The PIT/CISTERN: shakhat (Strong’s 7845), shukhah (Strong’s 7745) from verb shuakh (to sink down) (Strong’s 7743); bohr (Strong’s 953), b’ehr (Strong’s 875), bor (Strong’s 877)
There are two major Hebrew root words that are connected to the image of a pit: shuakh and bohr.
The noun shakhat/shukhah comes from the verb shuakh which means to sink down:
Psalm 44:24-26
[Sons of Korah to YHWH:] Why do You hide Your face and forget our affliction and oppression? For our souls have sunk down [shakhah שָׁ֣חָה] into the dust; our bodies cling to the earth. Rise up, be our help, and redeem us because of Your mercy.
The concept of sinking down into a pit is also connected to the verb shakhat, meaning to corrupt (Strong’s 7843/7844):
Genesis 6:11-12
Now the earth was corrupt [wa-tee-shakhet וַתִּשָּׁחֵ֥ת] in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt [ni-sh’khatah נִשְׁחָ֑תָה]; for humanity had corrupted [hee-sh’kheet הִשְׁחִ֧ית] its way upon the earth.
Those who have, metaphorically and literally, sunk down into pits have been corrupted, whether by their own choosing or forced upon them by someone else. Humans were not meant to live in pits, it is a corrupted way to live. We cannot survive in the sunken earth, without access to light and the beauty of God’s life-giving garden.
The other common Hebrew word for pit is bohr/b’ehr/bor which tends to indicate a dug pit/cistern/well. There were rules about digging pits:
Exodus 21:33-34
“Now if someone opens a pit [bohr בּ֗וֹר], or digs a pit [bor בֹּ֖ר] and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, the owner of the pit [ha-bohr הַבּוֹר֙] shall make restitution; he shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall become his.”
The most common reason to dig a pit was to create a well for water. The Biblical theme of a well has a large footprint in the Bible and we’ll focus on that in another posting. Today we’ll primarily look at the theme of being caught in a pit.
An Innocent in the Pit
YHWH does not want people in pits, but sometimes life leads people there. There are two stories that stand out about people being thrown into a waterless pit, the stories of Jeremiah and Joseph.
When Jeremiah was prophesying, the king’s officials threw him into a waterless cistern/pit (ha-bohr) for discouraging the people with his doom and gloom messages (Jeremiah 38:4-13). He was rescued by Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian eunuch, and lifted up out of the well.
The other more famous story about a pit comes much earlier in the Biblical text. Joseph’s brothers were jealous of their young brother. In their corrupted minds, they decided to eliminate Joseph by putting him into ha-bohr (the pit) (Genesis 37:18-35). Joseph went into a waterless pit, in the wilderness, only to rise out of the pit and become one of the most powerful men in Egypt. As the story unfolded we come to learn that YHWH used the brother’s twisted plans to put His own good plans for salvation into place.
In the early days of Joseph’s time in Egypt he, again, went into a pit (ha-bohr). Wrongly accused of a misdeed, Joseph went into Pharaoh’s dungeon/pit (Genesis 40:15). There he met Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker. It was this experience in the pit that allowed Pharaoh to find out about Joseph’s gift of dream interpretation. In order to interpret one of Pharaoh’s dreams, Joseph was lifted out of the pit and elevated to a high ranking position in Egypt. Joseph came out of the pit to rise up in social status.
This story lets us know that sometimes YHWH can use the darkest places in our lives to push forward and illuminate His plan of salvation. When Joseph’s brothers found themselves starving in the midst of a famine, it was their brother Joseph who saved their lives.
Send the Wicked to the Pits
Both Joseph and Jeremiah were thrown into pits without water (Genesis 37:24, Jeremiah 38:6). This was a death sentence, for without water there would be no life. Pits/wells, filled with water, had a good purpose, but there were pits/wells of water, empty pits, and pits filled with deadly contents.
In the first Biblical recorded war, the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah were on the losing side. When they fled the battlefield they headed towards the Valley of Siddim which was full of tar pits [bey-ehroht bey-ehroht khemar בֶּֽאֱרֹ֤ת בֶּאֱרֹת֙ חֵמָ֔ר] (Genesis 14:10). In their attempted escape, the two kings fell into the tar pits and (it can be assumed) died.
The Psalmists often wished for corrupted humanity to be swallowed by the pits of destruction. The Psalms attributed to David, in particular, repeated this theme:
Psalm 35:4-8
[David:] Let those be ashamed and dishonoured who seek my life; let those be turned back and humiliated who devise evil against me. Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of YHWH driving them on. Let their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of YHWH pursuing them. For they hid their net for me without cause; without cause they dug a pit for my soul [shakhat שַׁ֣חַת].
Let destruction come upon him when he is unaware, and let the net which he hid catch him; let him fall into that very destruction.
Psalm 7:14-16
[David:] Behold, an evil person is pregnant with injustice, and he conceives harm and gives birth to lies. He has dug a pit [bohr בּ֣וֹר] and hollowed it out, and has fallen into the hole [b-shakhat בְּשַׁ֣חַת] which he made. His harm will return on his own head, and his violence will descend on the top of his own head.
David prayed for the wicked to fall into their own traps. When they wished for destruction upon their neighbours, they brought destruction upon themselves.
A Pit for the Wicked
David and many others prayed for the wicked to go to the pit. Through the prophets, YHWH provided the answer to their prayers.
Ezekiel prophesied that the great enemies of the Hebrew people would end up in the pits:
- Egypt would join those who go down to the pit (Ezekiel 32:18), along with…
- Assyria whose graves are set in the remotest parts of the pit (Ezekiel 32:23)
- Elam would bear their disgrace with those who go down to the pit (Ezekiel 32:24-25)
- Edom would lie with those who go down to the pit (Ezekiel 32:29)
- The chiefs of the North and the Sidonians would bear their disgrace with those who go down to the pit (Ezekiel 32:30)
- Tyre would be brought down to the pit (Ezekiel 28:8)
Ezekiel 26:19-21
For this is what the Lord YHWH says: “When I make you a desolate city, like the cities which are not inhabited, when I bring up the deep over you and the great waters cover you, then I will bring you down with those who go down to the pit [vohr ב֜וֹר], to the people of old, and I will make you remain in the lower parts of the earth, like the ancient ruins, with those who go down to the pit [vohr ב֔וֹר], so that you will not be inhabited; but I will put glory in the land of the living. I will cause you sudden terrors and you will no longer exist; though you will be sought, you will never be found again,” declares the Lord YHWH.
This was the harsh reality of rejecting YHWH. The wicked would go down into the Pit and their souls would be eliminated. They would no longer exist, lost into nothingness.
Isaiah’s prophecy about the king of Babylon, gives us a glimpse of the grander meta-narrative of YHWH’s battle with His adversary:
Isaiah 14:12-20
“How you have fallen from heaven, you star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, you who defeated the nations!
But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’
Nevertheless you will be brought down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit [vohr בֽוֹר]. Those who see you will stare at you, they will closely examine you, saying, ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world like a wilderness and overthrew its cities, who did not allow his prisoners to go home?’
All the kings of the nations lie in glory, each in his own tomb. But you have been hurled out of your tomb like a rejected branch, clothed with those killed who have been pierced with a sword, who go down to the stones of the pit [vohr ב֖וֹר] like a trampled corpse. You will not be united with them in burial, because you have ruined your country, you have killed your people. May the descendants of evildoers never be mentioned.”
This wicked one wanted to be raised up, but YHWH would bring him down. The Psalms, again, give us a glimpse of YHWH’s justice:
Psalm 94:12-14
Blessed is the man whom You discipline, YHWH, and whom You teach from Your Law, so that You may grant him relief from the days of adversity, until a pit [shakhkat שָֽׁחַת] is dug for the wicked. For YHWH will not abandon His people, nor will He abandon His inheritance.
Psalm 55:22-23
[David:] Cast your burden upon YHWH and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.
But You, God, will bring them down to the pit of destruction corruption [lee-v’ehr shakhat לִבְאֵ֬ר שַׁ֗חַת]; men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. but I will trust in You.
The prayer that the wicked would be caught in their own snares was fulfilled:
Psalm 9:15-16
[David:] The nations have sunk down into the pit [b-shakhat בְּשַׁ֣חַת] which they have made; in the net which they hid, their own foot has been caught. YHWH has made Himself known; He has executed judgment. A wicked one is ensnared in the work of his own hands.
Feeling Like You’re In the Pits
Of course, sometimes God’s good people have found themselves in metaphorical pits of despair. David often felt like he was in a pit, in his own life. People (including some of his own family members) were constantly trying to kill him or trap him:
Psalm 143:7-9
[David:] Answer me quickly, YHWH, my spirit fails; do not hide Your face from me, or I will be the same as those who go down to the pit [vohr בֽוֹר]. Let me hear Your faithfulness in the morning, for I trust in You; teach me the way in which I should walk; for to You I lift up my soul.
Save me, YHWH, from my enemies; I take refuge in You.
Psalm 28:1-3
[David:] To You, YHWH, I call; my rock, do not be deaf to me, for if You are silent to me, I will become like those who go down to the pit [vohr בֽוֹר].
Hear the sound of my pleadings when I cry to You for help, when I raise my hands toward Your holy sanctuary. Do not drag me away with the wicked and with those who practice injustice, who speak peace with their neighbours, while evil is in their hearts.
David wasn’t alone in his suffering. We read similar words in the psalms of the sons of Korah:
Psalm 88:1-7
[Sons of Korah:] YHWH, the God of my salvation, I have cried out by day and in the night before You. Let my prayer come before You; incline Your ear to my cry! For my soul has had enough troubles, and my life has approached Sheol.
I am counted among those who go down to the pit [vohr ב֑וֹר]; I have become like a man without strength, abandoned among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom You no longer remember, and they are cut off from Your hand.
You have put me in the lowest pit [b-vohr בְּב֣וֹר], in dark places, in the depths. Your wrath has rested upon me, and You have afflicted me with all Your waves. Selah
Job suffered terribly in his lifetime and he certainly felt like he was in the pit of despair:
Job 17:13-16
[Job:] “If I hope for Sheol as my home, I make my bed in the darkness; if I call to the grave [pit: la-shakhat לַשַּׁ֣חַת], ‘You are my father’; to the maggot, ‘my mother and my sister’; where then is my hope? And who looks at my hope? Will it go down with me to Sheol? Shall we together go down into the dust?”
The pit seemed like a hopeless place to be, but with YHWH on our side, life in the pits is only temporary.
Redeemed from the Pit
Throughout history YHWH continually saved His people. YHWH had rescued the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt and guided them through a desert land filled with pits:
Jeremiah 2:5-6
This is what YHWH says: “What injustice did your fathers find in Me, that they went far from Me, and walked after emptiness and became empty? They did not say, ‘Where is YHWH who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits [w-shukhah וְשׁוּחָה֙], through a land of drought and of deep darkness, through a land that no one crossed and where no person lived?’”
People seemed to easily forget that they had ever been saved by YHWH. They turned away from their Rescuer and tried to live life on their own terms. They turned to the pagan gods of their neighbours and stopped relying on the God who created them. As a result, the foreign nations (Assyria, followed by Babylon) came in captured Israel. If the Hebrew people already prayed to their gods, why not take political control of them also. And that’s what happened. The Hebrew people went into exile, defeated.
Lamentations 3:51-58
My eyes bring pain to my soul because of all the daughters of my city. My enemies without reason hunted me down like a bird; they have silenced me in the pit [va-bohr בַבּוֹר֙] and have thrown stones on me.
Waters flowed over my head; I said, “I am cut off!” I called on Your name, YHWH, out of the lowest pit [mee-bohr מִבּ֖וֹר]. You have heard my voice.
“Do not cover Your ear from my plea for relief, from my cry for help.” You came near on the day I called to You; You said, “Do not fear!” Lord, You have pleaded my soul’s cause; You have redeemed my life.
YHWH never gave up on His people. He would find a way to bring them back home:
Isaiah 51:1, 14-17a
“Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness, who seek YHWH: Look to the rock from which you were cut, and to the quarry from which you were dug…
…”The exile will soon be set free, and will not die in the dungeon pit [la-shakhat לַשַּׁ֔חַת], nor will his bread be lacking. For I am YHWH your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar (YHWH of armies is His name). And I have put My words in your mouth and have covered you with the shadow of My hand, to establish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’ Pull yourself up! Pull yourself up! Arise, Jerusalem!”
With YHWH’s help, the Hebrew people would pull themselves up, out of the foreign pit and return to Jerusalem.
Zechariah 9:11-12
[YHWH:] As for you also, because of the blood of My covenant with you, I have set your prisoners free from the waterless pit [mee-bohr מִבּ֔וֹר]. Return to the stronghold, you prisoners who have the hope; this very day I am declaring that I will restore double to you.
YHWH had made a blood covenant to save His people. All who called on Him would be saved.
Individual followers of YHWH would also find a way to get out of personal exile (living in the metaphorical pit of life) and be strong under YHWH’s redemptive hand. When Jonah went over the side of the boat, in the storm, he called out to YHWH, and YHWH heard him:
Jonah 2:5-9
[Job:] “Water encompassed me to the point of death. The deep flowed around me, seaweed was wrapped around my head. I descended to the base of the mountains. The earth with its bars was around me forever, but You have brought up my life from the pit [mee-shakhat מִשַּׁ֛חַת], YHWH my God.
While I was fainting away, I remembered YHWH, and my prayer came to You, into Your holy temple. Those who are followers of worthless idols abandon their faithfulness, but I will sacrifice to You with a voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from YHWH.”
King Hezekiah also faced death in an illness, and he called out to YHWH for healing:
Isaiah 38:16b-20
^^[Hezekiah:] “Restore me to health and let me live! Behold, for my own welfare I had great bitterness; but You have kept my soul from the pit [mee-shakhat מִשַּׁ֣חַת] of nothingness, for You have hurled all my sins behind Your back.
For Sheol cannot thank You, death cannot praise You; those who go down to the pit [vohr ב֖וֹר] cannot hope for Your faithfulness. It is the living who give thanks to You, as I do today; a father tells his sons about Your faithfulness.
YHWH is certain to save me; so we will play my songs on stringed instruments all the days of our life at the house of YHWH.”
Hezekiah had more praising to do. That was his plea bargain to YHWH. God had hurled Hezekiah’s sins away and Hezekiah wanted to praise Him for it. King David felt the same way:
Psalm 30:8-10
[David:] To You, YHWH, I called, and to the Lord I pleaded for compassion: “What gain is there in my blood, if I go down to the pit [shakhat שָׁ֥חַת]? Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your faithfulness? Hear, YHWH, and be gracious to me; YHWH, be my helper.”
Death comes for us all, even David and Hezekiah knew that, but they also recognized that there was life beyond the curtain of death and that YHWH had a plan to bring them home to Him. A ransom would be paid to save His people:
Psalm 49:7-9
[Sons of Korah:] Why should I fear in the days of evil, the wickedness of those who would betray me surrounds me [on every side], even those who trust in and rely on their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches? None of them can by any means redeem [either himself or] his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him– for the ransom of his soul is too costly, and he should cease trying forever– so that he should live on eternally, that he should never see the pit (grave) and undergo decay and not see the pit/not be corrupted [ha-shakhat הַשָּֽׁחַת].
A ransom had to be paid, and no mere mortal could do it. Only YHWH could give a ransom to save His people:
Psalm 16:8-11
[David:] I have set YHWH continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will dwell securely. For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, You will not allow Your Holy One to undergo decay experience corruption [lee-roht shakhat לִרְאֹ֥ות שָֽׁחַת]. You will make known to me the way of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever.
All who follow Yeshua know that He went to the Pit, but He did not stay there. He was not corrupted. He was the ransom, the sacrificial lamb, and He rose up from the grave and returned to the Kingdom of YHWH.
With His sacrifice, we now have that same opportunity. We don’t belong in the pit; we have a home with YHWH:
John 14:1-3
“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms; if that were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will take you to Myself, so that where I am, there you also will be.”
However down in the dumps you feel, Yeshua wants to take your hand and pull you out of the mud:
Psalm 40:1-2
[David:] I waited patiently for YHWH; and He reached down to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit [mee-bohr מִבּ֥וֹר] of destruction, out of the mud; and He set my feet on a rock, making my footsteps firm.
Grab hold of His hand and get back on the path that leads home to YHWH’s Garden Kingdom. It is where you belong!
Psalm 103:1-5
[David:] Bless YHWH, my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless YHWH, my soul, and do not forget any of His benefits; who pardons all your guilt, who heals all your diseases; who redeems your life from the pit [mee-shakhat מִשַּׁ֣חַת], who crowns you with favour and compassion; who satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle.
Next week: hovering
Hebrew Word Lessons 