Hebrew Word Study – Indifference – Qari – Qop Resh Yod 

Leviticus 26:27-28: “And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me; (28) Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.”

There are many people who believe in providence or the protective care of God.  That is, He is found in every event in our lives.  If a Muslim in some Middle Eastern land, for instance is carrying a bag of grain and the bag break opens and spills all his grain onto the ground he may likely say: “shaa alleh” that is God wills it.  Some call that providence some call it fatalism.  Providence would be in the sense that God will make something good and Divine out of the loss grain. If that person losing his grain is a true servant of God, then according to Leviticus 26 the event would indeed have Divine origins. 

The word contrary is not considered by Jewish scholars as the best rendering for the Hebrew word qari.  Neither is the other most commonly used English word in our modern Bible translations which is hostile. That is not to say it is a mistranslation but it is misleading. The rendering favored by Jewish teachers is indifference.

If you are indifferent to God, He will be indifferent to you.  The word qari is used only seven times in the Old Testament, all this in Leviticus 26.  It is not an easy word to put into English.  I do not like using the words contrary or hostile because a Christian can easily say, “Well, I am not hostile to God nor do I intentionally behave contrary to God.  But we all can be indifferent to God. 

God gave his commandments as a guide or a school teacher as the Apostle Paul would call them to help us establish a relationship with Him.  Like a husband and wife on their wedding night will “lay down the law” with each other.  The wife may say; “I don’t want you to have any other woman before me, I want you to have one evening a week as a date night, don’t ever lie to me” etc.  These are all reasonable request and expected in a monogamous marriage relationship. God is asking no more from us that we would ask in any other intimate relationship. A husband who loves his wife will do everything for her sake.  He will live to make her happy, to please her.  God expects no less from us if we declare our love to Him.  A husband and wife are in a partnership for life, they will share all their joy and all their sorrows together. They will share a home together, finances together, vacations together.

When we enter into a relationship with God it is no different.  We will share everything in our lives together with God. In return God promises us as He did in Leviticus 26:12: “And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.” The word for walk in Hebrew is halacah which is a close, intimate walk, one that is in total agreement.  Amos 3:3 asks: “Can two walk together lest they be agreed.” If we walk with God being one in agreement and purpose, we will submit to His will, we will share everything with Him as He will share everything with us. 

Note that this word halachah is in a Hithpael verbal form.  That is, it is reflexive.  It literally reads; “And I will, myself, walk among you.”  Not an angel, not some human guide, but God Himself will walk in our midst.  He will be there when sorrows come, when tragedies hit and when there is joy and celebration. When we sing, He sings with us, when we dance He will dance with us.  When we cry, He will cry with us. 

As a partner in our life what we experience He will experience. Hence it follows that nothing will happen to us, no event, whether big or small happens in our lives without purpose. If you get a flat tire, there is purpose in that flat tire.  Maybe it is to share the Gospel message with that stranger who just happens to drive by and just happens to have some extra time and offers to fix your tire.

We are in this life together and we have a purpose in life.  This purpose extends to every event in our lives no matter how big or small.  So long as we walk with God then every little hiccup will need to be considered as something God wants to use for a greater purpose. 

However, if we are indifferent to the Providence of God, if we pray for someone to stop and help fix our flat tire and if someone does stop are we going to be indifferent to God, shrug our shoulders and say; “Oh, what a coincidence” then we are being qari to God, indifferent to God.  The next time we have a flat tire, we are on our own. God will simply say; “Hey, that’s life, I had no purpose life event.”

Leviticus 26 is telling us that if we want a purpose filled life, if we want purpose in every joy and sorrow, every victory or failure then we must walk a close walk with God, acknowledge Him in all we do, in everything we do we do as unto Him. Then when our tire goes flat God will say: “Let me show you the wonderful thing I have planned for you in this flat tire.”   If are qari indifferent to God’s involvement in our lives then we will be greeted with our next life event with: “Hey, that’s life, deal with it because I didn’t plan on this and I have no plans in it. It is just one of those things.”  

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