If you're ever bored and find yourself thinking "I really wish I could just pick an ancient Hebrew word and study it and find all the ways it connects to us today," then there's good news. I've got the perfect word for you.
Sa'aq
Sa'aq is the Old Testament word for "cry" and it's used all over the place. It's also used in a lot of other ways than the simple act of crying. Sa'aq is also the "alert" that something isn't going right, something isn't working out the way it's supposed to, the world is off track. Sa'aq is confusion, sadness, and a desire to see the world go back to the way it's supposed to be. It's as much a feeling as it is an act.
In fact, the first time sa'aq is found in the Bible it's not describing literal crying. In Genesis 4 God says to Cain, "Your brother's blood sa'aq to me from the ground."
God is telling Cain that something has been thrown off track, the world isn't operating the way God intended and Cain is one of the reasons for that. The blood of Abel is a signal that injustice, sin, and jealously are now part of Cain's world, and God hears that.
Now back to David, this little expressive boy gives us a perfect 2 minute example of what sa'aq looks like. His questions in an ironic and funny way are the exact questions someone in a state of sa'aq would say.
"Is this going to be forever?"
"Is this real life?"
David understands that there's something off in his world right now, namely the drug induced state he finds himself in. His video as hilarious as it is registers on some real philosophical levels.
One professor from the Duke University School of Divinity explains sa'aq this way.
At our parsonage, we used to live beside a cow pasture. At a certain time of year, the mother cows would be separated from the calves, and the cows would moan and cry out all night long for the ones that were missing, this plaintive, low wail. It was the cry. The groan.
The scriptures make a case that the sa'aq that exists in the world, both on a global and personal level, has an answer, and it's Jesus.
Remember the sin-redemption cycle from the book of Judges? When Israel sinned and fell away from God and their covenant, God essentially stopped his relationship with his people. Then, at a certain time their sa'aq brought God back and began their redemption.
Hebrews 7:22 says Jesus came to make a "better covenant." A covenant that so essentially covers sins it ensures there is always someone to intercede for believers (7:25). The someone is Jesus, and his death and resurrection are enough to cover the sa'aq that came from the old covenant when sin forced God out of the relationship.
This is not to say you won't ever cry out or experience pain and suffering ever. It is saying that when those things happen, you are promised not only a savior who will listen but also a savior who has been through everything and more that you're going through.
Hebrews 5 says priests are able to deal gently with the people because they themselves are subject to weakness.
And isn't Jesus our new "high priest?"
And wasn't he subject to all the same weaknesses you and I are?
Didn't he himself, in the garden and on the cross, experience a level of sa'aq that was powerful and full of emotion?
Just like David After Dentist, when we cry out "will it be like this forever?" We have a father who can say,
No, no it won't.
And I know because I've been there.
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