Hebrew Word Study – A Romantic Rival – זור Zayin Vav Resh

Deuteronomy 32:16; “They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods…”

The phrase is only two words in the Hebrew:  Yikeni’ahu  bizim.   Jack Benny had a routine where he was in some far-off jungle and found himself the potential meal for some cannibals.  In desperation, he told his guide to tell the cannibals that he was from a faraway country bearing great gifts that would bring joy to them all.  The guide translated to the cannibals: Um ba.”  Jack Benny said to his guide:  “That’s it, all that in just Um ba?   Isn’t there an ula booga in there?”   I tend to feel the same way when I see passages in Hebrew that have one or two  Hebrew words but translate out into a dozen English words.  I can’t help but wonder if maybe the translators didn’t throw a little commentary in there, a little paraphrase perhaps?  Needless to say, there is plenty of ambiguity in these two words to allow us to look at different options in how we would render this passage. 

The first word is  yikeni’ahu for jealous which is found in a Hiphal form.  This Hiphal is why we use the word provoked as a Hiphal form makes the verb causative.  He was caused to be jealous.   However, the spelling of the word is defective, that is that it is an earlier form of the word before full spelling of the Biblical Hebrew was ever developed.  This would suggest a broader rendering to encompass the meaning of the root word cana which is cognate to a Canaanite word that is used to express the idea of a romantic rival, or a measuring stick.  The translators intensified the causative to provoked purely for contextual reasons rather than grammatical.  Had the writer intended to intensify the causative he would have made this an infinitive or added a paragogic.  Hence, I see no reason to say God is provoked.  To me provoking means to taut someone for the sole purpose of getting a rise out of that person, getting them to respond. I do not believe we provoke God, I believe God is above provoking.  Nor do I see any reason to upgrade this word to jealous when grammatically would indicate no intensity.  Hence I am inclined to search for other options which seem more appropriate and still true to the ancient language.   To say God is provoked to jealousy by other gods, would suggest God is somehow insecure and threatened by these other gods.  I would prefer a more scaled-down rendering: “They caused Him to become a measuring rod or a rival to strange gods.”  The difference in this rendering moves you from a God who becomes irrational ready to shoot down  His unfaithful mate and her lover, to a God who asks: “What does this god have that I don’t have. Am I not good enough for you?”   In other words, the traditional rendering of this passage suggests an enraged God over an unfaithful lover rather than a God who is heartbroken over His lover’s unfaithfulness. As I draw closer to the heart of God, I find this latter rendering fits my understanding of God much better as I like to think I am faithful to Him not because I fear He will take a celestial rolling pin to my head if he catches me with another god, but rather because I fear I will break His heart.

But say, notice that the word elohim or god is not in this little phrase.  Again translators put that in there for reasons of context and clarity. Yet, the Hebrew word used is simply: zavar which is another word for loathsome. It is also the word used for a harlot or to bind a wound. 

Some years ago I worked a night job as a security officer in a residential high rise in downtown Chicago on Lake Shore Drive.   The building is located in what the news media calls the Viagra Triangle.  About  4:15 AM in the morning I let a young, attractive, college-aged, woman who looked like she just got off the bus from Kansas up to visit a rather prosperous, high-profile resident.  This resident had called fifteen minutes earlier asking that I reserve a parking space for two hours for his daughter and to allow her to enter without checking ID (this guy seemed to have a lot of daughters). My guess was that she just didn’t get off the bus from Kansas but apparently she had been around for a while.  When my relief came in I asked him about this resident and how many daughters he had.  My relief looked at me and careful mouthed the words: “She was not his daughter.”  I said: “What do you mean who else would leave at 4:30 in the morning after staying only two hours for a….oh!”  Trying to salvage some respect for my good tipping friend I said; “But these women are sophisticated, cultured, well dressed, not smelly, dirty…”  My relief interrupted: “They’d better smell nice at $1,000 an hour. I had only one word on my mind zavar.  And our translators translate the word as strange gods? 

This strange god or zavar that is mentioned in Deuteronomy 32:16 is anything or anyone who provides temporary relief from our needs, fears or hurts.  This strange god is just a bandage.  It looks and smells really nice and can fool even a sharped eyed security guard like myself, but it is a god that will break the heart of our God when we turn to it to meet our needs or heal our wounds. Our God stands ready and longing to meet our needs and desires, to heal our wounds.  He stands ready with open arms while we rush off to a rival god that looks so innocent like it just got off the bus from Kansas.  We pull out a measuring stick, measure this zavar and God, and figure we will go to the god that we think will offer us the best deal.   I know I tend to be like that little child who will run for a dinner of cream puffs and cakes rather than the fruits and vegetables offered by the loving parent.  Then go running to the loving parent when I have a bellyache. 

To me, this passage is telling us that our God is a jealous God only in the sense that He longs to give us the best and is heartbroken, not enraged or angry when we settle for anything less.

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