חֲנַנְיָה - Chanan-YaH
– (the) grace and mercy of YaHUaH
André H. Roosma
2 February 2019 (Dutch original: 28 Jan. 2019)
The question can be asked: what is most important in the Bible and, in
particular, in the letters of the apostle Paul?
For an answer to that question we can go to the first thing, or rather: the
first person the apostle Paul saw, after his dramatic encounter with the
risen Lord Yeshu‘ah on the road to Damascus.
We read about this in Acts 9. And what - to us - may seem to be minor details,
such as the names of persons involved, are important in God’s Word!
The first he saw, after God gave him back the sight in his eyes, after three
days of blindness, was a disciple by the name of Ananias, says our
translation from the Greek original text. However, this Ananias was a Jew,
and therefore he will have been called by a Hebrew name. When we
investigate that, the Hebrew original of Ananias appears to have been: חֲנַנְיָה - Chanan-YaH, or more fully: חֲנַנְיָהוּ - Chanan-YaHU1. The meaning of this name
is significant: (the) mercy and grace of YaHUaH2. With him, Paul had a
meeting in Damascus after a few days, during which this Chanan-YaH put his
hands on him and God healed Paul from his blindness. So, Chanan-YaH was
the first one, seen by the renewed Paul after His life-changing encounter
with Yeshu‘ah! In fact, from that moment
on, everything in Paul’s calling as a disciple and an apostle, revolved
around one thing only: the grace and mercy of YaHUaH, offered to us in
Yeshu‘ah!
That was a big revolution in the life of Paul, who, before that, as a
Pharisee was very strict and legalistic in Jewish doctrine. He fiercely
opposed Yeshu‘ah and His followers
(see Acts 7: 58, 8: 3, 9: 1; 22: 3-4, Philippians 3:
3-7). This experience, that Yeshu‘ah
did not reject or even condemn him, as persecutor of Himself and the
Christians, but met him with His grace, determined all of his further life
and ministry (see 1 Corinthians 15: 9; Ephesians
3: 8: 1 Timothy 1: 16, the entire letter to the Galatians). As a
Pharisee you split everything and sharply condemned any behavior that
was not acceptable, because purity was everything. If necessary, people
who were caught in one or other iniquity were sentenced to death.
The outside behavior was everything. It was a play.
But with Yeshu‘ah it is totally
different. With Him God’s love for man is central, and thus
God’s will to welcome everyone in His presence. And with Him it is
about our hearts. The change starts with our hearts. Change of life and
lifestyle then comes from it. When we experience the indescribable love,
grace and and mercy of YaHUaH, our life will change, but in that case,
from within.
We see this theme of God’s great mercy and grace, everywhere
through the whole of Paul’s further life and through all of his
letters. To the church communities to which he writes his letters, he
first prays the mercy or grace of YaHUaH or Yeshu‘ah (Romans 1: 7, 1 Corinthians 1: 3, 2
Corinthians 1: 2, Galatians 1: 3, Ephesians 1: 2; etc.).
That’s where it starts. He often links this to the concept of
peace; in Hebrew: shalom, which we can also translate with wholeness
or fullness, which comes from within. For example, in the fifth chapter of
his letter to the Christians in Rome, he elaborates on the abundance of
God’s grace in Yeshu‘ah for us.
Throughout all his letters, the Greek word charis, which has
been translated by grace or mercy, appears already more than 90 times!
And not only with Paul, also in the letters of Peter and John, the grace
and mercy of God plays a central role just as much!
Yes, and not only in the New Testament, even in the First Testament the
grace and mercy of YaHUaH is already central. When God YaHUaH
made Himself known to Moses / Mosheh (see Exodus 33: 19;
34: 6)3, He did so by first describing Himself as gracious and merciful
(chanun and rachum).
And it matters so much...
As a pastoral worker, I have seen a lot of misery in human life
resulting from performance orientation; from not experiencing, and in fact,
not believing in grace. What happens then, is that we, as people, we will do
our best to be accepted, even as children we will start to play a desired
role. After a while, our real hearts become buried under what looks like
piety (after all: we do our best...). Everything
starts to revolve around what we do. And what really matters in our hearts,
our emotions or our vulnerability, we dare not share with anyone anymore...
It becomes totally different when we put the חֲנַנְיָה – Chanan-YaH – grace and mercy of
YaHUaH back in the center.
When we begin to enjoy His undeserved Love and cherish it. It is then that we
experience that we can just be. We feel rich from within and become friendlier,
we become milder. We do not have to play a theater-role anymore; we can be
real, vulnerable people. For we have experienced that God has accepted us in
grace. That is a lot more relaxed way of living! And the Spirit of Yeshu‘ah is gaining influence in our lives!
That’s how we all, yes, that’s how you who reads this, too,
may live from a view on חֲנַנְיָה –
Chanan-YaH – the mercy of YaHUaH; live in the freedom
of being a child-of-the-Father, grace-fully welcomed, loved and appreciated.
Living by His Spirit. What a privilege!
Hallelu YaH ! – His
glorious Name be praised!
Notes
| 1 |
Most Greek dictionaries directly and unambiguously
refer Ananias to the Hebrew name חֲנַנְיָה -
Chananyah (also transliterated: Hananiah). |
| 2 |
The glorious Name of God I present here - as well as
I can - from the oldest Hebrew original, instead of replacing this grand
personal Name of The Most High by a common word, such as ‘Lord’.
For more background information on this see:
André H. Roosma,
‘Life, security and belonging in joyful adoration, from the hand of God’  , brief
Hallelu-YaH article about the Biblical Name of God in
the earliest Hebrew (old Semitic) script, January 2011.
André H. Roosma, ‘The
wonderful and lovely Name of the God Who was there, Who is there, and Who
will be there’ , extensive Accede! / Hallelu-YaH! study, July 2009. |
| 3 |
More about God’s Self-revelation to Mosheh in the
article: ‘What God YaHUaH says about
Himself – the Message of Exodus 34: 6-7’, Hallelu-YaH!, 20 January 2012. |
See also:
Brennan Manning, Abba's Child – the cry of the
heart for intimate belonging, NavPress, Colorado (USA), 1994.
Jonathan Cahn, The Book of Mysteries, FrontLine
/ Charisma House, Lake Mary FL USA, 2016; ISBN: 978 1 62998 941 9; Day 195 -
Khananyah.
|
