I have a son who is the hospitality business. He has worked both front and back of house for different food businesses and is currently the assistant manager at the location he works at. He is all about customer service and making sure that anyone that he interacts with has the best experience possible. Not because he must, or because it is part of the job, but because it is in his heart to do so. It is not just enough to be a part of making beautiful confections; if there is not humility in service, he is not happy. While catering Queen’s Tea for the Oklahoma Renaissance Festival a few years ago, he made it a priority to make sure there were gluten free items, and even went as far to have one entire weekend that everything on the menu was gluten free. This decision happened after a woman who was there was not able to eat most everything provided due to this allergy. When he found out, he ran back to the kitchen, and created a beautiful fruit plate for her, but he did not just put fruit on a plate and send it out. He took a few extra minutes and carved the fruit into flowers, just to make it a little more special for her. He did not lash out at her for buying a ticket to a special event with a “you should have known better” attitude. Instead, he humbled himself to do whatever he could to serve her a plate where she could enjoy the fullness of the event.
While I was studying the word “heart” for this post, I found that one of the definitions for heart in Hebrew means “special bread”. I found this amazing as I knew before I started doing the word studies that I was going to use my son as an example, and bread is one of his favorite things to bake. I also can not help but think of Yeshua with the words “special bread” as He is the bread of life, and we partake of the bread of life, His special bread, when we let him into our hearts.
The word heart has multiple words and definitions in Hebrew, however the one we are going to look at is lev. The Hebrew word lev is made up of the letters, Lamed, Bet and Bet and has a numeric value of 32. It is defined as: Heart, by extension the inner person, self, the seat of thought and emotion, conscience, courage, mind, understanding.
Words and phrases that equal 32 as well include:
· Heart, purpose, resolve
· Strong
· To be clear, pure, faultless, to gain or win, to cleanse, make pure
· “Yah is Good”
· “Yah keeps”
· “Yah assembles”
· Weight, abundance, riches, glory, honor, majesty
· To hollow out, pierce,
· To conceal, hide
· The heart, the life, the soul, feelings affections, emotions, thinking, moral sentiments, volition, determination, knowledge, understanding, middle, midst
To show how these phrases with the same numeric value can tie together, let’s look at the word heart and see how some of these other phrases support it with scripture.
Strong – Psalm 73:26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the Rock and firm Strength of my heart and my Portion forever.
To be clear, pure, faultless to gain or win, to cleanse, make pure – Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me.
“Yah Keeps” – Proverbs 4:23 Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.
Weight, abundance, riches, glory, honor, majesty – Matthew 12:34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak of good things? For out of the abundance of the heart and mouth speaketh.
2 Corinthians 4:6 – For God Who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts so as [to beam forth] the light for the illumination of the knowledge of the majesty and glory of God [as it is manifest in the Person and is revealed] in the face of Jesus Christ [ the Messiah].
To conceal, hide- Psalm 119:11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
It is amazing to see how words that have the same numeric value support each other throughout scripture. It doesn’t change the scriptures, it does not add to or take away, but it enriches our understanding of the Hebrew meanings of scripture and takes us deeper past the translations. Let us now look at the word “servant”.
Abad (aw-bad) is a root word for servant and according to Strong’s means: To work, serve, labor, do, to worship, minister, work in ministry, to be plowed, be cultivated, to reduce to servitude, enslave, caused to serve, to be caused to serve, worship. Abad consists of the letters Ayin Bet and Dalet and values 76 in the numeric. Let us now look at other words and phrases that equal 76.
· “Yah is Lord”
· To be separated, removed, removal, behind; near, by the side of, amidst, all around, while yet, within
· Fullness, abundance
· To break up, till, to labor, to work, to serve
· To make or do
· A servant, a slave, minister or messenger
· Worshiper
· Work or deed
Yah is Lord – 2 Timothy 2:24 And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil,
To be separated, removed, removal, behind; near, by the side of, amidst, all around, while yet, within – John 12:26 – If anyone serves Me, he must continue to follow Me [to cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example, in living and if need be in dying] and wherever I am, there will My servant be also. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.
To break up, till, to labor, to work, to serve – Colossians 3:23-24 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.
A servant, a slave, minister or messenger – Ephesians 3:7 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of His power.
Worshiper – Luke 4:8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.
There is one final word that I want to look at and break down before we really look at “the servant’s heart”, and that is humble/humility. As I was looking in the Strong’s, I found something rather interesting in the Greek. In Greek, humility means Abba. In Hebrew, Abba means Father. Our Father in heaven IS humility and became humble so that we might be saved. In Hebrew, humble, or humility is the word anavaw made of up the letters Ayin, Nun, and Hey equaling 125. I want to share just a few of the words with equal values first because there was something that jumped out at me when I was researching in the Strong’s concerning the definition of humility.
· To sink, to be low
· My strength
· Known of God
· Delight
To sink, to be low – Proverbs 29:23 A man’s pride will bring him low, but he who is of a humble spirit will obtain honor.
My Strength – Mark 8:34 Then Yeshua called the crowd and his talmidim to him and told them “If anyone wants to come after me, let him say ‘No’ to himself, take up his execution stake, and keep following me.
Known of God – James 4:6-8 But the grace He gives is greater, which is why it says, “God opposes the arrogant, but to the humble he gives grace.” Therefore, submit to God. Moreover, take a stand against the adversary, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and He will come close to you. Clean your hands, sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded people.
Delight – Psalm 149:4 For Adonai takes delight in His people, he crowns the humble with salvation.
While digging into the depths of the Hebrew meaning of scripture takes time and some patience it is well worth the endeavor. This journey has taken me into learning how to read Hebrew and it is such a rewarding experience.
Now let’s get back to the definition of humble/humility. As with most of the posts I’ve done, there has been one element that has gotten me over the top excited, and what I am fixing to share is what I got really excited about for this post. The basic definition of humility is to depress literally or figuratively, abase, chasten, humble, sing. As I looked further, as the definition continued, I saw a new set of words in connection with the word humility that ties to servant.
Properly to eye or generally to {heed} that {is} pay attention; by implication to respond; by extension to begin to speak; specifically to sing, shout, announce, give account.
There are those in the Bible that God specifically mentions as My Servant. When I looked over the list of names and back at this definition of humility this is what I saw and wrote down.
My servant Abraham – To respond
Genesis 12:1-4 Now Adonai said to Avram, “Get yourself out of your country, away from your kinsmen and away from your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, I will bless you, and I will make your name great; and you are to be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, but I will curse anyone who curses you; and by you all the families of the earth will be blessed. So Avram went, as Adonai had said to him, and Lot went with him. Avram was 75 years old when he left Haran.
My servant Jacob – Pay attention
Genesis 32:24-29 and Ya’akov (Jacob) was left alone. Then some man wrestled with him until daybreak. When he saw that he did not defeat Ya’akov, he struck Ya’akov’s hip socket, so that his hip was dislocated while wrestling with him. The man said, “Let me go, because it’s daybreak.” But Ya’akov replied, “I won’t let you go unless you bless me.” The man asked, “What is your name?” and he answered, “Ya’akov.” Then the man said, “From now on, you will no longer be called Ya’akov, but Isra’el; because you have shown your strength to both God and men and have prevailed.” Ya’akov asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he answered, “Why are you asking about my name?” and blessed him there.
My servant Moses – To begin to speak
Exodus 4:10-12 Moshe said to Adonai, “Oh, Adonai, I’m a terrible speaker. I always have been, and I’m no better now, even after you’ve spoken to your servant! My words come slowly, my tongue moves slowly.” Adonai answered him, “Who gives a person a mouth? Who makes a person dumb or deaf, keen-sighted or blind? Isn’t it I, Adonai? Now therefore, go; and I will be with your mouth and will teach you what to say.
My servant David – To sing, shout
Psalm 47 Clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout to God with cries of joy! For Adonai ‘Elyon is awesome, a great king over all the earth. He makes peoples subject to us, puts nations under our feet. He chooses our heritage for us, the pride of Ya’akov, whom he loves. God goes up to shouts of acclaim, Adonai to a blast on the shofar. Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our king, sing praises! For God is the God of all the earth; sing praises in a maskil. (an instructional poem) God rules the nations; God sists on his holy throne. The leaders of the people gather together, the people of the God of Avraham; for the rulers of the earth belong to God who is exalted on high.
My servant Isaiah – To announce
Isaiah 6:8-13 Then I heard the voice of Adonai saying, “whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” I answered, “I’m here, send me!” He said “Go and tell this people: ‘Yes, you hear, but you don’t understand. You certainly see, but you don’t get the point!’ “make the heart of this people [sluggish with] fat, stop up their ears, and shut their eyes. Otherwise seeing with their eyes, and hearing with their ears, then understanding with their hearts, they might repent and be healed!” I asked, “Adonai, how long?” and he answered, “Until cities become uninhabited ruins houses without human presence, the land utterly wasted; until Adonai drives the people far away, and the land is one vast desolation. If even a tenth [of the people] remain, it will again be devoured. “But like a pistachio tree or an oak, whose trunk remains alive after its leaves fall off, the holy seed will be in its trunk.”
My servant Daniel – To announce
Daniel 5:22-28 But, Belshatzar, you, his son, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this. Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven by having them bring you the vessels from His house; and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them; then you offered praise to your gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which can’t see, hear or know anything. Meanwhile, God, who holds your very breath in his hands, and to whom belongs everything you do, you have not glorified. This is why he sent the hand to write this inscription; and the inscription says, ‘M’ne! M’ne! T’kel ufarsin.’ This is what it means: ‘M’ne!’ – God has counted up your kingdom and brought it to an end. ‘T’kel’ – you are weighed on the balance scale and come up short. P’res’ – your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”
My servant John – To give account
Revelation 1:1-3 This is the revelation which God gave to Yeshua the Messiah, so that he could show his servants what must happen very soon. He communicated it by sending his angel to his servant Yochanan (John), who bore witness to the Word of God and to the testimony of Yeshua the Messiah, as much as he saw. Blessed are the reader and hearers of the words of this prophecy, provided they obey the things written in it! For the time is near!
God used imperfect men, who had humble hearts of servitude and worship to Him to display these different attributes of humility. Humility says, “I am nothing in and of myself, but You are EVERYTHING in me!” It is with humility that we are able to step out in boldness, and “respond”, leaving our old life of sin behind. We are able to “pay attention” to the Word and the voice of God like never before. We are able “to begin to speak” to others about what He has done for and in us. We are able “to sing and shout” praises unto the Lord, for He is worthy to be praised. We are able “to announce” the Good News to others and share with them the love of Yeshua. We are able “to give account” by the life we live in Him as our lives will bear the fruit of the Spirit more and more as we humbly walk with Him.
Yeshua, Jesus was the ultimate example of what it is to be humble, a servant and to have the heart of the Father. In Philippians 2:5-11, Paul wrote: [5] Let your attitude toward one another be governed by your being in union with the Messiah Yeshua: [6] Though He was in the form of God, He did not regard equality with God something to be possessed by force. [7] On the contrary, He emptied himself in that He took the form of a slave by becoming like human beings are. And when He appeared as a human being, [8] He humbled Himself still more by becoming obedient even to death – death on a stake as a criminal! [9] Therefore God raised Him to the highest place and gave Him the name above every name; [10] that in honor of the name given Yeshua, every knew will bow – in heaven, on earth, and under the earth – [11] and every tongue will acknowledge that Yeshua the Messiah is Adonai – to the glory of God the Father.
He responded to the need of mankind for a savior, He paid attention to everything around Him, every need, every soul, and everything His Father required of Him. He spoke to the masses, Pharisee and sinner alike as His message was for all. I have no doubt that He sang and shouted praises to His Father, and the Psalms were not far from His lips. He announced to all why He was there, that He was there to save them not from Rome, but from Sin. He gave account of every prophecy regarding His crucifixion, leaving no doubt that He was who He said He was.
There is a beautiful passage of scripture found in John that displays what it truly means to have a servant’s heart. John 13:1 in the CJSB starts saying, It was just before the festival of Pesach (Passover), and Yeshua knew that the time had come for Him to pass from this world to the Father. Having loved His own people in the world, He loved them to the end.
It was during this time He rose from the table, removed His outer garments and wrapped a towel around His waist. He poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of His disciples and dry them with the towel. Peter, could not believe what he was seeing and even argued with Yeshua about it declaring, “You will never wash my feet!” Jesus, being the embodiment of love told him that if it didn’t happen that he had no share with Him. Peter, who loved Yeshua mightily, had a “light bulb moment” and realized the significance of what was happening and said, “wash all of me, Lord!”. Yeshua explained “A man who has had a bath doesn’t need to wash, except his feet – his body is already clean. And you people are clean, but not all of you.” (He knew who was betraying him; this is why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”) Do you ever have moments that you feel like Jesus is wanting to wash your feet, but like Peter, you don’t feel that you are worthy for Him to humble Himself to minister to you in such a way? “Jesus, You’re YOU and I’m just me!”. None of us are worthy outside of Him, yet He is still in the business of humbling Himself to wash our feet. If He is our example, then should we not likewise humble ourselves with that same servant’s heart to wash the feet of others? In Luke 18:10-14 Yeshua told a parable that showed the difference between a religious heart and a servant’s heart: [10] Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Parush (Pharisee) and the other a tax-collector. [11] The Parush stood and prayed to himself, ‘O God! I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity – greedy, dishonest, immoral, or like this tax-collector! [12] I fast twice a week, I pay tithes on my entire income, …’ [13] But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes toward heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God! Have mercy on me, sinner that I am!’ [14] I tell you, this man went down to his home right with God rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but everyone who humbles himself will be exalted.”
We can do all the “religious” things in the world, but if we do not have a servant’s heart, the heart of Yeshua in ALL that we do, it is for naught. He is delighted when we take on the heart of His Son and live as He did. In servitude.
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