WORD STUDY – WEEPING

Weep – bakah:  Weep, mourn, lament.

II Kings 8:11: “And the man of God wept.”

John 11:35: “Jesus wept”

The Hebrew word bakah has its origins in the picture of dropping or dripping of water as in tears flowing from one’s eyes. What made Elijah and Jesus weep was the knowledge of what was going to befall God’s people. Elijah was expressing the heart of God when he wept.

So what is the strange power behind weeping?   The form of the word “weep” or “cry” in II Kings 8:11 is “beki.”  This is spelled Beth – 2, Kap – 20 and Yod – 10 which equals 32.   The numerical value for heart is lamed – 30, beth – 2 which also equals 32.   Words that come from the heart are the words that are most acceptable to the Almighty.  Weeping has it source, not from the lips but from the heart.  We even use the expression, “crying our hearts out.” Shakespeare expresses in Hamlet Act 3 Scene 2 “I will wear him in my heart’s core, in my heart of heart.”   We all have a special place in our hearts, the core of our hearts or heart of heart that we guard very closely.  If anyone or anything penetrates to the core, it will result in weeping.

“Godly sorrow works repentance” II Corinthians 7:10.   True repentance many times comes with weeping for true repentance flows from the heart’s core, our heart of hearts. True prayer comes from the heart’s core, our heart of hearts.   We guard that core of our hearts so well because we know that even the slightest breeze outside its protective cover will wound it. . How difficult it is to expose our heart’s core, our heart of hearts to anyone, even to God.  So it is with God.  He will not expose us that that core of His heart, His heart of hearts unless he can really trust us not to wound His heart.  Do we really want to enter the core of God’s heart, His heart of hearts?  If we do we will feel His grief, the grief that Jesus felt in John 11:35.  Could this be what the Apostle Paul meant in Romans 8:17 when he said that as heirs of God and joint heirs of Christ we suffer with Him?  We will feel His pain, His sorrow and His heartbreak over a lost world?  Do we really want to experience that suffering?

I fear that this is where my journey for the heart of God will lead.