HEBREW WORD STUDY – A RIGHTEOUS JUDGE – YARAD  ירד Yod Resh Daleth

Genesis 11:5: “And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. (6) And the LORD said, Behold, the people [is] one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.(7) Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”

Surely, I am not the only one who has been baffled by this statement that the Lord came down to see the city. I mean he came down from where?  From heaven?  But is He not omnipresent, Is He not everywhere.  Does he really have to relocate to see the city? Is His vision so limited that he has to move closer to get a good look?

The context of this story is that after the flood people began to multiply and decided to stay together, build a city and a tower. As to why this was so bad, I will let the theologians figure that one out.  I am more concerned with the idea that the Lord had to come down or descend to check things out.

I read something interesting in the Midrash this morning. The word to see in Hebrew is ra’ah which is your standard word for seeing.  But it does have other meanings such as to consider, deliberate, to give attention to, to present oneself or to take heed.  When we put the word yarad rendered to come down or descend we start to get a picture.

For one thing, the word yarad is the same root word that is used in yirdeu.  Most of our lexicons will tell us that the root word for yirdeu in Genesis 1is radah which means to have dominion or to dominate which is Genesis 1 means to dominate over the animals.  Yet the sages teach that the root word is yarad which means to lower oneself, to put oneself on the level of someone or something. It has the idea of showing respect.  We are not to dominate the creatures God created but to show them respect.  I read in the Talmud this morning that the reason the flood destroyed the animals and all his creation on earth, as well as man, was because the animals and all His earthly creation were for our benefit, to learn of His nature of caring and loving. But man only corrupted God’s creation so that the message He wanted to send through his creation was corrupted. 

In our All Access subscription-based website I have an article on yirdeu and how it is meant for us to communicate with animals and extract God’s message to us through His creation if you want more on that topic.

What I read in the Midrash this morning is that yarad, coming down, has the same idea.  God was not literally coming down to see but he was performing the role of a judge and in so doing was giving to us the example of a judge who must perform yirdeu.  Before a judge and/or jury makes a decision they are to yirdeu, come down to the level of the accused, meet the accused on his level to understand why he committed the crime and then to ra’ah, deliberate on the evidence. To examine all the issues to determine the truth.

In the United States, we have a judiciary system which has two purposes, to discover the truth and to render justice once the truth is revealed.  The truth is so important that our system allows a defendant to have his case heard before a jury of not one but twelve of his fellow citizens.  Strangers to each other who must listen to all the evidence and decide on the truth.  In nearly every state in a criminal trial as with the Federal system, the jury must produce a unanimous verdict to determine if someone is guilty. Whether our founding fathers based our Judicial system on the Bible I am not sure but our system does follow this Biblical perspective as shown in Genesis 11.  That is why the plural is used in verse 7: “Let us go down.” That is let us show respect and listen to all the arguments. As I taught in my Hebrew class on Tuesday, plural in Hebrew does not necessarily mean more than one.  In this case, God is indicating that every part of his existence and being are in agreement.  He renders a verdict in verse 6 and He then metes out a proper sentence based upon the severity of the offense.  In this case, it was not that severe so the sentence was to just change the languages.

What is being taught here is that God does what we often do not do for others.  If someone cuts us while driving we shake our fist and call him a toad.  However, if we commit an offense to God He yirdues, he comes down to our level, He shows us respect, He weighs all the reason for our offense. Was this an offense out of passion, was it premeditated, was it just a pure accident. What were our motives etc. 

When I was a pastor a young woman came to my office.  She wanted to receive Jesus as her Savior but couldn’t.  She would not tell me the reason but it was obvious from our discussion. She was living with a man and not married. I really felt God guiding me to say; “You know God knows our needs and the reason we do what we do. He is not asking you to change anything, just let Him become Lord of your life and let Him bring about the changes.  She then accepted Jesus as her Savior and a few weeks later I performed her wedding ceremony.

There is an old song, Just as I am.  Come to Him just as you are and make Him Lord of your life and He will perfect the changes that are necessary for he will yirdeu, He will understand.