Hebrew Word Study – Repent – Nachem –   נָּ֣חֶם    Nun Cheth Mem 

Genesis 6:5-6;  And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

This morning as I was preparing for my Torah Study class, I was reading the story of Noah while at the same time wondering what was going to happen to my life as I grow older. I am 73 years old now and I wonder how long I will be able to drive my disability bus, I wonder if I will start having Biden moments, who is only seven years older than I am. I began imagining all the horrible things that would happen to me. I live alone and wonder what would happen if I had a sudden illness and was unable to even use the phone or unlock my door if I was even able to contact EMS. While doing this multi-tasking of considering my horrible fate and reading of the fate of the earth at the time of Noah I read verse 6 and the words: “And it grieved him at his heart.” Suddenly I began to cry because I knew I had grieved God’s heart like the people of Noah’s day. I did not understand why except I believe my spirit translated this verse before my mind did.

Every time I read those words and re-read them, I could not stop crying. But surely, I was not like the people on earth at the time of the flood.  Verse five says that their wickedness was great. My wickedness, such as it is, surely is not great. The word for “wickedness” here is ra’ah which is a consuming type of wickedness. Ra’ah is a word used for friend. It is the very identical word used in Psalms 23:1 for Shepherd. “The Lord is my Ra’ah. We automatically plug in the word shepherd because it sounds so nice and fits the motif of this poem. But we could just as easily plug in the word “Consuming passions or security.” Why is the word shepherd associated with ra’ah? Years ago, I onced owned a house on five acres. I purchased a little lamb. Lambo I called him and he was really cute, it was all white with little black face and it went “baaa.” I also realized the problem Mary had. You know “Mary had a little lamb.” Wherever Mary went the lamb was sure to go. You think a dog will hang by your side, well get a lamb, they will follow you everywhere.  I would get in my car and after driving a quarter mile I would look in my rearview mirror and there was the Lambo following me. Ra’ah is telling us that we are sheep following a shepherd. Sheep need a shepherd and finding a shepherd they will consume themselves with total trust in that shepherd, even to be led to the slaughter. 

Unlike David, I realized my consuming passion was not Jesus, it was finding security here on earth. That has been my consuming passion. Secondly, all the imaginations of man’s heart were evil. This word here for evil is ra’a’. This evil is to engage in activity that is empty and worthless. This worthless activity involves the chashev or the inventiveness or creations of the mind. We use the English word imaginations. But soft, this is not only the creations or inventiveness of the mind but of the heart as well. This is what grieved the heart of God. He was not the consuming passion of the people. Their life on earth and building their little empires of security were their passions. Their imaginations and heart were filled with creating things that were no in harmony with God. 

As a result God repented that he made man. The word for repent here is nachem. Some translations say regret. Both are unfortunate or misleading renderings from the intent of this word. The intent of nachem is to not repent from grief, but to console oneself from grief. You see this word is found in a Niphal imperfect inflection. As a Niphal this word is reflexive and would mean that God causes Himself to be consoled or to simply to console Himself.   

This word for grief is ‘asav which is in a Hithpael imperfect form. ‘Asav is to travail in suffering. But as a Hithpael you would render this as God allowed His heart to grieve. These past weeks the news is filled with the grief of those who lost loved ones in the Middle Eastern war. Both Palestinian and Israeli have loved ones grieving and God is allowing Himself to grief with them. He is a God who gave this human creature a free will and He knew they would cause sadness to each other and by loving them He is allowing Himself to grieve right along with them.

I look to the future and I wonder what sorrows await me. Will I suffer some disabling illness common to the elderly? Will I have to suffer alone? When I read this verse I have the assurance that no matter what suffering I must face in the future, I will not be alone in my suffering, for my Savior has voluntarily chosen to suffer right along with me. 

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