Hebrew Highlights 46 – BOKER TOV

 

Shalom.  This is Yuval Shomron, coming to you from Jerusalem.

 

          “Boker Tov!”  This greeting we use everyday in Israel simply means “Good Morning.”  “Tov” meaning “good”, and “boker” meaning morning.  Introduced very early in the Bible, earth experienced both the word, and the event, for the first time in GEN 1:5, “And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.”

          So what?  Well, the morning has great significance in God’s word.  Let’s explore some of the passages which, if you’ll excuse the expression, “shed light” on the subject.

PSA 5:3,  “In the morning, O Lord, Thou wilt hear my voice; In the morning I will order my prayer to Thee and eagerly watch.”  What a perfect time to start our day with God.  According to this verse, we should not only begin the day with our communication to God, but wait for an answer as well.  It is this watching that most of us fall short in.  We are quick to make the Lord aware of our needs, but too often run off to breakfast and then work before waiting for wisdom from above.

In fact, morning is the time to see victory, according to PSA 30:4-5,  “Sing praise to the Lord, you His godly ones, And give thanks to His holy name.  For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning.”

Asking and receiving should not be the only things on our agenda when we wake up, as we see in PSA 92:1-2, “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, And to sing praises to Thy name, O Most High; To declare Thy lovingkindness in the morning, And Thy faithfulness by night.”  So, it seems that a truly “good morning”, would include a time of worship to God as well.

Sometimes, after a particularly difficult day, we go to bed in condemnation, feeling that we have failed the Lord.  Maybe the Psalmist also experienced this since in PSA 90:14, we read, “O satisfy us in the morning with Thy lovingkindness, That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.”  The plea is repeated in PSA 143:8; “Let me hear Thy lovingkindness in the morning; For I trust in Thee; Teach me the way in which I should walk; For to Thee I lift up my soul.”

We can indeed put our soul in God’s hands at the beginning of each day, and count on His mercy, as we are reminded in LAM 3:22-23; “The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; Great is Thy faithfulness.” 


What comforting words.  Most of us could use compassion every morning.  If we take time to accept it, maybe we will have that same compassion on others we encounter during the day.

 

King David was a man after God’s own heart, and a mighty ruler and warrior.  Yet, he found that these morning times with God were not enough.  He didn’t stop there, as we see in PSA 55:16-18, “As for me, I shall call upon God, And the Lord will save me.  Evening and morning and at noon, I will complain and murmur, And He will hear my voice.  He will redeem my soul in peace from the battle which is against me, For they are many who strive with me.”

Tomorrow, when you get up, start your day with a Hebrew greeting to the Lord.  Look up to you Heavenly Father, and say “Boker Tov”.  Then, it probably will be exactly that.

 

Shalom, Shalom, from Jerusalem.