HEBREW WORD STUDY – SEE AND EXPERIENCE  – RA’AH   ראה  Resh Aleph Hei

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A Quick Note Before The Study: I inadvertently sent out an invitation to live class yesterday to all our Daily Word Study subscribers instead of our Learning Channel members, but “there are no mistakes, just happy accidents” :D (Bob Ross) I received many emails asking if we’ll be holding another live class soon. We hold 2-3 live classes weekly, which are also recorded and uploaded to the Learning Channel along with exclusive Word Studies and Hebrew & Aramaic classes. We ran a special this weekend for those attending our speaking engagement and now we’ve decided to extend the offer to all our DWS subscribers:

“For anyone who signs up for our All Access Learning Channel this weekend, our publisher will send  Learning God’s Love Language (based off Chaim’s dissertation on the esoteric meanings of the Hebrew letters) as our way of saying, ‘Thank You.’ This is a real printed book, not a download or eBook. The publisher will even pay to ship within the USA. Unfortunately, we can’t offer this free book outside of the US due to shipping costs, but if you are outside the US and sign up for All Access this weekend, the publisher will send you a really nice downloadable gift.

You can find out more about All Access by visiting (click on link) HebrewWordStudy.com

Your first month of All Access is just 99 cents, you can unsubscribe any time, and you’ll receive the Learning God’s Love Language, a $20 value for free. But this offer expires at the end of the weekend, so please, if you’d like to join All Access for just 99 cents and receive your free book got to ChaimBentorah.com to learn more.”

We hope to see you there!!  Chaim & Laura

Luke 10:38-42: “Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. (39) And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. (40) But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.(41) And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: (42) But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

I don’t know about you but I grew up in the church and there were Bible stories that just had an accepted meaning and understanding.  No one questioned an interpretation, particularly when it is so obvious like the story of Mary and Martha.  Jesus pays a visit to Mary and Martha and Mary sat at Jesus’s feet and heard his word, while poor Martha was left alone preparing the meal.  The moral of this story is obvious, what Jesus has to tell us is far more important than preparing a dinner.

I have heard sermons on this like maybe you have.  The preacher makes us feel guilty saying that we sit in church as he shares the Word of God but our minds are on our dinner and what we will do after the service. Shame on you, shame on your papa and shame on your mama. But that is not what bothered me about the interpretation of the story. It is the feuding of these sisters.  I wanted these sisters to love each other, not be bickering.Deep down inside of me this just nagged at me.  Perhaps that is why I devoted my life to the study of Biblical Languages and Jewish culture and literature. I wanted to find an alternative to many of these interpretations that were accepted by tradition but yet left a bitter taste in my mouth, or spirit.

Recently,  I read something very interesting in the Talmud in Shevuot 35b in the name of Rabbi Judah that to take in guests is greater than receiving the Divine Presence. One of my students wondered if there was a relationship between this and the Mary and Martha story. I believe there is.

Rabbi Judah’s quote was birthed in the interpretation  of Genesis 18:1-2: “And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; (2) And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw [them], he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground.”  The sages interpret this as Abraham enjoying the presence of God who was revealing Himself to him. All of a sudden Abraham sees three men in the distance. He leaves the presence of God and he runs  to them, neat trick for a 99 year old man.  This was important to Abraham because that was his mission, to invite guests into his tent for a meal and a place to rest.  Once the guest would depart they would thank him. This gave Abraham the opportunity to be a witness because he would put the name of God on their lips. He would tell them: “Do not thank me, it is God Jehovah who has provided the food and comfort that I am able to offer you, so say thank you to Jehovah.”  God revealing Himself to Abraham took second place to the opportunity to bear witness to the Name of God.  Revealing Himself makes it sound really special.  Actually, the word is ra’ah which is to see and experience in a natural and/or supernatural sense. What He and God were sharing together was something that Abraham did on a daily basis.  Yet, it was Abraham’s passion to share the Name of his God with everyone who passed by. He would not pass up a chance to give a witness and with the appearance of three strangers, Abraham excused himself from the presence of God to be about his Father’s business. 

Thus, by the first century, Jews took this idea that it was a greater act of good to take in a guest than to receive the Divine Presence quite seriously.  I soon became like most traditions, it loses its initial purpose.  Women would neglect all their other housework and even their babies and children to honor their guests.  Also, it was just Eastern etiquette for women not to become too familiar with an honored guest, but to stay in the background and cater their guest.  Mary and Martha were sisters to Lazarus who was, presumably the man of the house and the one who was to be most familiar with an honored guest.  Martha was very sincere about following Eastern protocol and oral law for the law sake and not for its intended purpose. Hence, she found it difficult to understand why Jesus, a master teacher, would not be concern that her sister was not following the oral traditions and breaking protocol by sitting at the feet of Jesus.  Sitting at the feet of someone is a Semitic idiom for giving you undivided attention to someone.  Women were not to do that in that culture. Also, there were many curiosity seekers surrounding the house and it was the women’s duty to protect their honored guest from not invading his time and attention.  On top of that a woman was not be idle during the visit of a distinguished holy man.  In the eyes of strangers such departure from established protocol would be very damaging to their standing in the community and Martha was concerned for her sister.

I suppose what bothered me was that it was discomforting to think that these two sisters that Jesus dearly loved where feuding.  I wanted to believe that these two sisters loved each other. Mary as the younger sister would be under the watch care of her older sister culturally and was concerned about her not following social norms. Jesus basically said: “Martha, Martha, it is ok, I feel like a member of the family, I am well taken care of.  I want to converse with you, don’t let the particulars of oral law and social obligations stand in the way.” 

Abraham left the presence of God to minister to strangers, that is what was important. Most of us would consider that unthinkable to leave God’s presence to attend to social obligations, but for Abraham, it was not a social obligation it was a ministry.  For Mary, being ministered to by Jesus was more important than social obligations. 

In a couple of weeks I will be ministering to a small group. I will be praying with those who desire prayer.  Should I consider the proper protocol and procedure to prayer to make sure I say it right and use the right words?  Should I make sure I have the right tone of voice and the right pitch? I wonder if I should pray in the name of Jesus or just pray to God? 

 “Chaim, Chaim thou art careful and troubled about many things: But only one thing is needful.  Just share My love with that one you pray for.” 

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