ARAMAIC WORD STUDY – MOCKED – BAZACH בזח Beth Zayin Cheth

Galatians 6:7-8: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (8) For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

I am hearing this verse being quoted quite often these days from Christians as we face a world that is becoming more and more vocal with its anti-Christian rhetoric. Most of our modern translations say that God is not mocked. I am not sure what that means. Webster defines mockery as teasing and showing contempt in behavior or language. Some modern translations will say God will not be made a fool of another one says God will not be put to shame and one says He will not be scoffed at. The majority of translations, however, walk-in lockstep with the word mock.

The Greek word is mykterizetai from the root mykter which means nose. We automatically think of thumbing one’s nose which is a sign of contempt and appears to have its origins in the 1500s during the time of Shakespeare. However, there is no record of this occurring in ancient times during the time of Paul. However, it was such a common expression around the time of King James to flick you thumb off your nose to show contempt or mockery that translators might have assumed mykter indicated this gesture.

Paul could be making an allusion to Ezekiel 8:17: “Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen [this], O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose.” The branch to the nose is a colloquial expression for an act of mockery and derision.

The context clearly indicates that Paul is talking of the people of God who mock God, perhaps like Judah did in Ezekiel’s time. How do they mock God? They claim righteousness yet engage in abomination. Paul’s native language was Aramaic and in the Aramaic the word he uses is bazach which means to mock, despise, to sneer at and hold in contempt. It also has the idea of causing division.

Right after that Paul warns that whatever a man sows he reaps. It seems from the context what Paul is saying is that when you acquire knowledge of God or receive a revelation from God don’t take yourself so seriously thinking that you and you alone have the truth and everyone else is wrong and you begin to mock those that disagree with you, especially those who try to instruct you.

We see this in many churches where the pastor gets the attitude that He is the pastor, how dare you to disagree with him or suggest he might be wrong in his interpretation of a passage of scripture. After all, you are just a lowly church member under his instruction, you must show respect. You don’t have a seminary and/or Bible College background. But pastors can be wrong. Teachers can be wrong. Yes, even Chaim Bentorah can be wrong. Men of God can engage in abominations and if not checked will result in bringing shame upon God.

But does this play out today? When the world watches us fight among ourselves, cause division, hatred among ourselves what they see is God bazach, divided, they do not see a harmonious God but a God who causes division. They see pastors and men of God saying horrible things about each other why they are caught engaging in abominable acts. John Lennon wrote a song called “Imagine” where he imagined a world without religion. Why did he despise religion? He saw all the fightings, division, and hatred among religions, the hypocrisies, and abominable acts and he desired what God desires harmony and unity. The very place Lennon was supposed to find what he was looking for, the church, he could not find it.

That is making a mockery of God, that is bringing shame to God, that is holding God in contempt when we pursue our flesh as Paul describes in verse 7. Our flesh desires that we are always right, that we alone have the truth, and others are wrong it desires the things of the flesh, lust, adulterous acts and other abominations. Our flesh demands that we elevate ourselves and what we reap is corruption. Actually, the word in Aramaic is a bit stronger, it is chavala’ binding, holding back, inflicting pain and destruction.

There are many people who no longer go to church because they have been deeply hurt by the church, they have been held back from their spiritual growth because they were not allowed to interpret the Scriptures for themselves and have felt pain over being told they were wrong, of condemnation for those who commit condemnable acts themselves.

Churches have been closed for almost two months due to the virus and are now into the second month of holding limited numbers in their services. In the last four months, the church has suffered from the tail of Satan and the finger of God. It has been a time of testing for the church and a time of cleansing. There are attacks against the church and religious organizations as never before in the history of this country. Will the church survive?

I believe the church will survive, it will be a cleansed church. God will not be bazach. Mocked? Divided? Shamed? Made a fool of? You decided, but God will re-establish his reputation in this land with a leaner and more loving church that will reflect who He is. We will pass through the fires and the lion’s den and only the true believers will be unscorched and uneaten.

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