HEBREW WORD STUDY – SENSITIVE – CHARON – חרן Cheth Resh Nun

Hosea 11:9: “I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I [am] God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city. (10) They shall walk after the LORD: he shall roar like a lion: when he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west. (11) They shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria: and I will place them in their houses, saith the LORD.”

“The fierceness of mine anger.”   That sounds really frightening and something to be fearful of. Yet, do we not learn that in I John 4:18 that perfect love cast out all fear?  We find every modern translation walks in lockstep rendering the words: “charon ‘aphi” as fierce anger.  The word for fierce is charon which comes from the root word charah and means to be sensitive to external influences.  The word anger is ‘aphi which comes from the root word ‘aneph. I have written about ‘aneph on many occasions.  It is a word that in its Semitic root comes from the snorting of a camel. A camel snorts for many reasons. It may be frustrated, it may be grieving, it may be in heat.  Anger is not the only emotion that is expressed in ‘aneph.  In fact, even our English word anger fails to express the range of emotions that a person feels.  A woman finds out her husband is cheating on her.  Her reaction is anger.  But anger is a package or grocery bag of many emotions. The betrayed the wife will feel, rejection, hurt, heartbreak, fear, loss and many emotions go into this anger that she expresses.  We hear anger and automatically we hear the desire to lash back, cause harm. Yet there is something much deeper going on.  

To couple the word ‘aneph with charon or sensitivity to external influences, fierce anger is just one possible rendering.  It could also be God is saying that the influences of the sins of Ephraim or Israel has influence Him is such a way that it causes Him to feel rejected, hurt, heartbroken, grief stricken and/or angry.  I prefer to go with grief stricken.  

Of course, that flies in the face of tradition but tradition tends to be built upon establishing control.  To speak of a God with fierce anger over breaking His laws will cause you to obey His laws out of fear for your own well being.  To speak of a God who is broken hearted over not keeping His laws will cause you to obey the laws out of fear over His well being.  It will fill you with Godly sorrow. You will not think, “Hoo boy, I am going to burn in hell for this.”  Rather you will think: “What have I done to wound heart of a God who has done nothing but good things for me, who has even sacrifice His own Son for me, how could I do such a thing?” 

So, God says that He will not execute His fierce anger.  Execute sounds like, you know, a firing squad or lethal injection.  The word is simply ‘asah which means to work or perform, to act upon.  We could also translate this as: “I will not act upon my grief.”  He will not do it because He is God and not man. What does man do in grief.  I know I go into hiding, I don’t want to be around anyone and I sure don’t feel like helping anyone. I just focus on myself.  So too, God could go into hiding and lick His wounds.  But He is not a man, He is God and so he will act in behalf of His love for us.  

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He will not enter the city.  That is a picture of an invading army entering a city to destroy it.  What He is doing is to cause the people to enter captivity.  Yet there are two types of captivity. There was a captivity of slavery in Egypt.  Although historically Egyptian slavery was not as brutal as portrayed in those phony movies.  The slaves were well fed, allowed to have families, and were not worked to death.  They were slaves in the sense they had no freedom to choose their own life, the place they live or the way they live and the Egyptian powers that be did have rule of life and death over them.   Captivity among the Assyrians proved to be quite prosperous for the Jewish people. God gifted them with a good head for business and the Assyrians flourished when they gave the Jews control of their businesses and even government.  The Egyptians feared the talents of the Hebrews and thus they constricted and obstructed their talents.  

You see God promised that those who would bless the Jewish people would be blessed, those who cursed the Jewish people would be cursed.  This is clearly seen in the Assyrian/Babylonian Captivity and the captivity in Egypt. 

Yet, in both captivity the Jews longed for a land that they could call their home. They longed for freedom to choose their own way of life.  No matter what their exile they were like a bird out of Egypt and a dove out of Assyria.  They will always return to their nest. Many birds like the dove have a homing instinct.  Here in North America many birds build a nest and raise their young but when winter comes they fly South, but once the warm weather returns, they will return to their nest up North. That is where their home really is. But due to the harsh weather conditions they spend their time in exile from their home. 

The Jewish sages interpret the words: “He shall roar like a lion” as God sounding the shofar to call His people home.  Perhaps that is a picture of the believer.  We are living in exile here in this world. This is not our home. Some are in an exile of plenty like in Assyria where you are free and lack nothing. Then some are in an exile of suffering and oppression like in Egypt.  Yet the thing both have in common is that they are not home. Both are longing for a true home. One day God will blow his shofar just for you and take you out of exile and finally bring you home.

I remember as a seven year old child our family went to a Sportsman convention at the old Amphitheater in Chicago. A huge and crowded convention center with all sorts of booths and demonstrations. I got wrapped in one demonstration and turned around and my family was no where in sight. I was lost, in exile.  I felt that dread come over me, that longing to be safe with my parents.  My exile was not bad, I walked around and viewed the booths and demonstrations, I was in no way molested by any strangers, but I had that gnawing fear of being lost, in exile. Then after what seemed  hours but was probably only 20-30 minutes I saw my father in the distance and I ran to him and he hugged me and suddenly I knew I was home.  So too, we are in exile but there is a great joy awaiting when God roars like a lion, ie. Sounds that trumpet and we are finally home getting that hug from Jesus.

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