HEBREW WORD STUDY – THE JOY OF THE LORD –  CHADOTH  YHWH   חדות יהוה  

Psalms 105:19: “Until the time that his word came, the word of the Lord tried him.”

Nehemiah 8:10, “Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the LORD is your strength!”

We assume that our strength comes from the joy God gives to us.  Ever stop to ask where that joy comes from?  Joseph learned to be joyful in every situation because the joy of the Lord was his strength.  The word joy that is used in Nehemiah is the word chadoth which is really the word for pleasure.  The pleasure of God is our strength. What does that mean? Psalms 105:19 gives us a clue.

Psalms 105:19 is a very curious reference to Joseph.  Most commentators agree that this reference means that until the time came for Joseph to fulfill his purpose or mission in life which was to become a prime minister of Egypt and thus bring his family into safety from a famine, he first had to go through various trials to be tested by God. 

This verse confirms two things that Christians believe, that we are all created for a specific purpose in life and that God puts us through testing’s or a spiritual boot camp, so to speak, to bring us to that point where we can fulfill our life’s mission or calling. 

That thought alone makes this verse a very important verse for us.  It gives us a Biblical basis to say that we are not put on this earth haphazardly, but that God has placed us on this planet to fulfill a specific role.  It also gives us a plausible reason as to why we go through the trials of life, and that is to provide a training ground which will help prepare us to fulfill the role God has chosen for us. 

The word trial in the Hebrew is tsarp and is a very interesting word in the Hebrew to use in this passage.  It is the word that is used for refining gold.  In its Semitic root, you find it is based upon the idea of making something pure.  We see in this verse that it is the word of the Lord that purified Joseph.   You would expect the writer to use devar which are words spoken from the heart in this context, yet he uses the word amar which is simply a spoken word, a saying.  Just the general sayings of the Lord purified Joseph’s motives until the time of the word came.  Here is where we find the Hebrew word devar or the word that is spoken from the heart of God. Devar represents a word of power.  It could also be a word of prophecy or inspiration.  Devar is spelled with a Daleth which is a doorway to the Beth or the heart of the Resh or Spirit of God.  Devar is a doorway to the heart of God.  ‘Amar is spelled Aleph which represents God revealing the  Mem or the revealed knowledge of God through the Resh or the Spirit of God.  Thus, ‘amar refers to God revealing himself through the Holy Spirit.

So the message I get from this verse is that Joseph at an early age received a devar insight into the heart of God.  He received knowledge of God’s intended purpose in his life. He knew God took pleasure chadoth in him. As Joseph was purged of all his impurities, or selfish and self-center motives he could still feel that devar that pleasure God took in Him.  God put him through deep trials, stripping him all his trust in himself so that when the time came to enter into his purpose or role in life his trust would be in God alone.   Yet, God was using ‘amar, just as a simple revelation to remind him of God’s devar, God’s approval of him.  

So how did Joseph manager to endure all these trials or tsarps that God sent his way?  Was it the knowledge that it would all eventual culminates into a grand plan of God.  That Talmud teaches that everything Joseph said or did the name of Jehovah was upon his lips.  He did everything as unto God.  In everything, he gave thanks unto God.  When he did this, even when serving in slavery and eventually in prison, the joy of the Lord the pleasure god felt in him was his strength.

The point is it is not the joy you feel but the joy God takes in us that is our strength. Joseph may not have been felt very joyful when falsely accused of rape or thrown into prison, but he knew God took pride in Him and felt joy in his faithfulness and that gave him his strength to endure.

Every trial that comes our way if we go through it with the name of God on our lips, God ’s heart we be filled with joy over us and our faithfulness.  When we feel his joy that is when we find our strength.