Bible Geek Word Nerd - Up Your Nose

Maybe Your Nose is Out of Joint

July 9, 2022

We are SUPPOSED to be doing a series on the various Hebrew terms used to describe “speaking”. But it seems we cannot get anywhere without taking a scenic detour. In our previous post, the scenic detour meandered to the family of the Patriarch Jacob (YAAKOV in Hebrew speak). We talked about NAPHTHALI and the burden of names, reminding ourselves how messed up his family was…without even bringing stories about Judah and Tamar or the infamous mandrakes.

 

Today we continue on our scenic detour, prompted as all detours are, by surprise, wonder, or unexpected circumstances. We are going to talk about the Hebrew word for “anger”. N o, not prompted by fights with spouses or family, but by something more irritating and
compelling: popular culture.

 

There’s a scene in the Broadway show “Mama Mia” (please don’t ask us how we know this fact; we just sometimes know things) where one of the characters is asked how he got his name, Pepper. His friend Eddie says he got his name because he gets up your nose. Americans hear that and laugh because Pepper makes us sneeze, so the line is funny. But in idiomatic British English, the phrase “get up your nose” means to irritate them. We have South African friends who use that phrase frequently for “irritate” or “annoy”. So the British playwright, Catherine Johnson, who wrote the book for the musical play “Mama Mia”, used an idiomatic phrase to make a joke at the character’s expense. 

 

This would be good enough, except this little bloggy thing is not about ABBA or Broadway musicals, but rather about Bible words (and mostly Hebrew, if you have not figured it out yet…because Biblical Hebrew is our jam). So let’s explore how this very British idiomatic way of saying “angry” has a Hebrew connection.

 

There are several words that Hebrew uses to express anger. But the most common way is the word APH (אַף). For instance, in Exodus 4:14:

 

“Then the LORD’s ANGER burned against Moses, and He said, ‘What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you.’”

 

APH appears in the Hebrew Bible 276 times, but interestingly, it does not appear as “anger” all those times. Because APH’s primary meaning is “nose” or “nostril”. For instance, in Genesis 2:7:

 

“Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his NOSTRILS the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”

 

So how does the word for “nose” and “nostril” become “anger”? 

 

Hebrew is a very concrete language, preferring to avoid abstractions. Hebrew has a word for it if you can see it (or hear it or touch it). So, it seems quite natural that an abstract but common emotion like “anger” would be expressed by something seen. When you become angry, your face gets flushed. If you become REALLY angry, this redness may go all the way to the very tip of your nose. On the other hand, if you are more controlled and slow to become angry, your nose will not become red. When G-d is described as “slow to anger”, the Hebrew literally says G-d is “long of nose”. Among other verses, Numbers 14:18 says,

“The Lord is SLOW TO ANGER (AREK APPAYIM ארך אפים the word AREK means “long”), abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”

 

יהוה ארך אפים ורב־חסד נשא עון ופשע ונקה לא ינקה פקד עון אבות על־בנים על־שלשים ועל־רבעים

 

So this brings us back to the very British idiom of “up someone’s nose”. It seems that many languages and cultures take their cues from observing physiological signs. Perhaps think about that the next time you are in a tiff with a loved one or perhaps experience irritation from “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” Think about your own physiological response and whether your nose is become inflamed.

 

The letter of James has a very practical strategy: “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry (James would have been thinking of G-d’s own character in this, we are quite certain), because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.”

 

From the humorous dialog of Broadway to G-d’s word itself…