Hebrew Word Study – Return – Shuv – Shin Beth Taw 

Deuteronomy 30:2-3: “And shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;  that then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee.”

James 4:8: “Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you.”

There is one striking similarity between all these verses that talk of returning to God or drawing near to Him and that is that it is us who must make the first step toward God. The syntax of Deuteronomy 30:2 suggests that returning to the Lord is a separate step from obeying His voice. In other words, the first step is to return to the Lord. We must return and obey with all our hearts and souls.

There is an interesting play on words for the word return. The word used for return is shabata. It appears to be from the same root as the word for Sabbath which means to rest, except that the Masoretes pointed this with a pathah under the Shin rather than a qammits making the root word shuv which means to return or restore. In the Sefer Torah, this word could come from the root word shabat or the root word shuv and I believe the intent was both. We are to return to our resting upon God and not the arm of the flesh. 

Note we must do this with all our hearts and souls. The word heart (Heb. lavav) and the word soul (nephesh) when used together mean both your intellect or understanding and your passions. We can return to God with our intellect but not with our passions, or we can return to God with our passions but not our intellect. God is saying we must return to Him with both. 

The passage also says that we are to return to the Lord your God. In the Hebrew this is YHWH and Elohim.   There seems to be a new fad among Christians and that is to use the Hebrew name of God YHWH as if there is some mystical benefit to speaking His name. The problem is that no one knows the correct pronunciation of the name of God. Vowel pointings were not added until 700 years after the birth of Jesus and then the Masoretes just added the vowels from the word for lord adoni. What is interesting about the word YHWH is that it is in a feminine form. The word Elohim is in a masculine form. The sages teach that when the word YHWH is used it represents the feminine nature of God which is the mercy, nurturing, and lovingkindness of God. The word Elohim represents the masculine nature of God, God’s protection and provision. Thus, you return to YHWH with your heart and to Elohim with your soul.  

When this is done then the Lord God will return to you. There is just one issue that bothers me. This business of returning seems very ambiguous. How do I really know that I have returned with all my heart and all my soul? Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that the word return is in a Qal form and not a Piel.  This return with all your heart and soul is the best you can give even if it falls short. If we come to Him in the best possible way that we can, offering our heart and soul to him as best we can, that is enough.   

James tells us that we just need to draw near to God and he will then move into action to draw near to us.  We just need to start the process and do our best. The Lord will take care of the rest.

There is a story in the Talmud about a king who had a disagreement with his son. The nature of this disagreement was such that the son left home to live in another kingdom. After a time the father sent a messenger to the son with this message: “Please come home.” The son sent the messenger back telling his father: “That is too far for me to come.” The Father then sent his messenger back with this message: “Then come as far as you can and I will meet you.”

How do you know you have returned to God with all your heart and soul? Just come to Him as far as you can and He will meet you. 

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