HEBREW WORD STUDY – HEEL – ‘EIQEV עקב   Ayin Qop Beth

Deuteronomy 7:11-12 “Thou shalt, therefore, keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them. (12) Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers:”

In Deuteronomy 7:11 God tells His people to keep the commandments, the statutes and the judgments which He commanded them to do.  We have three things that God commanded the Jews to keep.  There were the commandments of which there were 613 or the taryag mitzvot which include events in Jewish history that are to be celebrated.  This has no relevance to us as Christians.  God commands them to keep statutes which include the ceremonial laws.  For those of you Gentiles who love a good ham sandwich thanks to Peter, we are not bound by the ceremonial laws.  Then there are the judgments. These are judicial laws which involve the punishments for failure to keep the laws of God. 

Here is what I find interesting about verse 12. It does not say if you harken to these commandments, statutes, and judgments, it just says if you harken to these judgments. If you keep just the judgments the Lord will keep His covenant and mercy.   I believe God is speaking not only to Israel at this point but to all mankind including us as Christians.

Note this starts off “Wherefore it shall come to pass…” that is just one word in Hebrew, Hayah.  It means to exist, to be.  It is from the same root as the word YHWH.  YHWH is the one who exists past, present and future. This is the God we worship. That word is followed by the word eiqev which is rendered as because or if.  However, the most common word for because or if would be ki.  It is very uncommon to use because or if for eiqev.  Jewish commentators spend a lot of time trying to explain why the word eiqev is used.  You see the word means heel as a noun.  Why did God want to use the word for heel instead of ki for because?

There are a number of reasons given by various sages and rabbis but generally, they agree that the heel is the end of the body, it is the foundation upon which your body stands.  What is that foundation?  One rabbi calls it the generation of the Messiah.  Our foundation that we stand upon is the Messiah which we believe is Jesus. So then how do we stand on the Messiah, is there any direction given to how we are to stand in Jesus?

That is answered by the rabbi who was quite skilled in the use of the Gematria. The word eiqev heel is spelled Ayin Qop Beth. Ayin = 70, Qop = 100 and Beth = 2 for a total of 172.  In Hebrew, there are 172 words in the ten commandments. 

We are not bound by the Jewish laws but if we are to make our stand on our foundation the Messiah Jesus, then we are bound by the moral laws of the Ten Commandments.