Hebrew Word Study – Words of the Mind – ‘Amar –  אמֶר    Aleph Mem Resh 

Deuteronomy  33:27 The eternal God [is thy] refuge, and underneath [are] the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy [them].

Yesterday I watched a movie and found I still could not escape my Hebrew studies even watching a World War II movie.  The movie was called The Monument Men. It centered around a true story of a group of aging artists who were called up to active duty in the United States Army to go to Germany toward the end of the war to find, save, and preserve the many great works of art that Hitler meant to destroy. What so fascinated me with this movie is that these men were true artists who valued life, yet were willing to die to save some of the great works of art. To kill another person to preserve the art was not a question that was directly answered in the movie and was only presented humorously in a satirical way with a member of the group who was least likely to want to kill someone. Yet by the end of the movie, you knew these men would have killed if they had to in order to protect their own lives or the lives of their companions, but you could tell they would stop short if it meant preserving the works of art. But even if they had to kill in order to preserve their own lives or the lives of their companions, they would do it but their hearts would truly not be in it.  They were not warriors or soldiers after all, they were just a bunch of old artists pursuing their passion for art.  

After watching this movie, I found I could not help but wonder about a God who would say Destroy them in light of these gentle artists who were not out to kill anyone but only to preserve the objects of their passion.

Deuteronomy 33:27 in our English translations gives the impression that we really worship a bloodthirsty God and you sure do not want to get on the bad side of this God lest He thrust you out and destroy you.  I believe ultimately the heart of God is like the heart of these artists/soldiers, they were not out to get revenge from the enemy or to give them their due.  They took no delight in seeing their enemies killed, they only wanted to preserve the object of their passion.  Yet, the way this verse is rendered in English it sounds like God is a vengeful, angry God ready to destroy anyone who crosses Him.

The first thing I noticed about this verse is that it tells us what God will say. There are two words used in Hebrew that are rendered in English as say.  English translations regularly translate these words as simply say or speak yet, never show the subtle difference between these two words in Hebrew. 

I have spent the last forty years pondering over the differences between these two words, debar and ‘amar which are both rendered as speak or say. Much has been written concerning these words and the general feeling is that debar is like the Greek word rhema which are words of power.  In one respect this is true but to leave it at that is to really do a disservice to the word debar.  The Hebrews, as with others in the Semitic culture, were very much into relationships.  They would pick up on the subtle differences in relationships and this is reflected in their languages as it is in Hebrew.  Relationships are not as important in our Western culture as they are in a Semitic culture. When we read, for instance, in the passage In my Father’s house are many mansions (dwelling places) what we picture in our minds in Western thought are large southern plantation homes with pillars on the front porch where a husband and wife and two and half children live. In the Semitic mind, they would picture the many room additions to their father’s house where all the kin folk lived under one roof, aunts, uncles, cousins, daughters-in-laws grandchildren etc.  These homes were pretty crowded and often everyone slept in one room and lived with each other closely together.  Humans are humans after all and you can bet there were a lot of relationship problems.  In the Western culture, we can run away from these relationship problems and find our own little dwelling place alone, in ancient cultures they could not do this, you were stuck with each other and if you could not get along, you learned to get along. If there was a problem of theft, assault, or even murder, there was no local police to call, if there was a fire there was no fire department, things had to be handled among each other you could not rely upon strangers in policemen or firemen uniforms to protect you.  So the Semitics were far more tuned into relationships than we are in our culture.  Thus, we take these words debar and ‘amar and simply call it to say. Yet these words mean something very different. 

A husband may ‘amar (speak) with another woman, but he debars with his wife.  To debar with a woman, not one’s wife would be almost adulterous.  Hence men in a Semitic culture would not even speak to a woman who was not his wife for fear of crossing that boundary.  You can ‘amar (say) to a woman that she is beautiful, or you can debar (say) to a woman that she is beautiful. English does not show the difference, but the Hebrew does, for ‘amar is just general speaking but debar is speaking with your heart.  God can say, “you are my children.”  He can either just say it ‘amar or He can say it debar, with His heart. There is power when God speaks with His heart, or debar. 

The ancient Hebrews see something in Deuteronomy 33:27 that we in our culture just will not see. Why does the Bible not say that God will destroy our enemies or command us to destroy our enemies, instead, He says destroy them.   It is because when God says, destroy them, He is not using debar, but ‘amar.  He is giving the order to destroy the enemy, but His heart is not in it. This is not His heart’s desire, but in order to preserve the object of his passion, it is the last resort.  God is not some bloodthirsty commando looking for a fight and the chance to kill, but He is that gentle artist seeking only to preserve the object of passion. If you are the object of His passion, He will destroy your enemy, but only as a last resort, and don’t you for a second think His heart is in it or that He finds pleasure in it? 

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