WORD STUDY:  GROW

II Samuel 5:10 “And David went on and grew great and the Lord of host was with him.”

Grow:  Hebrew: yalak: to proceed along, to go, to grow as you proceed.
halak: to grow in a righteous walk
gadol: to grow in greatness

This verse has three different words that all mean the same thing, to grow.

The word for “went on” is “yalak:  The word for “grew” is “halak” and the word for “great” is “gadol.”   The remez is this, all three of these words could be translated as “grow”  In other words: “And David grew, grew and grew.”

The first growing is translated as “went on.” The Hebrew word for “went on” is “yalak”  This is the word for child, or youth.  It is a picture of growing up to maturity in strength and confidence.   That is how you get the idea of “proceeding along” or “went on.”  It could be more clearly rendered, “And David grew to maturity.   In Hebrew the word the word “yalak” is spelled Yod, Lamed and Gimmel, these letter suggest a growing by filling your heart with divine knowledge and teaching.  The numerical value of the word is 60 (yod-10, lamed – 30 and cap – 20).  The word excel or excellence also have a value of 60.   So this growth is one of excellence. The one thing about this is that maturity is a moving forward process.  Thus, David went on or  moved forward.

Many people become a Christian, but never move forward in their growth.  Do you ever hear those testimonies like: “I fell off a ladder 20 years ago and didn’t break my neck, praise God for that miracle.”   David lived his life so that every day was a miracle; he never went to bed at night without a new testimony.  Every day we live we should live to gain a new testimony which we will be sharing throughout eternity.

The next word for growing is “halak.”  This is where we get the word “Halakah” which is a righteous walk.  How do we get the idea of growth from a righteous walk?   Spiritual growth does not take place until you put one foot in front of the other and start to move.
With each step you have a decision to make as to whether you move toward God or away from Him.  Does your step lead to a movie theater?  Will that experience be a step toward God or away from him.  If you want to walk the Halakah, the righteous walk, then you must ask: “Will this step take me to Jesus or away from Him.”  David chose each step to lead him to God.  Sure, he blew it on occasion, but his heart’s desire to know the heart of God got him back on the right path again when he carefully chose each step.

The third word for grow used here is “great” or “gadol.”   This is a growth that results in doing great things.  The phrase “yalak halakah gadol” could mean “grow, grow, grow”   It could also be rendered  “grow to maturity, grow to spiritual maturity and grow in doing great things.”

What are these great things?  The word for “great” is spelled “Gimmel, Daleth, and Lamed.”   This Gimmel is helping others, the Daleth is a gateway and the Lamed is receiving divine knowledge.   The great things you accomplish for God is to be a door man.  You help people through the doorway into divine knowledge of God.   If you want  to be great in the kingdom of God you must learn to be a doorman, a servant.   The numerical value of “gadol” is 37.   The word for Holy of Holies is 37.  Greatness is to be a doorway to the Holy of Holies.  But there is even a greater door you can open.  The “only begotten Son” also has a numerical value of 37.  Greatness is opening the doorway for another person to the only begotten Son of God – Jesus Christ.

I have heard many Christians declare that they want to be like David who had a heart after God.  Then I would suggest you follow II Samuel 5:10 and like David –  “yalak halakah gadol” or  “grow, grow, grow.”