Bible Geek Word Nerd – Samson – HARAH / YALAD

 

We don't know what we think we know.

 Thelma McQueen was born in Tampa, FL, in 1911.  Educated by nuns in Augusta, GA, she hoped to be a nurse, but a high school teacher encouraged her in the theatrical arts.  Thelma McQueen blossomed as an actress and a dancer.  She performed as a faerie in Max Reinhardt's Hollywood Bowl staging of Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream", where she acquired the nickname "Butterfly" due to her fluttering hands.  She was spotted by talent scout Kay Barrett while performing on Broadway.  Barrett encouraged her to screen test for David O Selznick, who was in pre-production for "Gone with the Wind".  Selznick cast her as the simple-minded housemaid Prissy, and McQueen forever became known for one line: "Oh, Miss Scarlett!  I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' babies!" 

Prissy shares that ignorance with most of us.  We probably think we know something, but as Slowman and Fernback relate in their book, The Knowledge Illusion, we actually know quite a bit less than we think we do about a great many commonplace things, including the experience that every human on the planet shares: birth.

Manoah and his wife are not dissimilar to us.  Even though births – and deaths – were everyday occurrences in their lives, they would need help to not only bring their promised child into the world, but also to raise him as the LORD intended.  For his birth, they would have the support of a local midwife.

The Hebrew Bible tells notable stories of the service of midwives.  Genesis 35 relates that Rachel's labor with Benjamin was attended by a midwife (Genesis 35:17).  At the birth of the twins, Jacob and Essau, the midwife tied a scarlet thread (SHANI (שָׁנִי) is the same word used in Rahab's story in Joshua 2) around the wrist of Essau.  Perhaps the most famous story involves the midwives in Egypt, who refused to submit to Pharaoh's evil command to murder the baby boys at birth.

 Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, 'Why have you done this?  Why have you let the boys live?' The midwives answered Pharaoh, 'Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.' So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous.  And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.
Exodus 1:18-21

We are going to look at two phrases from our passage in Judges 13:

 Now see to it that you DRINK no WINE or other FERMENTED DRINK and that you do not EAT anything UNCLEAN.  You WILL BECOME PREGNANT and HAVE A SON whose HEAD is NEVER to BE TOUCHED by a RAZOR because the boy is to be a NAZIRITE, DEDICATED to God from the WOMB.  He will take the lead in DELIVERING Israel from the hands of the Philistines.'
Judges 13:4-5

The phrases are "will become pregnant" and "have a son", announcements that no doubt brought a mixture of joy and trepidation, as any parent well knows.

The Hebrew word HARAH (הָרָה) means "to conceive, to become pregnant".  This word only occurs 43 times in the Hebrew Bible, despite this being such a commonplace event.  After all, every human who's ever lived – except for two – has lived because their mothers became pregnant.  But there you have it: Scripture is not telling a pregnancy story.  It is, however, telling a birth story, which we shall get to momentarily.

HARAH's first appearance is in Genesis, when Mother Eve becomes pregnant:

Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she CONCEIVED and bore Cain, and said, "I have acquired a man from the Lord."
Genesis 4:1 (NKJV)

HARAH is used three times in Hosea, describing Gomer's pregnancies, such as,

So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she CONCEIVED and bore him a son.
Hosea 1:3

The word can also be used figuratively.  For instance, Hosea uses Gomer's unfaithfulness as a condemnation for the iniquities of G-d's people:

For their mother has played the harlot; she who CONCEIVED them has behaved shamefully.  For she said, 'I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.'
Hosea 1:5

HARAH is used figuratively also in Job 15:35, Psalm 7:14, and Isaiah 59:4, where mischief is conceived.  In Isaiah 59:13, words are conceived.  And then there is this in Isaiah 33:11:

You shall CONCEIVE chaff, you shall bring forth stubble; your breath, as fire, shall devour you.

The Hebrew word behind "have a son" is YALAD (יָלַד), a verb that is used nearly 500 times, many of them in conjunction with HARAH, as in Job 15:35, Psalm 7:14, Isaiah 33:11, Isaiah 59:4, among other references.  YALAD gets translated as "to bear (offspring)", "to bring forth", "to give birth", and "to have a son", as it does in Judges 13.  It also means "beget".  So all that begetting in your King James Bible are YALAD.

YALAD is also the word used for "midwife" every time the word appears (for example, Genesis 35:17, Genesis 38:28, Exodus 1:16, Exodus 1:21).  YALAD gives birth to other forms (see what we did there?), such as the noun YELED (יֶלֶד), meaning boy, child, or youth.  It's used 89 times in the Text.  The feminine form is YALDAH, meaning girl or maiden, but it's found only three times.  YALDUTH (יַלְדוּת) is the plural form, and it also is used three times.  For instance, it's applied to Joseph when his brothers have dragged him from the pit and sold him into slavery.

Then Reuben returned to the pit, and indeed Joseph was not in the pit; and he tore his clothes.  And he returned to his brothers and said, "THE LAD (YELED) is no more; and I, where shall I go?"
Genesis 37:29-30

YELED is used eight times in Exodus 2 when describing Moshe.  In Daniel 1, the word is used five times for the youths of Judah who are led into captivity to Babylon.  Zechariah uses both YELED and YALDAH:

The streets of the city shall be full of BOYS and GIRLS playing in its streets.'
Zechariah 8:5

The Messianic Psalm 110 uses the plural YALDUTH:

Your people shall be volunteers In the day of Your power; in the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning, You have the dew of Your YOUTH.
Psalm 110:3

Yes, "youth" is plural in that verse: YALDUTH.  Does it give off a different slant when you read "youth" as "youths"?

HARAH and YALAD are significant words in the cycle of life.  Their appearance in Scripture marks the beginning of a new cycle, particularly when conception and birth are miraculous, as Samson's is.  Miraculous or unexpected conceptions and births are signs placed in the Text to grab our attention to something big the LORD is doing.  This verse is usually read around Christmas, rather than Passover or Easter.  Nevertheless, it fits the theme.

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: the virgin will CONCEIVE and GIVE BIRTH to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
Isaiah 7:14

And we can all echo Butterfly McQueen's Prissy and say, "We don't know nothing about birthing" that miracle Baby.  And yet we rejoice, as we do in all births.