Hebrew Word Study – To Bend – Chapets  חפצ  Cheth Pei Sade

Jeremiah 9:23-24:  “Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth for in these things I delight, says the Lord.”  

Before my father had his stroke he gave me his Bible. It is a KJV and it is the only English translation I use. Most of my study is in the Hebrew Bible but when I go to the English version I will go to this Bible. I will just look at other translations to satisfy my curiosity as to how someone else would render a word.   On occasion, I enjoy just going through this Bible and seeing the verses my father underlined.  I ran across this verse this morning. My father always said that whatever I do I must always do it for God.   I wonder if that is why he underlined this verse.

The message of this verse is quite clear, God does not delight in using our wisdom, might, or wealth to bring glory to ourselves but his delight is in understanding and knowing Him. That sounds pretty arrogant and self-centered of God. But I guess He has a right to be.  Maybe there is something a little deeper here.

The word for understanding is hasekal which is used in a Hiphal form and would better be rendered: “Let him glory in using his intelligence to know God.”   The word know is yada which is becoming intimate with God.  God gave us intelligence so we can become intimate with him, not to bring glory to ourselves.  But soft, let’s just take one of those Masoretic dots which is on the left side of the shin in wisdom, and put it on the right side. There is a double meaning here.   The word now becomes a word used to describe a cluster of grapes.  This is a picture of binding together like grapes around a vine. The vine nourishes the grapes.  No one eats the vine but they eat the fruit of the vine. Our fruit from God (wisdom, might, riches) is eaten by others. Thus, you have a double meaning. When God gives us intelligence, might, or riches (the three things man glories in) it really comes from him and we are only the fruit to be eaten by others.   In other words, our intelligence, might, and riches are not to bring joy to us, but to bring life and joy to others.  It is meant to bring us into an intimacy with God and to help bring others into an intimacy with God.

Two words that stand out to me in this verse is the word glory and delight. The word glory in this verse is yitehalel which comes from the root word halal which is where we get the word Hallelujah. Hallelujah means praise the Lord, but literally, it means to make God shine. Without the Jah at the end, it simply means to “make to shine.”   In the Hithapel form of  yitehalel it means to make yourself shine. In other words to draw attention to yourself. The command is not to use your intelligence, might, or riches to draw attention to yourself, but to draw attention to God. When we draw attention to God, He will delight in this.

The word for delight here is chapets which means to bend, to incline. When a request is given to an oriental king he would often give a slight bow or nod of the head to indicate that he will grant the person’s request.  If we cause God to shine, He will show favor to us. I remember taking a business course in college and our instructor said that the best way to succeed in your job is not to make yourself look good, but to make your boss look so good that he will get promoted and will be so grateful for helping him get promoted that he will recommend you for his old position.  I think that is good Biblical advice. 

As happens occasionally with my 72-year-old body which I put through an eight-hour shift on my disability, I tend to get very sleepy during my studies and sometimes doze off.  That just happened and I had this strange dream.  I asked “Chet, Pei, and Sade” chapets – delighted to step forward.  I asked Chet: “Just how do you bring delight to God?” Chet responded by saying: “I help to bring you to a higher level with God, a bonding with God so that you become filled with His lovingkindness and when you share that lovingkindness with others it brings joy to the heart of God.”  “Ah,” I  said, “So you help bring me into intimacy with God.”  I then turned to Pei and ask the same question.  Pei responded by saying: “I am your mouth, your voice, I am the one who causes you to speak of the lovingkindness and joy of the Lord.”  “Yes,” I respond, “I understand that all God gives to me, I am to give to others to share in God’s blessings.”   I finally turn to Sade who blushes and does not speak.  I asked Chet and Pei what is wrong with Sade.  Chet answered and said: “He is too embarrassed to speak, for you see he is the key, the most important element in bringing delight to God. Sade is humility.”   

Now keep in mind that humility in the Old Testament is the key to releasing God’s power.  Moses was the most humble man around and he also released more power of God than anyone.  But also remember that humility in Hebrew is not belittling yourself, it is recognizing that everything we have, are, and possess (wisdom, might, riches) comes from God and not from ourselves.

Pei, as a spokesman for God, added: “You see God took the three of us (Chet, Pei, Sade)  to form the word for delight because he wanted us to know that His delight comes when we recognize that if we have intelligence, wisdom, and might, he gave it to us to make Him shine and bring His joy and peace to others.  But if we use these things to make ourselves shine, then He is unable to share his lovingkindness with others and this is one way how we break his heart.  If you want to protect God’s heart, then use whatever intelligence, might, or wealth he gives to make Him shine so he can use you to share His lovingkindness.” With that Chet, Pei, Sade smiled and stepped back into Jeremiah 9:24 and I awoke, awoke to a deeper understanding.

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