Hebrew
Highlights 82 MY SOUL EXALTS
Shalom. This is Yuval
Shomron, coming to you from Jerusalem.
LUK 1:46-50 “And Mary said:
"My soul exalts the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my
Savior. "For He has had regard for
the humble state of His bondslave; For behold, from this time on, all
generations will count me blessed. “For
the Mighty One has done great things for me; And holy is His name. "And His mercy is upon generation after
generation Toward those who fear Him.”
In protestant circles, we tend to
shy away from attention to Mary, the mother of Yeshua, perhaps as a sort of
automatic defense and balance to the Catholic church’s infatuation with her.
Nevertheless, the scripture I just
read states clearly that all generations will count her blessed. I’d like to take a brief look at what Mary,
or Miriam in Hebrew, emphasized in her soliloquy here.
Miriam said “My Soul exalts”, or
in some translations, magnifies “the Lord”.
In Hebrew it reads “T’romem nafshi et Adonai.” The word “romem” can mean praise, lift up,
glorify, or exalt. In today’s diluted
and Hellenized English, the word “exalt” is not found in daily use. Perhaps we even sing it mechanically in our
hymns, without thinking about it’s true meaning.
In a sense, the definition is
found in the next verse of Miriam’s words.
“For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave.” We can understand how God is “exalted”, only
if we see ourselves as humble bondslaves.
There is a very sad statement
concerning the people of Israel, and I think, which can be true of the church
as well, in HOS 11:7. “So My people are
bent on turning from Me. Though they call them to the One on high, None at all
exalts Him.”
In today’s commercial holiday
excitement, the world as a whole, and unfortunately even those of us who are
true believers, tend to exalt the “day” and not the “Holy” one.
Most of you have probably already
heard that Christmas day, that is to say December 25th, was most
likely not the day on which our dear savior, Messiah Yeshua” was actually
born. Most scholars agree that His
birthday was actually near either the Feast of Tabernacles, or the Feast of
Passover. Nonetheless, on this day the
world has chosen to recognize the miracle of God’s sending of His son in the
flesh, our attention should be wholly on Him.
I in particular, like to hear the
music of the holiday, which contains some of the greatest truths of the
scriptures, as well as many of the most anointed melodies ever penned. I admittedly often find myself swelling up in
tears as I realize what a great salvation has been provided for us humble,
sinful, even pathetic humans.
I think if Miriam could speak to
us today, she might quote PSA 34:3, “O magnify the Lord with me, And let us
exalt His name together.”
“Chag Molad Sameach”, “Happy
Holiday of the birth”. from Jerusalem.