The noun form would then be bread. Here the verb finds itself in a Niphal form and thus it would mean to devour and lick the plate. God does not square off with our problems and start punching it out while we sit back cheering him on: “Give him the left, the left, oops, that must have hurt, sorry about your black eye God, but you sure showed him, didn’t you. What a pal, what a pal.” God does not fight, he just walks up to our problem and eats it up “Gulp! Burp!”
I know I keep saying: “Well, God is fighting for me, God is handling the problem, it will just take time. Poor God, he must really be getting tired, must be the 9th round already. Come on, the word is lechem eat, not fight. Somewhere in the history of the church some lexicographers came along and decided that the verbal form of lechem should be fight and like wooden soldiers, all the Bible scholars joined locked step in line and rendered a word which clearly means to eat as fight. Ok to be fair the word for war is malechem where lechem is the root.
Let’s face, God does not need to duke it out with our problems. The bell sounds, he walks out and one punch to the jaw and the problem is down for the count. But that is not lechem. Lechem is the bell ringing and God walks out faces the problem and one gulp, burp and the problem is history. If God does duke it out with a problem he is just tenderizing it so it is not so chewy when he devours it. Also, he may not be removing the problem right away as he wants it to fatten itself so it’s got some meat on it when it comes time to eat.
I don’t know about you but when God defeats my problem, I would rather it not be a knockout where it can get up for another chance in the ring, but I would rather the next time the problem arises, it is just a burp.
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Shalom!
I can not speak or write English correctly, I use a translator. But, if I read your studies and I like them a lot. When this study came to me in the am, I could not understand what the Abba Yahweh was saying to me, but today, Sunday, I went back to review and I understood what had been raised that Friday during the day. That night I cried and I felt bad for what was happening, but yesterday and today has not stopped talking to me. He is in control. Thank you for your thoughts, even if you take them to the translator to understand better, the ABBA allows them to reach our Ruaj. Shalom Aleichem from Puerto Rico!
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Blessings, Laura
This brings to mind ..Numbers 14:9
9 Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not.
Thank you for this insight
Thank you for this Word study. After feeling depressed and not sleeping for one week, this statement got me almost belly laughing “The Lord will fight for you, so just shut your mouth, quit belly aching and just go about your business.” I was actually weeping from the time I woke up today. I have been using the “tools” I am learning from a discipleship program I am a part of but for some reason whatever tool I used did not last very long. Then I read the quoted statement and it literally brought me back to reality and I started laughing.
All I can think of is Jesus swallowed up death (depression) at the cross, at His burial and resurrection. Burp…….and Jesus did not say “excuse me”.
I remember clearly the day I was judged by my boss in front of my colleagues & staff, even a very junior 17 year old. It was very humiliating & caused by false accusation. I faced my boss a few days later when I was given a perfect opportunity to do so,also my immediate superior I told them that what had transpired was ”out of order” & after a discussion decided amicably to carry on as we were. Six months later each member of staff present at the judgement were either fired or left for pastures new & I had a new team! I prayed for my enemy, she was fired but found herself a better job & we met in peace on the street. God devoured my problem. Thank you for bringing it back to mind so that I can thank Him once more.