HEBREW WORD STUDY – TAKE AWAY – LAQACH – לקח

Job 1:21:  “And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”

I will admit, my study partner had to walk me through this as I could not see how the Hebrew words fit. She will be doing her own study on this at some future time.

I was drawn to this verse when I read something in the Siddur, a Jewish prayer book.  It basically said that all we have in this world, including our lives are simply on loan from God.  In the Western world we like to say; “The Lord gave me this car, (house, job, family etc.).”  The fact is that the Lord did not give it to you He loaned it to you.  The sages point out that the word give that is use in this verse (and there are about five other words in Hebrew we could render as give) is the word nathan.  Nathan in Hebrew is spelled the same way backward and forward. It shows a cycle of giving and then receiving back.  Nathan is sometimes used for the giving of a loan. This is further seen in Job 1:21 Job says: “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither:”  The word used for return is shuv which is also the word used for the repayment of a debt.  So I believe the Jews  have it right, all that we have is on loan from God even our very lives, for Job said that he entered the world naked and he would pay it all back leaving him naked again.  The idea of returning to the womb seems to follow a motif.  

The Lord gives and takes away.  The word in Hebrew for “take away” is one of a possible 15 words in the Hebrew that can be rendered as take. In this case it is the word laqach which is the word used when a make declares; “I have taken for myself a bride.”   It is also a word used for impregnating.  A woman laqach or takes the sperm from a man to create a child.  So we are following a motif here of a man and woman and their love and/or intimate relationship. 

 We read the “LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away” and picture poor old Job has just resigned himself to the fact that God is all powerful and He can do as He pleases.  But if we follow the idea behind the word laqach, which practically every modern English renders as take away, we don’t see this as a declaration of resignation but of hope.  The Lord gives and He takes away or laqach to make for Himself a pure bride.   What did the enemy declare?  Job was serving God because God paid Him so well.  I believe Job often wondered that same thing.  Was he really serving God because he feared losing every thing.  He said the thing he feared the most fell upon him.  Yet, he still trusted God and blessed His name.   He could enter a new depth of intimacy with God knowing he loved God not for reward, not for the praise of man, but simply for the Lord and his love for Him.