Hebrew Word Study – Equal Value – Dumah  

Genesis 1:26: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:”

Mark 12:30-31: “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. (31) And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”

I recall during a physical affliction where I prayed to be healed. I prayed in faith, I prayed to believing, I prayed like the preachers told me how to pray and I was not healed. I begged and pleaded with God and still nothing.  I finally shook my fist at heaven and cried out: “God, you are God, you are a spirit.  You don’t have a physical body so how do you know what it is like to suffer physical pain? Huh? Huh?  You have a lot of nerve to expect me to go through all this suffering when you sit up there in heaven free from any suffering. Why don’t you come down here on earth in a human body for a while and see what it is like, then maybe You would be more incline to listen to our pleas for healing.”   That is when it struck me, he did just that.  He did come to earth in a human body and He did suffer torment and even death. He does know, He does understand.  Once more we are made in His image which is tselem in Hebrew, a word used for a shadow.  We are only shadows of what He is.  Image does not mean two arms, two legs a face etc.  It means we have emotions and a heart like His.  Just as we experience a broken heart, He too experiences a broken heart. Psalms 34:18 tells us: “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart.” Why is he near to the brokenhearted? It is because we – I, break His heart every day.  He knows and understands a broken heart and who can empathize more with someone who has a broken heart than one who also suffers a broken heart.

The word in Hebrew for broken heart is nisheberi lev. Nisheberi comes from the root word shabar which means to crush, shatter, demolish, destroy.  Does that sound like your heart?  Well, it describes what we do to God’s heart when we seek other gods of this world for comfort, strength, support, and security. Also note that nisheberi is in a niphal form, it is reflexive, God is allowing Himself, voluntarily opening Himself up to a broken heart.  He is God, He doesn’t have to suffer a broken heart. Why does He put Himself through all that if He doesn’t have to do it?

The answer to that lies in Genesis 1:26. Not only were we created in His image, that is to have a mind and heart like His but we were also created in His likeness. Now in the English, the word image and likeness appear to be the same.  However, the Hebrew word for likeness is dumah which is not an appearance but a quality. It is likeness in value. He created us human beings to be of equal value to Himself.  This word goes even further. This is not just equal in value but equal to or more in value. 

What does that mean to be in His likeness, His dumah?  Check out your average parent. I listened to a documentary on Tom Brady, a famous professional football star. He related how his parents sacrificed and gave so much to help him realize his dream of making it in professional football. He told how his father would spend hours with him when he was a child throwing a ball to him because he knew his son had this dream and this father sacrificed time he could have spent on other things just to help his son grow up to realize his dream.  I mean we expect this of a parent because a parent has that sacrificial love. To them it is no sacrifice, they would do anything for their child’s happiness and sometimes even lay down their lives for their child as that child was created in their dumah, created to be of equal or more value to them than they are to themselves. 

I recently read about how a rather famous celebrity had died in an auto accident. It was reported that the investigation into the accident showed that this celebrity died when in an instant, almost a reflex action in the moment he knew there was going to be a tragic accident in that split second he instantly threw his body over his wife to protect her from the impact. She did survive, he didn’t. The investigators said had he not thrown his body on top of her he would have survived but she would have been killed.  This man loved his wife dumah, of equal value and more than himself, more than his own life. He did not even have time to think about it and make a decision to sacrifice His life for his beloved. He loved his wife so much it was just instinctive that He would sacrifice his life for her. He didn’t have time to contemplate whether he wanted to give up his life for her, he didn’t have time to weigh the issue in his mind. His love was so deep for her that there was no need to make any decision, that decision was made when he fell in love with her.

That is dumah, to be in the likeness of someone or something. That is to value someone as much or more than yourself.  That is how God created us, you and me to be of equal value to Himself, yes, he even values us more than Himself, more than His own existence. 

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