Hebrew Word Study – A Pledge – shel  שאל  Shin Aleph Lamed

John 14:13-14, “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do [it].”

What could be more clear?  If you ask anything in the name of Jesus it will be done, He will do it.  There are only two conditions, we must ask and we must ask in His name.   Hence we pray and ask, good for us.  We are also taught way back in Sunday School that we are to conclude our prayers with “in Jesus name, Amen.” Well, that should pretty well sew it up.  We should get what we ask for.  Ok, I am asking or praying, in Jesus’ name that my book makes it to the New York Times Best Seller List.  I am even making it easier on God,  I am not even asking that it becomes number one on the New York Times Best Seller List, just that it makes it.  Will it happen, of course not, not even close. “Ah, Ha,” you say, “Gotcha, you gotta believe. You have to clench your fist and say over and over, ‘I believe, I believe.’”  All this time God is watching very closely. “Ok, angel, you keep an eye on that Chaim Bentorah fellow, if you catch him doubting for just one moment you let me know, ya hear.  I do not want to answer this prayer so I am going to catch him on a technicality and if I can find him doubting for just a moment, we got him, prayer denied.”   

Two times in a row Jesus repeats that if you ask anything in His name, He will do it. When something is repeated in the Semitic culture, it gives it a certainty. What a wonderful promise, you can’t lose.  Except for one major problem, it doesn’t always work.   

Let’s look at these conditions again.  We must ask in His name.  Does that mean that we must ask using his Hebrew name Yashuah? We all know Jesus is not His real name, which is just a Greek perversion of his real name.  Now if we used his real name Yashuah well that ought to ring His bell.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t work any better than using his Greek name.  Back to the drawing board.  The word name in Aramaic and Hebrew are the same, shem.  This basically means a reputation or what someone is about. Yashuah means salvation so whatever you ask in the name of salvation will be done.   So maybe you can pray, “Lord I need a million dollars to start a television program to get people saved.”  Obviously, that does not work. Besides, Jesus has many names such as wonderful, counselor, prince of peace, everlasting Father.   Which name is Jesus referring to?  Again shem also has the idea of a collective, such as the name of a family, tribe, or a company.  Perhaps Jesus is referring to the name of the kingdom of God.  Whatever you ask that will further the kingdom of God, He will do.  If you are a manager or supervisor for a company you know that whatever you ask an employee to do in the name of the company you work for, they must do it.  If you ask them to do something that has nothing to do with the company, like help me put a new roof on my house, they are under no obligation to help.  

These are all ideas you can ponder, but I would like to move on to the next condition that I find intriguing.  You must ask. Why must you ask?  Does not God know what you want and need even before you ask (Matthew 6:8)?  Is He going to force us to beg?  Let’s take a close look at that word ask.  In Greek, it is the word aiteo which means to ask, beg, request or petition. It all pretty much means the same thing, you speak out a request. Jesus spoke these words in Aramaic and the Peshitta uses the word shel.  This is an interesting word in its Semitic root. It comes from an old Canaanite word that has the idea of giving a pledge. In the ancient culture when you borrowed something you gave something to someone they would give you something in return called a pledge. In other words, shel has the idea of collateral.   If we apply the ancient concept of shel to this verse then what the disciples may have heard Jesus say was not anything you want you’ve got it, but, “I am giving you my life what are you giving me in return, whatever you give me, I will use it. Whatever you pledge anything that you pledge to me I will use it for my name. If it is just a cup of water, I can use that. 

So many Christians woefully sit back and say that they have no talents, no gifts, nothing at all to give to God.  Perhaps that is what Peter was thinking. In the prior verse, Jesus is talking about doing great works for Him and old Peter is thinking, “Yeah sure, me a fisherman, bumbling fool, what have I got to give?”  Jesus then answers His question and your question as well. “Whatever you pledge to me I will use it to do greater things and you will get my life in return.”  

You see, the mistake we make in trying to understand this verse is that we make it out to be a verse that is used to getting a miracle or healing or whatever we want, yet it is not about getting it is about giving and what God will do with what we give to Him. For He has pledged His life to us, what will we give to Him?

Years ago Bill Gaither wrote these words:

Something beautiful, something good

All my confusion He understood

All I had to offer him was brokenness and strife

But he made something beautiful of my life.

John 14:13-14 is not a promise that we are going to get everything we want, it is a promise that if we give him what we have, even if it is just brokenness and strife, He will fill it with his light and life and make something beautiful. 

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