Hidden Spiritual Gem #1 from the Bible: Proverbs 25:2 and the Hebrew Word “דָּבָר (dāḇār)”
Introduction
This study is the first, of many to come (The Lord Willing), which illustrate how perfectly God has crafted His Word the Bible to conceal important spiritual truths as “hidden gems“. Those hidden gems are for the believers to “search” out and to celebrate with other believers, and to edify and to strengthen the faith of the saints. This particular study on the Hebrew Word דָּבָר (dāḇār)H1697 is excerpted from an explanatory study on the meaning of Hidden Treasures in the Bible and why they were placed there by God in the Bible.
In Proverbs 25:2 (KJV) we find this extraordinary verse, “[It is] the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings [is] to search out a matter.” If we look carefully at the text as it reads in the original Hebrew using an Interlinear Bible or Online Concordance cross-reference like this: Proverbs 25:2 in the original Hebrew, we find that it can also read like this…”[It is] the glory of God to conceal a “word” (because it is from the Hebrew דָּבָר (dāḇār)H1697, a masculine noun): but the honour of kings[is] to search out a “word” (because the word that was translated into English as “matter” is also the same word found in the original Hebrew to be דָּבָר (dāḇār) H1697, which is translated more than eight hundred times in the Old Testament as “word.”)*. It appears, therefore, that God is telling us that He is glorified by the concealing of “The Word” (“Jesus Christ“) in the Bible, and the believers are “honored” by being made able to search out The Word (Who is Jesus Christ) when reading the Bible.
In Paul’s reference to the church in Laodicea, we read in Colossians 2:2 &3, “That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” And please note the harmony with what we find in Ephesians 3:1-9, Paul describes the “mystery of Christ“, which, prior to the New Testament era was “not made known” but “is now revealed“…”That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:..to which Paul said he was given the grace by God to “preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:“
The Believers are Kings and Priests
Fundamental to any true understanding of Proverbs 25:2 it must be noted that Jesus makes all believers “kings” and “priests”, as we read in Revelation 1:5&6, “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” This is reiterated in Revelation 5:10, where we see from the preceding verses that Jesus, as the Lamb of God, has redeemed the believers by His shed blood, “And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” And we must conclude that God is not referring us to this sin-cursed earth (wherein the believers are merely pilgrims and sojourners), but rather to the “New Earth” to come…“wherein dwelleth righteousness” according to 2 Peter 3:13.
And note how consistent this is with 1 Peter 2:5, “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” and 1 Peter 2:9, “¶But ye [are] a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:“
Note how this is also consistent with what we read in Job 36:7 when speaking of God regarding the believers, “He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous: but with kings [are they] on the throne; yea, he doth establish them for ever, and they are exalted.“
Moreover, Ephesians 2:4-6, tells us, “¶ But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised [us] up together, and made [us] sit together in heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.“
And, please, dear reader, think about this…What did Jesus say to His disciples at the Last Supper?
In Luke 22:29&30 we read that Jesus (The “King of kings, and Lord of lords“! see: 1 Timothy 6:15 &Revelation 19:16) said, “And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.“
We should also be aware that this is all entirely consistent with what God tells us in Jeremiah 33:3, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” And this verse was not translated as well as it could have been, as the original Hebrew word for “mighty things” is בָּצַר (bāṣar)H1219 which could also be translated as “hidden things” or “concealed things”, given that it has also been translated as “restrained”, “walled up”, and “withholden”. Note the similarity with what we find in Isaiah 48:6, “Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare [it]? I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things (נָצַר (nāṣar))H5341, and thou didst not know them.” The original Hebrew word that is translated here as “hidden things” could also be translated as “guarded”, “protected”, “preserved”, “kept close”, or “kept secret”, which indeed is a synonym for “hidden things” or “concealed things”.
This will be true for all believers in Heaven! Hallelujah!
“Dāḇār” is also found in these other VERY KEY verses:
- Note what is found in Proverbs 16:20 where the King James Version translation reads, “He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good:…” but in the original Hebrew it reads, “He who wisely understands or heeds unto the word (דָּבָר (dāḇār))H1697 shall find good…”
- And in Psalm 56:10 we read (as also translated in the King James Version), “In God will I praise his word (דָּבָ֑ר (dāḇār))H1697: in the Lord will I praise his word (דָּבָר (dāḇār))H1697.”
- And in Psalm 33:6 we read, “By the word (דָּבָר (dāḇār))H1697 of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.”
- And in Psalm 145:5, “I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works (actually wonderous “words” (דָּבָר (dāḇār))H1697 in the original Hebrew, which is actually repeated twice, so it should be more accurately translated as “and of thy words, wondrous words”!).“
Jesus Spoke in Parables for a Reason!
We must remember, the Bible makes it clear that Jesus always spoke in “parables.” In Matthew 13:34&35, we read that: ”All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret*** from the foundation of the world.” (and this is a reference back to the prophetic statement we find in Psalm 78:2, “I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:” and which we also find in Psalm 49:3&4 we read, “My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart [shall be] of understanding. I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp.”)
*** The word “secret” here derives from a Greek word κρύπτω (kryptō) G2928, which means “to conceal” or “to hide”.
What About the Word “Conceal”?
As was pointed out earlier, in Proverbs 25:2 we read, “[It is] the glory of God to conceal a “thing” (actually conceal a “word,” thus: Jesus Christ): but the honour of kings [is] to search out a matter (“word,” thus: Jesus Christ).” The word translated as “conceal” is from the Hebrew word סָתַר (sāṯar) H5641 in Strong’s Concordance. It is the same word as found just above in Psalm 64:2, which is translated as “hide.”
Perhaps, most significantly, this word, סָתַר (sāṯar) H5641, can also be translated as “secret,” as we find in: Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret (סָתַר (sāṯar)) H5641 [things belong] unto the LORD our God: but those [things which are] revealed [belong] unto us and to our children for ever, that [we] may do all the words of this law.“
And please remember what we are taught in Job 28:20&21, ”Whence then cometh wisdom? and where [is] the place of understanding? Seeing it is hid (עָלַם (ʿālam)) H5956 from the eyes of all living, and kept close (סָתַר (sāṯar)) H5641 from the fowls of the air.”
Remember also what we are told in Daniel 2:28-30, (being aware that the word in Hebrew is רָז (rāz)H7328, which means “to conceal”or “make secret” and is taken from Aramaic, and therefore only appears in the Book of Daniel): “But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets (רָז (rāz))H7328, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these; As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came [into thy mind] upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets (רָז(rāz))H7328 maketh known to thee what shall come to pass. But as for me, this secret (רָז (rāz))H7328 is not revealed to me for [any] wisdom that I have more than any living, but for [their] sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart.”
Also in Isaiah 45:15, we read something very profound and apropos to this study: “Verily thou [art] a God that hidest (סָתַר (sāṯar))H5641 thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.“
It was not by Daniel’s own intellect or that of any other man, because God Only Is The Reveler of Secrets
Daniel 2:30 makes clear Who really is the Author and Reveler of secrets. It was NOT Daniel, but rather The Source Was and Is Almighty God! Anyone to whom God has graciously granted the privilege of spiritual understanding will readily attest to what Daniel declared. It entirely due to God Alone! Moreover, It is also a gift to the believer’s as an “honor” to search out God’s Word to find the Hidden Treasures that God has so miraculously concealed within His Word, the Bible.
This is a fundamentally key point! For anyone to really understand a “secret” thing of God, God Has To Be The One to “reveal” it to him or her by His Holy Spirit, and it is never because of any intellectual prowess of that person. Moreover, a person will not “hear” that secret unless that person is a true believer. A person must be “Quickened” or “Born Again” by God’s Holy Spirit to have “the ears to hear and the eyes to see“!
The king then promoted Daniel as we read in Daniel 2:46-49, “¶Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him. The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth [it is], that your God [is] a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret. Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise [men] of Babylon. Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but Daniel [sat] in the gate of the king.” Remember that both Boaz in the Book of Ruth, and Mordecai in the Book of Esther, also “sat in the gate”, and they were both allegorical “Types”, who spiritually “represented” or “pre-figured” the Lord Jesus Christ.
We should also think back to what Joseph said to Pharaoh’s butler and baker who were in prison with him in Genesis 40:8, “And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and [there is] no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, [Do] not interpretations [belong] to God? tell me [them], I pray you.“
And PLEASE, dear reader, note the harmony with what we read in 2 Peter 1:20, “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake [as they were] moved by the Holy Ghost.” It is God, working through the power of His Holy Spirit, Who Alone provides true interpretations of the Spiritually inspired scriptures. True interpretations of the Bible can NEVER be derived from man’s intellect. Anyone who thinks that the latter is even possible simply does NOT know God.
Jesus Commanded “Search the Scriptures”
Few people are aware of Jesus’ specific instruction to “Search the scriptures“, but that is exactly what Jesus instructed the Jews of His day as we read in John 5:39, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” The Jews thought that by simply having the words of “Moses, the law, and all the prophets” that they also had the promise of eternal life. Their legalism and literalism blinded them to the Truth, and is a caution from God for all readers. Jesus was making clear that “the scriptures” (which at that time consisted ONLY of the Old Testament) were all about Him! The reality is that only in knowing and loving the Lord Jesus Christ (as God and Savior), as He is manifested in all the holy scriptures, can there any hope of eternal life!
We therefore have been given a clear mandate by Jesus to search the scriptures, focusing first upon the Old Testament, to see how gloriously and amazingly God has embedded, and interwoven, the Lord Jesus Christ within so many of its passages. The New Testament of the Bible reveals to us how this is indeed the case, perhaps no more clearly than in Jesus’ own exposition to his two disciples after His Resurrection on Easter Sunday along the Road to Emmaus.
Conclusion
It is hoped that the reader will, by the Grace of God, The Father, be drawn to come to search out and know The Word, the Lord Jesus Christ [Remember that we read in John 1:1-3, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” and in John Chapter 1, verse 14, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”]. In 1 John 1:1 we find, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;” And to make the connection between Jesus (the Son of God) and the Word as unmistakable as possible, we read in 1 John 5:7, “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost.
Remembering also what Jesus said in John 6:44, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” (Please see also The Doctrine of Election.)
Only if a person is a true child of God can he or she be granted the spiritual discernment to understand that the entire Bible is all about God’s Magnificent Salvation Plan involving the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We must be mercifully granted the spiritual ears to hear and the spiritual eyes to see the hidden precious gems God has concealed within the Biblical texts. For more on this please see the Hearing Ear and the Seeing Eye.
May this post, and all of the Bible studies found here, be a blessing to the reader and edify and strengthen the faith of the Saints.
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