Secrets: ta’a’lumah, feminine noun (Strong’s 8587); from verb, alam, meaning to hide or conceal (Strong’s 5956). Root: עָלַם
Christian physician, Paul Tournier, once said, “Nothing makes us so lonely as our secrets.” A secret can be a heavy burden to bear.
Secrets are hidden, concealed, things. They’re also things that we want to expose. When someone holds a secret it’s human nature to want to discover it.
But can you imagine what it must feel like to know everyone’s secrets?
Psalm 44:20-21
If we had forgotten the name of our God or extended our hands to a strange god, would God not find this out? For He knows the secrets [ta’a’lumoht תַּעֲלֻמ֥וֹת] of the heart.
YHWH knows all the secrets; He also has the ability to expose the secrets:
Job 28:11b
“(YHWH) brings to light what is hidden [w-ta’a’lumah].”
Although YHWH could expose all the secrets of the universe, He holds much back:
Job 11:5-6a
[Zophar to Job:] “But if only God would speak, and open His lips against you, and show you the secrets [ta’a’lumoht] of wisdom!”
There are many things of this universe that we’re never meant to discover. Some things have remained secret for a reason. Perhaps this is why so many people are suspicious of the God of the Universe. We’re not keen on anything that holds us back from knowing. Adam and Eve were asked to not eat from the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and look what happened. They were driven to discover the secrets they were not designed to know, and that unleased an evil that could not remain in Garden. It forced their exile from God.
In an age when so many things are discoverable at our fingertips, we’re not comfortable with secrets (unless they’re our own), but we should acknowledge that there are some things that we’re not meant to know. God is protecting us from secrets too vast for us to understand, and that’s a good thing.
Keeping Secrets
There are some things in our life that should not remain concealed within us. The queen of Sheba came to visit Solomon and she was curious about his God, YHWH:
1 Kings 10:1, 3 (see also 2 Chronicles 9:2)
Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon in relation to the name of YHWH, she came to test him with riddles… And Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was concealed [ney’lam נֶעְלָ֣ם] by the king which he did not explain to her.
Solomon did not hide his relationship with YHWH from Sheba’s queen. NASB translates the Hebrew as “nothing was concealed,” but literally, lo hayah davar ney’lam means “there was no hidden words”, or (hyper-literally) “nor was there words hidden.”
The queen’s appreciative response to Solomon’s open, nothing-hidden, dialogue about YHWH was this:
1 Kings 10:9
“Blessed be YHWH your God who delighted in you to put you on the throne of Israel; because YHWH loves Israel forever, He made you king, to do justice and righteousness.”
The queen of Sheba had heard about Solomon’s fame in relation to the name of YHWH and she wanted to know more. Solomon held nothing back and shared God’s love with her.
The lesson: our love for YHWH is not meant to be hidden. We ought to share it with the world!
Is God Hiding?
There is a question that many humans have asked God throughout history. Why do you hide from us, YHWH? Where is your presence in our time of need?
Psalm 10:1-2, 12
Why do You stand far away, YHWH? Why do You hide [ta-lim תַּ֝עְלִ֗ים] Yourself in times of trouble? In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the needy; let them be caught in the plots which they have devised…
…Arise, YHWH; God, lift up Your hand. Do not forget the humble.
Clearly, the writer of this psalm felt like they were in desperate times. Those with power had persecuted those who were in need of help. The writer called on YHWH to lift up a hand and reverse the imbalance caused by the arrogance and selfishness of the powerful.
In a more personal prayer King David, who was constantly under attack with foreign enemies and enemies within his own household, prayed for God to come out of concealment and help him:
Psalm 55:1-4, 23
[David:] Listen to my prayer, God; and do not hide [ti-t-alam תִּ֝תְעַלַּ֗ם] Yourself from my pleading. Give Your attention to me and answer me; I am restless in my complaint and severely distracted, because of the voice of the enemy, because of the pressure of the wicked; for they bring down trouble upon me and in anger they hold a grudge against me.
My heart is in anguish within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me…
…But You, God, will bring them down to the pit of destruction; men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.
Hundreds of years later, Jeremiah prayed a similar prayer to David’s. Jerusalem had been taken over by the Babylonians, and Jeremiah yearned for God to come out of hiding and give them some relief:
Lamentations 3:46-58
All our enemies have opened their mouths against us. Panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction; my eyes run down with streams of water because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
My eyes flow unceasingly, without stopping, until YHWH looks down and sees from heaven. 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 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.
You have heard my voice, “Do not *cover* hide [ta’lem תַּעְלֵ֧ם] 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.
Trying to Hide
How did God’s people end up in this predicament? Why did God seem to abandon them in their crisis? They really should not have been surprised; through the prophets, God told them exactly the reasons why He would hide from His people:
Isaiah 1:11-17
“What are your many sacrifices to Me?” says YHWH. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened cattle; and I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats. When you come to appear before Me, who requires of you this trampling of My courtyards?
Do not go on bringing your worthless offerings, incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and Sabbath, the proclamation of an assembly— I cannot endure wrongdoing and the festive assembly. I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, they have become a burden to Me; I am tired of bearing them.
So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide [a-lim אַעְלִ֤ים] My eyes from you; yes, even though you offer many prayers, I will not be listening. Your hands are covered with blood.
Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from My sight.
Stop doing evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor, obtain justice for the orphan, plead for the widow’s case.”
The people were insincere in their worship. They were complacent hypocrites, practising all sorts of evil deeds. Their hands were covered in blood.
To make matters worse, the prophets, the priests, the leaders, and the general population were, in turn, trying to hide from God:
Ezekiel 22:23-29
[YHWH:] “There is a conspiracy of her [Israel’s] prophets in her midst like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have devoured lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in the midst of her.
Her priests have done violence to My Law and have profaned My holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the common, and they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have closed hidden [hey-limu הֶעְלִ֣ימוּ] their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am defiled among them.
Her leaders within her are like wolves tearing the prey, by shedding blood and destroying lives in order to make dishonest profit.
And her prophets have coated with whitewash for them, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘This is what the Lord YHWH says,’ when YHWH has not spoken.
The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery, and they have oppressed the poor and needy, and have oppressed the stranger without justice.”
The people were acting like God couldn’t see them, like they were hidden from His sight, but that brings us back to the first verse we looked at:
Psalm 44:20-21
If we had forgotten the name of our God or extended our hands to a strange god, would God not find this out? For He knows the secrets [ta’a’lumoht תַּעֲלֻמ֥וֹת] of the heart.
YHWH knows the secrets of every corner of creation. David’s son, Solomon, believed it! Through the wisdom of his many years, he figured out that every secret would be acknowledged by YHWH:
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
[Solomon:] The conclusion, when everything has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden [ney’lam נֶעְלָ֑ם], whether it is good or evil.
Again, God knows the secrets of the heart, good and bad. You can’t hide. Why try? Why not just lay it all down on the table in front of YHWH? Lay down your burdens, your anger, your anxiety, your loneliness, your doubts. Be real, hold no secrets back. God can handle it. Confession, after all, is good for the soul because nothing makes us so lonely as our secrets.
Next week: Revisiting Thoughts and Prayers
Hebrew Word Lessons 