Don’t Be Nice

How often do weary parents entreat a child, “Can’t you please just be nice to your sister?” The obvious problem is that this is a terribly imprecise request. What does ‘nice’ mean? What are the limits to being ‘nice’? If being nice to my sister means that I am deprived of something to which I feel I have a right, well, must I still be ‘nice’? Better communication is a vital key to better relationships. To achieve that goal, we should avoid words that possess little specific meaning.

Not surprisingly, there is no Hebrew language equivalent to the word ‘nice’. It is far too loose and undefined for the Lord’s language. But this doesn’t mean that words in Scripture are all easily understood and obvious. Take for instance, the opening of Leviticus chapter 19.

“And God spoke to Moses saying. Speak to all the community of the children of Israel, and you shall say to them: Be holy for I, the Lord your God, am holy.” (Leviticus 19:1-2)

What on earth does that word ‘holy’ actually mean? After all, the Torah (the Five Books of Moses) contains hundreds of very direct and specific commandments. Do not murder; very specific. Do not commit adultery; equally specific. But be holy? How? What?

Regardless of your level of Hebrew proficiency, we can capture a clue from the Hebrew text. In our recommended Bible, glance at the right-hand page for the referenced verses and look for the Hebrew word for holy. The 3-letter root word holy, KaDoSH looks like this— קדש. It forms the 9th and 12th words in verse 2 of chapter 19. The 9th word is plural and looks like this: קדשים (all of you, be holy). The occurrence of holy in the 12th word looks like this: קדוש referring to God Himself being holy.

Notice please that the 9th word, meaning you all Israelites be holy, lacks the letter vav, the little vertical stick, which is the 3rd letter in the 12th word. Hmmm … .so the letter vav, which is a letter that hints at God’s name, appears only when the word holy refers to God being holy. When the text refers to the people of Israel being holy—no letter vav.

A coincidence? No, of course not. Take a look at the end of chapter 20. You’ll see exactly the same pattern.

“And you shall be holy (no vav) for me, for I the Lord am holy (with a vav).” (Leviticus 20:26)

Indeed, it’s a standard pattern. Whenever Scripture is alluding to God’s holiness you’ll find the special letter vav included in the word. When the Torah is alluding only to human holiness, no vav is to be found.

Herein lies the clue as to what holy means. That special letter vav not only alludes to God’s name, it also means a hook or connector. (It even resembles a hook in appearance.) In fact, the letter when placed at the start of another word also means the word “and”. About 50% of the verses in the Torah begin with the letter vav— as in the many verses that say, “And God spoke to Moses saying…” In other words, the letter vav is the ultimate connector.

[If you would like to know (and understand) why 33 of the first 34 verses in the Bible start with the letter vav meaning the word ‘and’, run–do not walk–to sign up for our Scrolling through Scripture: Genesis Unit One course]

Every time God is described as holy, the word KaDoSH includes the letter vav. It is as if God is inviting us to connect with Him through holiness. And that is exactly what holy means; connected to God.

Every time one of His children behaves with restraint, God recognizes it as fulfilling the commandment (Leviticus 19:2) “Be Holy.” Every time we resist the call of the physical, every time we fight against spiritual gravity, and every time we elevate our appetites to better connect with God, we are being holy.

After all, it is a very specific commandment, not at all like the frustrated cry, “Can’t you just be nice?”

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