ARAMAIC WORD STUDY – JOYFUL MESSAGE – TSEVA צבא  Sade Beth Aleph

 

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Matthew 16:24: “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

Do you ever feel like you wasted your life?  I suppose we all do at some time or another. I usually feel this way around the time of Founder’s Week at Moody Bible Institute where I graduated. Founder’s Week is a time for alumni to gather together for a week of spiritual fellowship and uplift.  I never attended.  I am too ashamed to meet my former and successful classmates and have to face these now church leaders, founders of great Christian organizations and ministries, senior pastors of large and successful ministries or directors of mission boards and when asked what I do I have to say I drive a disability bus.  I can almost feel the pat on the back from my former classmates now successful and distinguished leaders in ministry, education and Christian service as they say; “Why that’s alright Chaim, we knew you were never going to amount to anything, we knew you would  never have any type of ministry or even a ministry at all.  We figured you for someone who would end up driving a bus unable to afford retirement. But that’s alright God uses people like you too.”  

Forty five years I have studied the Word of God a minimum of three to four hours a day in the original languages.  It seemed like every attempt I made throughout my life to start a ministry usually ended up in failure.  I would pray and fast for my little ministry only to watch it go down in flames. I worked so hard for Jesus, sacrificing so much in my life.  I felt God should reward me with at least a small church to preach from every week. All I asked for was just maybe twenty people, enough to afford a church building and reasonable salary – never happened.  He could at least allow me to have a full time ministry so I did not have to work a full time job.  Never happened. Even when I taught in a Bible College I needed to work a secular job just to make ends meet and now at the age of 70 with a  BA, MA, PhD I still have to work a full time low level job driving a disability bus just to make ends meet and finance yet another noble attempt at a ministry that refuses to grow. 

As I sit back and consider how many of my classmates from the Bible College and Seminary days have gone on to distinguished careers in ministry, gaining great fame in ministry, writing one book that outsells all the books I have written.  I hear them on the radio or You Tube or a podcast preaching sermons that show no real depth of study in God’s Words yet people will comment and just rave how wonderful these teachers are as I live in fear that I may one day meet one of these former classmate and be ashamed as I give an accounting of my life. 

 

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This morning as I was feeling sorry for myself, facing winter’s harsh subzero weather and knowing I had to go out in it to drive my disability bus so I could pay my bills and support this ministry when others my age are enjoying retirement and could stay inside in a warm house if they so choose, God took me Matthew 16:24.  “Ok, Ok, Lord I know this pick up my cross business, I know I have to deny myself etc., etc. etc., I think I have done a pretty good job of that over the last 70 years.”  But then God nudged me to look closely at the words “if any man will come after me.”  Some translations say “wants to come after me.”  Yep, that is me in a nutshell, all my life I have been trying to come after God or follow after God and look where it got me.  I can hear your thoughts: “Oh, but don’t you see, that is your problem you are trying to do it rather than let God do it.”  Well, I’ve sat back from many years waiting for God to do it, that doesn’t work either.  I can hear others thinking: “But maybe your plans are not God’s plans.”  I hate to admit it, but you are right.

Being adequately chastised I felt prompted to study one word in the Aramaic, from this verse.  It is the word for want which is tseva in Aramaic 

I searched this word out in the Midrash Rabbah which is written in Aramaic and found tseva is used for performing a service of bringing a message of hope and joy. Without modern communications in ancient times messages were relayed by human messengers and they often passed through great hardships to deliver a message. Yet, they fought hard for this position and service in hopes of being chosen to deliver a message of hope and joy.  For it was worth all the trials and difficulties just to see the joy that message brought. This was really a coveted occupation to be a messenger and only the most honored messengers were chosen to deliver the good news (Good News). 

In more modern times at the turn of the 20th Century you had Western Union who delivered important and urgent messages.  I read where Western Union delivery services paid very little to a messenger who depended upon tips to make an adequate wage. These messengers had ways to  find out if the message they were to deliver was good news or bad news.  If it was good news they would encourage the receiver to read the message before receiving tip as the tip would often be larger if it was good news. If it was good news the messenger would often hang around for a moment or two just to savor the joy of having brought the good news. 

In Roman times the condemned were expected to carry the cross they were to die upon. It was a burdensome, humiliating and disgraceful task facing mockery and shame from the crowds. Yet, it is the cross itself that carries the Good News.  To carry the cross is doing just what is required of us in the Scriptures, letting it produce whatever shame, disgrace or pain it may bring just for a tseva a joy in being able to deliver Good News.

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