ARAMAIC WORD STUDY – TAKE NO THOUGHT – YITSEPH יצף  Yod Sade Pei

Matthew 6:31-32: “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (32) (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.”

This sounds like pretty bad advice that Jesus is giving His disciples.  Take no thought about what you will eat?  I mean you really have to give it some thought.   That is especially true in our day when we are watching our diets.  Every time we go shopping we are giving some thought to what we will eat.  It was also true in ancient times, eating and drinking were always on someone’s mind.  Starvation and dying of thirst took many lives in those days.  Water was and is a very precious commodity in the Near East.  One was always thirsty.  The acquisition of food was foremost on one’s mind and one had to carefully plan and ration foods when there were times of sacristy which was very common.  To say you should give no thought to what you will eat or drink was foolish. You had to plan well ahead of time to make sure you would be able to obtain food items and fresh water.  To even clothe yourself was a constant worry.  Only the rich had more than one set of clothes.  Bandits would descend and rob a person just for the clothes on their backs and their one pair of sandals.  You lived in constant fear of being robbed and left naked with no clothes.  To give it no thought was bad advice.

The word in Greek for taking no thought has almost an identical meaning as the Aramaic word.  In Greek, the word is merimnesete from the root word merimnaho.  The Aramaic word is yitseph and both means to be worried or to fret over something to the point where you are distracted from the business at hand.  But, I have found in extra-Biblical literature that the Aramaic word yitseph is also a word used for fear as in fear for one’s own safety and well being. This is distinct from the word yara’ which is used for fear of the Lord which is a fear for the well being of another. Fear for oneself is pachad.  In other words, one fears the Lord as in fearing that they may wound His heart, break His heart or bring Him sadness.

Jesus is not saying that we should not plan for our next meal or what clothes we should wear, what He is saying don’t let your concern for these things distract you from your service to God.  For most of us in the Western world eating, drinking water and having clothes is not a daily concern. Food is so plentiful that Ancient Near Eastern people would be aghast at the way we waste water and amazed that a person would get robbed and all the thief took was a small pouch with some paper in it.  For the most part, we do not worry where our next meal will come from, nor do we give any thought as to our need for water and our only fear regarding clothes is that we wear an appropriate outfit for the appropriate occasion. 

That phrase:  “For after all these things do the Gentiles seek,” is very revealing as to the context in which Jesus is speaking.  The word Gentiles is not used in the Greek or Aramaic.  In Greek, it is the word ethnos where we get our English word ethnic.  It is a word used for a different nationality or race of people.  However, I believe that is not what Jesus was referring to. He spoke this in Aramaic and the Aramaic words used were not referencing people of a different race, nationality or religion. The words are ammeh dalma which means worldly or fleshly people.  Of course, everyone living in this world is made of flesh so what is the distinction?  What we have here in ammeh dalma is an Aramaic euphemism for people whose thoughts and concerns are only of this world and not of the spiritual world. It is an expression used for one who is so focused on an issue such that he has little concern for the other issues around him.

What  Jesus is saying is that we live in this world, we have to eat and drink water, we need to wear clothes but if we seek the kingdom of God first all these things will be outside our focus and God has taken care so when we go into the “zone” of focusing on God and our mission form Him, when we come out of our zone, we will see His earthly provision. 

Jewish men will wear a skull cap all day long.  They do this to remind themselves that they are always in the presence of God and that all they do as unto God.  That skull cap is a reminder that they are not ammeh dalma, a worldly person or one whose thoughts and focus are on the things of the flesh but are on eternal things.

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