Aramaic Word Study – Anxious – Ragag    Resh Gimmel Gimmel

Aramaic Word Study – Anxious – Ragag    Resh Gimmel Gimmel

Leviticus 4:7: “And the priest shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the LORD, which is in the tabernacle of the congregation; and shall pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.”

I read something very interesting recently in the Talmud in the Mishnah of the Order of Mo’ed. There were two altars in the tabernacle and later the temple. One was the copper altar or the brazen altar where the animal sacrifice took place and the other near the Ark of the Covenant was the golden altar or the altar of incense. 

Everything in the tabernacle, the vessels, the fabrics, the tools and even the clothing worn by the priest could become and did become impure and had to go through a cleansing process. As the tabernacle and temple were to be a dwelling place for God it had to be totally pure, holy that is sanctified. Everything except two items, the brazen altar and the golden altar.  These two items would never become ritualistically impure. 

The tabernacle or the mishkan as it is known in Hebrew was a picture of the human body.  All materials and items had some relationship to the human being. Our bodies are the temple of God and a dwelling place for God.  But God cannot dwell in our bodies anymore than he could dwell in the mishkan if there are impurities present. 

It is the blood of the sacrifice that makes the impurities pure.  But that is not all, there must be prayer. The Hebrew word prayer, palal, speaks of making a connection with God.  The Bible tells us that without repentance there is no forgiveness of sin Acts 3:19.  The brazen altar was where the blood was shed and the altar of incense represented the prayers of the people which included their repentance.  Both altars were needed for the redemption of sin and the purification of the mishkan.  

The brazen altar that is within us is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the shedding of His blood. The altar of incense would be our prayers.  Both bring about purity so logically the instruments creating purity cannot become impure.

Just as anything in the mishkan can become impure and must go through a process of purification so too anything in our bodies can become impure, our minds, our hearts, our eyes, feet, ears, etc. are all subject to impurities.  We need the brazen altar to be purified and that is Jesus Christ who was the sacrifice for our sins. He cannot become impure as he is the means to our purity.  But there is something else that dwells within us and that is the altar of incense, which are our prayers, through which we can repent and thus be attached to Jesus Christ whose blood will make us pure. 

What this is saying is that even like Jesus who will never be impure our prayers can never be impure. Just as the brazen altar and altar of incense can never be impure.  All our prayers to God are pure.  

In James 4:3 we learn: “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” This does not say we receive not because we pray impure prayers it just says we pray amiss.  The word amiss in Aramaic is the word bisha’ which means to be wrong or incorrect.  We ask wrongly because we are asking according to our own desires or lusts. Still, we are not condemned in this verse for praying even though they are lustful, selfish prayers. It is only saying that we do not receive a positive answer when we pray according to our lust. The word lust in Aramaic is ragag which means desires but desires that make you anxious or restless. That is a prayer uttered without giving much thought as to whether what you are asking for is right or wrong, it just seems to be the thing you need at that moment to make everything correct. 

If you lose your job, the first thing  you think of is to find another job and you immediately pray: “Lord give me another job.”  I remember when I lost a job and my first prayer was for another job immediately.  However, I did not receive an immediate job. At the time I thought that was the right thing to pray for.  But my father had a stroke and I realize now the loss of that job gave me time to be with him and encourage him.  I had prayed wrongly because I was frightened, anxious and worried about how I was going to pay the bills. God helped me to manage that while at the same time, I was able to spend some time with my father.  My prayer for a job was not impure it was just based on a selfish desire not according to God’s will.

I remember years ago I heard a woman give a testimony as to how she was saved.  She left her home as a teenager and ran off to Hollywood seeking to become a movie or television star. That never happened. She went through the Hollywood scene, married, had a child, and divorced all the while struggling to break into the film industry.  As a single mother, she had to work as a waitress and other low-level jobs to support her child and herself while still trying to make it big in the entertainment field.  Then one day her child became ill and the doctor told her it was a serious illness and her child would likely die.  That was the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back. She got into her car and drove out into the desert where no one was around for miles.  She stopped her car and for one-half, she scream out to God every obscenity and vulgar word she knew.  She cursed God and Jesus and she said that if she knew there was a Holy Spirit she would have cursed him also. The after a half hour of cursing God out she sat back exhausted. In that strange silence that usually follows a lot of screaming she heard a gentle, loving voice say: “That is the first time you have spoken to me, I love you.”  She broke down, repented, and surrendered her life to Jesus and all that impurities were covered by the blood of Jesus. 

She reached out to God in prayer and of course, no prayer is ever impure to God.

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