AWAKENED/STIRRED: Ur, verb (Strong’s 5782)
Root: עוּר
Sounds like: oor
This past Monday (April 8, 2024) I was privileged to witness the beauty of a solar eclipse in totality. It was a tactile experience where you could actually feel the temperature drop as the sky slowly darkened and then re-emerged into light. Honestly, it stirred me; it awakened in me a renewed sense of awe at how wonderful God’s creation is, with everything beautifully orchestrated and refined. This universe is truly amazing and I’m thankful to YHWH for placing me within it.
Today’s Hebrew word is UR, which means to be stirred or awakened… much like I was stirred at the beauty of the eclipse. Zechariah used the word as a simile to express the concept of seeing a vision:
Zechariah 4:1-2a
Then the angel who had been speaking with me returned and woke me [wai-y’reni וַיְעִירֵ֕נִי], like a person who is awakened [yey’ohr] from his sleep. And he said to me, “What do you see?”
This was not a literal rendition of waking up from sleep, but more of a mental awakening. Zechariah was stirred up and his eyes were opened to new sights. It was not a dream, it was a wonderful vision.
Ur elicits an emotional response. To be stirred up gives one a feeling that they need to take action, whether for good or bad:
Proverbs 10:12
Hatred stirs up [t-oh’rer תְּעוֹרֵ֣ר] strife, but love covers all offenses.
What gets us stirred up matters. Many of us get stirred up by our dislike of someone or something. Negativity can awaken in us some pretty terrible reactions.
When God gets stirred up it’s always from a positive point of view. He gets stirred up to save humanity; He gets stirred up to fix injustices; He gets stirred up over His love for His children, much like an eagle gets stirred up over its young. YHWH’s response to being stirred up was to protect, care for, and carry His children to safety:
Deuteronomy 32:9-11
“For YHWH’s portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the howling wasteland of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye. As an eagle stirs up [awakes: ya’ir יָעִ֣יר] its nest, and hovers over its young, He spread His wings, He caught them, He carried them on His pinions.”
At its core, the Hebrew word ur expresses a physiological change in the body (to be stirred, aroused, awakened) and its corresponding emotional response. You can be stirred up to show compassion, stirred up to reflect hatred, stirred up to emit love, stirred up to go to war.
God will Stir Things Up!
The Bible tells us that YHWH has always been an active player in the history of humanity. By the Holy Spirit, YHWH stirred up nations and individuals in order to fulfill His overarching plan for human redemption and salvation.
But the lesson was hard because the people of God had turned against Him and worshipped lifeless pagan gods:
Habakkuk 2:19-20
“Woe to him who says to a piece of wood, ‘Awake!’, to a mute stone, ‘Arise! [Be stirred: uri ע֖וּרִי]’
That is your teacher? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, yet there is no breath at all inside it. But YHWH is in His holy temple. let all the earth be silent before Him.”
They were worshipping the lifeless instead of the Living God. How could they be stirred by something that had no life in it? They were meant to have a relationship with YHWH, but during the days of Isaiah, it appeared that no one felt stirred by their relationship with YHWH because they had abandoned it:
Isaiah 64:7
There is no one who calls on Your name, who stirs himself [mi-t-ohrer מִתְעוֹרֵ֖ר] to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us and have surrendered us to the power of our wrongdoings.
When the Hebrew people turned against God and started worshiping the gods of their pagan neighbours, God gave them what they appeared to want… to be ruled by foreign gods and the people who served them. YHWH stirred up the Babylonians to capture Israel:
Jeremiah 6:22-23
This is what YHWH says: “Behold, there is a people coming from the north land, and a great nation will be stirred up [yey-ohr יֵע֖וֹר] from the remote parts of the earth. They seize bow and spear; they are cruel and have no mercy; their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, lined up as a man for the battle against you, daughter of Zion!”
YHWH may have stirred the hearts of the Babylonians to move against Israel, in order for Israel to learn the lesson that bowing down to foreign gods brought only strife, but the overwhelmingly cruel actions of Bablylon had nothing to do with YHWH. It was the choice of Babylon to be savage and blood-thirsty and YHWH would not let their brutalness stand without retribution. The cruelty that they doled out would be “gifted” back to them by the Medes:
Isaiah 13:17
Behold, I am going to stir up [mey-ir מֵעִ֥יר] the Medes against them [Babylon], who will not value silver or take pleasure in gold.
Jeremiah 51:1, 11 (see also Jeremiah 50:9, 41-42)
This is what YHWH says: “Behold, I am going to stir up [mey-ir מֵעִ֣יר] the spirit of a destroyer against Babylon and against the inhabitants of Leb-kamai…
…Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers! YHWH has stirred up [hey-ir הֵעִ֣יר] the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because His plan is against Babylon to destroy it; for it is the vengeance of YHWH, vengeance for His temple.
As we read earlier, in Isaiah 64:7, there is power behind human wrongdoings, but in the long-run it would always backfire on the human who blatantly did the wrong. For example, if you want to control others, then you will also be controlled by others. When you worship power, then power will take hold of you. When you dole out death and destruction, death and destruction will seek you out. The Babylonians certainly felt the retribution for their actions which were motivated by control, power, death and destruction:
Isaiah 14:9-11
“Sheol below is excited about you [Babylon], to meet you when you come; it stirs [ohrer עוֹרֵ֨ר] the spirits of the dead for you, all the leaders of the earth; it raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones. They will all respond and say to you, ‘Even you have become weak as we, you have become like us. Your pride and the music of your harps have been brought down to Sheol; maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you and worms are your covering.’”
Babylon did fall to the Medes and Persians. God may have stirred things up, but He primarily allowed human behaviour to do what it does best… tear down and destroy each other. But God did not allow humans to destroy each other without a plan for redemption and salvation. Although Israel fell to the Babylonians and they were exiled out of their own lands, YHWH made a plan to bring His people back home. He would stir the heart of Cyrus, king of Persia, to allow the people to return to their homeland:
Ezra 1:1-5 (see also 2 Chronicles 36:22-23)
Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of YHWH by the mouth of Jeremiah, YHWH stirred up [hey-ir הֵעִ֣יר] the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying:
“This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘YHWH, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to rebuild for Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him! Go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and rebuild the house of YHWH, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem. And every survivor, at whatever place he may live, the people of that place are to support him with silver and gold, with equipment and cattle, together with a voluntary offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.’”
Then the heads of fathers’ households of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites rose up, everyone whose spirit God had stirred [hey-ir הֵעִ֤יר] to go up to rebuild the house of YHWH which is in Jerusalem.
The awakening and stirring of people has had a profound effect on human history. It could be argued that it is the key proponent of action and change in society as a whole. In those who put their faith in YHWH, it is the Holy Spirit that can stir us to action and change the world.
Wake Up, God!
To be stirred up and awakened is a common human reaction to things like injustice and poverty. Of course life in the Ancient Near East was filled with injustice, nationalism, poverty and hard living. It was why the Psalmists repeatedly called on YHWH to get “stirred up” on their behalf:
Psalm 7:6a
[David:] Arise, YHWH, in Your anger; raise Yourself against the rage of my enemies, and stir [w-urah וְע֥וּרָה] Yourself for me…
Psalm 35:23-24
[David:] Stir Yourself [ha-yirah הָעִ֣ירָה], and awake to my right and to my cause, my God and my Lord. Judge me, YHWH my God, according to Your righteousness, and do not let them rejoice over me.
Psalm 59:1-5
[David:] Rescue me from my enemies, my God; set me securely on high away from those who rise up against me. Rescue me from those who practice injustice, and save me from men of bloodshed. For behold, they have set an ambush for my life; fierce men attack me, not for my wrongdoing nor for my sin, YHWH, for no guilt of mine, they run and take their stand against me. Stir Yourself [u’rah ע֖וּרָה] to help me, and see!
Psalm 44:23-26
[Sons of Korah:] Wake Yourself up [u’rah ע֤וּרָה], why do You sleep, Lord? Awake (arise), do not reject us forever. Why do You hide Your face and forget our affliction and oppression? For our souls have sunk down into the dust; our bodies cling to the earth. Rise up, be our help, and redeem us because of Your mercy.
Psalm 80:2-3
[Asaph:] Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, awaken [ohr’rah עוֹרְרָ֥ה] Your power, and come to save us! God, restore us and make Your face shine upon us, and we will be saved.
It made perfect sense to call on YHWH to be stirred to compassion and action. Only God could truly rescue them and the prayer for YHWH to be awakened to their cause was practical and understandable. YHWH was a God who listened and a God who took action. He was always reliable and always on our side.
Uri! Uri!
One of the main usages of the Hebrew word ur was the rousing war cry. The double repeat of Uri! Uri! was a call to arouse the senses! It was a call to stand up and take action!
Judges 5:12
“Awake, awake [uri, uri עוּרִ֤י עוּרִי֙], Deborah; awake, awake [uri, uri עוּרִ֤י עוּרִי֙], sing a song! Arise, Barak, and lead away your captives, son of Abinoam.”
Isaiah 51:9a, 17
Awake, awake [Uri uri עוּרִ֨י עוּרִ֤י], put on strength, O arm of YHWH; awake [uri ע֚וּרִי] as in the days of old, the generations of long ago…
…Pull yourself up! Pull yourself up! [Hi-t-ohr’ri hi-t-ohr’ri הִתְעוֹרְרִ֣י הִֽתְעוֹרְרִ֗י] Arise, Jerusalem! You who have drunk from YHWH’s hand the cup of His anger; the chalice of staggering you have drunk to the dregs.
War is an emotional and physical reaction to an awakened understanding that an injustice has occurred. Historically, that injustice often occurred when an aggressor came and forcibly took possession of land. The stealing of land stirred up the emotions which drew attention to the injustice. The emotional reaction was to fight back.
Isaiah 52:1-2
Awake, awake [Uri uri עוּרִ֥י עוּרִ֛י], clothe yourself in your strength, Zion; clothe yourself with your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city; for the uncircumcised and the unclean will no longer come into you. Shake yourself from the dust, rise up, captive Jerusalem; release yourself from the chains around your neck, captive daughter of Zion.
Joel prophesied the great conflict where God would judge the nations. He called on the people to be stirred up:
Joel 3:9-12
Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for holy war; stir up [ha-iru הָעִ֙ירוּ֙] the warriors! Have all the soldiers come forward, have them come up! Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak man say, “I am a warrior.”
Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves there. Bring down, YHWH, Your warriors. Let the nations be awakened [y-ohru יֵע֙וֹרוּ֙] and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.
YHWH loved humanity enough to save them. He had great compassion for them. He wanted them to live and thrive, not just survive:
Isaiah 42:13
YHWH will go out like a warrior, He will stir [ya-ir יָעִ֣יר] His zeal like a man of war. He will shout, indeed, He will raise a war cry. He will prevail against His enemies.
As much as we like to envision YHWH as a great divine Warrior, He doesn’t go to war like humans do. He goes out “like” a warrior and He gets stirred up “like” a man of war, but we do not read of any violent action taken by YHWH directly. He simply judges the people. And really it’s not that difficult for Him to do because we’re in control of our own judgement. It’s up to each individual human to decide whether they want to follow YHWH and dwell with Him in His heavenly Kingdom, OR reject YHWH and be denied entrance to the Kingdom. We cast our own judgement, YHWH just puts a big check-mark beside the choice we make.
The Messiah is Awakened
Jeremiah 25:32
This is what YHWH of armies says: “Behold, evil is going out from nation to nation, and a great storm is being stirred up [yey-ohr יֵע֖וֹר] from the remotest parts of the earth.”
Part of the Biblical meta-narrative is that YHWH will overcome evil. He set a plan in motion, from the beginning, to reverse the curse of death and bring us back into right relationship with God and with each other. To accomplish this, YHWH promised an Anointed One (Messiah) who would free humanity from the confines of the grave and the violence that went along with it. The Messiah is referred to many times in the Tanakh, including Isaiah 45:
Isaiah 45:11-13
This is what YHWH says, the Holy One of Israel and his Maker: “Ask Me about the things to come concerning My sons, and you shall commit to Me the work of My hands. It is I who made the earth, and created mankind upon it. I stretched out the heavens with My hands, and I ordained all their lights. I have stirred him [ha-iroh’tihu הַעִירֹתִ֣הֽוּ] in righteousness, and I will make all his ways smooth. He will build My city and let My exiles go free, without any payment or reward,” says YHWH of armies.
The Messiah would have righteousness stirred within him, meaning that restoring right-relationship between humanity and God would be His top priority. A renewed relationship would allow a re-entrance into Eden. By His sacrifice Yeshua would pay the entrance fee into heaven for every human willing to put their faith in God.
Zechariah 2:13
“Be silent, all mankind, before YHWH; for He has roused [ney-ohr נֵע֖וֹר] Himself from His holy dwelling.”
YHWH did, indeed, rouse Himself up from His holy dwelling and He sent His Son, Yeshua, to walk upon the earth, living and breathing amongst His people. While on earth Yeshua was often described as being moved with compassion:
Luke 7:11-15
Soon afterward Jesus went to a city called Nain; and His disciples were going along with Him, accompanied by a large crowd. Now as He approached the gate of the city, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a sizeable crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her and said to her, “Do not go on weeping.” And He came up and touched the coffin; and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise!” And the dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother.
Yeshua was aware of His destiny. He would be executed and He would die, leaving his grieving widowed mother to bear the pain. It makes perfect sense that Yeshua would see this grieving mother and be moved with compassion. Undoubtedly he would have seen his own mother in this widow’s eyes. Something stirred inside of Him and He restored the son back to his mother, alive and well.
This was a miracle with twice the reward. A son rose from the dead and was reunited with his mother. This opened up the possibility that it could happen to anyone. If God could raise one son, He could certainly raise another. This renewed life was hinted at, in the book of Job:
Job 14:7-12
“For there is hope for a tree, when it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and its shoots will not fail. Though its roots grow old in the ground, and its stump dies in the dry soil, at the scent of water it will flourish and produce sprigs like a plant.
But a man dies and lies prostrate. A person passes away, and where is he?
As water evaporates from the sea, and a river becomes parched and dried up, so a man lies down and does not rise. Until the heavens no longer exist, he will not awake (not rise up) nor be woken [w-lo yey’oru יֵ֝עֹ֗רוּ] from his sleep.”
Job struggled with understanding life and death. He could see that a cut tree would sprout to life again, so why wouldn’t human life do the same thing? Why does a human fall into decay, unable to be stirred up once again?
This is a basic human question. Can there really be life after death? Can we be stirred and re-awakened? The plant life of earth seems to work that way. Why does it not work that way for humans?
Eventually Job began to understand the Biblical meta-narrative. For us humans, life on earth is an exile where we live out-of-order from God’s original plan. We were meant to walk in the Garden with God and see Him face to face. We cannot do that on earth, as it is. Our resprouting would be in YHWH’s heavenly Kingdom and Job simply trusted in God’s divine plan to bring that to fruition:
Job 19:25-27
^^“Yet as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last, He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I will see God, whom I, on my part, shall behold for myself, and whom my eyes will see, and not another. My heart faints within me!”
As followers of YHWH, it’s important that we get excited and stirred up by our relationship with God. It should give us the same kind of thrill as seeing a solar eclipse or a dramatic waterfall at sunset. It’s important that we not be complacent or apathetic about our relationship with the Creator and God of our heart.
Psalm 57:7-11
My heart is steadfast, God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises! Awake [Urah ע֤וּרָה], my glory! Awake [Urah ע֭וּרָֽה], harp and lyre! I will awaken [a-irah אָעִ֥ירָה] the dawn. I will praise You, Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to You among the nations. For Your goodness is great to the heavens and Your truth to the clouds. Be exalted above the heavens, God; may Your glory be above all the earth.
The relationship we have with YHWH should fill us with joy and hope. It should also encourage us to act like Yeshua and be stirred by the injustices that we see. It should elicit a feeling that motivates us to have compassion and to take action. By taking action, we are reflecting the image of God by the kindness that we do. On top of all that, if thinking about YHWH, and our future in the Garden Kingdom with Him, doesn’t warm our hearts or stir up our emotions, then it’s time to ask ourselves why we bother to hold onto your faith at all.
Next week: Revisiting SING!
Hebrew Word Lessons 