Hebrew Word Study – Want – Chasar  חסר Cheth Samek Resh

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Psalms 23:1: “A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.”

I remember hearing this verse from my earliest childhood as I am sure it is with most people who grow up in a Christian environment.  I wonder how many struggled with the same problem I had with the first verse of this familiar Psalm.  Here David says the Lord is his shepherd but he doesn’t want him.  I remember hearing this verse in Sunday School as a small child and one student asked the teacher why David did not want God as his shepherd and she patted his head and said; “Oh, he really did want him as his shepherd and ended with that.”  I wonder if she ever even thought about what she was reading and was taken off guard with this obvious question. 

Translators are so afraid that they will be accused of “changing” God’s Word that when they have a very familiar passage they will keep the old English rather than run the risk of offending some believers.  This is probably why so many modern translations stay with some of these old English words which are easily misunderstood.  We rarely say that someone may be in want today.  We usually say that someone is in need. We only use the word want for the idea of being in need when we seek to use more formal English which is quickly dying out. 

So, what does David mean when he says he shall not want.  Of course, he is saying he has no needs.  Well, that can’ be right, he was very needy.  The New American Standard Bible says he will not be in need. That is not really true. The Amplified Bible keeps the “I shall not want” but puts in paraphrases before that “to feed, to guide, to shield.”  In other words, this need is specific. The New International Version is most likely the closest to the original by saying: “I lack nothing.”  I can relate to that.  I have a lot of needs but I am not lacking. I mean I need a new printer.  It is literally functioning with the use of a coat hanger. It would be nice to get a new printer, I need new printer, but I am not lacking for a printer for I have a (sometimes) working printer.  In this modern age there are may things we think we need but we are certainly doing well without it. I feel I need a new car, but I have car and it gets me where I want to go, so I really don’t need a new car, I just want a new car. 

Therein lies the problem in translation.  Is David saying he has no wants or no needs? If he is saying he has no wants then that would suggest that all his “wants” are taken care of.  This is probably why the word want is not often used in relationship to being in need. In our modern culture, there is a sharp distinction between wanting something and needing something.  Who doesn’t want a new car, a new home, and for some a new marriage partner?  There is a big difference between wanting a new marriage partner and needing a new marriage partner.  We are now seeing another difference in nuance in our English words want and need.  There is a selfish element in wanting something rather than needing something. 

Four hundred years ago a Christian reading: “I shall not want” would hear the correct understanding of this verse where now after just a matter or four hundred years we are hearing something different if we are not careful with the context. This does not constitute a mistranslation, just a “dated” translation.  This does not make the King James Version a bad translation just a translation that needs to be read more carefully so you fully understand the context which is not always clear in a language that is four hundred years old.  Then too, maybe, having a translation that needs to be read carefully is not such a bad idea. 

So, let’s take a look at this word want. It is the word ‘echasar which is in a Qal imperfect form. The imperfect would suggest that David is not present in or need of anything and will not be in the future.  The Qal suggests that this word for want or need is a mild want or need, not a desperate need.  David is very free in his use of a Piel verbal form which would put this into a desperate want or need, instead it is just a simple desire maybe.  The word ‘echasar comes from the root word chaser which means to lack or decrease. It also means to be deficient. It comes from the Persian word hasira which means to suffer a loss.  

A shepherd’s job is to make sure his sheep are not deficient in what it needs to exist. It needs food, water, protection. The shepherd makes sure it has all that. Sheep also needs attention and recognition from its shepherd, so the shepherd does spend a little personal time with his sheep, petting them, grooming them, and even talking with them.  David likens God to a shepherd. God feeds him, gives him water and protection, and spends personal time with him. 

If we follow the Persian concept of chaser or hasira we go even further.  The Shepherd or Father God will not allow us to suffer any loss.  The very basis of fear is the possibility of losing something.  Losing our health, a loved one, a job, a friend, financial security, and many other things can easily be lost or taken from us. 

I think the Persian concept of this word is the clearest for we shall never suffer any loss if the love of God is our greatest want or need. Note what Paul said: Roman 8:35-39: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? [shall] tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (39) As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. (37) Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. (38)  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, (39) Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Before Paul met Jesus he was rich, respected, had a key position in the Sanhedrin, and had everything anyone in the first century could desire and overnight he lost it all yet, he didn’t lose what was most important to him, the love of God in Christ Jesus.  So long as he had that he did not fear losing anything, even his life.  

This being the case then I suppose I can conclude that chaser can be rendered as both want or needs for if the love of God is all we need and want, that is one thing that can never be taken from us and if the one thing we want and need can never be taken from us we do not need to live in fear.  We can be like the sheep who fear nothing so long as their shepherd is insight.

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