Aramaic Word Study – No He’s Mine, I Want Him – Ba’ith  בעית Beth Ayin Yod Taw

Luke 22:31-32: “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: (32) But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.”

Is it just me or am I the only one who finds this passage disturbing? I mean I pray to Jesus all the time that my not fail especially in faith.  I expect Him to do something to help my faith and what do I find out in Luke 22:31-32 is that Jesus apparently can’t do anything to keep my faith from failing, He must appeal to a higher authority ie., God the Father.  But, wait, is not Jesus God?  Did he not say “I and the Father are one” – John 10:32 and almost get stoned by the Jews for even suggesting He was equal to Deity? If Jesus and the Father are one then Jesus should have been perfectly capable of handling Peter’s attack by the enemy. 

The first thing I notice is Jesus does not say who He is praying to. Well, that is obvious, He is praying to the Father, right? Maybe not. My point being, who says prayer means communication between two distinct individuals? Who says this should even be rendered as prayer from the original language?  Is prayer merely talking to God and in Jesus’s case, talking to the Father?  Actually, He is the Father, so is He talking to Himself? Or is this word for prayer in the original language something altogether different in modern thought.

The word prayer in this passage in the Greek is deomai which is not the Greek word for prayer which is proseuche from the root word euche.  The word in this passage is deomai which I have found in extra-Biblical literature (Plato) to not be used for an appeal to God or a god, but is used to express a desire for someone.  In other words: “I want you.”  Now it could be rendered as prayer in certain contexts as I want you to help me.  That sounds like prayer.

Jesus spoke this in Aramaic and my guess is that the scribe who translated this into Greek had a difficult time coming up with a Greek word to match the Aramaic word that Jesus used which is ba’ith and this was the closest or the best word to use in the Greek.  The word ba’ith in Aramaic means to beg, seek, desire, to want something or someone.  To beg to possess someone.  This word is not used in an intensive form so it would most like be rendered as I have desired you, sought for you or more likely in this case: “I want you.” 

Note verse 31, Jesus is telling Peter that Satan desires him but Jesus said I desire you.  Here the word desire in Aramaic is shel which is in a Ahel form and means to lend. Satan came to Jesus as He did to God a couple thousand years earlier and requested to test Job.  Satan could not do anything to Job without God’s permission and God allowed the enemy to test Job to prove a point, Job served God out of love not out of the chance to earn a nice commission. 

The enemy has now made the same request of Peter but as He told Peter, “Satan wanted me to lend you to Him to sift you as wheat (to prove you are not the real thing).  But I told him that “I desire you because I know your faith will not fail.  The word used by the enemy shel for lend or desire is in a plural form but when Jesus said that he ba’ith (wanted to possess) this was in a singular form.  In fact, if you check out the pronoun you in Greek, “Satan desires to have you.” That pronoun is plural as it is in Aramaic.  Jesus was really declaring that Peter was one with Him.  “So sorry Peter but his body and soul are one with me, you can’t have Him.  You are not going to touch his body like you did Job. You are limited in trying to prove his motives for serving me. He is still young in our relationship”  All the enemy could do was to threaten his body but he could not touch his body. The enemy thought that was all the leverage he needed.  He just needed to threaten Peter’s physical well being and he would prove that Peter loved his own gizzard more than Jesus.  But this test was not just one occasion but spread out over time.  Yes, Peter blew it in the first test, Peter denied Jesus in the heat of the moment but the moment he realized what he had done, he repented and went on to prove that he was willing to give up his flesh for the sake of the Jesus he truly loved.  That is why Jesus asked him three times on the seashore, “Peter do you racham (love me more than physical life itself). In Semitic thought a person is asked three times if they are willing to submit to something like a race.  The first time: “Are you ready,”  and the athlete will say yes.  “My heart is ready.”  He is asked a second time if he is ready and he says yes: “My spirit is ready” and the third time he will respond, “My body is ready.”

Peter racham Jesus with his heart in the first time Jesus asked him. Then with his spirit the second time he asked him,  but the third time he was not sure if he was ready to sacrifice his body or his life. He had the chance to prove it but blew it, even though he did repent right away.  But Jesus reassured him by saying that you are young in your relationship with Me, but as you grow you will be more certain of your willingness to die for me. 

Peter was not ready to be tested like Job so God limited the enemy’s attempt to sift him from the Jesus.  Jesus told the enemy no! The word pray is not an incorrect rendering, it just doesn’t fit this context. The context would be that Jesus told Satan: “No you can’t have him, I want him, he’s mine.” 

I believe, even 2,000 years later the enemy is still requesting that Jesus shel – lend us to him so he can prove we are unfaithful in our hearts.  But Jesus knows our hearts and his response to the old buzzard is: “No, ya can’t have ‘em.  They are mine but I will allow you to test ‘em.  They are still growing so one test will not do, they may fail that test but watch ‘em repent and let’s spread this out over a life time.”  

The important point here is that the enemy can’t have you.  He wants you but Jesus has laid claim on you and when you give your heart to Jesus, you belong to Him and when the enemy comes and says: “I know this one is yours, but can I borrow this loved one of yours.”  Jesus will say ba’ith “Sorry, but I want this one, this one is mine and I love this person, but I will let you test this one just to strengthen their faith.”   

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