HEBREW WORD STUDY – WANDER – HALAKA  הלכ  

Ecclesiastes 6:9: “Better is the sight of eyes than the wandering of the desire, this is also vanity and the vexation of the spirit.”

One of the stories from Geoffrey Chaucer’ s “Canterbury Tales”  is entitled “The Pardoner’s Tail”  In this story, he makes reference to the legend of the Wandering Jew, an enigmatic old man who is unable to die and wishes to trade his age for someone else’s youth.  He explains that he cursed and mocked Jesus as he was on his way to the cross and because he did he was then cursed to walk the earth until the second coming, living a life filled with desires but never able to be satisfied in their fulfillment. This theme has been played out in many variations from the Flying Dutchman to modern-day morality plays.  The idea is that what man desires most, immortality when given proves to be a curse.  He is doomed to wander the earth filled with desires of the flesh, but never able to find satisfaction in their fulfillment.  This is taught as a punishment worse than the flames of hell.  

Another variation of this legend has the Wandering Jew walking the “Halaka” or righteous life as atonement for his sin of mocking Jesus, yet never finding true forgiveness because he is unable to really “know” Jesus and understand that it was the cross that paid for his sin. So the Wandering Jew still wanders the earth to this day seeking his salvation through living a righteous life, yet never finding salvation because he does not know Jesus.  

“Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire.” When you read this verse in Hebrew you can find many variations on the rendering of this verse. One variation almost tells the story of the Wandering Jew. The word better is tov which means to be in harmony with God. The word sight is ra ah references spiritual sight as well as physical sight. 

However, it is the word used for wander that really gives this verse its deep meaning. This word in the Hebrew is halaka, or a righteous walk and the word desire is nephesh which is often rendered as the soul. In other words, we can render this verse as: “It is more in harmony with God to have deep spiritual insight than to walk a righteous life to satisfy the soul.  Many walk a righteous life for the sake of their soul, so they don’t go to hell. Some just to find God to satisfy their troubled soul.

Yet, Scripture tells us to seek to walk the Halaka or live a righteous life for the sake of your soul is vanity, an illusion and is a vexation of the Spirit.  Some translations say it is like chasing the wind.  The word vexation is “ra’ah which in one use is for grazing or feeding.  To walk a righteous life for the sake of your soul is like feeding on the wind.  There is nothing there and your hunger is never satisfied. 

There are many Wandering Jews out there seeking to satisfy their souls, the fear in their souls of going to hell or the desire of their soul to know God. Yet in John 14:6; “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”