HEBREW WORD STUDY –  POWER – OZAZ   עעז  

Psalms 90:11:  “Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, [so is] thy wrath.”

Following the conclusion of the last study regarding Psalms 90 and looking at it through the eyes of a new bride, we will again follow the rendering for aneph – anger as a desire for intimacy. Thus we would read verse 11 as: “Who knows the power of your desire for intimacy.”  

The word for  know is yada’  which is an intimate knowing.  My study partner studied out this word using the meaning behind its letters to aid in her meditation.  She found the Yod represented the Spirit of God, the Daleth was a doorway and the Ayin was the eyes of God.  Thus the Spirit of God opens a doorway for us to view through His eyes.  Only through God’s eyes are we able to view the power or strength of his desire to be intimate with us, thus a deep spiritual discernment.

People spend their lives trying to win favor with God, trying to be reassured that they are good enough to go to heaven.  Yet, they fail to realize that God wants them a million times more than they want Him.  He sent his Son to earth to die for us, to provide a means of being pure enough to His bride.  He has already proposed to us, all we have to do is say “yes.”  Can we even fathom such a desire or the power of that desire?

The word power is ‘oz in the Hebrew.  The word is spelled Ayin for spiritual seeing and insight and Zayin which represents a weapon.  Having spiritual insight into the power or strength of God’s desire for intimacy with us is a powerful weapon when doubt enters our lives. If we only had the weapon of insight – ‘oz into that God’s desire for intimacy with us we would never need fear for we would then know that God truly has our backs, He will protect us, lead us and guide to our future home with Him.

The word ‘oz comes from the root word ‘ozaz which is also the root word for Uzziah. Uzziah became king of Judah at the age of sixteen between 783-742 BC.  His reign was one of the most prosperous reigns except that of Jehoshaphat since the reign of Solomon.  He conquered the Philistines and the Arabians and received tribute from the Ammonites.  He was a powerful, strong – ozaz ruler hence his name Uzziah – Jehovah is my strength.  Uzziah knew the power or strength of the aneph of God. You could say the power of His anger or the power of his desire for intimacy. I believe it is in keeping with the passionate love of God to say it was the power of his desire for intimacy. I suppose we could look at this two ways.  Either the strength of the Lord towards our enemies is His anger or the strength is His desire of intimacy with us.  

“Even according to thy fear” is a very puzzling statement if we look at fear in our modern sense, which is a concern for one’s safety.  Yet, this word fear is yara’ which comes from the same root as the word Torah meaning law or instruction. Yara’ is also used in the sense of showing respect and reverence.    Thus, who can be intimate with the power or the insight into the desire of God for intimacy with us according to our reverence for the Word of God and His wrath.  The word for wrath here is different than in verse seven.  It is the word ‘ebrah which is an outpouring or overflowing.  Only the translator’s interpretation of the context lends itself to using the word wrath.  In the context that I see this in I would use the word overwhelming or outpouring. Thus, we could read this as: “Who can be intimate with the power or the insight into the desire of God for intimacy with us according to our reverence for the Word of God and His outpouring (of love)  thus enabling us to create His purpose and plans for our lives.” 

LAURA & CHAIM