ARAMAIC WORD STUDY – THE HAPPIEST TOVIHUN טוביהון Teth Vav Beth Yod Hei Vav Nun

Jeremiah 2:31: “O generation, see ye the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say my people, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee?”

John 20:29: “Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed [are] they that have not seen, and [yet] have believed.”

I have read Jeremiah many times in my half-century of studying God’s Word. I have studied this passage but it wasn’t until I meditated on it that I noticed something strange. Maybe, you’ve seen it right away, I didn’t. My question is: How can you see the word of the Lord? This is no mistake, the word in Hebrew is ra’ah which is seeing with the naked eye or seeing with spiritual eyes. Even with spiritual eyes, what do you actually see in the spirit? The real question is why did not the prophet use the word shama’ which is your word for hearing and is almost always used when people are exhorted to hear the Word of the Lord.

Looking at what our modern translations do with this is not encouraging. The NIV says to consider the Word of the Lord, the NLT says to listen, ESV says behold, NASB uses the English word heed, CSB offers to pay attention and the Darby Bible says mark the Word. Only the KJV and a couple of other translations I have examined used the word see.

I am not saying these modern translations are wrong. They are using proper linguistics and pure logic tells you people did not have computerized projectors 3,000 years ago were verses of the Bible showed up on one or two screens on a platform. In the 21^st Century it is possible to see the Word of God, but not 3,000 years ago. So, Bible translators have every right to render this as listen, behold, heed pay attention or mark the Word.

Yet, before we jump to the conclusion that the text really meant for us to understand this as hearing even though it uses the word see, you might search to find an explanation as to why Scripture uses the word ra’ah rather than shema. I found a great explanation that I actually believe. It is in the Mechilta which is an exegesis of the book of Exodus. Jewish tradition teaches that during the prophecies of Jeremiah God ordered that the jug of manna be removed to give a visual demonstration of the Word of the Lord.

Ex 16:32: “And Moses said, This [is] the thing which the LORD commandeth, Fill an omer of it (manna) to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt.” God commanded Moses to take an omer of manna, that is about three pounds, and keep it for future generations so that God could show them or allow them to see how He sustained their ancestors in the desert. Aaron collected some manna and put it in a clay jar that was placed inside the Holy of Holies. Now we know from Scripture that manna turns to liquid after a day and becomes just water which evaporates. So, God was performing a miracle of preserving this manna for 500 years. Christian tradition says it was placed inside the Ark of the Covenant and Jewish tradition says it was placed beside the Ark. I am sure our soul salvation does not depend upon whether we believe it was inside the Ark or beside it.

According to the Talmud in Yoma 52b and the Mishnah in the Laws of the Holy Temple 4:1, when King Solomon built the Holy Temple he knew it was destined to be destroyed so he built a place in which to hide the Ark. This was a tunnel with deep winding passageways where the jar of manna and the Ark would eventually reside 22 years before the destruction of the First Temple. King Josiah, a Godly king, was said to have hidden the jug of manna together with the Ark in this special hidden passage. According to tradition, it will remain hidden until the day of the Messiah. So those of you into Bible Prophecy, if some archaeologist discovers this hidden tunnel and finds an Ark and clay jar with three pounds of manna, I will be willing to concede that the return of Jesus has arrived.

But, let’s back up here. Did Jeremiah really command that jar of manna to be brought out for people to see? I believe he did. After all, that was the purpose of keeping a jar of manna so future generations will witness, will see the Word of the Lord in manna that survived for centuries, they would see that God will sustain his people like He did centuries earlier.

I believe just before Jesus returns that tunnel will be found and the evidence of manna three thousand years old, all fresh and ready to eat will be God’s last and final call to repentance. It will be His last call to believe. He will provide physical proof of his ability to sustain His people and perhaps spark the final revival for many will turn to Him after ra’ah “seeing” His Word.

For you and I  do not need to see 3,000-year-old manna still fresh and ready to eat to believe for we are believing without seeing and Jesus said that we are blessed. In John 20:21 Jesus said: “Blessed are those who have not seen and believed. Does this mean that Thomas was not blessed because he needed to see something tangible to believe? Does that mean that everyone who has had a miracle or sign from God to help their belief are not blessed? The word in Aramaic for blessed is not barak as I thought it would be but tovihun which means happy but this word is in an intensive form in the Aramaic so it really means the happiest.

Some people have received signs from God and visions. Oh, how we love to hear their stories and how we envy them for these experiences. How we wish we had such miracles and testimonies to increase our faith. But, alas, most of us will never have such testimonies. However Jesus promised that we will be blessed, that is we will be the happiest because our faith is not dependent upon signs and wonders, our faith is based upon our choice to believe. Some people live from sign to sig, wonder to wonder. They travel great distances to a miracle or healing service just to see the signs and wonders and they return with their faith strengthened, but if they fail to continue to see signs and wonders they get depressed, their faith is easily shaken so they start looking for another miracle or sign.

I prefer to build my faith, not on signs and wonders, not on seeing a jar of manna, but just on choosing to believe for Jesus promises we will be happiest when we believe without having to see something.