Hebrew Word Study – Hope/Trust – Batch – Beth Teth Cheth

Ecclesiastes 9:4: “For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.”

Hebrew Word Study – Hope/Trust – Batch – Beth Teth Cheth

Ecclesiastes 9:4: “For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.”

In the first century, the school of Hillel and the House of Shammai both questioned whether the Book of Ecclesiastes should be included in the Canon as it was a book filled with despair and hopelessness. It was like a primer for existentialism.  It gave no meaning to life and in fact, suggested that life was worthless.  It does not matter whether you are rich or poor, in the end, the rich die just like the poor and the cycle of life continues.  So why work and struggle all your life and then go to a grave? 

Such thoughts are which gave rise to hedonism.  Hedonism followed the idea that you just live for the moment and find all the enjoyment you can.  Jewish literature, however, instructs us that Ecclesiastes is telling us that what is done under the sun is of no value as it will pass away.  However, what is done above the sun will have eternal value.  Our focus should be not on what will quickly pass away but on that which will continue to exist.  Thus, our existence on this earth is only to prepare for that which has eternal value.   

So long as we are alive, we have hope.  A dog was considered a vile animal, not the domesticated animals we are familiar with today.  A lion was considered to be a noble animal. Yet it is better to be a vile beast and to be alive than to be a noble animal and be dead. We can envy the wealth, power, and fame of JP Morgan but he is dead and whatever he accomplished for eternity is long past. So long as we have life, we can accomplish something of eternal value.

It is interesting that the word used for hope which is the central thought in this verse is the word in the Hebrew batach.  Batach is the word used for trust, security, to confide in, to cling to and to have confidence in. So, the opportunity we have in being alive is to trust and to cling to something. 

The word batach is spelled Beth, Teth, Cheth.  Can the meaning of life be spelled out in these three letters?  That can be a very individual thing and will require a personal visit behind my Looking Glass which I have hanging in my living room/office. Many times, as I am working at my desk I tend to doze off or have one of those waking dreams that I pass through my Looking Glass into a world populated by Hebrew letters forming Hebrew words. If fact I see the letters Beth, Teth, and Cheth (batach – hope/trust) now.  You are welcome to follow me behind my Looking Glass if you wish, but I need to caution you that this is my own personal journey into batach and may not be your story. 

As I step behind my Looking Glass I find it to be a bright, sunny day in this land of Hebrew letters. Birds are singing, grass is growing, not a dark cloud in the sky.  I see the first letter to the word for hope which is the Beth inviting me into his house.  Beth represents a house.  He has a very comfortable home, with a nice white picket fence, well cared for lawn surrounded by flowers. We go inside where Beth serves a glass of iced tea and we start to have a nice conversation about the weather, the Blackhawks winning the world series, and the Chicago Cubs’ chances of going to the super bowl. I get quickly bored with the conversation. Sports have never been my forte. Beth admits he is a pretty boring fellow. I kind of yawn and wonder if this is all there is to my visit behind the Look Glass when suddenly I hear a wind outside.  We look out the window and see a storm approaching. Beth picks up the phone and calls his friend Tet to come quickly over as it appears things are going to get pretty exciting and we will need some shelter.  

Tet arrives followed by nasty-looking storm clouds and a powerful wind.  Beth and I run to meet him just as the storm arrives. Beth did not think his house could stand up against such a powerful storm and Tet is built like a ready-made shelter, a half circle with two arrow-like points at the top that are pointing inward. The arrows seem to indicate self-examination.  Beth and I dive inside  and as the storm hits with all its fury I find myself doing some serious self-examination.  Beth said his friend Tet has a direct link to the creator as he represents Tov which is goodness or harmony with God.   It is this self-inward examination that helps bring us into harmony with God. 

Outside the storm rages.  Tet is being bounced around like a rubber ball in a tennis match and we inside feel like we are on some sort of roller coaster.  Well, said Beth this is a little more exciting than inside my house, wouldn’t you say?”  “You’re right,” I reply, “But, oh, your poor house!”  We take a peek outside of time to see Beth’s beautiful little house being blown away in the storm.  Beth just shrugged and said:  “No big thing, it was not built to last, and that too was getting a little boring. 

Suddenly Tet yells out:  “Hang on this storm is really about to hit. Hit it did and we were tossed around bruised, battered, and beaten, but Beth was smiling and said; “Far out man, this is some ride.”  Finally, we came to rest against a huge tree.  I looked out and found it was not a tree but it was a Chet who represents a unity or binding with God. Well, I about had enough in this strange land so Beth and I climbed out and I headed straight for my Looking Glass to return to the normality of my office. As I walked away. I saw Beth, Tet, and Chet frantically waving at me.  They formed the word batach or hope.  I smile and waved back as I could not help but think that this is the hope mentioned in Ecclesiastes 9:4.   There is a time for peace and comfort with Beth, then in a time of a raging storm we find shelter in the Teth but it when Chet joins up with Beth and Tet the good times and the bad all contribute to a binding together with God. The good times and bad, have no value unless it is joined by the Chet to give it eternal value.

I return from behind the Looking Glass understanding the message of Ecclesiastes.  Whatever we experience in this world is short-lived.  What we do with those experiences can have eternal value if we use them to help bind us to God.

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