Hebrew Word Study – A Plague of the Heart – Nega נגע   Nun Gimmel Ayin

Psalms 91:10: “There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.”

I was under the impression that pestilence and plague were the same things.  But in this case they are not.  The word used in verse six for pestilence is mideber which is something associated with words and speech.  The word used for plague here is nega’ which means disease, plague or wound. 

Such a wonderful promise except something haunts me about this.  It is called that elephant in the room.  That elephant is the millions of Christians and believers who have died from a plague over the last 2,000 years. As we have witnessed during this last pandemic Christians died from the Covid 19 right along with the non-believers.  I read about the recent Ebola crisis in Africa where an honest to goodness, born again, a true believer in God physician left the safety of the United States to go to Africa into the very villages where Ebola had broken out to treat the victims.  No doubt his church, his pastor, and many believing Christians quoted Psalms 91:10 to this brave and dedicated servant of God assuring him that God’s Word clearly says that if he is sheltered in the shadow of His wings no plague will come near whatever dwelling he chose to live in while caring the for those afflicted with this disease. We all remember the story of how he contracted Ebola despite all the safeguards of modern medical science as well as the greatest safety guard of all and that is the protection of God.  Yet he still came down with the disease and almost died. 

Did this verse fail him?  Was this a false promise?  You can’t get any clearer than a plague will not come to your dwelling.  Probably our standard response to this is our best response.  This word plague is a direct reference to the mark of leprosy.  Leviticus 14:33-56 gives specific instruction on how to handle a dwelling where the mark of leprosy was found.  It is believed today that leprosy is caused by a fungus or mold and the priests were instructed to search a house for this mold or mark of leprosy and if it was found certain measures were to take place for purification up to the point of burning the dwelling down.  We could say that the promise here is to those who fear that the mark of leprosy might appear in their home and they would lose their home but if they find shelter in the shadow of His wings that would not happen.  

​One problem with that is Leviticus 12-13 also talks about the mark of leprosy on clothing and even on the person.  I would think if this verse in Psalms is a reference to this it would at least talk about this plague coming on the person, his garments as well as his home or dwelling.  This is a tough question and there are many many tough questions like this in the Bible. 

All my life I faced these tough questions and asked my professors in Bible College and Seminary.  I usually got pat answered like when I asked: “If God is perfect in love, how could He send people to hell.  The pat answer, “He is a just God.”  But my response was: “If He is a just God then would He not sentence them for a temporary period in punishment for their sins rather than an eternity in torment.  Pat answer, “He provided a way of escape on the cross.”   Not good enough for I would say:  “How about people, good people that live in the third world and nations that never hear the Gospel?”  I suppose you can see how this could go on and on with me ending up being a trouble maker. 

So, I decided if my learned professors only had pat answers that I have heard a hundred times and I was still troubled I would search out the answers for myself.  I would study the Bible in the original language I would go to the very people who are the masters of the Hebrew language, the Jewish rabbis, to help me with the language. I learned something very amazing from these rabbis. For instance, there were only 7,500 words in Biblical Hebrew and about 8,500 words in Classical Hebrew or what we call extra-Biblical literature written in Hebrew. In English, we have over a million words.  To have to spread a few thousand ancient words which come from a language that has been dead for about twenty-five hundred years, well one Hebrew word would have to go a long way.  In fact, one rabbi told me that one word in Hebrew can have up to thirty possible English words.

So, let’s just think out of the box here and not walk in lockstep with the pat answers.  Let’s examine some of the other possible meanings to the word nega’ which is rendered as plague.  First, let’s trace this word to its original use. This word has its origins in touching.  But it was originally used with the idea of touching the heart. It eventually evolved to mean some sort of evil that touches you physically and hence the idea of a plague.  But it does not have to refer to a physical affliction. It could just be some evil that touches your heart. 

I realize that a book that I recently published could be very controversial.  The publisher who has agreed to publish this book and said that they will publish it and let me defend myself.   Although I believe in a heaven and hell, I believe in salvation by faith alone, I believe Jesus is the Son of God and I believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God, many will read my book looking for something to attack my declaration of God’s heart and how easily it is broken and will declare that I have left the fundamentals of my faith and wandered away from the reservation. Even though I am putting myself under the accountability of a very conservative, Godly, fundamental, Bible-believing pastor, there are those who attack me because I want nothing more than to love Jesus.  

I only seek to accomplish one thing with my books and that is to express my love for God and to reveal His heart to others hoping they too will serve Him out of love and not fear. That they will go to church and pay tithe because they love God and are not afraid He will punish them if they don’t.  Yet, there are those church leaders who will say: “Beware of that Chaim Bentorah fellow.”  

My point is this, I believe these attacks if they come, will be nega’, attacks not on me physically but upon my heart.  If someone attacks your heart, be it a friend or family member, it can create a deep wound.  Another use of the word nega’ is a wound.  We can call it a plague, a plague of words that may not kill or wound the body but it can kill the soul.  

So as I sign this book contract I am signing it in the name of Psalms 91:10. When you go out to serve God, to want nothing more than to love God and share that love so others will love Him too, the enemy will come at you and your tent or house with all the nega’ he can muster and the tragedy is that it could very well come from those who feel they are serving God in attacking you.  But Psalms 91:10 teaches, it will not come near us or near our heart.  God will keep our hearts and soul sheltered in the shadow of His wings. 

How quickly we forget Paul’s instructions: Ephesians 6:12-13: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places]. (13) Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

Christians face attacks all the time. Coming from the world they are mocked and from Christians they are criticized if they do not believe exactly as another Christian believes. These attacks hurt so deep that we tend to compromise on our own faith rather than take a stand on what we believe in our hearts to be God’s revelation to us.  Once we start to share the love of God with others, the enemy will hit us and hit us hard. To share the love of God in Christ Jesus puts you are on the front lines in this spiritual warfare and it is usually those in the front lines who suffer the most casualties.  It is the front lines that receive the most attacks from the enemy.  If there is a fox hole to jump into a soldier under fire will most likely jump into it as he awaits the right moment for his counter attack.  When we come under attack from the enemy we forget that there is a fox hole, a shelter, a shelter in the arms of God. 

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