Hebrew Word Study – Wall – Chamah  חמה Cheth Mem Hei

“Isaiah 49:15-16: “Can a woman forget her suckling child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?  Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.  Behold, I have engraven thee upon the palm of my hand, thy walls are continually before me.”

This is an awesome promise of the love of God. In fact, this is speaking of the closest we can get in the natural to racham love, that love of heaven, that love that God has for each of us.  It is very unlikely that a mother would forget her child, but it could happen. Yet with God, it would never happen.  The word forget is shakach which has the idea of leaving, or neglecting.  If you peer into the heart of God you will see a mother’s heart.  A heart that feels only compassion for her child. 

I remember my father preaching at a rescue mission often used the illustration of a man who was executed for murder and placed in an unmarked grave.  No one ever paid a visit to that grave except one elderly woman who faithfully came every week to lay flowers at the grave.  That woman, of course, was the man’s mother.  

God says that even a mother could neglect her child, but God would never neglect His child.  Then he says a curious thing. “I will engraven thee upon the palm of my hand.”

The word engraven is chaqaq. This is an unusual word for it means to imprint, engrave, and it also means to imagine.  The only way to understand this word is to consider it an ancient practice.  In the Assyrian culture when a son left home and moved a long distance away or would go off to war,  the mother would long for some token to remind her of her absent son.  Tattooing is an ancient art that was forbidden among the Hebrews but practiced among pagan cultures.  The mother would go to the local tattoo parlor and have some symbol tattooed to the right palm of her hand, sometimes it would just be the name of her son.  The ancients believed that one’s heart was found in the right palm of the hand.  Thus, this token or symbol that she would have permanently tattooed on her right palm would be a reminder of her son, but not only that, she would also have it as close to her heart as possible. It is said that the palm of your hand is the body part that you view the most on your own body.  Each time she looked at this little token she would imagine her son. Of course, God does not have a physical hand and He is only speaking metaphorically. I would not recommend this illustration be used with your local youth group, they would probably take it as Scriptural justification for getting a tattoo. The Bible does strictly forbid the cutting and printing marks on your skin, Leviticus 19:28. 

What God is saying, however, is that He has a little token or reminder of us permanently engraved in his right hand.  We are the closest thing to His heart.  This engraving is permanent and he is continually being reminded of us.  He is imagining all the things he longs to do for us. 

Yet, look at the next phrase: “Thy walls are continually before me.”   The word wall is chamah which is a barrier or a wall of defense. God has permanently engraved us near to His heart and yet we set up a wall or barrier to His love.  The picture is that of a mother longingly reaching out to her child but her child refusing to acknowledge her love.  Yet she continues to love. The child may spit on her, curse her, but she will still long to reach out to that child.   Such is the picture God is giving us in Isaiah 49:15-16.

You see, God longs and wants us a million times more than we long for or want Him. Keep Isaiah 49:15-16 tattooed in mind next time you feel like God just is not there or has abandoned you.  He is YHWH, which is God’s name is a feminine form.  We speak an awful lot of the fatherhood of God but the Jews also teach of the motherhood of God.  God is both a Mother and Father to us. A mother is known for her compassion, nurturing, caring, mercy, and love.  We hear much of the father’s love but we seem to hold a mother’s love in higher regard. In Deuteronomy 6:5 we have the prayer that is the centerpiece of Judaism called the Shema.  It says “You shall love the Lord your God.  First is the word Lord which is really YHWH speaking of the feminine nature of God, then you have “your God” Elohanu which is in the masculine form.  A father is pictured as a protector, provider and disciplinarian. A mother is the one who is loving and nurturing.  We are to first love God in the feminine form, that is because he first loved us I John 4:19.  Secondly, we love Him for His masculine traits, that is His provision, discipline, and protection. But to love Him because he protects or provides for us makes our love obligatory.  To love Him because like a mother naturally loves her child then our love is not out of obligation or gratitude.  It is natural love. 

Gloria Steinem might not have been too wrong when she said: “May God bless you and may She keep you.” 

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