Hebrew Word Study – A Correction – ‘Avar

Zephaniah 1:18: “Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath. But the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy.”

There was a conference in France for a large number of international engineers. During a break, one of the European engineers came into the room and announced: “Have you heard the latest dumb stunt the United States has done? They sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intend to do, bomb them?

A Boeing engineer stood up and calmly replied: “Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear-powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people, three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from seawater each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck.  We have eleven other such ships stationed throughout the world, ready to offer similar humanitarian assistance. A reporter said the room got very quiet.

Sure, our military is trained for war, and they are fighting a war in the Middle East, at least a small contingent of our military. We hear little of the other wars our military is fighting, which is a much bigger picture. There is the war against piracy, smuggling, drugs, and human trafficking. We have a number of hospital ships that, in one year, treated over 1 million non-military, non-Americans throughout the world. They built schools and provided protection and security to the defenseless, and we can go on and on. Humanitarian aid is a key component of the U.S. military. Never in the history of the world has a world-class military force devoted so much time and effort to humanitarian aid. Yet, few in the world and even in this country realize this. You see, we don’t use this for propaganda.

The Old Testament suffers a similar lack of understanding. To most people, the Old Testament is a book of God’s wrath and anger. I have heard preachers condemn the Old Testament as a book filled with provincialism, elitism, tribalism, and every nasty “ism” except communism, and we all know who father that is.

Yet, the love and mercy of God are mentioned many more times than the wrath of God.  And just what is this wrath and jealousy of God? Zephaniah 1:18 is a good example. Neither gold nor silver will deliver one from God’s wrath. Wrath here is ‘avar in the Hebrew. You can render ‘avar as wrath if you wish, but our English word wrath has little to do with the Hebrew word. This word is the same word used for passing over or passing through. When used to express anger, it is really referring to the idea of allowing oneself to go beyond the limits. To go to the other side or beyond. In other words, God’s wrath is anytime He goes beyond His limits and is forced to do something He does not want to do.

You will notice that the word ‘avar is spelled “Ayin, Beth, Resh.” This Ayin shows that God’s wrath is not an irrational impulse, a moment of rage, or God losing it or running out of control. Ayin is telling us that this is a calm, calculating God who does not act out of an emotional outburst but only with discernment and when there is no alternative.

The next letter is Beth, which tells us that whatever is displayed with this move of God is ultimately meant to be a blessing. If I am to consider the possibility that the loss of my job and inability to find another is a demonstration of God’s wrath against me for something I did wrong, then I cannot ignore the fact that the second letter in the word for wrath is a Beth and that this is really a blessing.

The final letter for wrath is a Resh, which reminds me that any demonstration of wrath is under the complete control of the Holy Spirit and that His primary goal is to bring me to repentance. So perhaps we need to search for another English word rather than wrath.

I mean, when the stock market drops, billions of dollars are lost, thousands of jobs disappear, 401 Ks go belly up, businesses go bankrupt, and economists call it a “correction” in the market. Well, dog gone it if I face a health crisis then do I have to use such a harsh word as wrath for ‘avar. I will just call it like it is, “God is making a correction in my life.” I am not under God’s wrath; I am under His correction.

And how about this fire of jealousy business? Yeah, that is really bad, right? The word in the Hebrew is qana’. The word means jealousy, and what is jealousy? It is to burn with such passion for someone or something that you will not allow anyone to come close to your object of passion. I picture jealousy as someone grabbing hold of someone or something and saying, “Mine, all mine, everyone get away, no one can have what is mine.” What a nasty attitude, but you know if God wants to feel that way about me, well, don’t look to me to raise any objection. Think what you want, but I sure like the idea of having a jealous God.  

I mean, He can send his aircraft carrier my way anytime.

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