Hebrew Word Study: Government, Sarah- שָׂרָה sin, resh, hei
Isaiah 9:6. “For unto us a child is born, a son is given and the government will be upon His shoulders.”
It’s that time of year again and we will hear this Bible Verse quoted many times. Do we really understand this verse? What does it mean that the government will be upon His shoulders. We are taught that it means that the weight of authority and responsibility will rest upon Jesus. I am not sure what that means either. This Saturday during our Torah study live class which will be recorded and posted on our All Access site we will discuss this and other little understood Jewish customs that made its way into our Christmas story. This “government upon the shoulders” business has little to do with government other than the idea of protecting or fighting for someone. That is the primary role of the government to protect its citizens. The word in Hebrew that is rendered as government is miserah which comes from the root word sarah in its Semitic root and means to carry the authority and responsibility of protecting someone or something. However in Jewish culture the words hamiserah ‘al shikemu (the government will be upon His shoulders) is used at the climax of a wedding ceremony. You see, it is the bridegroom who places the veil over his brides face just before giving their vows. This is to symbolize the groom saying: “You are beautiful, but I cover that beauty to show you I love the beauty within you and when we are old and beauty fades, I will love you more than I do now.
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Then the bride circles her groom three times to show she will teach her new husband three things about God through her role as a wife. By living her life practicing righteousness and justice she will teach her husband of the righteousness and justice of God. Second, she will teach her husband the love and mercy of God by giving him unconditional love and mercy. Finally she will teach her husband the faithfulness of God by being faithful in sickness and in health, richer or poorer and in joy and in sorrow. She circles her husband these three times to indicate the picture of eternity by being betrothed to him forever, as God desires to be betrothed to us forever Hosea 2:21.
Then this is where the has miserah ‘al shikemu comes in as he will remove the veil from his new bride and throw it over his shoulder declaring that God has honored him to be her provider and protector and protect her heart and provide her with all the love and affection God created her to desire from her husband which will picture the love and desire created in us to have for Him and His promise to provide all that love and desire.
This as well as other aspects of the Christmas story from a Jewish understanding will be discussed Saturday morning during our Torah study. You may join us or listen to the recording on our All Access at www.hebrewwordstudy.com
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