Hebrew Word Study – I Beg Your Pardon – Na – Nun Aleph

Genesis 44:18: “Then Judah came near unto him, and said, ‘Oh my Lord, let they servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my Lord’s ears…”

“Oh, my Lord, let thy servant, I pray thee…” is one that has no English equivalent. From the context we can pretty well guess what is being said:  Joseph’s brothers are standing before the prime minister of Egypt, who has the power of life and death over them. Now they face an accusation of stealing from the Pharaoh himself.  Their lives looked like they were not worth one Daris.   Judah, stepping forward to offer a defense, such as it was, to the prime minister addresses the prime minister by saying:  “Bi ‘adoni yedaver na’ ‘avedeka, devar be’azeni” “Bi adoni, yedaver na” is literally: “Oh, my lord  let (your servant) speak.”  That is easily translated from the Hebrew except for one little word na that is difficult to translate, particularly when in a construct state with yedever which is in a Piel imperative form. “Na” can be rendered as please, or if you will allow me, I beg your pardon and other such forms of address to express humility. 

Here’s the rub.  Sure he was being respectful before the king’s right-hand man having no idea it was his own brother he was speaking to, yet the address that is given is not one you would normally use before one of authority like a monarch as this introduction is normally used to express oneness with someone.  Perhaps Judah was making an appeal to the very basic nature of the prime minister suggesting:  “You are human like us.”   This would make sense.  For one thing, Judah is acknowledging that Joseph is like Pharaoh, but he is not a god-like Pharaoh or he at least has a human side.  The Pharaohs were looked upon as gods, and not totally human. Thus, you did not address the Pharaoh himself directly, but through a mediator, in this case Joseph.  We call him a Prime Minister but he is really looked upon as the human part of Pharoah and the mouthpiece of Pharoah.  Judah is appealing to this human part of Pharoah himself by saying we are alike in that.  It then follows that he brings up the question Joseph asked earlier that they did have a father who loved the brother that this prime minister, as we shall call Joseph, wanted to hold as a hostage.  He was appealing to the human emotions of fatherly love. 

It was a pretty gutsy thing for Judah, to declare that the prime minister was human and to appeal to that side. No wonder the lion is associated with Judah.  Yet, maybe too, without realizing it he may have accidentally used a Hebrew expression which proved prophetic.  The Jews believe in the oneness of the Jewish people and thus they had a oneness with Joseph.  This expression may have deeply touched Joseph.

The Mishnah teaches: “Who is the one who has honor, he who gives honor to other people as it says: ‘those who honor Me I will honor, those who denigrate me I will curse.’”  The Mishnah is here relating to the honor given to God to the honor of men.  The Jewish people believe they are as one person, therefore any honor given to another Jew is honor to God and the Jew giving the honor.  Any fault that exists in another Jew is present in that person who points it out.  

Hope you don’t mind if  I quote Buddha, but he did say something very significant to a man who was insulting him.  He said: “Your insult is like spitting at heaven.  The spittle will only return to defile your own face.”  In other words, if you’re insulting me you’re insulting yourself for we are one. So too for the Jewish people, if you praise another Jew you are praising God and yourself, if you denigrate someone you are denigrating God and yourself for all Jews are as one.  If one Jew has a fault, all Jews share that fault. If one Jew has honor all Jews share that honor. 

This is best explained from a story in the Talmud (Taanis 20b). Rabbi Shimon Ben Eluzer met a certain person who was ugly. When he saw the person he remarked, “How ugly you are.” The man replied: “Then you should go and complain to the one who made me.”  Rabbi Shimon then realized his error and asked the man to forgive him. 

Abraham Lincoln once went for a ride on his horse through what many years later would be named Roosevelt  Park.  He happened upon a woman also riding a horse through the park. She stopped and looked at this man on a horse and remarked: “You sir, are probably the ugliest man in the world.”  Lincoln replied: “Madam, you may be right, but there is nothing I can do about it.”  She remarked as she rode off: “Well, you could at least stay inside.” She did not realize she was addressing the President of the United States. 

So what does all this have to say for ourselves?  Well, are we as believers not one in Jesus Christ?  So if we insult or denigrate another believer, we are denigrating not only ourselves but Jesus as well. If you don’t like what some believer is doing, well complain to God before you call him a toad and blast him out of the water.

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