WORD STUDY – YADIYAD – ידויד

Genesis 28:16: “And Jacob awoke out of his sleep and he said: ‘Surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not.”

​“Why can’t we be friends,
​ Why can’t we be friends,
​ Why can’t we be friends,
​ I’ve been around for a long, long time,
​ I remember when you drank my wine,
​ Why can’t we be friends,
​ – Jerry Goldstein –

I remember a time almost five years ago when I sat alone in my car one evening after being challenged in my relationship with God. I heard a voice, well maybe not audible but it was clear enough to be audible and it said: “Can we be friends.” I had been at war with God for some time and I guess He made the first move to hold out the olive branch. I knew the Hebrew word God used, it is the similar to the word used in Genesis 28:16 only here it is translated as “I knew.”

The word is a form of the Hebrew word Yadiyad. You will note that it is two words joined together. The word yad means hand. It literally means, hand in hand. The ancients believed that one’s heart was in the palm of his hand. So when you joined hands with someone, you were sharing your heart. Ever wonder where the handshake came in? It doesn’t mean all that much today, but back then it was a sign of a commitment of friendship, sharing your heart with another.

Check out Genesis 28:16. Is it possible for God Jehovah to make his presence known and not know it? Perhaps this rendering is a little rough. Suppose we not use the word know but the word friend. Actually, yadiyad is more than just a friend, it is a beloved friend. Solomon uses this term in reference to his beloved in Song of Solomon 1:13. Perhaps we could render this passage as: “Surely the Lord was in this place, but I was not his beloved friend.”

God reached out his hand of friendship, but Jacob did not grab it right away. Eventually, as we follow this story culminating in an all-night wrestling match which I believe was a not a physical match but a mental and spiritual one, with Jacob wrestling with his conscience, with submitting to God’s will, we find Jacob and God becoming friends, yadiyad.

There is the story in the Talmud of a king who held an early morning meeting with all his servants every day. Every morning they met at a certain hour and every morning each servant showed up precisely at the appointed time, except one servant. This servant arrived an hour early each morning. The king regularly showed up early himself. While waiting for the other servants to arrive the king would chat with the one servant who showed up early. Before long the two began to share their hearts with each other. The two became beloved friends. This servant was not satisfied to be just a servant, he wanted more, he wanted to be the king’s friend.

True, we can be God’s servant, we can attend all his meetings on time, and we can listen closely to His instructions and carry them out. But God is doing more than that, He is reaching out to us with his hand, his Yad (Hebrew for hand). But He needs another hand to complete the word Yadiyad.

He may be our Master, our King, our Savior but He wants to be more than that. He wants to be our friend. Our Yadiyad, His hand in ours, His heart joined with our hearts.